More Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition - 1st October 2011

Well after a succesful (but not so friendly) game of Twilight Imperium 3rd edition hosted by Clive (a big thanks to him!) I got the impression people would like to play more often. The time of 11am-midnight seemed perfect for getting a game in. I would see as players get used to it we can rattle off the rounds quickly. With that in mind I braved asking Memsaab... amazingly she agreed to letting me out for another game in 3 months! So that will run us into October... So again lets reply to this Thread with availability on these dates...

1st = Aneurin, Mike, Simon, Clive, Steve, Neil, Craig, Dave
8th = Aneurin, Simon, Clive, Steve, Neil, Craig, Dan
15th = Aneurin, Mike, Simon, Clive, Steve, Neil, Craig, Dan
22nd = Aneurin, Mike, Simon, Clive, Steve, Craig
29th = Aneurin, Mike, Simon, Clive, Steve, Craig

I might be going away in october... but think it is mid-week so should be ok for gaming!


Races and player for 1st October:

1: David 'L1Z1X Mindnet' / 'Emerates of Hacan'
2: Aneurin 'Winnu' / 'Embers of Muaat'
3: Mike 'Barony of Letnev' / 'Mentak Coalition'
4: Neil 'Federation of Sol' / 'Clan of Saar'
5: Simon 'Universities of Jol-Nar' / 'Arborec'
6: Craig 'Yssaril Tribes' / 'Sardakk Norr'
7: Steve 'Brotherhood of Yin' / 'Ghosts of Creuss'
8: Clive 'Xxcha Kingdom' / 'Nekro Virus' / 'Naalu Collective'

We start at 11.30am!

Wow, almost filled all the dates already, that's quite some demand there!!

I have 3 months to source another Stasis Capsules Tech card for the Purple deck. E-mailed FFG this morning... hopefully get a reply tonight. I've looked through all the other cards and couldn't find it!

With regard to picking races... how about we each pick 2 random home systems and pick which of the two we want to play with?

Check this out!

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1042913/islander

So who's going to make me one?

No no, we need our WAGS to provide administrative and secretarial support all day.

Preferably in 1940s WAAF uniforms.

Must lie down.

Picking from 2 systems would be good, playing so infrequently if you keep picking the same few races it could be a bit annoying.

And then there's always the problem that some races will never get played. Maybe give rejected races a trade good, and whoever gets them next gets any associated trade goods at the start of the game! Hmm, meta-gameplay, lovely.

Fantasy flight prove what a good company they are... Asked for a replacement stasis capsule tech card for the purple deck. It's being sent from the states free of charge! Brilliant... Suppose it could also be a sign of guilt after messing up the printing of my shards expansion.

Replacement card has arrived!

speaking to Wayne Last Night and he suggested the beggining speed move helps get the game going , what do peeps think

Right... finally got my holiday dates... I'm away between the 10th and 15th of October so if everyone is ok still the first date 8 people are free is the 1st October... lets set on that date and get it in the diaries.

Happy to take a vote on the Simulated early turns (need to read the rules again)... my only thinking is that the first rounds... expanding into safe space.... give people a chance to remember how the game works before any major space battles.

Don't forget I speed up the game with the house rule that you can build a space dock the same tunr to take a planet... think thats better for getting things going.

Anyway... I'll start a vote....

Bought twilight and its first expansion

Had a test game in Clive's shed - 3 player Clive, Mike and myself took us 12 hours even in 3 player mode

Went away to have a think about why this took so long.

Clive was ill so last Friday Mike and I downloaded some rules for a two player variant and tired a couple of rule chnages.

We completed the game in 4 ish hours using the Age of Empires variant. Allows you to see all VP's available and seems to make the game run faster.

Also added an interesting variant where the politics was made like warrior knights which also worked very well.

Used our extra time to play a second game - I lost twice!!!

Thoughts on these rules?

I agree with Simon that having the Public Objectives pre-selected and laid out for all to see worked really well. Each player still has his own set of Secret Objectives to work on as well.

And for those who haven't played it; the "Warrior Knights" way of voting is that you total your votes at the start of Parliament/Council, reveal 3 Political cards to vote on, and spend your votes on each card in turn after suitable discussion/bribery/shouting. The point being you can vote zero on some cards and so save your votes for others. Seems to be a good interactive way to play the Politics - and I didn't like the Representatives in TI3 Shards.

Mike

I think the warrior knights varient will be very confusing with 8 players. Thats 8 people splitting their votes acorss 3 laws (with 6 possible outcomes - if you exlcude the laws where you vote for planets)... it's hard enough to keep count when playing only 1 law in an 8 player game. Also it will effect the strategy cards and some special race abilites (The Xxercha for instance are allowed to pay a CC to trash the law being proposed and draw a new random one - if they can only trash 1 of 3 this dilutes their racial ability) which I personally feel are well balanced.

