Greetings!

I have bought TI3 for the new year and we played it five day long, night and day, hardly slept at all, lol. We played with 3 to 5 players. It was very exciting and just insanely fun! We now have tonns of questions though, about game mechanics and just in general...

First of all, one suggestion/question. I understand best way to play 5 players is with the warp rift (removing tiles and making those tiles near the missing tiles adjacent) since it makes for a perfect 5 player map, but this is hard to visualise and understand distances. So, if not using that option, we think that there is a better way to play than the one proposed in TI3 rules.
We move positions 1 and 4 up one tile. This provides 4 equal positions, which are closer to each other, and one unequal, but those 4 have 5 adjacent tiles while the final has only 3. Also, when placing starting system, people will make it fair, possibly placing more empty or red systems for the fifth player. This is so far much better than letting those having less space have more trade goods, since it wont help them, its just a one-time deal, while having more planets to conquer is every turn resource/influence base

Now for the questions

1. Can ships with a speed of 2 move out of the just activated system and return? Like, can an empty XRD Transporter enabled Carrier move out of the just activated system, take GF, return and land them here?

2. If Flank Speed is sabotaged, does the player lose the spent counter and his turn? Or can he regain his counter and make another action this turn?

3. Can Graviton Negator enabled Fighter be taken as a casualty in an invasion combat before GF or taken as casualty at all?

4. ALOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT ACTION CARD SYSTEM!

Generally, there is very little explanation on AC mechanic of the game. I understand that authors wanted to avoid complexity, but by avoiding complex mechanics they introduce even more complexity since people do not understand how do the things work!

4.a. Generally, we need explanation on how are action cards supposed to be played. From the rules (correct me if i am wrong), i suggest that:
* You can only announce and play an AC when the "Play: " is true this very moment.
* You then announce something like ACTION TIME! (lol), or just rise a card and say "i wanna play an Action Card", without calling the card name or revealing it
* Every player in "Turn order" (what is it?) then can also announce an Action Card to play
* Then, Action Cards are revealed and played in the "play order" (What is it?)

So, if i am wrong, please correct me, and regardless, please tell me what is the correct order of announcing a play of AC and the order in which AC are resolved?

4.b. Overall, is there something like a "spell chain" from MTG?

4.c. How exactly are AC resolved, in which order, when it really matters?
* For example, i need to take 3 casualties. I am flipping over one dreadnought, and opponent announces Direct Hit AC. I announce Emergency Repair. What will happen? Will Dreadnought be repaied first (and then it cannot be destroyed by direct hit) or will it be destroyed first (and then it cannot be repaired)?
* For example, enemy announces an AC. I suspect (or he explictly told it before revealing the AC) that its some kind of "steal enemy AC" action. Can i announce some AC as well, and then, what will happen first - will he get to look into my hand (and can he take away the card i announced, and what will happen then) or will my action card take its resolution?

4.d. Can i just discard an AC from my hand if i want to?

4.e. Can i announce an incorrect AC to discard it (like, i'm announcing Signal Jamming at an opponent who has no CC in his reinforcements area) or announce an AC that will have no effect (Emergency Repair if i have no damaged ships)?

4.f. What happens if AC "fizzles" (without sabotage)? Like, the situation when Direct Hit/Emergency Repair are used at once? Does the card that could not be resolved return to the hand or get discarded? Is the card that "fizzled" considered to be played?

4.g. What can be interrupted by AC announcement and what can not? Can Action Card resolution be interrupted by another AC announcement (and resolution)?
* For example, if i want to repair my Dreadnought before opponent can do a Direct Hit on it, can i wait for him to reveal the AC he plays (to see if its a direct hit) and THEN announce and AC (emergency repairs), play and resolve it, before direct hit takes place (and fails)?
* For example, an opponent announces an AC. I do not. It is a Disclosure (or successful spy or something). Can i now announce some "any time" AC to play BEFORE he gets to look into my hand?
* For example, can i interrupt Ysaril racial (look into my hand) with a "play any time" AC announcement?

