Twilight Imperium - Game 6: Round 9 - Game Over!

MrBlarney

Twilight Imperium 4th edition

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. This is a 4th edition game, using the following variants and options:

• Alternative Diplomacy Primary Ability, Magen Defense Grid Technology, and X-89 Bacterial Weapon Technology
• Lodor and Quann (planet+wormhole systems) forced to be in galaxy.
• Snake draft for position and race after galaxy creation.
• For expediency of play, some resolutions such as combat die rolls will be performed simultaneously.
• Ownership of all Promissory Notes is public information.

Rules and Utilities

Learn to Play Rulebook
Rules Reference Rulebook
Living Rules Reference v1.2 - official revisions and clarifications to the Rules Reference and FAQs
General Technologies

Other / Previous TI4e Games on PA: Game I, Game II, Game III, Game IV, Game V

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 Learn To Play rulebook linked above for starters. You might also want to look at other or previous games played on the forum for an idea of the flow of the game.

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 initiated by the host, all 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). As soon as any player has completed 10 VP worth of Objectives, the game ends immediately, even if another player could have gained more VP later in the round. VP are generally earned by fulfilling Objective cards, which include two types: Public and Secret.

The Public Objective line is comprised of 5 Stage I cards and 5 Stage II cards. Two Stage I objectives are publicly revealed at the start of the game, and one Public Objective is revealed towards the end of each round. If there are no more Objective cards to reveal when one would be revealed, the game ends instead and the player with the most victory points wins. In case of a tie, the player who has the earliest (lowest) initiative value wins.

Each player has a hand of Secret Objective cards, drawing one at the start of the game. Secret Objectives may only be fulfilled by the holding player. A player can have at most three Secret Objectives, and must return an unfulfilled Secret Objective to the deck if they draw a fourth.

Races and Special Abilities

The Ghosts of Creuss

- Home System: Creuss (4R, 2I)
- Starting Units: 1 Carrier, 2 Destroyers, 2 Fighters, 4 Infantry, 1 Space Dock
- Flagship: Hil Colish: Combat Value 5, Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. This ship's system contains a Delta wormhole. During movement, this ship may move before or after your other ships.
- Starting Technology: Gravity Drive
- Racial Technology: Dimensional Splicer (Red, requires 1 Red): At the start of Space Combat in a system that contains a wormhole and 1 or more of your ships, you may produce 1 hit and assign it to 1 of your opponent's ships.
- Racial Technology: Wormhole Generator (Blue, requires 2 Blue): At the start of the Status Phase, place or move a Creuss wormhole token into either a system that contains a planet you control or a non-home system that does not contain another player's ships.
- Commodities: 4
- Quantum Entanglement: You treat all systems that contain either an Alpha or Beta wormhole as adjacent to each other. Game effects cannot prevent you from using this ability.
- Slipstream: During your Tactical Actions, apply +1 to the movement value of each of your ships that starts its movement in your home system or in a system that contains either an Alpha or Beta wormhole.
- Creuss Gate: When the board is created, the Creuss Gate is placed where your home system would normally be placed. The Creuss Gate system is not a home system; your home system is placed in your play area.
- Racial Promissory Note: Creuss IFF: At the start of your turn during the Action Phase: Place or move a Creuss wormhole token into either a system that contains a planet you control or a non-home system that does not contain another player's ships. Then, return this card to the Creuss player.

Universities of Jol-Nar

- Home System: Jol (1R, 2I), Nar (2R, 3I)
- Starting Units: 1 Dreadnought, 2 Carriers, 1 Fighter, 2 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 2 PDS
- Flagship: J.N.S. Hylarim: Combat Value 6 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. When making a combat roll for this ship, each (pre-modified) roll of 9 or 10 produces 2 additional hits.
- Starting Technologies: Neural Motivator, Antimass Deflectors, Sarween Tools, Plasma Scoring
- Racial Technology: Spacial Conduit Cylinder (Blue, requires 2 Blue): You may exhaust this card after you ativate a system that contains 1 or more of your units; that system is adjacent to all other systems that contain 1 or more of your units during this activation.
- Racial Technology: E-Res Siphons (Yellow, requires 2 Yellow): After another player activates a system that contains 1 or more of your ships, gain 4 Trade Goods.
- Commodities: 4
- Fragile: Apply -1 to the result of each of your units' combat rolls.
- Brilliant: When you spend a command token to resolve the secondary ability of the Technology Strategy card, you may resolve the primary ability instead.
- Analytical: When you research a technology that is not a unit upgrade technology, you may ignore 1 prerequisite.
- Racial Promissory Note: Research Agreement: After the Jol-Nar researches a technology that is not a faction technology: Gain that technology. Then, return this card to the Jol-Nar player.

The Naalu Collective

- Home System: Druaa (3R, 1I), Maaluuk (0R, 2I)
- Starting Units: 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 1 Destroyer, 3 Fighters, 4 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 1 PDS
- Racial Unit: Hybrid Crystal Fighter (Fighter): As Fighter, but Combat Value 8.
- Flagship: Matriarch: Combat Value 9 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 6. Sustain Damage. During an invasion in this system, you may commit Fighters to planets as if they were ground forces. When combat ends, return those units to the space area.
- Starting Technologies: Neural Motivator, Sarween Tools
- Racial Technology: Hybrid Crystal Fighter II (unit upgrade, requires 1 Green and 1 Blue): As Fighter, but Combat Value 7, Movement 2. Does not need to be Carried; each Fighter in excess of your ships' Capacity counts as 1/2 of a ship against your Fleet pool.
- Racial Technology: Neuroglaive (Green, requires 3 Green): After another player activates a system that contains 1 or more of your ships, that player removes 1 token from his Fleet pool and returns it to his reinforcements.
- Commodities: 3
- Telepathic: At the end of the Strategy Phase, place the Naalu "0" token on the Strategy Card; you are first in initiative order.
- Foresight: After another player moves ships into a system that contains 1 or more of your ships, you may place 1 token from your Strategy pool in an adjacent system that does not contain another player's ships; move your ships from the active system into that system.
- Racial Promissory Note: Gift of Prescience: At the end of the Strategy Phase: place this card face up in your play area and place the Naalu "0" token on your Strategy Card; you are first in initiative order. The Naalu player cannot use his "Telepathic" faction ability during this game round. Return this card to the Naalu player at the end of the Status Phase.

