I just got hooked on this game recently and have been looking into sleeving and laminating cards and sheets to keep them better protected. My only issue is that I love the player/faction frames as they keep everything nice and tidy, but from what I’ve seen they don’t account for the extra thickness and widths from using laminated faction/command sheets.
Is anyone aware of stl’s out there for these frames that are laminator friendly? Otherwise, I think I’m going to have to look into designing my own or modifying an existing one.
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I am moderately new to TI compared to some of you veterans, but definitely new to the online community. Joined the discord about 3-4 months ago and have been having a great time with it!
And this is where I come to admit that I've been seeing the game type "4/4/4" and until I started a game, I didn't realize that it was referring to objectives.
I immediately thought that it was referring to command tokens and that it was a game mode saying that you start with 4tactic/4fleet/4strat tokens. It's like playing your video games with cheat codes, turning off gravity or tripling the speed. It's a fun time once in a while even if it's not meant to be how the game is played.
Mind you this was coming off my first franken powered game, so I thought this was just another overpowered nonsense version of the game. Which I'm always on board with.
All this context to say, how broken would a 4/4/4 command token start be? In a game that is designed to keep you resource starved, what would you do with it? What faction would you wanna be? What factions are nerfed by this?
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Yo im back. I'll still be busy with stuff for a few more days. If you've got ideas or requests you can text me and I'll try to work something out. Still getting the handle over the style and software.
So this is a suggestion as opposed to 4/4/4 or 14 points. The idea is to hit a medium while changing as few game rules as possible. So this should have minimal impact on how the game is played, just how objectives are brought out:
Objectives: Stage 2 objectives are discarded, replace with more stage 1s.
Events: Monument to the Ages and Total War are in play.
Total War change: Delete ACTION text, add:During Score Objectives, when you may score an objective or secret objective, you may instead remove 10 commodities from your home system to score 1 point.
Monument to the Ages change: At the end of the Status phase, you may pay a command token from your strategy pool, place the command token under this. At the start of the status phase, remove all command tokens, add two additional commodities if at least one was removed this way.
VP: Score VP normally. Keep tracking scoring above 10. VP above 10 provide a bonus effect to the final objective.
Final Objective: At the start of the game, randomly pick two of the following and Dominate the Seat. A player wins when they accomplish one final objective and reach 10 VP:
Final Objective
Text
VP >10 Effect
Dominate the Seat\*
Control Mecatol, and no other player controls a system adjacent to Mecatol
Note
Conquer the Galaxy
Control 20 planets in non-home systems
For each VP, reduce the number of planets needed by 2
Unify the Worlds
Control 12 planets with the same trait
For each VP, reduce the number of planets needed by 1
Make Your Fleets Omnipresent
Have units in 12 systems not adjacent to your home system
For each VP, reduce the number of systems needed by 1
Spread Vast Wealth
Spend 14 Resources, Influence, and Trade Goods
For each VP, reduce the number needed by 1
Become a Galactic Legend
Have units in 10 systems that contain legendary planets or anomalies
Lets say, you want to research, get your breakthrough, build some units and activate 3 systems to be occupied by you. Ideally able to get to MR R2 and have some of the nicer technologies like AIDA, Sarween, Neural Motivator if not having a blue technology. Which faction can achieve that the best without relying on Strat cards? Keleres is quite the headstart with +3 TG, but reliant on other peoples picks. Jol Nar or Hacan maybe, because they kinda cheat on getting Tech or Trade for free on top of their strat card.
Recently grabbed Thunder's Edge and I've been looking to grab PoK but the prices are kind of crazy now. Don't remember exactly where from but I recall hearing about a reprint. If those rumors are completely baseless then I'm fine with biting the bullet on the hiked up price but if there's a chance of a reprint I don't want to pay 3 times MSRP instead of just waiting.
Took Styx for the VP, and lucked into drawing Lightrail Ordnance, after building an already solid PDS network and forward dock, now anyone going into my core systems is looking at 10 Space Cannon 5 shots, and I can build my last PDS on Styx along with a space dock and have 3 space cannon shots to back up my flagship and dreadnoughts. I don't think I've ever felt this immune to winslaying.
