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Twilight Imperium Game 10 - Game Over!
MrBlarney
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Twilight Imperium
Over three thousand years ago, the Lazax ruled the galaxy. But after many millennia of control, the Lazax grew complacent with their position over the other races. The six great races of Sol, Hylar, N'orr, Hacan, Letnev, and Xxcha began to chafe under the rule of the Lazax Empire. And so when a trade dispute over the Quann wormhole resulted in the Sol armada acting against the Letnev, a flame spread like wildfire throughout the galaxy, igniting a civil war between races that had only tenuously been held back by the Lazax rule. In the centuries that followed, the Twilight War eradicated the Lazax race and turned back thousands of years of progress. The great races retreated to their home planets to rebuild, and once the Galactic Council was once again able to meet, it was a shadow of its former strength. And now, thousands of years later, after the long era of the Dark Years, the time is right for a new race to step up and become the rulers of the galaxy, and the guiding hand for all races within its domain.
Twilight Imperium is a boardgame of galactic empire-building on a large scale, often described as a 4X game given physical form. Players build ships, conquer planets, research technology, and engage in trade and diplomacy, all in the pursuit of earning victory points toward claiming the Imperial Throne of Mecatol Rex and rule over the entire galaxy. For this forum game, I am planning on including the following options from the game's two expansions and a number of house rules:
- Wormhole Nexus; Empty Worlds stack includes both Wormhole systems for setup; Regular Worlds stack includes Lodor and Quann systems for setup
- Modified galaxy creation, starting location, and race selection
- Strategy card set from Shattered Empire with modification to Warfare II
- Modified starting Secret Objective selection and completion
- Mixed Public Objective deck from base set and Shattered Empire with modifications
- Action Card deck cut from combined 170-card deck to 120 cards
- Political Card deck cut from combined 110-card deck to 60 cards; Political cards cannot be spent as Trade Goods but instead provide a Trade Good when drawn
- Racial Technologies, Flagships, Mechanized Units with modification, Shock Troops with modification
- Tactical Retreats
- Custodians of Mecatol Rex
Rules and Utilities
Base Set Rules
Shattered Empire Rules
Shards of the Throne Rules
Official FAQ
Tech Tree
Walkthrough/Tutorial
Previous Games on PA: Game I, Game II, Game III (setup), Game IV, Game V, Game VI, Game VII, Game VIII, Game IX
There are a lot of rules to read through, and the summary I am putting into these opening posts will not be entirely comprehensive. I recommend reading through the Walkthrough/Tutorial linked above for starters and as a good review of the base game for veterans. You might also want to look at previous games played on the forum for an idea of the flow of the game. Keep an eye out for text in darkorange to note house rule modifications.
In general, actions will be noted in bold dodgerblue, bold limegreen, and bold red: see the sections below for specific formatting. Alternatively, players may post actions in bold using their race's color. Except for conversations between teammates and those initiated by the host, all inter-player conversation must be done in-thread. If you have need for clarifications, feel free to ask in bold darkorange.
Game Objectives
In order to claim the Imperial Throne of Mecatol Rex, players must accumulate 10 victory points (VP). VPs are earned by fulfilling Objective cards, including Public Objectives, Preliminary Objectives, and Secret Objectives. As soon as any player has completed 9 VP worth of Objectives, the game ends immediately, even if another player could have gained more VP later in the round.
The Public Objective deck is comprised of 6 Stage I cards and 5 Stage II cards. Among the Stage II cards is "Imperium Rex", which acts as a bit of a game clock: if it is revealed, the game ends immediately and the player with the most VPs wins. In case of a tie, ties are broken in order by number of Objective Cards fulfilled, number of planets controlled, number of reserve Command Counters, and number of allocated Command Counters. If none of these measures break the tie, then the game ends in a draw.
At the start of the game, each player starts with two Secret Objective cards in hand. When a player completes a Secret Objective, all remaining Secret Objectives in their hand (even if they have drawn additional objectives) are returned to the Secret Objective deck and the deck shuffled.
The Public Objective deck is comprised of 6 Stage I cards and 5 Stage II cards. Among the Stage II cards is "Imperium Rex", which acts as a bit of a game clock: if it is revealed, the game ends immediately and the player with the most VPs wins. In case of a tie, ties are broken in order by number of Objective Cards fulfilled, number of planets controlled, number of reserve Command Counters, and number of allocated Command Counters. If none of these measures break the tie, then the game ends in a draw.
At the start of the game, each player starts with two Secret Objective cards in hand. When a player completes a Secret Objective, all remaining Secret Objectives in their hand (even if they have drawn additional objectives) are returned to the Secret Objective deck and the deck shuffled.
Races and Special Abilities
The Yssaril Tribes:
The Barony of Letnev:
The Naalu Collective:
The Nekro Virus:
Federation of Sol:
Universities of Jol-Nar:
- Starting Units: 1 Space Dock, 5 Ground Forces, 1 PDS, 2 Carriers, 1 Cruiser, 2 Fighters
- Starting Technologies: Antimass Deflectors, XRD Transporter
- Trade Contracts: 1, 2
- You are allowed to skip your action turn during the Action Phase. You may not skip two such action turns in a row.