The Nekro Virus

- Home System: Mordai II (4R, 0I)
- Starting Units: 1 Dreadnought, 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 2 Fighters, 2 Infantry, 1 Space Dock
- Flagship: The Alastor: Combat Value 9 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. At the start of a Space Combat, choose any number of your ground forces in this system to participate in that combat as if they were ships.
- Starting Technologies: Dacxive Animators, Valefar Assimilator X, Valefar Assimilator Y
- Racial Technology: Valefar Assimilator X (colorless): When you would gain another player's technology using 1 of your faction's abilities, you may place the "X" assimilator on a faction technology owned by that player instead. While that token is on a technology, this card gains that technology's text. You cannot place an assimilator token on technology that already has an assimilator token.
- Racial Technology: Valefar Assimilator Y (colorless): When you would gain another player's technology using 1 of your faction's abilities, you may place the "X" assimilator on a faction technology owned by that player instead. While that token is on a technology, this card gains that technology's text. You cannot place an assimilator token on technology that already has an assimilator token.
- Commodities: 3
- Galactic Threat: You cannot vote on Agendas. Once per Agenda Phase, after an Agenda is revealed, you may predict aloud the outcome of that Agenda. If your prediction is correct, gain 1 technology that is owned by a player who voted how you predicted.
- Technological Singularity: Once per combat, after 1 of your opponent's units is destroyed, you may gain 1 technology that is owned by that player.
- Propagation: You cannot research technology. When you would research a technology, gain 3 command tokens instead.
- Racial Promissory Note: Antivirus: At the start of a combat: Place this card faceup in your play area. While this card is in your play area, the Nekro player cannot use his "Technological Singularity" faction ability against you. If you activate a system that contains 1 or more of the Nekro player's units, return this card to the Nekro player.

Federation of Sol

- Home System: Jord (4R, 2I)
- Starting Units: 2 Carriers, 1 Destroyer, 3 Fighters, 5 Infantry, 1 Space Dock
- Racial Unit: Advanced Carrier (Carrier): As Carrier, but Carry Capacity 6.
- Racial Unit: Spec Ops (Infantry): As Infantry, but Combat Value 7.
- Flagship: Genesis: Combat Value 5 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 12. Sustain Damage. At the end of the Status Phase, place 1 Infantry from your reinforcements in this system's space area.
- Starting Technologies: Neural Motivator, Antimass Deflectors
- Racial Technology: Spec Ops II (unit upgrade, requires 2 Green): As Infantry, but Combat Value 6. After this unit is destroyed, roll 1 die. If the result is 5 or greater, place the unit on this card. At the start of your next turn, place each unit that is on this card on a planet you control in your home system.
- Racial Technology: Advanced Carrier II (unit upgrade, requires 2 Blue): As Carrier, but Movement 2, Capacity 8. Sustain Damage.
- Commodities: 4
- Orbital Drop: Action: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to place 2 Infantry from your reinforcements on 1 planet you control.
- Versatile: When you gain command tokens during the Status Phase, gain 1 additional command token.
- Racial Promissory Note: Military Support: At the start of the Sol player's turn: Remove 1 token from the Sol player's Strategy pool, if able, and return it to his reinforcements. Then, you may place 2 Infantry from your reinforcements on any planet you control. Then, return this card to the Sol player.

The Winnu

- Home System: Winnu (3R, 4I)
- Starting Units: 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 2 Fighters, 2 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 1 PDS
- Flagship: Salai Sai Corian: Combat Value 7 (x?), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. When this unit makes a combat roll, it rolls a number of dice equal to the number of your opponent's non-Fighter ships in this system.
- Starting Technology: Choose any technology that has no prerequisites (Neural Motivator, Antimass Deflectors, Sarween Tools, Plasma Scoring)
- Racial Technology: Lazax Gate Folding (Blue, requires 2 Blue): During your Tactical Actions, if you do not control Mecatol Rex, treat its system as if it contains both an Alpha and Beta wormhole. Action: If you control Mecatol Rex, exhaust this card to place 1 Infantry from your reinforcements on Mecatol Rex.
- Racial Technology: Hegemonic Trade Policy (Yellow, requires 2 Yellow): Exhaust this card when 1 or more of your units use Production; swap the resource and influence value of 1 planet you control until the end of your turn.
- Commodities: 3
- Blood Ties: You do not have to spend influence to remove the Custodians token from Mecatol Rex.
- Reclamation: After you resolve a Tactical Action during which you gained control of Mecatol Rex, you may place 1 PDS and 1 Space Dock from your reinforcements on Mecatol Rex.
- Racial Promissory Note: Acquiescence: At the end of the Strategy Phase: Exchange 1 of your Strategy Cards with a Strategy Card that was chosen by the Winnu player. Then, return this card to the Winnu player.

Game Setup

At the start of the game, players each receive five system tiles for creation of the game map. Two of these will be empty or special red-bordered systems, while three will be systems that contain at least one planet. 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:

• 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 unless there is no other option.
• Systems with wormholes of the same type may not be placed adjacent to one another unless there is no other option.

Six races will be randomly dealt for selection at the same time as tiles are given to players (i.e. before map creation). Once the game map has been created, players will perform another snake draft to select race and starting position. Each player may select either a race to play, a start position on their turn, or the Speaker Token (only selectable once); the draft order will be re-randomized for the race and start position draft.

Once all players have a race and start location, the Custodians of Mecatol Rex token is placed on Mecatol Rex (see Odds and Ends) and the Public Objective line is created. Each player receives 2 Secret Objective cards and chooses 1 to keep; the other Objective card is shuffled back into its deck, unrevealed. Players place their starting units, and starting technologies. Players then allocate 3 Command Counters to Tactic pool, 3 counters to Fleet pool, and 2 counters to Strategy pool. The game begins with the first Strategy Phase.

General Game Flow

The game is played over a number of rounds, typically 5-9 in total. Each round is divided into four parts: the Strategy Phase, the Action Phase, the Status Phase, and the Agenda 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. Finally, the Agenda Phase is where players vote on political agendas that will affect the board and gameplay rules. The Agenda Phase is only performed after at least one player has taken control of Mecatol Rex.

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 Trade Good will be added to each card as incentive for selection in future rounds. A player selecting a Strategy Card with Trade Goods on it gains those Trade Goods.

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 three different types of actions that players can perform: the Strategic Action, Tactical Action, and Component Actions. Details about the first two actions are contained in the following sections. Component actions can be found on various Action cards, Technology cards, and faction abilities: the acting player declares the card they wish to play in bold dodgerblue, noting its effects. Example:

I play an Action Card: Focused Research.
I spend 4 Trade Goods to gain the technology Sarween Tools.