4.e. What is uninterruptable? Is there something that is uninterruptable?
* For example, if a player is to take 5 trade goods from the common play, can i use some action card after he has taken fourth, but before he has taken the fifth?
* For example, i want to do Signal Jamming, and player i want to do it against has 3 CC(command counters) left in his reinforcements and can now take a strategy card with 3 bonus counters. Can i announce Signal Jamming when he says "i am exchanging the bonus counters for CC" right before he takes his final (third) CC from reinforcements? Can the player then revert his choice and take trade goods instead of the last CC that he cannot take (since he announced he excahnges all bonus for counters, but has unsufficient counters to take, and thus by the game rules cannot take the third counter?) or will he be left with no trade goods bonus and two counter bonus, or am i not allowed to interrupt the action of taking X counters?

4.f. How exactly does the interruption happen? What happens in player is too late? What is the grace period, and do player actions have to be rolled back if player was too quick or too slow?
* For example, political SC is played, and the active player immediately grabs 3 action cards from the deck. I have Council Dissolved. I announce i want to play an AC. What happens now? Am i too late to play the card (since it must be played immediately after, meaning, before the active player gets to draw cards)? Or should the active player put back those 3 cards before my AC is resolved? Can Active player use newly taken sabotage card (he just took from the 3) to sabotage my Council Dissolved or not?
* Can player ask others to stop right now and wait, if he is not sure he wants to play the card? Does he have the right to?
* I want to announce some "before combat round" ac, but first we resolve other precombat abilities. I roll Anti fighter barrage, and that is all that can happen pre-combat. My opponent announces "rolling dice at 9 for my carrier" and rolls the dice. But i wanted to announce Morale Boost. Am i too late, or can i tell the player that he didnt give me the chance to announce Morale Boost? If i can announce MB in this situation, can i demand a reroll of the dice, since the dice was rolled before combat round started?

4.g. What is the definition of "immediately after" and does this moment pass after everybody was given a chance to play an AC and they were revealed and resolved?
* For example, political SC is played, and another player announces he plays an AC. I guess its a Council Dissolved. I also have Council Dissolved, yet i dont want to waste it, if my opponent wants to use his. I pass my chance to play Council dissolved. Now, my opponent reveals the card, and it is not the Council Dissolved. Now, can i announce i am playing AC (Council Dissolved) or did i miss my "immediately after" chance to play an AC?
* Same example, but it is indeed Council Dissolved that is played, and it gets sabotaged. Can i now announce and play another Council Dissolved or am i too late?

4.h. Can same AC be played twice for the same moment by the same player, if first gets sabotaged?
* For example, Space Combat starts and i announce AC to play. Its Morale Boost. Enemy sabotages. Can i announce another Morale Boost now, or did "before combat" already pass?

4.i. Can a player announce more than one AC to play in a given moment?
* For example, can he announce Morale Boost and Prototype fighters at once? Or does he have to announce one, ask others to announce theirs if they want, then another?

4.j. Can Touch of the Genius be used to dig a sabotage card?
The game rules specify exactly that sabotage card is not played, but instead just discarded along with the card it targets. If so, then TofG cannot be played as sabotage since it is not sabotage, and you have to announce it as usual?
Or can it? If it can, can it be sabotaged (since the rules say that sabotage cannot be sabotaged, but TofG is not sabotage, so it should be sabotageable?)

4.k. What happens if both players announce same AC for same moment (like, two Council Dissolved or two Discredit for the same target)? For example:
* Can i Discredit two players if i have two Discredit in my hand?
* If two players want to Discredit same player, and they both announce their AC, and when they reveal, they see they both played discredit, in what order they have to announce their target? And can second player change his mind (he initially wanted to discredit one player, but since this player is already a target, he wants to target another player)? Can this player ask "will first AC be sabotaged" before he declares the target of his Discredit?
* Can second player refuse to play his card and take it back since the previous player already did what he wanted, or he has to waste his card? Or is his card returned to him since it cannot be played (since you cannot play two same cards for same occasion, as stated in game rules)?

4.l. How exactly does sabotage gets announced?
* For example, a player plays signal jamming against another player. I am interested for this to fail, because i want that player to attack this turn. I could sabotage this AC, but if the player has a sabotage himself, i dont want to waste mine. In which order do we have to announce, wether we sabotage the card or not. Can i ask the player against whom signal jamming is used, if he will sabotage it or not, and if he says no, does it mean he can never change his mind (and if i dont sabotage, the AC will resolve) or after i say "i do nothing", he can say "then i will use my sabotage"?

5. Can i use Transport AC (Action card) to move units between hostile systems if a path exists?
* Example, i want to transport GF from my home system to mecatol rex, and the patch between is clear of enemy units, could i do it if i have enemy ship in the home system, mecatol rex, or both?

