Among the Stars Setup Guide

Basic Locations Special Conflict cards Shown

Set # Players Location Final Deck Revealed Ambas-
Cards Size Objectives sadors
Amount Cards Year added # Cards
2 18 72 24 96 2nd 12 2
Base game 3 18* 54 18 72 2nd 9 3
4 18 72 24 96 2nd 12 4
2 15 60 36 96 2nd 12 2 3
3 15* 45 27 72 2nd 9 3 3
Ambassadors 4 15 60 36 96 2nd 12 4 3
5** 20 80 40 120 3rd 6 5 4
6** 24 96 48 144 3rd 12 6 4
2 10 40 56 96 2nd 12 2 3
Ambassadors Variety 3 10* 30 42 72 2nd 9 3 3
Among the Stars variant
4 10 40 56 96 2nd 12 4 3

# Basic # Players
Locations 3* 2/4 5** 6**
0 72 96 120 144 The table above summarizes all possible setups for Among the
1 69 92 116 140 Stars, including AtS, AtS: Ambassadors, the Variety Among the
2 66 88 112 136 Stars variant, and the 5-6 players expansion. For each combination
3 63 84 108 132
and number of players, the table shows how many basic and special
locations should be added, the final deck size, and, if playing with
4 60 80 104 128 them, when and how many Conflict Cards are added, how many
5 57 76 100 124 Objectives are available, and how many Ambassadors are available
6 54 72 96 120 to recruit. The 2-player numbers apply both to the official 2-player
7 51 68 92 116 rules and and to entwife's 2-player variant.
8 48 64 88 112
9 45 60 84 108 The table to the left shows how many special location cards you
need to use for a given player count and number of base locations.
10 42 56 80 104 This allows you to customize your playing experience. For example, if
11 39 52 76 100 you want to set up a 5-player game with 17 basic locations, you
12 36 48 72 96 would need to add 52 special location cards to make the numbers
13 33 44 68 92 add up. This amounts to 17 x 4 + 52 = 120 cards, the correct
14 30 40 64 88 amount for 5 players. All other numbers (final deck size, conflict
15 27 36 60 84 cards, objectives and ambassadors) can be taken from the table at
the top, in the row corresponding to the selected amount of players
16 24 32 56 80 for the Ambassadors set.
17 21 28 52 76
18 18 24 48 72 Cells with a cyan background require more special locations that
19 15 20 44 68 there are in the base sets, so at least some promo cards will be
20 12 16 40 64 needed. Cells with an orange background either have too many
21 9 12 36 60 basic locations selected, or would need more promo cards that have
currently been printed. Cells with other colored backgrounds
22 6 8 32 56
correspond to the official balance of basic/special locations in any
23 3 4 28 52 of the three variants of the top table.
24 0 0 24 48
25 20 44 To further help with custom setups, below there's a listing of
26 Too many Basic 16 40 Locations which you might consider not using when you have
27 Locations not all the 12 36 decided on the Basic Location set for the game.
deck will be drawn even
28 if no Special Locations 8 32
* = remove all cards marked <4> from Basic Locations
29 are added 4 28 ** = requires 5/6 players expansion
30 0 24

Locations that depend on specific Basic Locations:

Two Special Locations from AtS are copies of Basic Locations with cumulative bonuses, and probably should be left
out unless the corresponding Basic Locations are used: Turret (Military) and Transportation Platform (Administrative)
There are 3 locations in AtS with immediate abilities which give either a +1 bonus if placed adjacent to a certain type
of location, or a +2 bonus if placed adjacent to a particular AtS Basic Location. You might want to use them only if the
corresponding Basic Location is present. They are:
Ambassador Quarters (Diplomatic Basic Location), which looks for Embassy Offices
Cargo Hold (Administrative Special Location), which looks for Docking Bay
Pilot Training Area (Military Basic Location), which looks for Fighter Launch Bay
The Xenobiology Lab Special Location (a promo Diplomatic card) has a +2 bonus if placed adjacent to Medical
Facility (an Administrative Basic Location from AtS) and is otherwise underpowered, so it's probably worth it to
remove it from the Special Locations pile unless playing with the Medical Facility.
Locations that depend on playing with Ambassadors:
Two Diplomatic (green) locations in AtS: Ambassadors should be removed if playing without Ambassadors:
Ambassadorial Sector (Basic Location) and Conference Room (Special Location).