If a player does not wish to or is unable 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.

Strategic Action and Strategy Cards

With a Strategic Action, players activate the ability specified on their chosen Strategy Card. After executing the primary ability, all other players, including players who have already passed their turn, will have a chance to make use of the secondary ability listed on the card by spending a Command Counter from their Strategy Allocation. Normally, players make their choices clockwise from the primary player, but for the purposes of the forum game environment, players may choose to pass or play on a secondary ability out of order if they wish. Text of each card and a short explanation and example for each follow below. Generally, use of a Strategy Card ability is noted in bold dodgerblue. Usage example:

I activate the primary ability...
I PLAY the secondary ability...
I PASS on the secondary ability.

(1) Leadership

Primary Ability: Gain 3 Command tokens. You may then spend any amount of influence to gain 1 Command token for every 3 influence spent.
Secondary Ability: Spend any amount of influence to gain 1 Command token for every 3 influence spent.

Notes: Unlike other Strategy Cards, there is no need to spend a token from your Strategy pool to use this card’s secondary ability. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (1) Leadership Strategy Card and exhaust Rarron (3I), placing 2 counters into Tactic pool, 1 into Fleet pool, and 1 into Strategy pool.

I PLAY the secondary ability, exhausting Mehar Xull (3I) to place 1 Command token into my Tactic pool.

(2) Diplomacy

Primary Ability: Choose 1 system other than Mecatol Rex that contains a planet you control; each other player places a Command token from their reinforcements in the chosen system. Then, ready up to 2 exhausted planets you control.
Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to ready up to 2 exhausted planets you control.

Notes: The primary ability protects a system from interference by other players; if they have no counters in their reinforcements they must take one from their race sheet if possible. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (2) Diplomacy II Strategy Card, targeting the Abyz-Fria system. I ready Abyz and Fria.

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool token to ready Quann and Starpoint.

(3) Politics

Primary Ability: Choose a player other than the speaker. That player gains the speaker token. Then, draw 2 Action cards. Finally, look at the top 2 cards of the Agenda deck. Place each card on the top or bottom of the deck in any order.
Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to draw 2 Action cards.

Notes: Two Agendas are resolved in each Agenda Phase, which follows the Status Phase if at least one player has previously taken control of Mecatol Rex. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (3) Politics Strategy Card, claiming the speaker token. (The host will then note when the remainder of the ability has been resolved.)

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool token to draw 2 Action cards.

(4) Construction

Primary Ability: Place 1 PDS or Space Dock on a planet you control. Then, place 1 PDS on a planet you control.
Secondary Ability: Place 1 token from your Strategy pool in any system; you may place either 1 Space Dock or 1 PDS on a planet you control in that system.

Notes: The Construction Strategy Card is the primary means by which structure units are placed on the game board. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (4) Construction Strategy Card, placing a Space Dock and a PDS on Zohbat.

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool token to place a Space Dock on Lodor.

(5) Trade

Primary Ability: Gain 3 Trade Goods and replenish your Commodities. Then, choose any number of other players. Those players use the secondary ability of this Strategy Card without spending a Command token.
Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to replenish Commodities.

Notes: Each faction has a maximum number of Commodities that they can hold. Commodities do nothing for the player holding them, but they can be traded to other players, which converts them into Trade Goods. See the Odds and Ends below for more on Commodities and Trade Goods. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (5) Trade Strategy Card, receiving 3 Trade Goods and replenishing 3 Commodities. I select Sol and Jol-Nar to make use of the secondary ability.

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool token to replenish 3 Commodities.

(6) Warfare

Primary Ability: Remove 1 of your Command tokens from the game board; then, gain 1 Command token. Redistribute any number of Command tokens on your command sheet.
Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to use the Production ability of one of your Space Docks in your home system.

Notes: When the secondary ability is used, note that the home system does not need to be and is not activated. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (6) Warfare Strategy Card, removing a Command token from the Centauri-Gral system and allocating it to Tactic pool.

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool counter and exhausting Vefut II (2R) to produce 2 Destroyers (2R) in my home system.

(7) Technology

Primary Ability: Research 1 technology. You may then spend 6 resources to research 1 technology.
Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your strategy pool and 4 resources to research 1 technology.

Notes: Common technologies are divided into five categories and organized into a loose tech tree. (Tech Tree) Most technologies have prerequisites, requiring a certain number of colored technologies in order to research. Note that unit upgrade technologies are colorless and do not satisfy any prerequisites. Certain planets with technology specialties can be exhausted to skip over one prerequisite of the matching color. Each race also has two Race-Specific Technologies only they may purchase. These technologies have their own prerequisites. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (7) Technology Strategy Card and exhaust Wellon (Yellow Tech) to gain "Graviton Laser System". (Graviton Laser System requires 1 Yellow technology as a prerequisite.)

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool counter and exhausting Resculon (2R) and Saudor (2R) to gain "Antimass Deflectors".

(8) Imperial

Primary Ability: Immediately score 1 Public Objective if you fulfill its requirements. Then, gain 1 victory point if you control Mecatol Rex; otherwise, draw 1 Secret Objective.
Secondary Ability: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to draw 1 Secret Objective.

Notes: Each player can hold a maximum of 3 Secret Objectives. Drawing a fourth requires that an unfulfilled Secret Objective card be shuffled back into the deck. Usage examples:

I activate the primary ability of the (8) Imperial Strategy Card, fulfilling "Intimidate Council" and gaining 1 victory point for controlling Mecatol Rex.

I PLAY the secondary ability, spending a Strategy pool counter to draw one Secret Objective.

MrBlarney

Tactical Action

With a Tactical Action, players may activate a system for movement, invasion, or production. The following steps are taken in a Tactical Action:

1. Activation: One counter will be spent from the Tactic pool to activate the chosen system. A system cannot be activated if it already has a Command counter from that player.
2. Movement: Ships may be moved from other systems into the activated system. Ships cannot be moved out of activated systems and cannot pass through systems with non-Fighter enemy ships. Units with Carry Capacity 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.
3. Space Cannon Offense: After movement, all players in range can use Space Cannon abilities to score hits on space units. Players who are not the active player can only target the active player's ships.
4. Space Combat: A space combat occurs when ships of different players are in the same system. See section below.
5. Invasion: Ground forces can be landed on planets to establish control. Ground Combat occurs when units of different players are in the same planet. See section below.
6. Production: Players may exhaust planets and spend Trade Goods to build units at Space Docks and other units with Production. If in a system with another player's ships, blockaded production units may only build ground forces. A unit's Production value states the maximum number of units that can be produced; see the Units section below for a list.