- You draw one additional Action Card during every Status Phase. You are never limited to a hand size of Action Cards, regardless of the game rules and any active Political Cards.
- Once during every Strategy Phase, you may look at one other player’s hand of Action Cards.
- Racial Technology: Shuttle Logistics (Cost: +3) - At the start of the Status Phase, you may choose a system that does not contain any enemy ships. Your Ground Forces in the chosen system may move to any friendly planet in the same or an adjacent system (that does not contain any enemy ships).
- Racial Technology: Mageon Implants (Cost: +4) - When looking at your opponent’s hand of Action Cards using your racial ability, you may steal 1 card of your choice and add it to your hand.
- Flagship: Y’sia Y’ssrila (Cost: 9) - Battle 7 (x2), Movement 2, Capacity 5, Sustain Damage - This ship may move through systems containing enemy ships.
The Barony of Letnev:
- Starting Units: 1 Space Dock, 1 Dreadnought, 1 Destroyer, 1 Carrier, 3 Ground Forces
- Starting Technologies: Hylar V Assault Laser, Antimass Deflectors
- Trade Contracts: 1, 1
- Before any Space Battle or Invasion Combat Round, you may spend 2 Trade Goods to give all your Spaceships +1, or all of your Ground Forces +2, on their Combat Rolls for that Combat Round.
- Your Fleets may always contain one more Ship than your number of Command Counters in your Fleet Supply.
- Racial Technology: L4 Disruptors (Cost: +6) - You may use your race’s special ability during Invasion Combat without paying any Trade Goods.
- Racial Technology: Noneuclidean Shielding (Cost: +4) - When you use the sustain damage ability of one of your units, it prevents 2 casualties (instead of just 1).
- Flagship: Arc Secundus (Cost: 10) - Battle 5 (x2), Movement 1, Capacity 2, Sustain Damage, Bombard - This ship may bombard planets that contain PDS units. At the start of each combat round, repair this ship.
The Naalu Collective:
- Starting Units: 1 Space Dock, 4 Ground Forces, 1 PDS, 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 1 Destroyer, 4 Fighters
- Starting Technologies: Antimass Deflectors, Enviro Compensator
- Trade Contracts: 1, 2
- The initiative number on your chosen Strategy Card is always “0” (replacing the normal initiative number of the Strategy Card). This means that you are always first in the order of play.
- If attacked, a Naalu fleet may retreat before the beginning of the Space Battle step of the Tactical Action sequence (following the normal retreat rules and restrictions).
- All Naalu Fighters receive +1 on Combat Rolls during Space Battles.
- Racial Technology: Telepathic Mind Weapon (Cost: +5) - When your opponent activates a system that you control, he immediately loses 1 Command Counter from the Fleet Supply area of his race sheet.
- Racial Technology: Hybrid Crystal Drives (Cost: +3) - Your Carriers and unsupported Advanced Fighters each only count as 1/2 a ship (rounded up) towards the Fleet Supply.
- Flagship: Matriarch (Cost: 9) - Battle 8 (x2), Movement 2, Capacity 6, Sustain Damage - Your Fleet Supply limit in this system is increased by 1.
The Nekro Virus:
- Starting Units: 2 Ground Forces, 1 Mechanized Unit, 1 Carrier, 2 Cruisers, 1 Space Dock
- Starting Technologies: Gen Synthesis, Hylar V Assault Laser, Dacxive Animators
- Trade Contracts: 1, 2
- You may not vote on Political or Agenda cards.
- When you destroy at least 1 enemy unit in a Space Battle or Invasion Combat (excluding PDS fire), you may copy (receive) 1 free Technology Card (ignoring all prerequisites) that the enemy player has already researched. Limit once per battle.
- You may not receive Technology Cards from Political, Assembly, Action, or Strategy Cards. Any time you would receive a Technology Card in this way, instead gain 3 Command Counters.
- Racial Technology: Valefar Assimilator - Cost: Gain this Technology by using your racial ability to copy a racial Technology an opponent has researched. You cannot copy a Technology that modifies his racial ability. Place the race’s Control Marker on this card to remember which ability you have copied.
- Racial Technology: Valefar Assimilator - Cost: Gain this Technology by using your racial ability to copy a racial Technology an opponent has researched. You cannot copy a Technology that modifies his racial ability. Place the race’s Control Marker on this card to remember which ability you have copied.
- Flagship: The Alastor (Cost: 9) - Battle 9 (x3), Movement 1, Capacity 1, Sustain Damage - If this ship is destroyed, destroy all friendly and enemy ships in the system.
Federation of Sol:
- Starting Units: 5 Ground Units, 2 Carriers, 1 Destroyer, 1 Space Dock
- Starting Technologies: Antimass Deflectors, Cybernetics
- Trade Contracts: 2, 2
- As an Action, you may spend one Command Counter from your Strategy Allocation box to place two free Ground Units on any one Planet that you control.
- During the Status Phase, you receive one extra Command Counter.
- Racial Technology: Mark II Advanced Carriers (Cost: +4) - Your Carriers now have a capacity of 8 and gain the “sustain damage” ability.
- Racial Technology: Spec Ops Training (Cost: +5) - Each time you roll a 1 during Invasion Combat, you may reroll the die. You must use the second result.