I agree representatives and binding agreements seemed a little confusing but we were playing them slightly wrong. I think we have to send a councillor if we have one (the last game was slowed by people deciding whether to attend or not). I think we give them another crack and see how it goes.

The dynamics are also different regarding the objectives. If you play age of empires there is no point in playing with the Bureaucracy stategy card. I actually like the strategy involved in using Bureaucracy... taking it to claim an extra VP that round and introducing a new objective that best suits your situation... Craig played this exceptionally well in the last game - it was only me that noticed what he was doing and I was so far behind I let him carry on. The Bureaucracy stategy card is weak at the start but in the late game really adds a new dimension.

Happy to vote on how people want to play... but what mechanism will we use? I sense another epic arguments forming and we are 1 month from the game

Let's vote separately on Age of Empires (ie Public Objectives all visible at the start) and Warrior Knights Voting on Politics.

Bureaucracy is less important a strategy with AoE but still useful as the selector can use it to claim an objective during the round as well as at the end of each round. God for that vital VP push !

Good point about Politics cards and races though.

Mike

Another thought the one thing you lose in the Age of Empires variant is an uncertainty about the end point. Could bring this back and still speed the game by putting the stage 2 cards face down. So 4 cards with one end game there but no one knows which.

Mike I suggest we try this out in 3 player tomorrow!

How about a half way house... start with 2/3 stage 1 objectives face up. Then have the usual 6/4 stage I&II hidden for use with the Beuracracy Strategy card?

Gives people basically an extra 3 VP to work towards in a 10 point game. 9VP total if you claim all stage I objectives... not enough to win without doing something else.

Played 3 player this Friday and adapted the age of Empires as follows :-

6 stage one all open at start
4 stage 2 face down

Worked well. It is the open cards at the start and use of Imperial II which speed the game as it makes it easier to score points.

What time are we starting at Clive's Shed on Saturday 1st Oct ? I can get there for 11:30am. Feel free to start unpacking the boxes before I arrive......

Also, shall we pick races in advance ? I'm happy to let Aneurin do it randomly and be told what I am.

Also Also, shall we agree to take-away meals for supper ? ie bring money everyone.

Lunch to be self-provided.

Mike

Lets go for 11.30am then! We are still a player short (listed in order of preferred alliance)...

1) Myself
2) Mike
3) Craig
4) Simon
5) Neil
6) Clive
.
.
.
.
27) Steve

I'll try David again... but any other suggestions welcome.

Wow, I've gone up in the rankings?!?

That will be the 2 kids I had that will never ally with their dad!

I'll randomise the races and pick 2/3 choices for each player. Will post on here. First need to find out if we are 8 or 7 players.

Seven players will actually be very interesting; always one strategy card unpicked each round...

Mike

Ok, I randomised this (player order and race) in Matlab... as I don't have the board at work. Player 1 gets the starter token. You get a choice of 2/3 races... so make your choice and let us know here:

1: David 'L1Z1X Mindnet' / 'Emerates of Hacan'
2: Aneurin 'Winnu' / 'Embers of Muaat'
3: Mike 'Barony of Letnev' / 'Mentak Coalition'
4: Neil 'Federation of Sol' / 'Clan of Saar'
5: Simon 'Universities of Jol-Nar' / 'Arborec'
6: Craig 'Yssaril Tribes' / 'Sardakk Norr'
7: Steve 'Brotherhood of Yin' / 'Ghosts of Creuss'
8: Clive 'Xxcha Kingdom' / 'Nekro Virus' / 'Naalu Collective'

N.B. Player 8 is still un-confirmed and if we don't get anyone to fill the slot players numbers change accordingly. In the above case we are all n-1. I have highlighted my choice already. Pretty obvious choice really. If you want to know more about your races let me know.

Thought I would make some predictions:
Player 8 'L1Z1X Mindnet'
Mike 'Mentak Coalition'
Neil 'Clan of Saar'
Simon 'Universities of Jol-Nar'
Craig 'Yssaril Tribes'
Steve 'Ghosts of Creuss'
Clive 'Nekro Virus'

But don't let my thoughts sway your decision

How about a half way house... start with 2/3 stage 1 objectives face up. Then have the usual 6/4 stage I&II hidden for use with the Beuracracy Strategy card?

Gives people basically an extra 3 VP to work towards in a 10 point game. 9VP total if you claim all stage I objectives... not enough to win without doing something else.

Aneurin
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Join date: 2011-07-20
Age: 31
Location: Deepcar


Looks like an excellent way to me. Keeps the decision making of beurocracy with the extra points of age of empires.

I have a question.

There seems to be an amount of discussion about the Arborec ability

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=34&efcid=1&efidt=503390

What do we think can the Arborec GF produce ships?