Reports of an addict ...

I bought Eclipse in Austria holiday and unpacked with my sister at night. Until we unpacked everything up and together the rules passed by roughly had 5.5 hours. Plus a game begun by 2 hours ... ... Why are children after such nights always very early, especially loud? :)
The game consists of about 900 items. Miscellaneous bags for sorting tables, 6 Players arches, and, and, and ...

We had started with the human race as suggested and maneuvered us - rather blindly - by the very well-designed control declaration to the individual action opportunities to get to know.
The game consists of 4 different phases, where the emphasis is on the action phase.

In this action stage can be carried out with influence markers actions. These are:
Explore new sectors
Move influence marker (and simultaneously reactive colony ships)
Research
Ships upgrade
Build ships, starbases, obelisks or monoliths
Ships move.

Then the combat phase follows. This is only played when two competing boats are on a sector. Otherwise this stage falls away easily. Here, for example, sectors of other players can be taken over.

After the settlement comes round (actually maintenance phase)
Each set influence marker from the action round cost me money. At this stage my bar stock is first aligned, then I get my other resources (raw materials & technology points).

The last phase is the clean-up phase. This is really just the player is reset to their position so that the round can be restarted.

A word about the action phase. As you explore the new sectors hexes to the existing Schedule to be created. These include (mostly) colonies. Through colonization my raw materials are increased per round. In the hex fields, but may also stand Oldest ships. These need to be tackled before a settlement. Uncovering such hex fields can sometimes be very bad run for someone who really wants to avoid fighting. Who here but can adapt its strategy to the situation (eg a number of small vessels built and such a sector are taking), has very good chances of winning.

The main point is that this game is very Verlierfreundlich. The best example of this is the fight.

-Each Combatants may draw a Victory Point Card
-Each Of a small or Ältestesten ship destroyed gets an additional victory point card
-Greater Vessels give more victory point cards
-This Victory point types are summed with a maximum limit of 5 to be drawn Victory Cards
However -From this victory point card may only be an (ideally the highest) reserve.

We had several times the situation, that a fight loser of the fight had more than the winner.

This game is absolutely do fascinating.

In this game, has been dispensed with very much. There is no rule 100.000 finesse, snags, etc. Everything is set up as minimalist as possible. Somehow one feels that during the game as well, but it is for the flow of the game a huge profit. I also think that for a strategy game has a few flaws. It is lucky factors in several places, what bothers me about strategy games. The fights are diced. Explorable technologies be considered for all the players beforehand. My action possibilities are permanently limited.
All these points are, however, all (even the happiness factors) offset by other ways again. Thus, I have to constantly prevailing
Customize situation, but to develop and pursue a strategy.

The game is highly variable
There are 7 different races. Thus, you will at least have all the plays - and at least I want to know also how I win a race!
A 2er player round requires very different strategies as a 3-4 player round and 6. It is again different. The players thus changed the strategic planning.
The universes are formed freely and thus always form alone new.

Another plus point is the time factor. When all the players know the rules (after the first game is the case) are required per player for 45 minutes. That's compared with other strategy board games extremely short! (In the Ages 6-8 hrs., 6 hrs + Civilization, Twilight Empire 6 hours +) Here 6 players can join in
less than 5 hours hassle free ready (if, as mentioned above, all the rules dominate). For us this game has triggered a veritable addiction Eclipse, as it can be for two also plays briefly in between.

From my side an absolute buy recommendation. This game is not cheap, but it is often in use. Every 1-2 weeks Eclipse is played alone in the first 3 weeks it has been played 5 times. The factor fun / cost is more than high. Especially as the nearly 900 parts and 3 kilos indeed cost anything.

Who likes strategy games: Buy !!!