- Flagship: Genesis I (Cost: 10) - Battle 5 (x3), Movement 1, Capacity 3, Sustain Damage - Ground Forces on this ship do not count towards its capacity.
Universities of Jol-Nar:
- Starting Units: 2 Ground Forces, 2 Carriers, 1 Fighter, 2 PDS, 1 Dreadnought, 1 Space Dock
- Starting Technologies: Hylar V Assault Laser, Antimass Deflectors, Enviro Compensator, Sarween Tools
- Trade Contracts: 1, 3
- You receive -1 on your Combat Rolls.
- When executing the Secondary Ability of the Technology Strategy, you may execute both its Primary Ability and the Secondary Ability.
- You may spend a Command Counter from your Strategy Allocation to immediately re-roll any of your die rolls.
- Racial Technology: Spatial Conduit Network (Cost: +6) - Once per turn when moving, you may move ships from one system you control to any other system you control as if the systems were adjacent. Your ships using this movement must end their movement in a system you control.
- Racial Technology: Electro-Resonance Turbines (Cost: +2) - When an opponent activates a system you control, gain 3 Trade Goods from the Trade Supply.
- Flagship: J.N.S. Hylarim (Cost: 10) - Battle 2 (x2), Movement 2, Capacity 2, Sustain Damage - Each 10 rolled by this ship during a Space Battle counts as 3 hits (instead of 1 hit).
Game Setup
At the start of the game, players each draws two Secret Objective cards, and the Public Objective deck is created with the top card immediately revealed. Six races will be randomly dealt out for later selection. Then, players each receive five system tiles for creation of the game map. Mecatol Rex is set at the center, with home system locations on the third ring directly outward. Starting from the first player and proceeding in a snake draft (first to last, last to first, etc.), each player places a system title from their hand with the following restrictions:
Once the game map has been created, players will conduct a final snake draft for starting location, race, and speaker token. Player order will be re-randomized from the galaxy creation phase. Each player will, on their turn, select a race, starting location, or claim the speaker token. Only one person may claim the speaker token: if taken, that player automatically takes the final choice of race or starting location. If no players claim the speaker token, it is given to the first player in the order.
After race and start location selection, Custodians of Mecatol Rex tokens are placed on Mecatol Rex (see Odds and Ends). Simultaneously, players place their starting units and receive starting technologies. Players then receive 2 Political Cards (and 2 Trade Goods) and allocate 2 Command Counters to Strategy Allocation, 3 counters to Fleet Supply, and 3 counters to Command Pool. The game begins with the first Strategy Phase.
- Each ring must be filled completely before moving on to the next, starting from the center and moving outwards.
- Special systems with red borders may not be placed adjacent to one another.
- If a player has placed a system containing no planets, then a system containing at least one planet must be placed on their next turn.
Once the game map has been created, players will conduct a final snake draft for starting location, race, and speaker token. Player order will be re-randomized from the galaxy creation phase. Each player will, on their turn, select a race, starting location, or claim the speaker token. Only one person may claim the speaker token: if taken, that player automatically takes the final choice of race or starting location. If no players claim the speaker token, it is given to the first player in the order.
After race and start location selection, Custodians of Mecatol Rex tokens are placed on Mecatol Rex (see Odds and Ends). Simultaneously, players place their starting units and receive starting technologies. Players then receive 2 Political Cards (and 2 Trade Goods) and allocate 2 Command Counters to Strategy Allocation, 3 counters to Fleet Supply, and 3 counters to Command Pool. The game begins with the first Strategy Phase.
General Game Flow
The game is played over a number of rounds, typically 5-10 in total. Each round is divided into three parts: the Strategy Phase, the Action Phase, and the Status Phase. In the Strategy Phase, players select Strategy Cards: this determines the special action that player may take during the round as well as play order. The bulk of activity takes place in the Action Phase: here players may deploy abilities specified by their choice of Strategy Card, activate systems for unit movement, space combat, invasion of planets, and building of new units, or to play certain action cards. Once everybody has passed their turns in the Action Phase, the Status Phase allows for players to score victory points by claiming objectives and refreshes the board setup for the next round of play.
Strategy Phase
In the Strategy Phase, players select Strategy Cards for the round. Each Strategy Card has a special ability and determines play order in the Action Phase. Starting from the player with the Speaker token and moving clockwise, each player will choose a card; each card may be selected by at most one player. To select a Strategy Card, note your selection in bold dodgerblue. Example:
I select the (1) Leadership Strategy Card.
At the end of the Strategy Phase, there will be two unselected Strategy Cards. A Bonus counter will be added to each card as incentive for selection in future rounds. When a player selects a Strategy Card with a Bonus counter, they immediately exchange each counter for either a Trade Good or Command Counter.
I select the (1) Leadership Strategy Card.
At the end of the Strategy Phase, there will be two unselected Strategy Cards. A Bonus counter will be added to each card as incentive for selection in future rounds. When a player selects a Strategy Card with a Bonus counter, they immediately exchange each counter for either a Trade Good or Command Counter.
