My Space Fleet is Invincible! — Let's Play Twilight Imperium Third Edition

Now that we're a few rounds into the game, I want to point out a few things in case I haven't before: The game will probably run no more than 10 rounds (it could end later than that if the Bureaucracy card were to be passed up in the 10th round, but as it gives you a chance to score before the Status Phase that's not super likely late in the game). The game should run at least 6 rounds barring a 10-point winner, but after that it's up in the air.

One of the cards in the Stage II section of the Objective Deck instantly ends the game when revealed (if you draw it as part of your two when executing Bureaucracy, you can choose not to reveal it, of course — and as revealing it ends the game before you can score points off Bureaucracy you won't want to reveal it unless you're in the lead). So keep that in mind as you work toward objectives.

Also, I'm starting to see why the manual recommends playing to 9 points when using Bureaucracy, because objectives come out pretty slowly. I'm fine continuing on with 10 as the winning number. What do the rest of you think?

I say stick with 10.

I attempt to claim action cards 103 and 127 before claiming action card 97. I've put one CC in my Command Pool. I cannot claim any victory conditions.

I still have the Speaker Token

THE EMBERS OF MUAAT

SPECIAL ABILITIES
>Your War Suns have a base movement of 1 until you acquire Sarween Tools and Deep Space Cannon; once acquired, base movement is 2
>As an Action, spend one Command Counter from Strategy Allocation to place 2 free Fighters or 1 free Destroyer in any one system containing one of your War Suns
>You may move through, but not stop in, Supernova systems

CONSUMABLES
Action Cards: 3
Political Cards: 1
Trade Goods: 3

COMMAND COUNTERS
Command Pool: 1
Strategy Allocation: 2
Fleet Supply: 3
Activations: 0
Total in play: 8/16

PLANETS (Resources/Influence)
Muaat (4/1)
Lesab (2/1, Green Tech Spec)
Resculon (2/0)
Coorneeq (1/2, Red Tech Spec)
El'Nath (2/0, Blue Tech Spec)
Mecatol Rex (1/6)

TECHNOLOGIES OWNED
Enviro Compensator
War Sun
Sarween Tools
Hylar V Assault Laser

UNITS (Deployed/Total)
Space Dock - 1/3
Ground Forces - 5 (+1 ST)
Fighters: 2
Carriers: 1/4
Destroyers: 1/8
Cruisers: 1/8
Dreadnoughts: 2/5
War Suns: 0/2

UNIT DEPLOYMENT
Muaat - 1x Space Dock, 1x Dreadnought, 2x Ground Force
El'Nath - 1x Carrier, 2x Fighter, 1x Ground Force, 1x Cruiser
Coorneeq - 1x Ground Force
Lesab - 1x Dreadnought, 1x Destroyer
Resculon - Control Marker
Mecatol Rex - 1x Ground Force, 1x Shock Troops

TRADE CONTRACTS
1 Letnev
2 Sardakk N'or

VICTORY POINTS: 1

The Yin draw Action Card 74, and throw two CC's into Command. All the rest of my stuff (literally) was in my last update. We do not qualify for any objectives.

COMMAND COUNTERS
Command Pool: 2
Strategy Allocation: 2
Fleet Supply: 4
Activations: 0
Total in play: 8/16

I'll spend my two command pool CCs and one strategy CC on the "Spend 3 CCs" objective for one victory point. Remove my activations, refresh my planets, take action card 61, and put my two CCs in the command pool.

CONSUMABLES
Action Cards: 4
Political Cards: 1
Trade Goods: 0

COMMAND COUNTERS
Command Pool: 2
Strategy Allocation: 1
Fleet Supply: 3
Activations: 0
Total in play: 6/16

PLANETS (Resources/Influence)
Moll Primus 4/1 - 3 Cruisers, 4 GF, Spacedock
Tequ'ran 2/0 - Red Tech - 2 GF, 1 Carrier, 1 Fighter
Torkan 0/3 – Blue Tech - 1 GF, 1 PDS
Saudor 2/2 – 1 GF, 1 Cruiser
Dal Bootha 0/2 – Red Tech - 1 GF, 3 Cruisers
Xxehan 1/1 – Green Tech - 1 GF
Lodor 3/1 - Green Tech



TECHNOLOGIES OWNED
Hylar V Assault Laser
Enviro Compensator
Stasis Capsules
Micro Technology
Cybernetics

UNITS (Deployed/Total)
Space Docks: 1/3
Ground Forces: 11
Shock Troops: 0
PDS: 1/6
Fighters: 1
Carriers: 1/4
Destroyers: 0/8
Cruisers: 7/8
Dreadnoughts: 0/5
War Suns: 0/2

TRADE CONTRACTS
Yin 1
Sardak Norr 1

VICTORY POINTS: 2

I am confused by this. Are the first numbers what you actually have?

Oh wow, look at all this neat stuff I get to do now. First off:

Claiming VP for more influence than my neighbors. (18 to Sarc's 9 and Sev's 17)

Taking 3 new CCs, thanks to hypermetabolism, adding 2 to command, 1 to strategy, drawing action card 25... and oh hey, I also have the option to throw it out and draw a new one. So let's ditch that and draw #3 to replace it.

