Here's the information we know, so far: (though much of it may change before the game's ready)

• The Lazax return! A few true, non-modified Lazax managed to hide in a secluded colony, and they are plotting to take back the crown!

• It seems like the players goal is to find and eliminate this Lazax colony, before they manage to take over Mecatol Rex and everyone loses.

• Or are the Lazax playable? That's not clear with the information we have so far. Enter the speculation on reddit!

• Player pieces (units, cards etc.) for a 7th player.

• There's a grainy mobile picture where the new pieces seems to be fuchsia colour or perhaps it's pink.

• There are new systems. Or, to be more correct: You construct new hexes with rhombi shaped pieces. Each rhombi tile can contain a planet, empty space or a asateroid belt. You need three such rhombi tiles to combine to a hex tile. This ensures more variation in our maps!!
  
  There's perhaps more information to be had here .

My understanding is the other race in the expansion will be the cyber apes from the RPG.

In addition the designers want to have a second go at Mercenaries. The space/ground interactions were interesting but a third field will be added for variety - agenda phase abilities. They will change your vote count but grant you additional abilities. The Hacan one can give another player a unit in his HS, and you get the units cost in votes from that player. Need 4 more votes? Hand out a dreadnought!

The nexus is back, but it looks like Malice is better. The image is blurry but it's a 2/3 or a 3/3 and one of the new secrets wants a PDS and 4 GFs on Malice.

I really, really hate this day.

As long as they're including Gorilla Robots as a playable race, I'm in.

Also, fuchsia is my favorite color.

All I really want is for FF to rework/add to the tech. But we'll see what happens.

So I realize this is an April Fools thread, but is there room for more asymmetric play? Either make the Nekrovirus function very differently, or add some sort of cosmozoan player that isn't political but eats or devastates planets perhaps? Then the other players have a sort of tragedy of the commons type choice to cooperate against that or go for their own victory and risk letting the galaxy be devastated?

16 minutes ago, PenguinBonaparte said:

So I realize this is an April Fools thread, but is there room for more asymmetric play? Either make the Nekrovirus function very differently, or add some sort of cosmozoan player that isn't political but eats or devastates planets perhaps? Then the other players have a sort of tragedy of the commons type choice to cooperate against that or go for their own victory and risk letting the galaxy be devastated?

The Shards of the Throne expansion for TI3 included a scenario where one player played the Lazax controlling their empire and another 2-5 players were each another of the great races trying to topple them.

However, I get the (anecdotal) impression that very few TI players actually ever used that scenario.

5 hours ago, pklevine said:

However, I get the (anecdotal) impression that very few TI players actually ever used that scenario.

I played it a few times. I always played Lazax (and always won). It was good for either 5 or 7 players as ithe stopped the usual problems. It had its problems, and felt unfinished, but stopping the fall of the Empire was a satisfactory feeling.

I also played the Lazax. Was elected to take them due to being the most experienced player. Noone ever even tried to take the (don't remember the number or name of it but I'm guessing Assembly) SC from me so I got to decide on every single law and such, dealing out punishment to those closest to winning and giving myself all the good stuff. I was a right totalitarian bastard. As the Lazax is. Was. Will have been?

On 4/2/2018 at 8:59 PM, PenguinBonaparte said:

So I realize this is an April Fools thread, ...

Hey now that it is past April first, Shouldn't the OP edit the title to include April Fools?