Action Phase
Starting with the player with the lowest-numbered Strategy Card and moving up in number, players take actions sequentially until all players have passed. There are four different types of actions that players can perform: the Strategic Action, Tactical Action, Transfer Action, and using Action Cards that are played as actions. Details about the first three actions are contained in the following sections. The fourth is straightforward: the acting player declares the card they wish to play in bold dodgerblue, noting its effects. For expediency in the forum game environment, players do not need to declare use of the Action Card, wait for others to declare, and then actually play the card. (Please note that the two-step declare-then-play protocol still applies for other phases of the game, including the Strategy Phase, Status Phase, and battles.) Example:
I play an Action Card: Alien Technology.
I exhaust Arnor (2R) and Saudor (2R) to gain the technology Sarween Tools.
If a player does not wish to make any more actions during the round, they may pass their turn. Players must use the Strategic Action specified on their Strategy Card before ending their turn for the round. Players who have passed their turn will still be able to participate in secondary abilities from other players’ Strategic Actions, but take no further actions in the Action Phase. Players may pass their turn in bold red. Example:
I PASS my turn.
I play an Action Card: Alien Technology.
I exhaust Arnor (2R) and Saudor (2R) to gain the technology Sarween Tools.
If a player does not wish to make any more actions during the round, they may pass their turn. Players must use the Strategic Action specified on their Strategy Card before ending their turn for the round. Players who have passed their turn will still be able to participate in secondary abilities from other players’ Strategic Actions, but take no further actions in the Action Phase. Players may pass their turn in bold red. Example:
I PASS my turn.
MrBlarney on
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I activate the primary ability...
I PLAY the secondary ability...
I PASS on the secondary ability.
(1) Leadership
Secondary Ability: Masterful Tactician You may spend influence to purchase up to 3 Command Counters from your reinforcements. You receive 1 Command Counter for every 2 influence you spend.
Notes: Unlike other Strategy Cards, there is no need to spend a Strategy Allocation counter to use this card’s secondary ability. Usage examples:
I activate the primary ability of the (1) Leadership Strategy Card and exhaust Mellon (2I), placing 1 counter into Strategy Allocation, 1 into Fleet Supply, and 2 into Command Pool.
I PLAY the secondary ability, exhausting Dal Bootha (2I) to place 1 Command Counter into my Command Pool.
a) Choose one system containing a planet you control. Each opponent must place one of his Command Counters into the system from his reinforcements.
b) Execute the secondary ability of this card without paying a Command Counter or any influence.
Secondary Ability: Peaceful Annexation Spend 1 Command Counter from your Strategy Allocation area and 3 Influence to claim an empty planet adjacent to a system you control. Place your Command Marker on the planet.
Notes: The a) side of the primary ability protects a system from interference by other players; if they have no counters in their reserves they must take one from their race sheet if possible. Players may not use the secondary ability to take control of Mecatol Rex or a planet that was just annexed by another player using this ability during the same activation. Players may annex planets under the control of other players if the opponent has no ground units based at that planet. Usage examples:
I activate the primary ability of the (2) Diplomacy II Strategy Card, choosing option a) and targeting the Abyz-Fria system.
I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy Allocation Counter and exhausting Torkan (3I) to annex Vefut II.
a) Claim the Speaker token and choose one other player to play a Political Card and resolve its agenda. You may not choose this option if you are already the Speaker.
b) Choose one other player to claim the Speaker token. Play a Political Card from your hand and resolve its agenda. You must select a player that is not currently Speaker.
Secondary Ability: Morale Boost Spend 1 Command Counter from your Strategy Allocation area to refresh any number of your Planet Cards with total combined resource and influence of 6 or less.
Notes: If a player selected to play a Political Card has none to play, the top card of the Political Card deck is drawn and resolved instead. After negotiation, players vote on the agenda, starting to the left of the Speaker, with the option to also abstain from a vote. Each player's vote is worth the amount of influence on their unexhausted planets (minimum 1); Trade Goods may not be spent here to increase the power of the vote. The option with the most votes wins, with the Speaker breaking any ties. Usage examples:
I activate the primary ability of the (3) Assembly Strategy Card, choosing option a) to claim the Speaker token and choosing The Universities of Jol-Nar to play a card. (The activating player may wait to receive cards before making a choice)
Selected player under option a): I choose to bring "Ancient Artifact" to a vote., and posting the Political Card text.
Voting: I vote FOR the agenda, I vote AGAINST the agenda., I ELECT <item> for the agenda., I ABSTAIN from the agenda.
I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy Allocation Counter to refresh Lodor and Xxehan.
Secondary Ability: Double Efforts Spend 1 Command Counter from your Strategy Allocation area to immediately build up to 3 units in one of your systems containing one or more friendly Space Docks, even if you have activated this system already. Building units here does not activate the system.
Notes: Players are still limited by the normal production capacity of Space Docks during activation of this card. Usage examples:
I activate the primary ability of the (4) Production Strategy Card, exhausting Fria (2R) to build a Cruiser (2R) and 2 Destroyers (2R) at the Space Dock on Abyz.
I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy Allocation Counter and exhausting Lodor (3R) to build a Cruiser (2R) and 2 Fighters (1R) at the Space Dock on Lodor.