If a planet is taken, the planet card is received in exhausted state. Example:

I spend a Tactic pool counter to activate the Tar'mann system.
A Carrier with two Fighters and two Infantry from Tequ'ran-Torkan and a Cruiser from Thibah will be moved in. (assuming no space combat,)
I land two Ground Forces onto Tar'mann, taking control of the planet. (assuming the planet is empty)

Building units: I exhaust Bereg (3R) to build a Cruiser (2R) and two Fighters (1R).

Space Combat and Invasions

Before a Space Combat, Anti-Fighter Barrage occurs. In Anti-Fighter Barrage, Destroyers roll dice to try and eliminate opposing Fighters before the start of combat. Once complete, Space Battles are resolved in rounds:

1. Announce Retreat: Retreats that are declared will occur at the end of the combat round. Ground units can be loaded to space units at this time.
2. Make Combat Rolls: Both players roll outcomes for all their ships. Every roll above the corresponding ship's Combat Value scores a hit.
3. Remove Casualties: Both players assign hits to ships to remove from their own fleets.
4. Execute Retreat: If a retreat was declared, it is executed now. In order to retreat, a fleet must be able to move to a system that contains a planet or unit under that player's control, and no ships belonging to another player. If the system has not yet been activated by the retreating player, they activate the system with a Command token from their reinforcements.

Battle rounds continue until a player retreats or only ships of one kind (or fewer) remain in the system. It is encouraged to have conditional orders in place with me in order to expedite the process.

Invasions flow similarly to Space Battles, but without a retreat option. Pre-combat, the attacker has the option of using Bombardment and the defender may use Space Cannon. When bombarding, the attacker specifies which planet each ship will target. Ground forces are allocated to planets after Bombardment. PDS units on the planets being invaded may use Space Cannon to destroy incoming ground forces. The remaining ground forces fight it out in rounds of rolling combat dice, then removing casualties. If the attacker wins with at least one ground force remaining, then he gains control of the planet in an exhausted state. All enemy structures are destroyed.

Units

The number of each type of unit a player may have on the board is limited, with the exception of Infantry and Fighters. Even then, there is a maximum number of 'divisions' of each type. If necessary, units can be removed from non-activated systems to be produced elsewhere. Units with Carry Capacity can support and move Infantry and Fighters in space. Units with Sustain Damage allow them to take one hit without being destroyed. Damaged units are not hampered combat-wise, though a second hit will destroy them. Damaged ships are repaired in the Status Phase. Each unit has one technology that can be used to improve their capabilities.

• Space Dock Max Available: 3. Structure. No combat capabilities, but can support three Fighter units. Production X+2, where X = planet's resource value. Maximum of one can be present on each planet, built with the Construction Strategy card.
• PDS (Planetary Defense System) Max Available: 6. Structure. Planetary Shield (defend against Bombardment), Space Cannon 6. Maximum of two can be present on each planet, built with the Construction Strategy card.
• Infantry Max Available: unlimited in 12 divisions. Cost 1 (for 2), Combat Value 8. Ground unit. Can establish control of planets.
• Fighter Max Available: unlimited in 10 divisions. Cost 1 (for 2), Combat Value 9. Space unit. Must be supported by a Space Dock or unit with Carry Capacity.
• Carrier Max Available: 4. Cost 3, Combat Value 9, Movement 1, Carry Capacity 4. Space unit.
• Destroyer Max Available: 8. Cost 1, Combat Value 9, Movement 2. Space unit. Anti-Fighter Barrage 9 (x2).
• Cruiser Max Available: 8. Cost 2, Combat Value 7, Movement 2. Space unit.
• Dreadnought Max Available: 5. Cost 4, Combat Value 5, Movement 1, Carry Capacity 1. Space unit. Sustain Damage, Bombardment 5.
• War Sun Max Available: 2. Cost 12, Combat Value 3 (x3), Movement 2, Carry Capacity 6. Space unit. Sustain Damage, Bombardment 3 (x3), negates Planetary Shield. Requires tech advance to build.
• Flagship Max Available: 1. Cost: 8. Space unit. Unique stats dependent on race.

Status Phase

Once all players have passed their turns, the Action Phase ends and the Status Phase begins. In the Status Phase, the following steps are taken in order:

1. Score Objectives: 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 a Public Objective. All players may claim each Public Objective once; players may not claim other players' Secret Objectives.
2. Reveal Public Objective: The next Public Objective in line is revealed; if there are no objectives left to reveal, the game ends.
3. Remove Command Tokens Tokens are removed from the board and returned to players' reinforcements.
4. Gain Action Cards and Command Tokens: Each player gains 1 Action card and 2 Command tokens per turn.
5. Redistribute Command Areas If a player reduces their Fleet Supply, they must make sure their fleet numbers are in compliance with the new number.
6. Ready Cards: Planet, Technology, and Strategy cards are all readied.
7. Repair Damaged Ships
8. Return Strategy Cards Strategy Cards return to the common area for selection in the next Strategy Phase.

Most steps are automatic; outside of potential Action Card plays, players need only declare how they are redistributing their Command tokens in the Status Phase. Example:

I gain 2 Command tokens, placing 1 in Tactic pool and 1 in Strategy pool., or I gain 2 Command tokens, rearranging my Command areas to include 2 in Tactic pool, 4 in Fleet pool, and 2 in Strategy pool.

Agenda Phase

After a player has taken control of Mecatol Rex for the first time, removing the Custodians token, the Agenda Phase will follow the Status Phase. In this phase, players spend influence to vote on agendas with potentially large impacts. During each Agenda Phase, two agendas will be voted on:

1. Reveal Agenda: The top card of the Agenda deck is revealed.
2. Vote: Each player, starting from the left of the speaker, may exhaust planets for their influence values, casting the total influence spent towards a single Agenda outcome. A player can also choose to not exhaust anything and abstain from the vote.
3. Resolve Outcome: The outcome with the most votes is resolved; the speaker chooses an outcome in case of a tie. Law agendas voted "For" stay in play after resolving the vote; other outcomes are resolved and then discarded.

An example vote: I vote FOR the agenda, exhausting Meer (4I).

Note that planets exhausted after the first vote remain exhausted into the second vote. After two agendas are resolved, all planet cards are readied and the next Strategy Phase begins.

