My friends and I have recently started playing Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition. We have had three games. We have changed some rules, and implemented Imperial II instead of Imperial, but we do not have Shattered Empires because it is out of print (for now they say).

Here are some of the common questions we have:

Can a PDS units fire if the system they are in is activated?
Do abilities such as the Mentek Race ability and the Assault Cannon tech allow units to fire before combat and during combat?

There is also a question I have: Which races are considered 'fast' and which are 'slow'. What are the strategies for both?

Thanks.

JackWilton said:

Yes. PDS can fire any time another system is activated within their range, regardless of whether the system the PDS unit is in is activated or not.

JackWilton said:

Yes. The Mentak ability gives you up to two pre-combat shots; the Assault Cannon gives you 1 pre-combat shot per Dreadnought. Neither ability affects the ships' abilities to fire during combat.

There is an action card (can't remember the name) that lets a ship get some pre-combat shots in but misses it's first round, but that's specific to that card.

JackWilton said:

Yssaril are probably considered pretty "fast". Hacan can be, too. The L1Z1X and Letnev tend to be "slow" races - but they can be nasty juggernauts once they get going (especially the L1Z1X). But then, I'm not completely sure I understand what you mean by "fast" or "Slow"

I hope this helps.

Agree with Sigma (the card he's referring to is Target Their Flagship, but as he says it states it clearly on the card).

If by Fast/Slow you mean fast/slow starts, then I agree with Sigma. The N'orr also have a slow start.

Okay, thanks for that. We have been playing so that when an system is activated the PDSs cannot fire. It seems odd that a PDS could fire even if it is activated. They seem overpowered, but we only had one PDS hit in all of our games (due to bad luck).

By slow and fast I meant slow and fast starts. Hacan, Naalu, and Yssaril are fast for sure. Jol Nor are slow, but they have awesome tech gains.

Another question:

Is this how trade works: a Hacan player with a trade agreement of 3 trades with a L1z1x player with a trade agreement of 1, the Hacan player would gain 1 when trade is activated (and an extra one from the racial specialty) while the L1z1x player would gain 3 trade goods.

JackWilton said:

That is correct. As the Hacan, you will want to seek out the best possible trade contracts for yourself.

Jol-Nar has a 3, Winnu has a 3. Lots of people have 2s. You want to get the best in return and also not allow other people to benefit as much as you.

Not many people will attack the Hacan if they have a trade contract, because 3 recourse every turn is very nice.

Thanks for that David. I was against the Mentak and L1z1x. I had no good trade options ¬¬,

I've been searching for a couple days and I have not been able to find the expansion anywhere. I know there is a rumored reprint, but it is annoying to have to wait. We want the extra systems for a larger game board (and 14 victory points). Besides stalking for it on ebay, is there any other way to get it [the expansion]?

Another question:

In one turn can a player attack a planet (say Mecatol Rex), invade it, and build a space dock on it?

JackWilton said:

If it helps, think of it like this: Units cannot move out of an activated system. This is the only restriction I'm aware of that gets imposed on units in an activated system. They cannot move out of that system. In theory, any unit could open fire from an activated system, it just so happens that PDS (with DSC) are the only units who have the range to hit things outside the system they're in.

In fact, if you have units in a system you have activated, and another player activates that system and comes to attack you, your units are still allowed to fight in that system, which only offers further proof that being in an activated system does not impede combat ability (being unable to reach targets outside that system does, of course.)

And PDS are not overpowered. As you yourself have observed, their hit rate is not always ideal. On top of that it takes a lot of effort to move a PDS from the planet where it was built. They are functionally fixed in one location. They're great for defensive purposes, but they can be avoided easily enough unless you're attacking the place they're defending.

JackWilton said:

If you have a vehicle, you could hit the phone book and call stores in surrounding areas (I've heard of some people doing that) to see if any of them have it in stock. You might also find a gaming store listed in some suburb that you didn't previously know about, so it's always a good place to check. Also, check out flea markets and garage sales around town (if you haven't been already.) It's a long shot when you're looking for one specific thing, but you never know what you'll find unless you look. =)

Considering how high demand has been on this forum for the expansion lately, it hopefully won't be too much longer before it gets reprinted.

