I bought TI3 for a friend of mine and last night we (four of us) played it for the first time. [about 4 hours for two rounds][[there were multiple drink and food breaks]]

Anyway, I got the Naalu Collective as my race. One of the abilities being that I always go first.

I know you can't draw the Initiative strategy card twice in a row, right? But what's to prevent me, the Naalu player, from choosing the Imperial Strategy (2 free victory points) every turn and winning within five turns?

Any help is appreciated.

The Naalu race always has "initiative zero", meaning that any time something is resolved in initiative order, the Naalu go first. Picking strategy cards does not go in initiative order, it goes clockwise around from the current speaker, thus the Naalu pick strategy cards just like anyone else does, and may even go last.

broken said:

Okay. so the last person to pass in the Action phase is the one that would dictate how the picking of the cards goes, but whenever initiative is the question then it would be the Naalu (if they are in the mix).

Winter324 said:

No, the Speaker is the first one to pick the Strategy Card in the next round. Passing last doesn't give you any advantages (other than being able to make some end-of-round moves uncountered).

The Speaker is the one who has the Speaker token. If you are using the base-game only (ie, not the expansion), this will be whichever player picked the "Initiative" Strategy card. As soon as you pick that card, you take the Speaker token from whoever has it; thus, as long as you have the Speaker token, you will vote LAST during any vote (which is a good thing), you break any ties, AND the next time it comes around to picking strategy cards, you pick the first one. You can't pick Initiative twice in a row, but if NOBODY picks Initiative for whatever reason, you will keep the Speaker token, and the next round, you get to pick first again! (And this time, you COULD take Initiative and keep the token).

When using the base game, the way things normally shake out is the first person to pick will take Imperial; the next person will take Initiative (and the Speaker Token). Thus, the Speaker Token and the Imperial card will typically go around the group in a circle.

I hope this helps.

sigmazero13 said:

I hear what you're saying on that, but then how does the Naalu race ability fit into it? Does having the actual Initiative card mean you get the Speaker token, but still won't go first since the Naalu have an iniative of zero? As long as having the Speaker token means that the order of picing the strategy cards is changed up that's great, I just want to make certain I am clear on how that mechanic works.

You've got it right now. Once the Strategy Phase is over and the Action Phase begins, Naalu will always be the first player to take an action, even if somebody else has the Initiative Strategy Card. But it is the guy who took Initiative (and therefore the Speaker token) who will be first to pick Strategy Cards the following round.

Yep, sounds like you got it!

For example, lets say we have a 5 player game: Naalu, L1Z1X, Hacan, Letnev, and Sol, in that order, clockwise. Letnev has the Speaker token. At the beginning of the round, Letnev picks Strategy cards first; he'll probably take Imperial (8). Sol then picks next, and will take Initiative (1); he then gets the Speaker token (meaning NEXT time, he'll pick first). Naalu then gets to pick. They take Technology (7), followed by L1Z1X taking Political (3) and Hacan taking Logistics (4).

If the Naalu didn't have that power, the turn order for the round would then be: Sol, L1Z1X, Hacan, Naalu, Letnev. However, the Naalu ability means their initiative is always 0; Thus, the turn order for the round is: Naalu, Sol, L1Z1X, Hacan, Letnev, Naalu, Sol, .... etc.

At the end of the round, all players return their Strategy Cards to the middle. Then, the next round, Sol has the speaker token, and picks first (probably Imperial (8)), then Naalu will pick, etc.

It may be worth pointing out that in the expansion, the Speaker Token changes hands differently; it's based on the #3 (Assembly) card, and doesn't happen until the card is activated. The #1 card still has the lowest initiative (except Naalu), but won't impact the card choosing order for the next round.

Awesome guys. Looks like it won't be until early next week before we can finish the game, but at least now I know some more going into round two.

Thanks again. I'm sure there will be more questions coming.

Always here to help.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, check out ti3wiki.org. The fan community there tends to be a litte more active (partly because the forum software there isn't as restrictive).

sigmazero13 said:

Very nice. No, I haven't spent much time in the research since it technically isn't my game. Though I may just have to get it soon now that I have played some.