Odds and Ends

• At the start of the game, the Custodians token is placed on Mecatol Rex. Before any player may land ground forces and establish control of Mecatol Rex, they must spend six influence. The player that does so gains 1 victory point, and the Agenda Phase is added to each game round after the Status Phase for the remainder of the game.
• Command tokens are allocated to three areas. Tokens in the Strategy pool are generally used to play the secondary abilities of Strategy Cards, and counters in the Tactic pool are used to activate systems in Tactical Actions. Command tokens in the Fleet pool are not spent, but instead indicate the maximum number of friendly non-Fighter ships that can be supported in a single system at any time. Each player has a maximum of 16 Command tokens available in the game. If a game effect requires the placement of a token from the reinforcements and none is available, the counter must be taken from one of the allocated areas.
• Keep in mind that removing all ground forces from a world after establishing control does not relinquish it. Only when an enemy takes over control does ownership transfer.
• Certain map hexes have special features. Hexes with matching-lettered wormholes are considered adjacent, including for Space Cannon offense. Asteroid Field systems are impassable unless a player has the Antimass Deflectors technology. Supernova systems are completely impassable to movement. Nebula systems can be activated, but units may not move through them in a single activation. Ships defend with a +1 bonus to combat rolls while inside a Nebula, but their movement is reduced to 1 when moving out of a Nebula system. Gravity Rifts apply +1 movement to any ship that leaves or moves through the system, but have a chance of destroying any such ship: for each ship a die is rolled and on a 1-3, the ship is destroyed.
• Commodities are gained through the Trade Strategy Card, but do nothing for the player holding them. When given to another player, however, they become Trade Goods. Trade Goods may be spent at any time as 1 resource or 1 influence, except in voting. Commodities and Trade Goods can be exchanged by the active player once per neighbor per turn; players are neighbors if they control units or planets in adjacent systems. Transfers may be performed by noting the action in bold dodgerblue. Transactions may also be performed between any pairs of players during the Agenda Phase, once per pair each vote.
• Each player also has a hand of Promissory Notes that can be exchanged in transactions. At most one card per player can be exchanged in a transaction; you may also exchange Promissory Notes that are not yours. There are four generic notes held by each player, and one note that is race-specific. Generic notes:
  - Ceasefire: After the <color> player activates a system that contains one or more of your units: The <color> player cannot move units into the active system. Then, return this card to the <color> player.
  - Trade Agreement: When the <color> player replenishes commodities: The <color> player gives you all of his commodities. Then, return this card to the <color> player.
  - Political Secret: When an Agenda is revealed: The <color> player cannot vote, play Action Cards, or use faction abilities until after that Agenda has been resolved. Then, return this card to the <color> player.
  - Support for the Throne: When you receive this card, if you are not the <color> player, you must place it faceup in your play area and gain 1 Victory Point. If you activate a system that contains one or more of the <color> player's units, or if the <color> player is eliminated, lose 1 Victory Point and return this card to the <color> player.
• When playing an Action Card outside of a Component Action, a player must first declare that they are making an Action Card play, after which all other players may also declare a play, or pass. If multiple players wish to play cards at the same time, resolution is in play order (which differs in each Phase of the game). The exception to Action Card declaration is the play of "Sabotage" cards: these do not need to be declared until they are played reactively to another Action Card being played. To declare the play of a card, note it in bold dodgerblue at the appropriate period in which it will be played.
• The maximum hand size for Action Cards is seven. If a player exceeds this number at any time, they must immediately discard down to seven, even if they have more Action Cards to draw. In the latter case, the player may continue drawing cards after discarding down to seven.
• To aid in recordkeeping, and as a common courtesy, it is recommended that you list the number of Commodities, Trade Goods, Action Cards, and Command Counter Allocation in bold limegreen after each of your actions. For example, at the start of the game, your status might look like this:
  
  C/TG/AC: 0/0/0
  TP/FP/SP: 3/3/2

---

Game Links

Round 0: Player Signups, Galaxy Creation, Race and Location Draft, Final Preparations
Round 1: Start of Strategy Phase, Start of Action Phase, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Update 6, Status Phase
Round 2: Strategy Phase, Action Phase Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Update 6, Status Phase, Agenda Phase
Round 3: Start of Strategy Phase, Start of Action Phase, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Update 6, Status Phase, Agenda Phase
Round 4: Start of Strategy Phase, Start of Action Phase, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Status Phase, Agenda Phase
Round 5: Start of Strategy Phase, Start of Action Phase, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Update 6, Update 7, Status Phase, Agenda Phase
Round 6: Start of Strategy Phase, Start of Action Phase, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Update 6, Status Phase, Agenda Phase
Round 7: Start of Strategy Phase, Start of Action Phase, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Update 6, Update 7, Update 8, Update 9, Status Phase, Agenda Phase
Round 8: Start of Strategy Phase, Start of Action Phase, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Update 6, Update 7, Status Phase, Agenda Phase
Round 9: Start of Strategy Phase, Start of Action Phase, Update 1 / End of Game

MrBlarney

Player Signup Phase

If you're interested in playing, post your sign up in bold, colorful text to make sure I see it. First six signups will earn spots in the game.

Ketar

Put me in, coach!

Phyphor

Reporting for drafting!

discrider

There is no social distancing on Metacol Rex

A Half Eaten Oreo

I want in. Creuss failed us last game, our new puppet will not fail again.

38thDoe

I’ll play. Can you not run this through google docs?

I move for some kind of space age computers balancing the initial tiles.

Also that stupid no tech bugs get banished from play unless someone wants to be stupid no tech bugs.

38thDoe

bold colors[/b]

MrBlarney

38thDoe wrote: »

1) Can you not run this through google docs?

2) I move for some kind of space age computers balancing the initial tiles.

3) Also that stupid no tech bugs get banished from play unless someone wants to be stupid no tech bugs.

1) Well, I could. But since I had everything prepared in Excel already, I couldn't be bothered to transfer everything over. :shrug:

2) I like the distributed Information Age-informed meat-based computers we've traditionally used; it makes things interesting. Though if enough players request it, I can add an intervention round where I re-balance or actually perform the final placements before race and starting position selection is performed.

3) Well, I'd like every race to get a chance to hit the spotlight. But if enough players request, I can do a N+1 or N+2 draft, where seven or eight races are drawn for selection instead of the super-strict six. The availability of races can also affect map creation, so a decision will need to be made before I start handing tiles out.

38thDoe

N+1 or N+2 sounds like an elegant solution.

