A full guide to the cooperative space expedition: jump your ship between sectors on the ring-shaped map, mine crystals, repair the hull and bring the whole crew to the goal. Read it — and straight to the helm.
Star Frontiers is a cooperative space expedition for one team of 1–4 pilots. Everyone runs a shared cause: the crew wins or loses together. The ship travels along a ring-shaped map of sixteen sectors, jumping from one to another and dealing with whatever it meets on the way.
The expedition is a success when the team has gathered 14 crystals and visited 8 sectors. Both conditions are tracked by the progress bar at the top: one bar for crystals, the other for sectors travelled. The main threat is the ship's hull: if it drops to zero, the vessel is wrecked and the expedition is lost for everyone.
Before the start, one to four pilots take the helm. The crew has one shared ship and three resources shown on the dashboard: hull (the vessel's durability), fuel (spent on jumps and manoeuvres) and crystals (the expedition's currency and, at the same time, the goal). The map is a ring of sixteen sectors of different types; the ship starts from the base sector.
Players take turns in order: having finished their turn, a pilot hands the watch to the next. There is no deal to set up — the expedition begins right away with the first jump.
On their turn the pilot makes a jump: they roll two dice (2d6) and move the ship forward along the ring by the total rolled. The ship stops in the sector it lands on and resolves its event.
Planet — mine crystals. Asteroid — risk of hull damage. Depot or station — repairs and refuelling. Base — a calm sector with no event. Pirate sector — a possible battle. There are also anomalies with their own random table.
In an anomaly a random event fires: a spore cloud brings +3 crystals, an ion boost adds fuel, nanobots patch the hull, while a gravity shift batters the hull and interference eats fuel. Luck and risk go hand in hand.
Before you jump, you can scan space and reveal the three nearest sectors ahead in advance. This helps you decide whether to fly forward or better wait it out when asteroids and pirates lie ahead.
On a pirate sector an optional battle is available: your ship rolls a d6 against the pirates' d6. A win brings loot, a loss hits your ship. You can decline the clash and simply fly on.
At a depot or station the crew spends crystals to fix the hull and refuel. It is a safe breather: drop in before your reserves of hull and fuel run low.
Hull, fuel and crystals are shared by the whole team. Crystals lead to victory and are spent on repairs, fuel is needed for manoeuvres, and the hull keeps the ship afloat. If the hull drops to zero or below, the ship is wrecked and out of the game.
The expedition is won when the crew has gathered 14 crystals and visited 8 sectors at the same time — both progress bars must fill up. Until that moment you have to balance greedy crystal mining against preserving the hull.
The expedition is lost if the ship's hull falls to zero or below — the vessel is wrecked and the whole team is out. Since the game is cooperative, the outcome is shared: either the entire crew sees the expedition through, or it loses together.
The three sectors revealed ahead will tell you where asteroids and pirates lurk. An extra glance forward is cheaper than repairing the hull.
The hull is the only thing between the crew and defeat. Pull into a depot for repairs before durability becomes critical.
Victory requires both 14 crystals and 8 sectors at once. Don't fixate on mining alone — watch both progress bars.
A clash with pirates is not mandatory. Wade in when the hull is solid and you need loot, and fly past if the vessel is battered.
A jump in Star Frontiers is a roll of 2d6, so the flight distance is not uniform: 7 comes up most often (six combinations out of 36), while "2" and "12" are one combination each. Understanding this skew matters more than any luck: you don't choose where to jump, but you can know in advance where you are most likely to land.
Totals of 6, 7 and 8 come up together in almost half of all rolls. Look at the sector 6–8 cells ahead along the ring — that is where the ship lands most often.
A short jump of 2–3 and a long one of 11–12 are rare. Don't build a plan on "overflying" a dangerous sector with one precise roll — that happens roughly once in twelve.
Over the long run totals average out, but in a single game it is easy to get three "asteroids" in a row. Keep a hull buffer for such a run of bad luck, not for the average outcome.
Gold marks the most frequent 2d6 totals — the ship lands 6–8 cells ahead more often than anywhere else.
Victory requires 14 crystals and 8 sectors at the same time, while defeat comes by one path only — through the hull hitting zero. That means the hull is your "stake": spend it on risk only when you expect a reward, and top it up before it's too late.
Pull into a depot when the hull falls to about a third of its reserve, not to zero. Repairs cost crystals, but a wrecked ship costs the whole game.
Without fuel, jumps and manoeuvres grind to a halt. Keep a reserve for a couple of jumps, or you will be stranded far from a station with a hold full of crystals and no right to move.
Crystals without sectors and sectors without crystals are both dead ends. Push the bar that lags behind: if you already have 8 sectors, any extra jump is pure risk.
Keep both bars in view: crystals (◆ 10) and visited sectors (⬢ 6) must reach the goal together, not one after the other.
Although the roll is random, you have two tools of influence — scanning and the optional battle. Both turn pure luck into a considered choice: you don't change the dice, but you change the decision of whether to fly and whether to fight.
The three revealed sectors ahead show whether a frequent jump lands on a planet or an asteroid. A cheap glance forward is worth more than an expensive repair later.
A clash of d6 against the pirates' d6 is a fair coin. Wade in for loot with a solid hull and skip it when a loss would finish the vessel.
An anomaly equally likely gives crystals, fuel, a repair — or hits the hull and fuel. Go into it with a durability buffer so a bad outcome isn't the last one.
The scan revealed the course: planet (◆) — the goal, asteroid (✕) — a threat, depot (⚓) — a breather. You make the decision before the jump.
Co-op forgives less than it seems: one greedy mistake sinks the whole crew. Below are the misconceptions that most often derail expeditions.
The resources are shared, so the risk is shared too. Before wading into a battle or an anomaly, ask the crew — the cost of a mistake falls on everyone.
Skipping a battle and simply flying past is a full-fledged tactic, not cowardice. A preserved hull carries the expedition to the goal.