6. Can i use "Into the Breach", and then, if i have to take 3 casualties, apply one to the chosen Dreadnought, use Emergency Repair, apply another, and then take Fighter as a casualty? ItB only requires me to apply first 2 hits to the chosen dreadnought, so it will live, and i will retain my +1 buff, right?

7. When producing in a system with two star docks, is production done separately on both or in a single "batch"?
* I mean, if i have a system with 3 and 1 resource planets, two star docks there, and Enviro Compensators, and Swarven Tools, can i produce a free Cruiser, or i have to pay 1 resouce (since the Cruiser is done on a single dock, and thus i cannot use both docks's 1 resource Swarven Tools bonus)?
* Same situation, can i exhaust 4 resource planet to produce 6 fighters on first dock and 4 fighters on second dock, or will 2 resources "burn" after i produced on the first dock, since production on the second dock is separate?

8. If a single system has two docks from different players, and one player has built a fighter (non-Advanced Fighter) on the dock, does this fighter blocade the other player space dock or not?

9. What is the single prerequisite in "Focused Research" card and what exactly cannot be taken by this card?
* For example, can i take War Sun, having Hylar V Laser and Deep Space Cannon and Enviro Compensator, while missing Swarven Tools?
* For example, can i take Micro Technology, having Enviro Compensator and midding Swarven Tools?

10. The law that makes you have no more than 3 action cards, does it work on Yssaril tribe (limitless hand racial)? Does the part "player must discard down to 3 cards if he has more than 3" work on Yssaril tribes?

11. If Fleet Regulations is voted for, what happens with the fleet and with the counters in fleet area? Do they "burn" immediately or do the players have to relocate them immediately or in the status phase? What if a law that prevents players to relocate the counters during the status phase is also in play? Do the fleets "shrink" immediately to 5 when the law is voted for, or do players have some time to move them around?

12. When doing transfer action, are fleet supply limits checked at every moment? Meaning, if i have limit of 5, and 5 ships in both systems that are activated for transfer, can i move ships between the systems, or do i have to sacrifice a ship as soon as one of my ships moves (making it 6 in a system)?

13. When doing transfer action, do speed limits still apply? Meaning, can a non-XRD Transporter Carrier move from one system to another, get up GF's and move back, or not?

14. If a player executing a tactical action moves his ship from one system to activated system, and then changes his mind (before he announces he finished movement), can he change his mind and move ships back to where they started from, or not?

15. Can a leader board a ship when the ship is built, or does he have to wait for an activation of the system (or the sytem to which this ship will be heading)?

16. What are the objectives "I now spend XXX something" actually requiring and how is it calculated?
* For example, can i just exhaust Mecatol Rex at some time saying "i spend 6 influence" and will that count, or do i have to exhaust it only when i am playing secondary Logistics?
* Does the influence/resource spent only this round count, or for the whole game?
* Does spending trade goods to buy resources count as spending resources?
* Can i exhaust planets in status phase to reach the required limit (like, i spent 9 influence this round, can i exhaust another 1 influence planet to claim "I now spend 10 influence" objective?
* Are planets exhausted for resources counting towards influence spend or not (i mean, if i exhaust mecatol rex for resources, does it count as 6 influence spent or not?)
* Are re-exhausted planets counted (like, if i use diplomacy secondary and exhaust planet again)?
* Or does only "used" resource count?" For example, i exhaust 0.0.0 to build one dreadnought, which costs me 4 of 5 resources. Does it count as 4 or 5 resources spent?

17. If Imperial Mandate is discarded, do players loose gained 2 VP's?

18. If Imperial Mandate is revoted on from for to against, do players loose 1 VP's (net gain of 1) or loose gained 2 and another 1 (net gain of -1)?

Thanks!

I have never played with the rift for 5 player game myself, but I do have it printed out. My group just prefers the natural way things are. Those extra trade goods in the first round really do go a long way to make it balanced. Being able to buy a few more ships or buy a tech first round is very useful.

1. Yes, any ships with range can move to the activated system, including moving out and picking units up and coming back.

2. The command counter is still placed. The flank speed action card was sabotaged, not the activating of the system. Any systems that still have movement can still move to the system. Only action cards that are played "as an action" will actually cancel your action and require you to do something else.

3. Yes, you may choose which units are destroyed and who lives. Fighters may also be taken before Shock Troops as ST only need to be the first Ground Force casualty.