Phyphor

I could go for N+1 races sure. It also reduces the chance the first draftee has a non-choice at the end

MrBody

I wanted to try the new alternative Diplo/tech cards

MrBlarney

Alright, looks like that's six people. I'll prepare to get everything rolling tonight, but in the meantime, if there are any other opinions on game options, please let them be known. In particular, feedback on 38thDoe's questions regarding map construction and race selection will be useful. At this point, it feels like we'll be going with N+1 races (draw seven), though nobody's given an opinion on host intervention for map building quite yet.

38thDoe

The new magen card seems weaker. Bacterial weapon seem more intelligible at least. The original card text was awful.

A Half Eaten Oreo

38thDoe wrote: »

The new magen card seems weaker. Bacterial weapon seem more intelligible at least. The original card text was awful.

I lost my first ever game because of how un-intuitive (and shitty one you read it correctly) Bacterial weapon is.

On map: I always feel something went wrong when we do straight player map making. I've had better experience with using algorithm (or hand made) balanced maps.

MrBlarney

Hmm... as another map-making alternative, we could use this TI4e Balanced Map Generator, then allow me override rights to move systems around afterwards. Gets the best of both worlds and will get us into the meat of the game quicker.

MrBlarney

Alright, final warning before I start preparing for game start in about three hours. I'll be invoking the following modifications to the setup procedure:

• Map will be created through this TI4e Map Generator with default parameters, and a final pass by myself for balance and interest.
• After map creation, seven races will be drawn for player selection -- one will be left unselected after setup.

If there are any objections, voice them before I get started with the galaxy creation.

38thDoe

Can we still name the open spaces?

MrBlarney

38thDoe wrote: »

Can we still name the open spaces?

Hmm... yeah, sure thing. Since there are twelve 'red' tiles (empty or red-bordered), giving each player one naming opportunity per race or location pick should work nicely.

MrBlarney

Round 0: Galaxy Creation

A preliminary map has been generated from Derek Peterson's TI4e Map Generator with default parameters and seed 932103529: Preliminary Galaxy Map

The generated map seems fairly good, but location D is a step worse off than the other spots. To amend this, the following changes have been made:

• The Lodor-A Wormhole and Quann-B Wormhole systems have been swapped.
• The Alpha Wormhole and Beta Wormhole systems have been swapped.

This results in the following map: Revised Galaxy Map

The following six players will be randomly shuffled for galaxy creation order.

1. Ketar
2. Phyphor
3. discrider
4. A Half Eaten Oreo
5. 38thDoe
6. MrBody

There are seventeen factions in the game, seven of which will be randomly selected for selection.

1. The Arborec
2. The Ghosts of Creuss
3. The Emirates of Hacan
4. Universities of Jol-Nar
5. The L1z1x Mindnet
6. The Barony of Letnev
7. The Mentak Coalition
8. The Embers of Muaat
9. The Naalu Collective
10. The Nekro Virus
11. Sardakk N'orr
12. The Clan of Saar
13. Federation of Sol
14. The Winnu
15. The Xxcha Kingdom
16. The Yin Brotherhood
17. The Yssaril Tribes

MrBlarney

Placement Order: {6, 5, 2, 3, 1, 4}

Selection order will be: MrBody, 38thDoe, Phyphor, discrider, Ketar, A Half Eaten Oreo.

Faction Selection: {2, 4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16}

The following races are available for selection during the draft:

The Ghosts of Creuss

- Home System: Creuss (4R, 2I)
- Starting Units: 1 Carrier, 2 Destroyers, 2 Fighters, 4 Infantry, 1 Space Dock
- Flagship: Hil Colish: Combat Value 5, Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. This ship's system contains a Delta wormhole. During movement, this ship may move before or after your other ships.
- Starting Technology: Gravity Drive
- Racial Technology: Dimensional Splicer (Red, requires 1 Red): At the start of Space Combat in a system that contains a wormhole and 1 or more of your ships, you may produce 1 hit and assign it to 1 of your opponent's ships.
- Racial Technology: Wormhole Generator (Blue, requires 2 Blue): At the start of the Status Phase, place or move a Creuss wormhole token into either a system that contains a planet you control or a non-home system that does not contain another player's ships.
- Commodities: 4
- Quantum Entanglement: You treat all systems that contain either an Alpha or Beta wormhole as adjacent to each other. Game effects cannot prevent you from using this ability.
- Slipstream: During your Tactical Actions, apply +1 to the movement value of each of your ships that starts its movement in your home system or in a system that contains either an Alpha or Beta wormhole.
- Creuss Gate: When the board is created, the Creuss Gate is placed where your home system would normally be placed. The Creuss Gate system is not a home system; your home system is placed in your play area.
- Racial Promissory Note: Creuss IFF: At the start of your turn during the Action Phase: Place or move a Creuss wormhole token into either a system that contains a planet you control or a non-home system that does not contain another player's ships. Then, return this card to the Creuss player.

Universities of Jol-Nar

- Home System: Jol (1R, 2I), Nar (2R, 3I)
- Starting Units: 1 Dreadnought, 2 Carriers, 1 Fighter, 2 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 2 PDS
- Flagship: J.N.S. Hylarim: Combat Value 6 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. When making a combat roll for this ship, each (pre-modified) roll of 9 or 10 produces 2 additional hits.
- Starting Technologies: Neural Motivator, Antimass Deflectors, Sarween Tools, Plasma Scoring
- Racial Technology: Spacial Conduit Cylinder (Blue, requires 2 Blue): You may exhaust this card after you ativate a system that contains 1 or more of your units; that system is adjacent to all other systems that contain 1 or more of your units during this activation.
- Racial Technology: E-Res Siphons (Yellow, requires 2 Yellow): After another player activates a system that contains 1 or more of your ships, gain 4 Trade Goods.
- Commodities: 4
- Fragile: Apply -1 to the result of each of your units' combat rolls.
- Brilliant: When you spend a command token to resolve the secondary ability of the Technology Strategy card, you may resolve the primary ability instead.
- Analytical: When you research a technology that is not a unit upgrade technology, you may ignore 1 prerequisite.
- Racial Promissory Note: Research Agreement: After the Jol-Nar researches a technology that is not a faction technology: Gain that technology. Then, return this card to the Jol-Nar player.