Notes: Each race has two Trade Contracts that they may exchange with others to earn Trade Goods in the Trade Strategy Card, and trade agreements must be made between different races (i.e. you can’t exchange both Contracts with the same race). Negotiation is encouraged when making and approving agreements. There is no secondary ability associated with this Strategy card. Players do not need to declare the Trade Goods they gain, but may do so optionally. Usage examples:
I activate the primary ability of the (5) Trade II Strategy Card, receiving 6 Trade Goods (3 free + 3 from agreements). or
I activate the primary ability of the (5) Trade II Strategy Card, breaking the Trade agreement between The Universities of Jol-Nar and The Barony of Letnev. I collect 3 Trade Goods (all from agreements).
When trying to create an agreement: I request the creation of a Trade Agreement between myself [2] and The Xxcha Kingdom [2].
When approving a trade: I approve of the creation of a Trade Agreement between The Xxcha Kingdom [2] and The Federation of Sol [2].
Secondary Ability: Reinforce Spend 1 Command Counter from your Strategy Allocation area to move up to two of your ships from unactivated systems into any adjacent systems that do not contain enemy units. Then place one of your Command Counters from your reinforcements in each destination system that you did not control before the movement.
Notes: The High Alert token does not affect the performance of ground units, nor does it affect pre-combat abilities. Moving ships using the secondary ability does not trigger PDS Fire. Control of a system is defined by control of all planets in the system (if any) and the presence of at least one non-Fighter friendly ship. Usage examples:
I activate the primary ability of the (6) Warfare II Strategy Card, placing the High Alert token in the Abyz-Fria system.
I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy Allocation Counter to move a Destroyer from Quann to Qucen'n-Rarron and a Cruiser from Dal Bootha-Xxehan to Qucen'n-Rarron.
Secondary Ability: Advanced Development Spend 1 Command Counter from your Strategy Allocation area and 6 resources to receive one Technology advance (for which you have the necessary prerequisites.
Notes: Common technologies are divided into four categories and organized into a tech tree. (Tech Tree) If purchasing technology, the cost may be reduced by one for each technology specialty icon matching the type of technology you wish to buy on your unexhausted planets. You do not have to exhaust such planets during technology purchasing to gain their bonus. Each race also has two Race-Specific Technologies only they may purchase. These technologies have no prerequisites, are colorless, and incur an additional resource cost to purchase; this includes if the technology is selected for the 'free' technology in the primary ability. Usage examples:
I activate the primary ability of the (7) Technology II Strategy Card and exhaust Abyz (3R) to gain racial technology "Production Centers". (Hacan racial technology costing +3 resources)
I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy Allocation Counter, exhausting Abyz (3R), Fria (2R), and using the Fria Technology specialty to gain "XRD Transporters".
Primary Ability: Senatorial Control Receive 1 Command Counter from your reinforcements. Then draw the top two cards from the Objective deck. Place one faceup in the common play area and the other on the top of the deck. You may then immediately claim one public objective that you qualify for.
Secondary Ability: New Agendas Spend 1 Command Counter from your Strategy Allocation area to draw one Political Card and one Action Card.
Notes: If "Imperium Rex" is revealed, whether by the special action or primary ability, the game ends immediately without any further player actions (including qualification for further objectives). A player must control all planets in their home system in order to claim an objective. Usage examples:
I activate the primary ability of the (8) Bureaucracy Strategy Card, placing a Command Counter into Command Pool.
After receiving Objective Cards: I reveal the following Objective Card:, and posting the Objective Card text.[/color][/b]
I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy Allocation Counter to draw one Political Card and one Action Card.
Tactical Action
- Activate a System One counter will be spent from the Command Pool to activate the chosen system.
- Movement into the System Ships cannot be moved out of activated systems and cannot pass through systems with non-Fighter enemy ships. Units with carry ability can pick up units at any time during their movement as long as the systems do not contain enemy ships and are not previously activated.
- PDS Fire If there are any enemy PDS units in range, play will be paused to allow their owning players the opportunity to decide whether or not to react. The active player may then choose to activate their own PDS units, if any. Hits are scored as in Space Battles (see below) by each player.
- Space Battles A Space Battle occurs when ships of different players are in the same system. See section below.
- Planetary Landings Units being carried may be landed at this time; they may be split between multiple planets.
- Invasion Combat Invasion Combat occurs when units of different players are in the same planet. See section below.
- Produce Units Players may exhaust planets and spend trade goods to build units at a previously established Space Dock, or to build a Space Dock if the planet it is being built on has been controlled the entire round. The maximum number of units that may be produced is equal to 2 plus the resource value of the planet housing the Space Dock.
If a planet is taken, either by landing a Ground Force or Mechanized Unit on an empty planet or winning Invasion Combat, the planet card is received in exhausted state. Example:I spend a Command Pool Counter to activate the Tar'mann system and perform a Tactical Action.
A Carrier with two Fighters and two Ground Forces from Tequ'ran-Torkan and a Cruiser from the Xxcha Home System will be moved in. (If there were PDS in the area, the action would pause for PDS fire. Assuming the system is empty,)
I land two Ground Forces onto Tar'mann, taking control of the planet.
Building units: I exhaust Bereg (3R) to build a Cruiser (2R) and two Fighters (1R).