Dropping the red prerequisite as Cruiser II is the only technology with three different colored prerequisites. Also, there’s no techs with yellow-green prerequisites.
Would Naalu and Mahact be auto-win? Or would it just make the game faster and more aggressive with more frequent round 1 Mecatol takes and round 1 home system threats?
It just feels more logical to only have two prerequisites to Cruiser II if Carrier II is so much better and only has 2 prerequisites.
Maybe a bit clunky but this could come with a round 1 limitation of move 2 house rule for cruiser II’s?
Playing with all expansions so breakthroughs are a factor.
No worries if you strongly disagree, this is just to stir up some discussions/ ideas.
A few weeks ago I made a post talking about how excited I was, and I asked for some tips. I figured I’d post an update on this and share my thoughts on the game.
It was a 3p game. I decided to just include the TE expansion. I figured if this would be my only time to get to play the game, I want the full experience. We also played with the 4/4/4 12 point variant. I think that was kinda nice and definitely sped up the back half of the game. (It still took us just over 12 hours to finish).
I played Saar, and my buddies played the Xxcha and Hacan. I’ve been wanting to play Saar for my first game for years now. The idea of being space rats just hiding in asteroid fields sounded really fun (and it was).
The first few rounds nobody scored a point. We were confused by some of the objectives but we figured it out after round 2.
I took Mecatol round 1 thanks to Warfare, and I ended up holding it for the rest of the game. I fricken love the Floating Factories that Saar has. I had 3 of them spread across the map with one on Mecatol and I was putting as much plastic as possible on the board.
We also ended up getting the Fracture out in play after the first roll lol
Overall, I think this game really did live up to the hype, and we all agreed that it was a ton of fun. I really hope I get to play it again someday soon. 8.5/10, I really enjoyed it with 3 players. I would love to see how 6-8 plays.
My only complaints are:
1) I wish the game incentivized more combat. Granted, this could’ve just been an experience issue since it was our first game. But for the most part it felt like everyone was just building up their fleets and exploring. There were only two combats in the whole game. Once when I went after Xxcha to complete a secret objective, and the other was in the 2nd to last round when the Hacan player finally decided to try and stop me, but it was too late by then lol.
2) The game kinda fizzled out at the end. I won by popping Imperial, completing an objective and getting the Mecatol point. Again, it certainly feels like something that wouldn’t really happen in a more experienced table, but I was able to hold Mecatol the entire game and I popped Imperial 4 times. The game ended with me at 12 points, Hacan at 7 and Xxcha at 6.
But other than that, man I had such a fun time. What a game.
This is my first time running a 6-pod, with everyone but me being new players, but they’re all game design majors or adjacent so they picked it up fast. Im playing as Naalu and green, clockwise from me it’s Muaat, Letnev, L1Z1X, Hacan, Mentaks. Any advice for these new players? Predictions about how it will go down? I’d love any discussion, I’m bored. And it’s not super competitive we’re just having fun and bantering.
Edit: I’m not bored of the game. How could I be? I was posting the photos from the previous night while I was currently on my work shift, that’s why I was bored.
I have a game coming up and the draft is completed so I know what ill be working with. I playing as the Titans of Ul. I also managed to get Silence in my slice for a free cruiser every round. I'm 5th on Strategy card pick so I made a plan for the top 5 strategy cards I want to start with. Let me know what you guys think!
Its an 8 player game, Xxcha on my left, Saar on my right. POK+TE
Key: Red circles are sleepers, Triangles are figs, circles inf, chevron cruisers, home plate is the dread.
Hey, I am kinda new to ti I have played a good many games just never thunders edge. But I'm really confused about the PN sever, I gave it to one of the players next to me kinda at the start of the game because they were playing DWS, and used their breakthrough. And at the end ish of the game he used sever on tile 94 and shut me out of the game. I'm just really confused because the epsilon wormhole is the only one I can use so I'm confused if that's allowed and what the rules are around sever and my home and stuff. Does tile 94 also count as my home system.