JackWilton said:

As far as I know, yes. Production is the last step in the tactical action sequence, after invasion combat and all so you would control the planet by then. Two things to note, however: 1) The planet would come into your possession tapped - unless you have Nanotech - so you wouldn't be able to spend the resources from the newly conquered planet right away. You'd have to make do with what you already had. 2) you can't build other units at a space dock the same turn it's built, so the dock is the only thing you could build.

Steve-O said:

Actually, the answer is "no". Per page 26, you cannot build a space dock on a planet unless you have controlled it for the entire current round. Thus, you cannot build a Space Dock on a planet in the same activation as you invade it. In face, even if you manage to remove the CC from the system (such as with Warfare I or Unexpected Action), you cannot build a space dock on it in another activation during the same round. You will have to wait until the NEXT round.

Generally, this means that it takes 3 rounds to build ships at a new planet:

Round 1) Invade and capture the planet

Round 2) Build a Space Dock

Round 3) Build ships at the space dock.

In regards to the expansion, I noted that one reason you wanted it for was to build "bigger" galaxies. I would probably recommend against doing that. My experience has been that if you make the galaxy bigger (unless playing with 7 or 8 players), you get way too many resources. Sure, it's cool to build tons of ships, but I've found that it makes the decisions regarding "what to build" and "how to spend my limited resources" much less important.

sigmazero13 said:

It should be worth noting that there are a few ways to get a spacedock on a planet you just acquired this round.

a) There is a political card (subsidized industry) that allows one player to place a new spacedock on any planet. Using this political card would NOT allow you to build at that spacedock as you still have not controlled the spacedock the entire round.

b) There is an action card (massive transport) that would allow you to move one of your existing spacedocks to any other planet you control. This WOULD allow you to build at that spacedock this round as you have controlled it the entire round. However, the system is already locked down, so you would either need to remove the CC first or use the strategy card that allows you to build (production or imperial).

DavidG55311 said:

Hmm, I'm not convinced this PC would allow you to place one there. However, I do admit the situation is kind of vague.

Also, for what it's worth, capturing an enemy space dock with an Agent would get you a dock there. But you still cannot build units there that round, as it's still a "new" space dock for you.

In regards to the expansion, I noted that one reason you wanted it for was to build "bigger" galaxies. I would probably recommend against doing that. My experience has been that if you make the galaxy bigger (unless playing with 7 or 8 players), you get way too many resources. Sure, it's cool to build tons of ships, but I've found that it makes the decisions regarding "what to build" and "how to spend my limited resources" much less important.

In fact, this was just realized by our group and we are now taking steps to reduce the amount of resources we play with. When every player in a five or six person game can average 15 to 20 resources a turn, then things like production and tech research or loss of units are not very critical to planning and encourages alot of turtling. Very boring game at times. I know before you comment, we have not played with your usual set-up for the map, our bad...lol. But it it is cool that the game is dynamic enought that we could come to see why our games played the way they did and make the right change.

I've taken note that you cannot invade and set up a space dock. That will make the game a little slower.

In regards to turtling, it is much like camping. Legitimate, but not always the best strategy. My group is going to have another game soon (working on getting the expansion), and we have played most of the races already. The Naalu and Jol Nor are looking like my favorties so far.

About the bigger galaxies, we have had trouble with being to close right off the bat and not having enough room to spread out. If you have bigger galaxies, it makes sense to have larger fleets to guard larger borders. It would also mean that PDSs play less of an effect.

JackWilton said:

That's the whole point of using a smaller galaxy - NOT having room to spread out means more conflict. I've played a few games with bigger galaxies (not counting 7 or 8 player games where you need them just because of the number of players), and while having huge fleets is fun on some levels, it also made the game much less interesting: resource management was almost a non-issue (you always had plenty to buy what you wanted), conflict was at a minimum (because nobody had to fight over systems), and in general it just became a race to see who scored the most first. With smaller, "poorer" galaxies, players are forced to go head-to-head with others and elbow their way to the top. Sure, PDS are more potent in smaller galaxies, but it makes for a much more interesting game than a large one does.

sigmazero13 said:

This weekend we are playing two games on Saturday, so we will be using a lot of tiles in the main set (including a home system or two) to make a larger game board to see how it works out.

Isn't it always a race to see who scores the most first?

JackWilton said:

Technically, yes. In a bigger galaxy though, that's all it is. The winner is simply one who doesn't screw up and miss an objective along the way, if multiple people avoid screwing up, you'll probably be digging up the tie-breaker rules in the end. In a smaller galaxy, you have to fight, negotiate or otherwise finnagle your opponents to get the systems you need in order to have the resources you need to score those points. So getting there first has more to do with how you handle yourself under pressure than your raw ability to throw money at the problem until it goes away.