Space Battles and Invasion Combat
- Announce Withdrawals/Retreats Attacker has first option to declare a retreat, followed by the Defender. Players may retreat into an adjacent activated system without enemy ships. Alternatively, the defender may spend a counter from Strategy Allocation to activate an adjacent empty or friendly system for the purposes of retreat.
- Roll Combat Dice Both players simultaneously roll outcomes for all their ships.
- Remove Casualties Both players decide what ships to remove from their own fleets; attacker removes first.
- Execute Withdrawals/Retreats If there are still ships of both players in the system and a retreat was declared, it is executed now.
Battle rounds continue until a player retreats or only ships of one kind (or fewer) remain in the system. Generally, battles will be conducted via private message, and it is encouraged to have conditional orders in place with me in order to expedite the process. Results will be announced in thread at battle’s completion.Invasion Combat flows similarly to Space Battles, but without a retreat option. Pre-combat, the attacker has the option of using Planetary Bombardment with his Dreadnoughts and War Suns and the defender may use PDS fire. For Bombardment, ships must be split between planets if there are multiple invasions, and Dreadnoughts may not bombard planets that contain enemy PDS units. PDS units must be on the planet being invaded to be used in PDS fire. For each hit by each player, one Ground Force or Shock Troop is removed or one Mechanized Unit is damaged (but not destroyed). Remaining Ground Forces, Shock Troops, and Mechanized Units fight it out in rounds of rolling combat dice, then removing casualties. If the attacker wins with at least one Ground Force, Shock Troop, or Mechanized Unit remaining, then he gains control of the planet. All enemy Space Dock and PDS units are destroyed, unless the attacker has at least one Shock Troop; in that case, the invader may choose to capture the facilities instead, replacing them with units of his own.
Units
Transfer Action
- Activate Two Systems One counter will come from the Command Pool like in a Tactical Action, the other will come from the reserve tokens. Both systems must be “friendly”, containing at least one friendly unit and no enemy units, and must be adjacent to each other.
- Movement Between Systems
- PDS Fire
- Planetary Landings Units may not be landed on neutral or enemy-controlled planets in the Transfer Action.
- Produce Units Units may be produced or a Space Dock may be built at only one of the activated systems.
Example:I spend a Command Pool Counter to activate the Saudor and Arinam-Meer systems and perform a Transfer Action.
A Carrier with two Fighters and two Ground Forces will move from Saudor to Arinam-Meer; a Cruiser will move from Arinam-Meer to Saudor.
I will land one Ground Force from the Carrier to each of Arinam and Meer.
I will exhaust Saudor (2R) and spend 2 Trade Goods to build a Space Dock on Arinam.
- Qualify for Public/Preliminary/Secret Objective Cards Players may qualify for at most one Public Objective Card and one Secret Objective Card per round. A player must control all planets in their home system in order to claim an objective. All players may claim each Public Objective once; players may not claim other players' Secret Objectives.
- Repair Damaged Ships
- Remove Command Counters Counters are removed from the board and returned to players' reserves.
- Refresh Planet Cards Trade stations and certain worlds have Refresh abilities that can be used immediately after refreshing, causing them to become exhausted.
- Receive 1 Action Card and 2 Command Counters
- Redistribute Command Areas If a player reduces their Fleet Supply, they must make sure their fleet numbers are in compliance with the new number.
- Return Strategy Cards Strategy Cards return to the common area for selection in the next Strategy Phase.
Players may also scuttle units during the Status Phase, returning the unit to the reserves. Most steps are automatic; outside of potential Action Card plays and scuttling units, players need only declare how they are redistributing their Command Counters in the Status Phase. Example:I gain 2 Command Counters, placing one in Strategy Allocation and one in Command Pool., or I gain 2 Command Counters, rearranging my Command Areas to include 2 in Strategy Allocation, 4 in Fleet Supply, and 2 in Command Pool.
Odds and Ends
TG/AC/PC: 2/0/2
SA/FS/CC: 2/3/3
Game State Links
Signups
Player and Race Draw, Galaxy Creation, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Race and Position Draft
Round 1: Start of Strategy Phase, Action Phase Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Start of Status Phase
Round 2: Start of Strategy Phase, Action Phase Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Start of Status Phase
Round 3: Start of Strategy Phase, Action Phase Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Start of Status Phase
Round 4: Start of Strategy Phase, Action Phase Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Start of Status Phase
Round 5: Start of Strategy Phase, Action Phase Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Start of Status Phase
Round 6: Start of Strategy Phase, Action Phase Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Update 6, Start of Status Phase, Status Phase Update
Naalu has gained the necessary 9 Victory Points and has won the game!
People interested in playing should indicate their interest by posting a message indicating such in bold limegreen. I'll close signups Tuesday 2015 April 21, 10pm PDT, conditional on there being at least six interested players. Six players will be selected randomly for game participation; remaining players will act as reserves in case someone drops from the game or is no longer interested in playing.
Please take note of the optional modules and numerous house rules that will be employed in this game, as listed at the top of the opening post:
I am quite open to suggestions for other changes. To aid in your discussion, elaboration on a few of the points above follows:
Start Location, Race, and Starting Player Selection:
Mixed Public Objective Deck:
Stage I
[1 VP] I have at least 5 Technology Advances.
