So yet having to play my first game (have to wait till my preorder arrives...sigh) I read reports that TI4 takes less time to complete.

Play times don't interest me so much, as every playgroup plays at a different speed. What does interest me is how many rounds it takes for someone to reach 10VP. This is more interesting because this gives you an idea how far ahead you should plan (for example for technology).

In TI3, with the artifacts, prelim and bureaucracy options in our games someone is usually about to reach 10VP during round 6, but gets stopped. In round 7 the game usually ends (by someone else winning, off course!)

I analyzed the differences between TI3 and TI4 when it comes to scoring points, and this is what I found :

-The game starts with TWO Stage I PO's open. Giving the players one extra PO to score from will accellerate scoring in the early rounds.

-Imperial can give a player 1VP, but this shouldn't happen more than two times in a game (and if it does for the same player, that is pretty much game over)

-First to claim MR gains a free VP. If combined with imperial this can result in a quick game.

-Secret objectives only give 1VP, however these are MUCH more easy to complete and you can draw and score up to 3.

(Compared to TI3 we lose prelims, artifacts and the bureaucracy catch up mechanism).

When I take all of this into account I expect most games to be finished by round 6, if people play to win (and don't degenerate into a wargame).

As my playgroup plays quite fast I expect us to go for 14VP games pretty soon, which should take like 2 extra rounds.

In both of the game's I've played thus far, one a 4 player game and one a 3 player game, neither went past the 7th round. The person who got to MR first also won both times by taking it and then dropping the 8 card and completing both a public object and a secret object for a 4 point slam dunk.

We're probably going to 14 VP games with our group in future games because people like moving around their upgraded fleets around...

The less players at the table, the more chance the MR holder will be able to score a VP by grabbing that SC.

I actually expect very few scored VP's that way in our playgroup, unless when forced by claiming the speaker token. We are VERY apprehensive when it comes to letting someone have a free VP.

I think I only played 14VP games twice or three times in my 80+ TI3 games, even with artifacts. However I think this could be completely possible for TI4.

7 rounds is pretty good. My TI3 games rarely lasted more than 5 or 6. If the games are taking about as long as they did before, but they have more rounds of play, that's great news. We played with 4 players the vast majority of times, though (on a smaller map so there aren't an overabundance of resources, but still). 6 player games would probably last longer because there are more people competing to take the Imperial/Bureaucracy cards.

I never play games with less than 5 people, and we usually get the full 6. So yes then 6 to 7 rounds is the norm.

I can understand finishing in 5 to 6 rounds in a 4P game is possible, especially with artifacts in play.