Turtling really kills this game! I've seen people build mighty armadas that never engage in battle because there was no compelling reason to. Another thing that can happen is a signal jam or diplomacy on your armada. The whole variant my group and I have played lately has been all about discouraging turtling. When you are constantly fighting this game is a lot more exciting/engaging.

It is just far too long of a game to get a terrible case of galactic blue balls.

Yes, this game is about completing objectives but its about completing them in the most dramatic fashion possible. Also denying people or limiting peoples ability to complete objectives is the other side of that. If everyone turtles, and on a large ring map that's natural, with so many resources, there's no reason to really start denying people objectives until the end and frankley the biggest game losing mistakes I see are in late game fleet positioning. So you may have the best fleet in the verse and yet have no ability to make it effect the outcome of the game.

Scarcity breeds conflict! Conflict is the key to everything that is good about this game.

My group really enjoyed having a full third ring. We used the Imperial II variant and played to 14 VP. The game took seven hours (about six if you took out xenophobic bickering, ordering lunch, and set-up). The races were Yssaril Tribes, Xxcha, and Sardakk N'orr. Sardakk N'orr won, Xxcha came a close second, while the Tribes were trailing by a few points. Yssaril are kind of broken because the player gets to draw two action cards, hold as many as the player likes, and may skip their turn. The turn skipping is powerful, however the Xxcha diplomacy ability kept me neutral for most of the game while I expanded and traded. The great part about TI is that you do not have to have combat (but we had the most combat in this game, both Varfut and Mellon systems were highly sought over.

We have set up a variant for picking races:
Everyone rolls a d10. Highest roller picks the race they want to play.
You cannot pick a race that won the last game.
You cannot pick the race that you played last.

This insures that the same player does not pick the same race over and over, allowing for variety and fair choice.

I just won an ebay bid for Shattered Empire, so we will be getting our teeth into that next time we play. The Saar look cool, the Brotherhood look hilarious, but The Winnu have great racial abilities that seem really useful, save for their suckish starting fleet.

Here is a list of races that have won so far (not counting the trial game) in order:
Naalu
L1Z1X Mindnet
Mentak Coalition
Sardakk Norr (last game)

Thanks for everyone's input so far. It has been a lot of help for sorting out disagreements that would have taken up game time.

QUESTION:
Can a Carrier with XRD pick up Ground Forces, activate a system two away, then off ground forces in the system along the way?
Say the Carrier is on Mellon, and Wellon is activated with Bereg's system in between. Could the Carrier pick up or off units along the way onto Bereg?

JackWilton said:

No. GFs are picked up during the Movement step of an activation and are dropped off on the Planetary Landings step. Planetary Landings happens exclusively after Movement, so the Carrier can only GFs in the system it stops moving in (and remember, ships aren't allowed to stop short of the activated system. They either move to that system or they don't move at all.)

Thanks Steve.

Another Question:

If you are on diplomacy terms with another player via the Diplomacy strategy card, and you move into a system in range of their PDS, may they fire on you?

Yes.

As covered in the FAQ, the Diplomacy strategy card ONLY stops you activating their systems which contain their units. Anything else is permitted.

Thanks, that was how we ruled it to keep the game going instead of arguing it.

Question:

How does Fleet Logistics work exactly? May I have an example?

Sure. All it means is that you may take 2 tactical* actions in your turn instead of 1. For example:

- Another player does his action.

- You activate Bereg, move in your fleet and attack.

- You activate your homesystem and build.

- The next player takes their action.

That's a pretty standard example.

*Note that you can only do this with tactical actions (i.e. "ordinary" actions). You can't use them to play your strategy card, do a transfer action or play action cards.

Oh awesome. That was how another player figured it worked, so I rolled with it. It is a pretty good tech for blizting for Keeper of the Gates and taking home systems. Thanks again possumman.

Steve-O said:

This answer isn't entirely consistent with the rules. It is true you cannot off units along the way the act of landing troops / PDS / leaders can only take place in the activated destination system during a tactical action. However, you may pick up GF from unactivated systems en route to the destination, and land them upon arrival.

johnnylump said:

After I read this I checked the carrier section. It does show an example with the carrier picking up a GT. Thanks for the correction.