The Naalu Collective

- Home System: Druaa (3R, 1I), Maaluuk (0R, 2I)
- Starting Units: 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 1 Destroyer, 3 Fighters, 4 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 1 PDS
- Racial Unit: Hybrid Crystal Fighter (Fighter): As Fighter, but Combat Value 8.
- Flagship: Matriarch: Combat Value 9 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 6. Sustain Damage. During an invasion in this system, you may commit Fighters to planets as if they were ground forces. When combat ends, return those units to the space area.
- Starting Technologies: Neural Motivator, Sarween Tools
- Racial Technology: Hybrid Crystal Fighter II (unit upgrade, requires 1 Green and 1 Blue): As Fighter, but Combat Value 7, Movement 2. Does not need to be Carried; each Fighter in excess of your ships' Capacity counts as 1/2 of a ship against your Fleet pool.
- Racial Technology: Neuroglaive (Green, requires 3 Green): After another player activates a system that contains 1 or more of your ships, that player removes 1 token from his Fleet pool and returns it to his reinforcements.
- Commodities: 3
- Telepathic: At the end of the Strategy Phase, place the Naalu "0" token on the Strategy Card; you are first in initiative order.
- Foresight: After another player moves ships into a system that contains 1 or more of your ships, you may place 1 token from your Strategy pool in an adjacent system that does not contain another player's ships; move your ships from the active system into that system.
- Racial Promissory Note: Gift of Prescience: At the end of the Strategy Phase: place this card face up in your play area and place the Naalu "0" token on your Strategy Card; you are first in initiative order. The Naalu player cannot use his "Telepathic" faction ability during this game round. Return this card to the Naalu player at the end of the Status Phase.

The Nekro Virus

- Home System: Mordai II (4R, 0I)
- Starting Units: 1 Dreadnought, 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 2 Fighters, 2 Infantry, 1 Space Dock
- Flagship: The Alastor: Combat Value 9 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. At the start of a Space Combat, choose any number of your ground forces in this system to participate in that combat as if they were ships.
- Starting Technologies: Dacxive Animators, Valefar Assimilator X, Valefar Assimilator Y
- Racial Technology: Valefar Assimilator X (colorless): When you would gain another player's technology using 1 of your faction's abilities, you may place the "X" assimilator on a faction technology owned by that player instead. While that token is on a technology, this card gains that technology's text. You cannot place an assimilator token on technology that already has an assimilator token.
- Racial Technology: Valefar Assimilator Y (colorless): When you would gain another player's technology using 1 of your faction's abilities, you may place the "X" assimilator on a faction technology owned by that player instead. While that token is on a technology, this card gains that technology's text. You cannot place an assimilator token on technology that already has an assimilator token.
- Commodities: 3
- Galactic Threat: You cannot vote on Agendas. Once per Agenda Phase, after an Agenda is revealed, you may predict aloud the outcome of that Agenda. If your prediction is correct, gain 1 technology that is owned by a player who voted how you predicted.
- Technological Singularity: Once per combat, after 1 of your opponent's units is destroyed, you may gain 1 technology that is owned by that player.
- Propagation: You cannot research technology. When you would research a technology, gain 3 command tokens instead.
- Racial Promissory Note: Antivirus: At the start of a combat: Place this card faceup in your play area. While this card is in your play area, the Nekro player cannot use his "Technological Singularity" faction ability against you. If you activate a system that contains 1 or more of the Nekro player's units, return this card to the Nekro player.

Federation of Sol

- Home System: Jord (4R, 2I)
- Starting Units: 2 Carriers, 1 Destroyer, 3 Fighters, 5 Infantry, 1 Space Dock
- Racial Unit: Advanced Carrier (Carrier): As Carrier, but Carry Capacity 6.
- Racial Unit: Spec Ops (Infantry): As Infantry, but Combat Value 7.
- Flagship: Genesis: Combat Value 5 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 12. Sustain Damage. At the end of the Status Phase, place 1 Infantry from your reinforcements in this system's space area.
- Starting Technologies: Neural Motivator, Antimass Deflectors
- Racial Technology: Spec Ops II (unit upgrade, requires 2 Green): As Infantry, but Combat Value 6. After this unit is destroyed, roll 1 die. If the result is 5 or greater, place the unit on this card. At the start of your next turn, place each unit that is on this card on a planet you control in your home system.
- Racial Technology: Advanced Carrier II (unit upgrade, requires 2 Blue): As Carrier, but Movement 2, Capacity 8. Sustain Damage.
- Commodities: 4
- Orbital Drop: Action: Spend 1 token from your Strategy pool to place 2 Infantry from your reinforcements on 1 planet you control.
- Versatile: When you gain command tokens during the Status Phase, gain 1 additional command token.
- Racial Promissory Note: Military Support: At the start of the Sol player's turn: Remove 1 token from the Sol player's Strategy pool, if able, and return it to his reinforcements. Then, you may place 2 Infantry from your reinforcements on any planet you control. Then, return this card to the Sol player.

The Winnu

- Home System: Winnu (3R, 4I)
- Starting Units: 1 Carrier, 1 Cruiser, 2 Fighters, 2 Infantry, 1 Space Dock, 1 PDS
- Flagship: Salai Sai Corian: Combat Value 7 (x?), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. When this unit makes a combat roll, it rolls a number of dice equal to the number of your opponent's non-Fighter ships in this system.
- Starting Technology: Choose any technology that has no prerequisites (Neural Motivator, Antimass Deflectors, Sarween Tools, Plasma Scoring)
- Racial Technology: Lazax Gate Folding (Blue, requires 2 Blue): During your Tactical Actions, if you do not control Mecatol Rex, treat its system as if it contains both an Alpha and Beta wormhole. Action: If you control Mecatol Rex, exhaust this card to place 1 Infantry from your reinforcements on Mecatol Rex.
- Racial Technology: Hegemonic Trade Policy (Yellow, requires 2 Yellow): Exhaust this card when 1 or more of your units use Production; swap the resource and influence value of 1 planet you control until the end of your turn.
- Commodities: 3
- Blood Ties: You do not have to spend influence to remove the Custodians token from Mecatol Rex.
- Reclamation: After you resolve a Tactical Action during which you gained control of Mecatol Rex, you may place 1 PDS and 1 Space Dock from your reinforcements on Mecatol Rex.
- Racial Promissory Note: Acquiescence: At the end of the Strategy Phase: Exchange 1 of your Strategy Cards with a Strategy Card that was chosen by the Winnu player. Then, return this card to the Winnu player.

