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Cross-posted to boardgamegeek.

I never really paid close attention to what makes each Clank! In! Space! module distinct until today when I spent some time fixing the frayed edges. So it seemed like a nice opportunity to write up what I noticed about them.

The rule book starts by recommending Hydroponics on top, with Doomsday Cannon and Med Lab below. When a module is on top, it’s rotated 180 degrees. Does that have an impact on how you navigate it? Perhaps.

Let’s start with the modules, by the numbers. It already tells you a couple of things:

Module (opp.)	Hydr. (Eng.)	Eng. (Hydr.)	D.C. (Arena)	Arena (D.C.)	Med Lab (Prom.)	Prom. (Med Lab)
Rooms	12	15	12	14	15	13
Major Secrets	2	2	2	1	2	2
Minor Secrets	3	3	3	3	3	3
Total Terminals	6	6	5	6	5	6
Clank Terminals	2	1	2	2	1	2
Medical Bays	0	0	0	1	4	0
Shops	2	1	1	1	1	3

• All the modules have 3 minor secrets, and except for Arena, they have 2 major secrets.
• Almost none of the modules have medical bays, but Med Lab sure has a lot of them.
• Promenade is full of shops.

I’ve also realized something else about the modules in general: The tops of the modules are always closest to the corridor and so, easiest to get to. This is true whether the module is sitting on the bottom or the top (in which case the module is rotated half-way round) And this is why you’ll find clank-heavy terminals near the top. If you want a better reward you’ll have to travel deeper into the module. It’s a nice design, I admire it.

Hydroponics

I never noticed Hydroponics’s color and style. Cute, right? Two market spaces within easy access, though if this module sits near the cargo bay, at best they’re a way to grab a last contraband before running off.

The terminals in the center make this a nice board for two or three players: 5 credits or double-life, with a minor secret to boot. You’ll be hard pressed to find something better. (Only Engineering has something comparable with a 5-credit terminal, and still no double-life terminal.)

You might even be lucky enough to grab a major and minor secret on the same turn, if you can deal with a lock and a checkpoint.

If this is the top module, as recommended for your first game, then the crystal and teleporter rooms will sit right by the top of the Command Module, giving you some valuable help before your big move or after starting your escape.

What would it take to get from one end of the module to the other? Naturally there are four entryways, so left to right isn’t the only option, but that’s what I’m measuring.

If you have swords and boots, you can take the lower route to get out from left to right in five steps, and if not, you’ll need seven steps. Regardless, you’ll have a checkpoint in your way.

Engineering

The other side of Hydroponics is Engineering. It seems like a complicated set of pathways because of the checkpoint arcs, but I think that’s just visual trickery. Though, those checkpoints will surely slow you down.

Of all the modules this has the best reward-terminal to clank-terminal ratio (6 terminals, only one delivers clank) so you have to be really desperate to hit that one up. The 5-money terminal isn’t that difficult to get to (8 steps from left to right with some enemies for good measure) with both major secrets up for grabs. But those outside edges can be tough to get to – the payoff is nice.

Doomsday Cannon

Doomsday Cannon. If you didn’t see it, the cannon itself is on the bottom of the module.

Who needs to go shopping? Apparently just a few people because you’ll find one market space on this board. You can skim across the top of this board and get from left to right in six steps (with a checkpoint in your way.) There are plenty of options for money terminals, which I guess you’ll need at the Doomsday Cannon Market.

If you want to work your way into the center you’ll have some options for the valuable terminals, secrets and a Crystal. If you want that crystal though you might need to spend a few boots to get in and out.

There’s not much else there, and nothing thematically doomsday about it.

Arena

Oh, Arena, I love you. Only one major secret, and that center structure! You can hack a terminal to grab an extra sword, reveal a secret and then combat two enemies to hit the other side and grab the other secret, maybe ending your move at a medical checkpoint (and then stop at the market to buy contraband. Or a G0B-L1N t-shirt.)

But if you had to go from left to right, those one-way paths mean you’ve got fewer options through., though there’s a pretty safe path along the bottom in 7 steps, and another one on top in 7 with a checkpoint.

Arena is also the only board with one major secret, and like I said, if you happen to be going toward the left, that’s great.

Med Lab

There’s a reason the Med Lab is on the lower right of the default set-up. By the time you’ve hit that corner of the board you’ve generated plenty of clank and damage. It’s also a decent way to grab a little money and hack a terminal all at once. The lower path is the most attractive with the major secret and 3 credit terminal, and it makes the two enemy icons less daunting: even without swords you can get a major secret hack a three credit terminal for just one life. (It takes seven steps to go left to right through the lower terminal, versus six for the other two.)

If this were the lower left module, it might be a good spot to heal up before making your final escape.

But also, this is one of the weaker modules, only harder to navigate than Promenade, which sits on the other side.

Promenade

Thieving is hard. Let’s go shopping! And like a good shopping district, it’s easy to navigate – you can go all the way from left to right in six steps, no enemies, no two-boot pathways, no checkpoints. This is why I call it the weakest board. You can just run through it. To be fair, the cleanest path has two terminals and each of the cost you two clank, so if you have easy ways to remove clank those might be perfectly fine terminals to hack.

There’s a nice terminal up at the top that gives 3 credits. If you have the swords and a key that’s a nice major-minor combination. It’s not bad, even without the swords.

I wish Promenade had some arrows forcing shoppers — I mean, thieves — to spend more time in the mall. Does this place have a food court? I just can’t get over disliking it.

Finally

Clank! In! Space! Has four new modules in the Clank! In! Space! Apocalypse! Expansion: Mainframe, Viral Lab, Hangar, and Portal Chamber.

There’s some fun themes and ideas in there — I mean — what is going on with that Mainframe module? And how desperate for credits do you need to be to hack that terminal in the center launch bay?

Look, Clank! In! Space! doesn’t change drastically with each module: there’s always a teleport pad and a market, a fair number of accessible terminals, and plenty of secrets, but there’s enough variety in each module to set the tone of your game. And the effort to differentiate the modules, and understand their behavior can give you an edge when you need to compose your escape plan.

If you could assemble your own modules, what would they be like?