[1 VP] I have Technology Advances in all 4 colors.
[1 VP] I now spend 8 resources or 8 influence.
[1 VP] I now spend 3 Command Counters from my Command and/or Strategy Allocation areas.
[1 VP] I am blockading an opponent’s Space Dock or have destroyed an opponent’s Space Dock this turn.
[1 VP] I won a Space Battle against at least 3 opposing ships in one system this turn.
[1 VP] I successfully invaded one planet containing at least 1 opposing Ground Force or Mechanized Unit this turn.
[1 VP] I took control of 3 planets this turn.
[1 VP] I control 5 planets outside my Home System.
[1 VP] I control Mecatol Rex.
Stage II
[2 VP] I have at least 5 Technology Advances of the same color.
[2 VP] I have at least 9 Technology Advances.
[2 VP] I now spend 16 resources or 16 influence.
[2 VP] I now spend 6 Command Counters from my Command and/or Strategy Allocation areas.
[2 VP] I won two Space Battles this turn, each in different systems and against at least 3 opposing ships.
[2 VP] I successfully invaded two planets, each containing at least 1 opposing Ground Force or Mechanized Unit, this turn.
[2 VP] I control 10 planets outside my Home System.
[2 VP] I control the Mecatol Rex system and at least 3 systems adjacent to it. I "control" a system if I have at least one (non-Fighter) ship there, and I control every planet in the system.
[WIN] Domination!: I control all the planets in the Home Systems of two other players and have at least 4 (non-Fighter) ships in each.
[GAME OVER] Imperium Rex: As soon as this card is revealed, the game ends immediately. The player with the most victory points wins the game.
Trimmed Action and Political Card Decks:
117 Action Cards achieved a score of above 3.0, having at most one "cut" call and each having at least two "keep" calls. Three Action Cards achieved a score of exactly 3.0 and were selected on the basis of other cards with the same name achieving a score above 3.0 (there were cases where cards with the same name were given different tags), for a total of 120 cards for the Action deck.
52 Political Cards achieved a score of above 3.0; adding in the eight cards that had a score of exactly 3.0 generates a set of 60 cards for the Political deck.
As a quick suggestion before I hop back off:
I like to counteract some of the RNG involved in manual galaxy creation for my live games by dealing each player two Preliminary Objectives and two Secret Objectives at the start of the game. Players choose one of each to keep and return their unchosen objectives to be shuffled. The first Secret Objective can't be completed until later in the game (as usual), but upon completing their Preliminary Objective, a player receives another pair of Secret Objectives to choose between (also can't be completing until the standard time). This ensures each player has the potential for at least 5pts worth of Objectives (1*1pt Prelimary and 2*2pts+ Secret) they can choose to suit their board position. It also tends to promote faster games (more or less important in PbF based on the group) with closer point spreads.
I might have another suggestion or two come Sunday after I've had time to take a closer look.
(As a personal preference, I'd opt for excluding Imperium Rex just because of how anti-climactic it can be if it's not manually placed at the bottom of the Objectives stack)
PSN: TheBrayster_92
I'll not play, but I'll keep the game going should a player disappear at some point.
It's an interesting thought, though there are two factors that lead me against this approach. First, having so many hidden Objectives puts a lot of influence on holding secrets, which are harder to react to and work against than the Public Objective cards. I'll have to think a bit whether or not that's actually a good thing or not, but something tells me that it'll change the dynamic of the game greatly. This is especially if someone draws two Secret Objectives that require control of Mecatol Rex, and a player can synergize the two into a huge four-point swing. The other factor that I am concerned about is the fact that there simply aren't enough Public Objective cards to be able to deal each player two at the start (ten cards available, where six players would require twelve at the least). Component limitations puts a damper on this one for the full game.
I did try in previous games a public line of Preliminary Objective cards preceding a choice between two drawn Secret Objective cards, which is part of the way towards your suggestion. Since I've decided to simplify things a little bit by not using Preliminary Objectives, that just leaves the initial hand of Secret Objective cards. We'll see how that goes.
On the other hand, the hidden possibility of Imperium Rex also puts pressure on being ready for the game to be over at any point (after Round 5) and generates an interesting dynamic for control of the Bureaucracy card. True, it may be anticlimactic for Imperium Rex to surprise folks at the top of the Stage II deck, but the uncertainty can also provide a bit more drive to activity, without the assurance that you can hold back for one more round before making your decisive strike.
But having played before I'll wait if someone else who didn't, want in...
Than you have better to correct the OP, since in technology strategy explanation there is a link to the alternated one...
It seems like setup is going to involve minimal skill and planning, and that things are in fact set up that way on purpose.
The galaxy is set up before players know their secret objectives, or even the order races/starting positions are seelected, and then when selecting races/start locs they still wont know their secret objectives.
Could you comment on why you wouldn't want to give SOs at the beginning of the process at least, if only so people could start using that knowledge to plan their moves, and maybe even allow others to guess what they're trying to accomplish?
