Vanished Planet

In short, Vanished Planet is a cooperative game with some similarities to Starfarers of Catan. From the publisher's web page:

Vanished Planet is a cooperative board game. That means that all players work together to play the game, and either win as a group or lose as a group. It can be played with as many as six players or as few as one.

Playing the game requires complex strategies involving ship movement, resource management, and technology building, all while trying to delay the creature's progress towards destroying the players' home worlds.

The difficulty level is scalable, making it enjoyable for everyone from the beginner to the expert. Vanished Planet can be made easy enough for parents to play with their children or difficult enough to challenge the most masochistic hardcore gamers.

Vanished Planet takes place in a richly detailed game world.

The past one hundred years had been marked by an unprecedented peace. Humans from the Earth, newcomers to the Galactic Sextant, surprised the Elder Races with their grasp of foreign technologies and their dedication to freedom and peace. With Earth's help, a massive communications and trade network was established. Treaties were negotiated. Disputes were settled and wars became less frequent. The Peoples of the Sextant welcomed the children of Earth and looked toward a brighter future.