The Yin Brotherhood

- Home System: Darien (4R, 4I)
- Starting Units: 2 Carriers, 1 Destroyer, 4 Fighters, 4 Infantry, 1 Space Dock
- Flagship: Van Hauge: Combat Value 9 (x2), Movement 1, Carry Capacity 3. Sustain Damage. When this ship is destroyed, destroy all ships in this system.
- Starting Technology: Sarween Tools
- Racial Technology: Yin Spinner (Green, requires 2 Green): After 1 or more of your units use Production, place 1 Infantry from your reinforcements on a planet you control in that system.
- Racial Technology: Impulse Core (Yellow, requires 2 Yellow): At the start of a Space Combat, you may destroy 1 of your Cruisers or Destroyers in the active system to produce 1 hit against your opponent's ships; that hit must be assigned by your opponent to 1 of his non-Fighter ships if able.
- Commodities: 2
- Indoctrination: At the start of Ground Combat, you may spend 2 influence to replace 1 of your opponent's participating Infantry with 1 Infantry from your reinforcements.
- Devotion: After each Space Combat round, you may destroy 1 of your Cruisers or Destroyers in the active system to produce 1 hit and assign it to 1 of your opponent's ships in that system.
- Racial Promissory Note: Greyfire Mutagen: After a system is activated: The Yin player cannot use faction abilities or faction technology during this Tactical Action. Then, return this card to the Yin player.

MrBlarney

Round 0: Race and Location Draft

Draft Order
@MrBody
38thDoe
Phyphor
discrider
Ketar
A Half Eaten Oreo

A Half Eaten Oreo
Ketar
discrider
Phyphor
38thDoe
MrBody

On each player's turn, they will draft one of the available items, taking one race and one location across their two selections. If the Speaker Token is drafted, that player will make a third selection at the end of the order. If the Speaker Token is not drafted, then it will automatically be given to the first player in the draft, MrBody.

Optionally, when making a selection, each player may also name one of the empty or red-bordered systems that have not yet been given a unique name (labeled "System #" on the map). Any systems that are not named at the end of the draft will be given names by the host.

Available Items
The Ghosts of Creuss
Universities of Jol-Nar
The Naalu Collective
The Nekro Virus
Federation of Sol
The Winnu
The Yin Brotherhood

Location A
Location B
Location C
Location D
Location E
Location F

Speaker Token

Ketar

https://youtu.be/54LgyqSPfsQ

MrBody

Are you sure about that Lodor/Quann swap? It looked fine to me. Spot F now looks by far the worst. The lowest neighboring resources, a blocked route to Mecatol, 2 directions they have to split and expand to (while one of those directions is an empty dead end) while spot E will focus all their effort on expanding "north" with zero pressure from their other neighbor at D. And speaking of which, I'm not sure D needed any help. They look to have the most secure position right now. The original placement put them at the same neighboring resources as F, only F has much worse expansion paths and border security.

If it's final, I'll go with it, but I'll throw out that appeal before choosing.

Ketar

MrBody wrote: »

Are you sure about that Lodor/Quann swap? It looked fine to me. Spot F now looks by far the worst. The lowest neighboring resources, a blocked route to Mecatol, 2 directions they have to split and expand to (while one of those directions is an empty dead end) while spot E will focus all their effort on expanding "north" with zero pressure from their other neighbor at D. And speaking of which, I'm not sure D needed any help. They look to have the most secure position right now. The original placement put them at the same neighboring resources as F, only F has much worse expansion paths and border security.

If it's final, I'll go with it, but I'll throw out that appeal before choosing.

I mostly agree, though I'd argue that A is a more secure position by a decent margin thanks to the wormhole differential.

MrBlarney

I made my adjustments by looking at not just the planets at distance 1 from each home system, but also those available at distance 2 directly in front (with minor credit towards those 'in-between' systems on the second ring). By that measure, Location F started with the richest slice. It had a smaller amount of immediate resources, but that was a tradeoff I found interesting. On the other hand, Location D had very little in terms of resources, with not much room for expansion. So I felt like swapping wormhole systems to provide a small boost to the latter was a good step to take.

Clearly, however, it seems like I didn't give enough of a discount to the Asteroid Field in front of System F. While an Asteroid Field isn't that big of a blocker - Antimass Deflector is a basic blue tech - F is the only starting location that has that kind of block. So I can understand the desire to give that location a bit more benefit.

Galaxy building is supposed to be collaborative, so let's talk about different adjustments that can be made. Based on what's been implied, the original map from the generator seems to be preferred to the one I modified. So we can go with that one. Alternatively, the two systems that were removed from the game are both premium systems:

• Abyz (3R/0I) - Fria (2R/0I)
• New Albion (1R/1I, G tech) - Starpoint (3R/1I)

Either of those could easily be swapped into where Lazar-Sakulag currently is, giving an even higher risk-reward / slow roll status to Location F. I'm also open to other suggestions. Let's say 24 hours for discussion and voicing of opinions before I make a decision.

MrBlarney

No feedback or opinions yet? For what it's worth, my feelings are towards swapping Lazar-Sakulag with New Albion-Starpoint. That's an additional resource and influence point, and it retains a tech bonus planet, though in a different color. If nobody else has any other comments, that's what I'll go with in about 11 hours.

MrBody

Sure New Albion sounds fine. Though it does mean F has to do or die gun for anti-mass right from the start.

Ketar

Sorry, it's been a rough day at home and I'm totally fried. That sounds good.

MrBody

Hmmm...normally Jol-Nar would be my no brainer pick (I maintain they're overpowred with their 4 commodities and tech, but mostly from the the overuse of tech objectives in the game).

BUT...Nerko virus might shake things up. If Nekro can be placed as Jol's neighbor, it might blunt or even shut them down. I'd advise everyone to keep a starting spot next to Jol-Nar open for the Nekro player!

But I do want to pick race first, since I don't want be stuck having to choose between Winnu and Yin, the two very worst races stacked against a roster of 5 of the best.

I select Sol.

renamed system 10 to "Rock Block"

@38thDoe

MrBlarney

I'm gonna take lack of dissent as evidence of assent. I'll make the final change to the map to sub out Lazar-Sakulag for New Albion-Starpoint, resulting in the map here Revised Galaxy Map 2

Don't forget that you may rename an empty or red-bordered system as part of your selection actions.

MrBody

Changed my last post to rename a system

MrBlarney

Next selection is on @38thDoe.

38thDoe

Naalu and system 4 will be called Victory Road N

38thDoe

@Phyphor

Phyphor

Okay I'll be the bad guys, Nekro Virus
@discrider

edit: System 3 shall be called Hawking Hole

discrider

Nooooooomkomkoo
Mi

discrider

Draft Position A
And system 2 is 'And lo, what has befallen us?'

discrider

@Ketar

Ketar

Universities of Jol-Nar

Name system 8 "Has anyone seen Crichton?"

@A Half Eaten Oreo to make 2 selections.