Finally, I'll take those trade goods from Tsion, because people are getting all shooty all of the sudden, and it's time for long term conservative financial planning.

End of Round Full Status Report:

CONSUMABLES
Action Cards: 4
Political Cards: 1
Trade Goods: 3

PLANETS (Resources/Influence)
Jol – 1/2
Nar – 2/3
Capha – 3/0
Arnor 2/1
Lor 1/2 (Red Tech Specialty)
Starpoint 3/1
New Albion 1/1 (Green Tech Specialty)
Mehar Xull 1/3 (Blue Tech Specialty)
Mirage 1/2 (Fighters)
Tsion 2/2 (Trade Goods)
Bellatrix 0/1 (Red Tech Specialty)

COMMAND COUNTERS
Command Pool: 3
Strategy Allocation: 2
Fleet Supply: 2
Activations: 0

UNITS
Jol/Nar - Space Dock x1, Fighter x2, Ground Forces x2 (1 on each)
Starpoint/New Albion - PDS x1 (Starpoint), Dreadnought x1
Mehar Xull - PDS x1, Ground Forces x3, Carrier x1, Fighter x1, Dreadnought x1
Tsion/Bellatrix - Carrier x1, Ground Forces x1

TRADE CONTRACTS
Yin 1
Sol 2

TECHNOLOGIES OWNED
Hylar V Assault Laser
Deep Space Cannons
Magen Defense Grid
Antimass Deflectors
XRD Transporters
Cybernetics
Gen Synthesis
Hypermetabolism
Enviro Compensator
Sarween Tools
Microtechnology

VICTORY POINTS: 3

A quick note on discarding Political and Action Cards: I said earlier that we could just discard cards without saying what they are, but from now on let's state the names — I noticed recently that there are a few cards that allow you to search the discard deck or draw a card of your choice. No need to go back and do it for earlier discards, but keep it in mind as we move on.

(There are ways to figure out if an unnamed card has been discarded, of course — encode the name of the card you want and then search for the code in the encoded list, for example — but this'll make it easier).

Yeah; somehow they got a maximum attached to them. No idea how. I've just been ignoring them.

Won't actually work - you'll still get cards in people's hands.

True — it only works if a card hasn't been drawn yet, not for cards in hand. Not a perfect system. Unlikely to come up often, but I don't have a better idea at the moment.

Weird. You can't just delete the extra thing? That's really strange.

OK, I've made a new Google Docs file for discards. I'll send the link by PM soon. If you can think of any you've ditched, go ahead and add them.

While we're on the subject, how do we want to handle playing Action Cards? I think waiting for a full pass around the table each time we play one might be a bit much.

I think I went into it a bit before, but I don't think a full pass is needed most of the time. Most cards are played as an Action, or before and/or during a battle by the participants (in which case both should announce first, then reveal together and see if someone is going to Sabotage). Cards being played during the Strategy or Status phases would trigger a trip around the table, I suppose.

Ultimately, I think it'll depend on the card. There are so many that have such conditional uses (like ones that you play after taking a planet), that almost the only card anyone could play in response would be a Sabotage, which can be used at any time, anyway.

Drawing Action Card 5. Taking two command counters and placing one in Command Pool and one in Fleet Supply. Shuffling one command counter from Strategy Allocation to Command Pool.

CONSUMABLES
Action Cards: 2
Political Cards: 1
Trade Goods: 3

COMMAND COUNTERS
Command Pool: 2
Strategy Allocation: 1
Fleet Supply: 4

UNITS
Home space - Fighter x3, Carrier x1, Cruiser x1
Quinarra - PDS x1, GF x3, Space Dock x1
Perimeter space - Dreadnought x1,
Perimeter - GF x1
Vefut II - GF x1
A/L/A space - Cruiser x1
Abyz/Fria - Cruiser x1, Carrier x1, Fighter x1
Abyz - GF x1
Fria - GF x1

PLANETS
Quinarra – 3/1
Tren’lak – 1/0
Ashtroth 2/0
Abbadon 1/0 (red tech specialty)
Loki 1/2
Perimeter 2/2
Abyz 3/0
Fria 2/0 (Blue tech specialty)
Vefut II 2/0 (red tech specialty)

TECHNOLOGY
Hylar V Assault Laser
Deep Space Cannons
Antimass Deflectors
XRD Transporters

TRADE CONTRACTS
Mentak 1
Muaat 2

VICTORY POINTS: 2

I just didn't feel a need, especially since I couldn't remember when or why they showed up (which, come to think of it, was probably back in the first turn before we'd really been over how CCs are replenished). They're gone now, except for the Total in play category - I like to know what my reserves look like.

We do have sixteen CCs total available to us, right?

Refresh all planets.

Claim a victory point from public objective "I have more influence than my neighbors to my left and right." I have 11 influence compared to Sarc (9) and Lucas (10).

Draw Action Card 60.

Add 2 CCs back to the regular Command Pool.