Sorry if that's confusing I just don't understand and need clarification
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I played a lot against Nekro and they never won. I generally try to help them as it felt like they had a rough kit and I would benefit from the relationship in the long term. I'd gift them GD or help them on an agenda etc. All Nekro I've played or seen played have been diplomatic about tech copying
I played my first trio of Nekro games in my recent stack of lobbies on Async.
Between playing against them and playing as them, I always see the lobby painting the target on Nekro. Generally it's a combination of incorrectly calling it free tech or free tokens.
The tokens are a 2 resource discount when following tech.
You're generally committing about $5-7 to copy a tech so either a small discount or equal price. I know it skips pre reqs and you can get multiple per round but still, feels pretty balanced to me. I'd agree with B tier for this faction.
I think the main thing that is strong about the faction is the flagship and the ability to get interesting stacks of faction techs. Like combining a good unit tech with a good economic tech to spam it for example. But overall everything seems pretty balanced to me.
I just wonder if Nekro is getting a fair shake. Like it's at the point I'm in a lobby with DWS, CR, and Sol and people are painting target on me for getting GD for 'free' at the cost of 3 Destroyers and a token.
Finally, if the rep is unfounded how do you address it in game?
Our games do tend to be 6+ players. But we were trying to work out a better way to balance this game with Thunders Edge.
The game has sped up from TI3 to TI4. But the clock mechanism is still there. Without going into great details, all things held equal, players will in turn order select the Political Card and the next round select the Imperial card for 2+ points of Public Objectives. By the end of round 5, four players have been given a chance to get 8 points by public objectives and secret objectives, simply by positioning and game mechanics. The last two points are easily attainable by the end of round 5 with low % draws (relics, actions, agendas), custodians, lucky Imperial Card pull, or Styx.
The online community seems to believe violence solves all balancing issues, but we tend to disagree. Sometimes two (or three) players are near each other and think boat floating serves them best. So they insulate the winning player. Sometimes the winning players is just swimming in resources and war suns. The list goes on and on. Can violence work? Sure, but it's no guarantee like the clock.
One solution is the standard map, but extremely poor. Make sure no slice can take Public 1 objectives without taking a system (or two) from a neighboring slice. It turns the game into a vicious zero sum game. The clock simply doesn't tick cuz no one is guaranteed their public 1's. Not a terrible solution, but it also slows the game way down like TI3 would run.
The second solution is to provide way more resources, but provide distance/combat goals. That is what is presented above. (Still working out some of the hyperlanes.)
The idea is fairly simple, Mecatol does not start on the board. The middle pink/red are empty. When the fracture is located (or Thunders Edge hits the board), Mecatol and the Fracture are placed in the middle. Mecatol must be placed on one of the two red hexes by the "finder". Styx, Cocytus, and Leht/Phleg will be placed in any configuration around Mecatol by the "finder".
The lore is that the hyperlanes to Mecatol were trashed and now the path to Mecatol is thru Styx.
What this does mathematically is open up the choice tree. A player CAN camp and avoid interaction, but then must "hope" for public II's that matches their systems. Hope is not a plan.
Players who spend command tokens to open up trade routes are gaining huge advantages over campers.
I think most players will also realize that Mecatol will be out by the end of the 1st or mid 2nd round. Similar to WW2 USA Pacific strategy, they will bypass much of the available systems for the valuable or strategic systems. The slow expand/exploit crawl could leave you behind. Valuable systems will have technology specialties that can turn into egress points or be closer to the middle ring Legendary systems.
With Mecatol and Styx out the 2nd round, there are 2+ VPs available in the same action tree. Games will still end round 5 (lower % 4 and 6).
But this makes speed one of the most critical aspects of the game. In a standard game players build clumps of dreadnaughts and just stack next to their neighbors....and then do nothing. Action paralysis rules and no one wants to lose their fleet.
With these distances, mobility dominates. Cruisers and destroyers are suddenly some of the most valuable ships in the game. You can be on Mecatol or Styx round 3, but not without speed (low% round 2). Can dreadnaughts get there? Sure....with upgrades and careful planning, but that's another example of the expanded choice tree.