Im genuinely curious on this
Re: objective mix. There's no preliminary objective that can't be accomplished by anyone on the board. They're not hard, and shouldn't need a choice-of-two thing. I agree to a choice of 1 of 2 SO, to counter the board setup RNG. Imperium Rex should stay in and shuffled as normal, IMO. Players that spend a round building an empire instead of pursuing objectives should lose
After game 8, and all its crazy betting stuff, I'd say abandon it, but leave random homeworld placement to encourage a more balanced galaxy.
b]Edit[/b I couldn't help but notice that you left out an important part regarding the Trade II Strategy card that is noted on the card itself--
"The active player initiating the strategy card may not cancel Hacan agreements."
It's not much of a big deal, but it is something important for the new players to know as well
Looks like we're 24 hours from signups closing, and we've got plenty of people signed up. I think I'll lock down any major house rules changes now, so I can be prepared for tomorrow night when the game begins.
Yeah, going into map creation knowing your SO and available races would allow for much more strategizing and counter strategizing, especially not knowing who will go first in the race/starting loc selection.
I think knowing your SO can definitely aid your placement of the map pieces. If you know you need to take over an enemy homeworld, you can try to ensure that two races will have start locs with good access to each other and plentiful resources in between them, and plan to use your first choice to take one of the two locations. If you need to take Mecatol, you can try to set it up to be less accessible. If you're betting on being a particular race and getting stuck with a weak homeworld you can try to balance the start locs out, and maybe foil what other people are trying to do with their map placements.
The potential of looking at your opponents' moves and gleaning some sort of information on their SO and plan going forward is there anyway. People could just be placing stuff randomly because they don't feel it matters with the random race/start loc selection order, but I prefer the possibility of bluffing/gleaning info and hoping you have a good SO/order choice over what is guaranteed to be random placement any day
That's not even counting not knowing the placement of your opponents or when you get to pick.
Balanced galaxy creation, yo.
For Instance:
- 1 Influence -- 1 CC
- 3 Influence -- 2 CCs
- 6 Influence -- 3 CCs
- 10 Influence -- 4 CCs
- 15 Influence -- 5 CCs
... so on and so forth. Of course, you can only obtain however many CCs you have available in your reinforcements.- Reveal Races and first Public Objective
- Deal/Choose Secret Objectives (and Preliminary if you choose to include them)
- Create Map
- Snake Draft
Putting Secret Objectives after Race reveals only matters if you're allowing players to choose X from a selection of Y.Yeah exactly, its risk/reward.
Though placing that nova by itself isnt much of a risk, since the only way you get screwed (assuming youre willing to use your first pick for startloc) is if you pick last and everyone else chooses the startlocs you want first...at which point I guess you get the best race as compensation?
The following forum members have signed up as primaries for this game:
- Entrepidus
- The Brayster
- El Skid
- jakobagger
- Phyphor
- Kaneski
- Daemonis
- XeadinMC
- Lykouragh
with Preda and discrider as reserves. A permutation will be taken to determine who will play and the initial player order. A permutation will also be used to select player races, from the following list:And now, the time of judgement:
Geth roll 9p9 for Player Order
Geth roll 17p6 for Races
The following races will be vying for the rule of the galaxy:
The Yssaril Tribes:
The Barony of Letnev:
The Naalu Collective:
The Nekro Virus:
Federation of Sol:
Universities of Jol-Nar:
All players draw two Secret Objective before galaxy creation. The Public Objective deck is created, composed of six Stage I Objective cards on top of five Stage II Objective cards. The top card of the Public Objective deck is revealed:
[1 VP] I took control of 3 planets this turn.
Starting Map
For galaxy creation, 32 system tiles have been shuffled together, comprising 4 red-bordered systems, 8 empty systems (including both wormhole systems), and 20 regular systems (including both wormhole-containing systems). Two systems have been randomly taken out of the stack and each player has received 5 tiles. In turn, players will place tiles to the board observing the following restrictions:
- Each ring must be filled completely before moving on to the next, starting from the center and moving outwards.
- Special systems with red borders may not be placed adjacent to one another.
- If a player has placed a system containing no planets, then a system containing at least one planet must be placed on their next turn.
Should a player be unable to place a system according to these rules, their hand of systems is revealed so that they may place a system while breaking the normal rules. When a system with no planets is placed, its placer my give it a name for unique identification. Tile placement will be in the following order:- Inner Ring (1-X): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
- Middle Ring (2-X): 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 2, 1, 6, 5, 4, 3
- Outer Ring (3-X): 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 6, 5
Once all tiles have been placed, a new draft will be held for race, starting position, and speaker token.Secret Objective and system draws going out shortly; Daemonis to place a system when he is ready.
And I'll bite my tongue on which of those races are the best...
One more thing about map creation: when placing an empty (including systems with only wormholes) or red-bordered system, the player placing the system is free to give it a name of his choosing for identification on the map.
System Placement Order
Daemonis Current Player
The Brayster
Phyphor
Lykouragh
jakobagger
El Skid
--
Phyphor
Lykouragh
jakobagger
El Skid
Daemonis
The Brayster
The Brayster
Daemonis
El Skid
jakobagger
Lykouragh
Phyphor
--
jakobagger
El Skid
Daemonis
The Brayster
Phyphor
Lykouragh
Lykouragh
Phyphor
The Brayster
Daemonis
El Skid
jakobagger
@The Brayster
Sorry for wasting your time.
PSN: TheBrayster_92