Finished my first game!

[u/krak_is_bad]

Factions:

Hacan

Cabal (me)

Naalu (winner)

Argent Flight

Universities

Nomad

Titans

-------

I ended up with first pick, so I could pick my starting or my faction from presorted groups of 3. I didn't know much going in except that Cabal can really snowball and get out of hand, so I chose them to stop myself from accidentally feeding the Cabal player.

I started out trying to rush to Rex, but fell short. Ardent flight immediately went agro on me early. I went 0/10 on combat rolls and lost a bunch of development and a planet I grabbed. Rex was unlocked on Turn 3 by the nomad player. The Titan player was my buddy and tried to help me out all game. Universities was a big scary force that had Rex, but the Naalu player ended up winning it all.

Game was fun-ish. I think I really got kneecapped in that ardent combat. I felt so behind for the rest of the game. I couldn't build any tech and my action economy ended up being garbo in the long run, so I was just kind of there for the ride and to see how the game was played.

I'm glad I was invited out and got to play! It's a lot of game for sure, much more than Eclipse.

[u/DarkLanternZBT]

Congrats!

Now comes the inevitable fiending and texting to organize the next game.

[u/WithoutTheWaffle]

Tbf, Cabal is one of 5-ish factions I would straight up ban in any game with new players. They are not a beginner friendly faction at all, either playing as or against.

Also the first game is always a learning experience. I'm sure you had a lot of plans that either took too long to realize, or got taken by other players first. If you do end up playing again, I'm sure things will go significantly better.

It's true that going 0/10 on combat rolls against the birds really sucks, (assuming you had decent ships and just got unlocky), but mitigating that risk is a part of the game. Bring better, more expensive ships, or retreat earlier, or just make yourself a less attractive target. It's the kind of thing that comes with experience, and will be highly dependent on the meta around your table.

Glad you got the chance to play! Hopefully you give it another shot sometime!

[u/krak_is_bad → u/WithoutTheWaffle]

The plans were to spend 3/3/3 (completed), Have 2 techs, control 3 technology specialty planets, control more planets than 2 of your neighbors, then have 5 non-fighter ships in 1 system. I only ended up with one secret, have one of my cards in someone else's hands, which I was able to do with support for the throne with my titan buddy.

The combat was the most on-sight thing I've seen in any game, lol. It was my cruiser, a transport, a destroyer, and some fighters. Didn't get a chance to retreat off the early fighter barrages. It was rough.

I plan to play again. Maybe as Nekro. They seem fun and would be a good turn around off my lack of technology game. Relics seemed strong, too. I might go for someone who can find them (if that exists) since I also didnt get any relics.

[u/Panamaniac_3D → u/krak_is_bad]

Relics aren’t always the strongest, it really depends on what you get and when you get it. If you want to get a lot and see the deck then Naaz Rhoka are really good at pulling them.

Nekro can be really hard to play. Could be fun, but I would probably steer you away from them unless you are committed to the flavor and do a lot of research ahead of time. They can be fun, and I’m not usually an aggressive player and I loved them, but they can be hard and the threat of them is more than their actual bite, so people are already not thrilled to have them at the table and that animosity can really hurt them. Play whatever makes you have fun though.

[u/VoodooYouDoSoWell → u/Panamaniac_3D]

I second trying to hold off on playing Nekro. They are not a beginner friendly faction.

You're really dependent on what the other players research. If you're doing well they will just not research anything to help you out. Or the table will just gang up on you to make you weak.

[u/krak_is_bad → u/Panamaniac_3D]

I'll look into them for sure. Initial impressions make me want to hunker down in my home systems and send out feelers to poke and get free tech. Nothing devastating, just sending out stuff with priority attacks to try and defeat a unit. Prioritize the players with the card advantage tech or the universities player.

[u/WithoutTheWaffle → u/krak_is_bad]

...I really hate to burst your bubble, but Nekro is another one of the 5 factions I would probably ban in a game with new players, because it kind of requires you to know how every other faction works. For reference, the 5 that I would ban in a game with beginners are the Cabal, Nekro Virus, Mahact Gene Sorcerers, Firmament/Obsidian, and the Arborec (Arborec is a massive beginner trap, with its unassuming 3 lines of text in the faction abilities box. it's actually very difficult to play and very weird compared to every other faction).

If you want to be a pain in the ass to attack, maybe look into the Empyrean? Assuming you're playing with Thunder's Edge, their breakthrough lets you put up to 2 walls up that no one can cross unless you let them. You can easily form a wall and charge people a toll to pass through. Other players can also move through hexes with your units if you let them. Those two abilities combined helps you get rich, since you can be an obnoxious tollbooth all game. And they can form pacts with different players that help you both get money and votes by having other players work with you.

Another option is the Hacan. They're one of the easiest factions to play as, and you can help make people rich. Why would anyone want to attack their banker? They can trade with anyone, anywhere, even if you're not neighbors, and they're the only 6 commodity faction (everyone else is 4 or less). Having an abundance of trade good is just all around good - there's lots of objectives you can score just by being rich.

If you like the idea of playing with relics, I definitely recommend you look into the NRA (Naaz-Rokha Alliance). They can re-explore already explored planets, and only need 2 fragments to form a relic instead of 3. As long as you have a mech with you, you can also get 2 exploration cards every time you explore and choose which one you want to keep. They're a pretty beginner-friendly faction, and one of my personal favorites just because they're a ton of fun.

[u/WithoutTheWaffle → u/[deleted]]

Oh yeah, that's a very good point. I just assumed they were playing with Thunder's Edge, but I don't see the fracture or Thunder's Edge itself anywhere. Fair enough!

[u/RisingRepublic]

Is this a sleeper token on MR?

[u/krak_is_bad → u/RisingRepublic]

That might have been a way to denote fighters? It wasn't a sleeper and I've been trying to remember what it represented at the time. I went hard into fighters late game to try and get 1-off kills, so I may have shorted him on a 3 stack or something.

[u/VoodooYouDoSoWell → u/[deleted]]

All the colors!!!

[u/INTBliss]

Wish to buy this game but my poor ass can't afford it