COMMAND COUNTERS
Command Pool: 2
Strategy Allocation: 1
Fleet Supply: 3 (+1)

CONSUMABLES
Action Cards: 3
Trade Goods: 1

PLANETS (Resources/Influence)
Arc Prime – 4/0
Wren Terra – 2/1
Qucen'n -- 1/2
Primor -- 2/1 (Ground Troop Refresh)
Rarron -- 0/3 (Green Tech Spec)
Hope's End -- 3/0 (Shock Troopers)
Lirta IV -- 2/3 (Green Tech Spec)
Bereg -- 3/1 (Orange Tech Spec)

UNITS (Deployed/Total)
Arc Prime/Wren Terra -- Space Dockx2, Dreadnoughtx1, Carrierx2, Fighterx4,
Qucen'n -- Ground Forcesx1,
Rarron -- Ground Forcesx1
Primor -- Ground Troopx2
Hope's End -- Carrierx1, Fightersx3, Destroyerx1, Ground Troopx1, Shock Troopx2, Space Dockx1
Lirta IV: Cruiserx1, Carrierx1, Fightersx4, Ground Forcex1
Bereg: Ground Forcex1

TECHNOLOGIES OWNED
Hylar V Assault Laser
Antimass Deflectors
XRD Transporters – +1 Carrier movement
Enviro Compensators

TRADE CONTRACTS
Terran 2
Egarwen 2

VICTORY POINTS: 2

It's rather impressive how many of us managed to claim that more influence than your neighbors thing really.

Yeah. The only reason it was confusing is because there's no limit on the individual fields, only the overall count.

All right, that's everyone, so let's move on to the Strategy Phase for Round 4! Once again, here are the cards:







Assembly has a bonus counter worth 1 Trade Good.

Choosing order is as follows:

1. Egarwaen (SPEAKER) — Diplomacy II (2)
2. Epithet — Warfare II (6)
3. Lucas — Production (4)
4. `Hrist — Technology II (7)
5. Sarcasmorator — Leadership (1)
6. Googleshng — Assembly (3)
7. Severian — Warfare I (7)
8. L1Z1X Mindnet — Bureaucracy (8)

Egarwaen is up!

I was so close getting that too, if only you had 2 less influence, or I had two more.

So, when does my resource/influence swap back from my special ability? Before or after claiming public objectives?

I'm going to take Diplomacy II.

I'm also going to play an action card.

I will also play an action card.

Er... are you guys going to tell us what cards you're playing and what they do?

Are we waiting until everyone/enough people are declaring cards, or are we just going to proclaim what we have?

Yeah, it's the strategy phase. I shouldn't reveal until I know who might be Sabotaging me.

It happens when the round ends (after Status but before Strategy), after objectives are claimed.

Sabotage is the one card that doesn't have to be announced before it's played. Reveal, and if someone's going to Sabotage you they will. It's an interrupt, more or less (though that's the last Magic comparison I'll make).

While we wait for all this Action Card business, let's have a shiny new start-of-round map:



Embiggened.

And the reference map.

The Yin Homeworld of Darien just found an ancient supply of space-meth, and their production increased 50%! Unfortunately, it will be short lived, and the dockworkers will be losing their teeth shortly.

Playing Productivity Spike - Choose one of your Space Docks, its capacity increases by it's planet's influence that round. Play during Strategy Phase.

Action Cards: 3

Choosing my only space dock, and its production just increased from 4 to 6 this round.

Actually, it increases from 4 to 8 (2 for the dock, 2 for the planet's resources, 4 for its influence). If you do the switcheroo on Darien it should stay the same (2 for the dock, 4 for the resources, 2 for the influence).

As for Strategy Phase action cards, keep in mind that if you want to play one, you DON'T have to do so now. You can wait until later in the phase.

OK, I've looked through the Action Card deck to check on a few things, and there are vanishingly few areas where problems could arise from not going around the table every damn time. So let's do it like this:

� If you're playing a card as an Action, you don't have to wait for others, but you can of course be Sabotaged (Sabotage is played immediately after another player plays an Action Card; also, only the card is canceled — you can still take a different action, including play a different Action Card).
� If you're playing a card during a battle, give your opponent a chance to respond before resolving.
� If you're playing a card during the Strategy Phase or Status Phase, wait to reveal and see if others are going to play one as well, as we've been doing so far.
� If you're playing a card that has a very specific time it can be used (such as after invading a planet or after someone has read out a Political Card), there's no need to wait.

Those work for the cards in general, I think. But for Sabotage, because it interrupts whatever card is being played and we don't want to have people redoing their entire turns because the AC their entire plan hinged on gets zapped an hour later, what sort of window should we put on playing a Sabotage card?

Personally, I think it should be pretty brief — if you want to Sabotage you have to be tracking what's going on, not dropping in at midnight to cancel a card that was played at noon. Battles being the main exception, since they won't be progressing if one player isn't around anyway. Also, if an Action Card is being played that affects you (such as Local Unrest, recently played on me), just Sabotage ASAP — no time limit on that.