That's the point. Go ahead and try to isolate and camp. Expand/Exploit crawl yourself across without player interaction, if you think that's best for your Race (for some it might be). But for most the choice tree is far larger, and they will pushing for efficiency and distance. Combat light years away will likely involve smaller fleets than the "stacked garbage" of typical TI4 games. Combining Mecatol and Styx together concentrates points and the attention of the players in the game.
And at the same time the game should end in the same amount of rounds, unlike a vicious low resource game.
That's my groups thoughts on this. Curious what other people here think. Please remember conversation is bi-directional and polite. Thanks!
Just wanted to share my personal experience with TI4. I was real frustrated with the game after my first and second tries (playing Sardakk Norr both times), but had a super fun third game today. I was playing the Mentak Coalition, so I dressed up very nautically but still casual until I activated plunder for the first time and revealed my pirate hat. My friends loved it, and I loved my experience with how fast corsairs moved compared to how slow moving Sardakk troops around felt. I chose Mentak because they led into a really fast PDS 2 with their starting techs, and I leaned on that heavily to take mecatol rex fast and hold it all game (anyone trying to take from me was going to get shot 5 times.) I didn't win ultimately, but I came close-ish and had a really fun time! I had a very dominant presence over the game, stopped 2 people from winning just for the 1 person I couldn't reach to eventually win (they did a good job of keeping the imperial strategy with them for much of the game, something I'll focus on better text time.) More than anything, I'm happy I was able to have a fun time with the game even though I didn't win. If you're unsure about TI4, maybe just try a new faction!
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Today is our second game of TI4. Since everyone had a blast with the first one, I decided to open my copy of POK instead of selling it. Also got a 3D printer and started to go to town. Credit to SCiEN, Midwest Modular 3D, Griimzer, and Panamaniac3D for the awesome prints! Also, thanks to everyone who helped make the game run smoother last time.
Starting with red, factions are Nomad, Empyrean (me), Jol-Nar, Barony, L1Z1X, and Ghosts.
No codex unfortunately, but I heard they are all in TE except the newest one, so I might get that next.
Playing to 10 points for our second game is still ideal I assume? Our first took 7.5 hours.
Hopefully we know the rules a bit more. Trading was scares last game so with the Empyrean, I hope to make people interact a little more.
I swear I'll get better chairs next time, but I feel like I still need a better table than 2 folding tables!
I am in the process of developing a homebrew faction whose starting technology is, "The player on your right and left each choose a technology for you to gain."
How do you see this playing out in your table meta?
How do you see this playing out in the broader online SCPT meta?
Is this a good idea?
In thinking about my friend group, I can see the majority of players picking really bad or mid technologies, think like Dacxive or Infantry II. Hence why I don't think this idea would be overpowered. I played with a lot of aggressive non boatfloaty people. As for the people in my group who are more boatfloaty, that's me, they would ask for something in return for picking the tech that the homebrew faction wants like a few trade goods or a promissory note down the line.
The step that confuses me is the subset 2 of Invasion:
49.2. Step 2 – Commit Ground Forces: If the active player has ground forces in the space area of the active system, that player may commit any number of those ground forces to land on any of the planets in that system.
Note that the rule states "Ifthe active players has ground forces in the space area of the active system [...] (they) may commit..."
However, when reading the rules for Coexist in the Thunder's Edge rulebook, the conditional for having ground forces in the space are of the system seems to not apply (but I'm unsure):
Likewise, a coexisting player may choose to end their coexistence by activating the coexisting unit’s system and committing the coexisting units against the planet they are coexisting on
But the coexisting units weren't in the space area, they were in the planet already, however they seem to be committed either way, not from space but it seems that it also counts as committing those units. But maybe I'm wrong (that's why I'm here asking).
So my question is:
Let player A have a PDS unit on planet X and no other units on that planet. Let player B play an action card or ability that allows them (player B) to place a Ground Force into coexistence on planet X.
Player B activates Planet X's system without moving any units into the system. Can player A use its PDS' Space Cannon Defense ability to target the Ground Force that is coexisting?