4a. If you are playing an action card "as an action" then you don't really need to announce it. Just present the card and if it is not sabotaged, not proceed to execute it. When you are in battle is really the only instance when timing of action cards matter. a) First, everyone gets to announce if they would like to play an action card. b) Then, all action cards are revealed. c) The defender gets to choose what order the cards are initiated if it matters and the cards have the same timing. (anti-fighter barrage must be before Sabotage Runs, is the only exception). c) The cards are now executed. Generally, when we are playing and we are about the leave the Status Phase, we announce, "last call for status phase cards", or "last call for strategy phase cards" before we enter the action phase. Cards that can be played in status and strategy phase mostly do not have a specific timing. So, I would say don't worry about timing so much unless you are in battle, when all cards are revealed at the same time.

4b. There are card combos, but nothing like a "spell chain" Multiculturalism followed up by Cultural Crisis is one such combo. First, a player copies a racial ability. Then, Cultural Crisis takes all abilities of that player away. This means that the player copying has just copied nothing.

4c. The official way is that cards of this nature are resolved in player order, based on which strategy card they chose. So they lower numbered player would have their card resolved first, either before the emergency repairs goes off being able to direct hit, or being able to repair their ships. My group lets you sneak in an emergency repairs by announcing "i will take two hits, and then emergency repair them". The card you mention, Disclosure, is played "at any time" To my group, this has a more immediate timing than all other cards. Once announced it cannot be stopped and must be resolved. You would not be able to play an action card out of your hand, except the sabotage action card. This is the basis for our Emergency Repairs situation. The timing is more immediately than Direct Hit.

4d. Action cards can only be discarded if you are over the limit of 7. They can also be discarded by a few other means. The best example is the tech Hyper Metabolism. This lets you discard a card and draw an extra one when drawing cards.

4e. An AC must be able to be fulfilled to be able to play it. So in your two examples you could not play them.

4f. There is no official ruling as far as I remember, but I would lean toward those cards are not actually played.

4g. Once one of those abilities are announced, I would say they must be resolved before any further actions can be taken. The exception to this would be the Sabotage action card in response to Disclosure.

Going back to 4e. again.

4e. Again, no official precedence for this question. I would say that the player taking the strategy card with bonus counters on it must be resolved before an action card could be used against him. In this case, you should hold onto the card until he has made his choice, in which case they are final. He could not then change his mind and say "Opps, I really wanted to take all CC, not 4 TGs.

4f. The option for a Council Dissolved card is before the action cards are taken, so that player could not use a newly drawn sabotage. I would say that the player must actually announce they will execute their strategy card. Of course this doesn't work perfectly as that player might be sitting right next to the action card deck and just start drawing while they are announcing it. I would say the action cards are put back and the deck is reshuffled in this case. My group basically has added a "announce action cards" step to the battle sequence. Just as a remind and also as a timing issue. In your instance, the player rolling for the carrier did not allow enough time for the other player to announce an action card. I would say that only dice that need be reroll because of the action card, should be rerolled, but that would be up to your group.

4g. I would say that at any time after announcing that the strategy card is going to be executed and up to the point that the player actually starts executing it is "immediately after" or "before". Your group can make the choice whether to go around the table in player order or not.

4h. Two action cards may not be played in the exact same situation. Morale Boost effects a combat round, so only one can be played. Direct hit effects a specific ship, so only one per ship, but more than one per battle is allowed. If you wanted to signal jam, and it was sabotaged, you could not signal jam the same system again, but you could signal jam another system. Touch of Genius is a way around this. The card simply duplicates the effect of a card. It does not act as the same card.

4i. You may announce as many AC as you are able to play at any given moment, following all normal rules for them. In battle there is one specific moment in which you can do this. During the strategy phase, there is many such moments. So you may play one, wait a while, and play another.

4j. Touch of Genius may duplicate ANY card in the discard pile, including Sabotage. Touch of Genius may also be sabotaged, no matter what it is duplicating at the time. ToG does not become the card itself, it simply duplicates the effects.

4k. The cards you mention only have one copy of each. The only cards that their are multiples of would be able to be played by multiple people at the same time, for the most part.

4l. Sabotage may not be used on itself. So your sabotage can not be stopped by any means. You basically just announce you want to play it, and the effects are canceled.

5. No official wording that I recall, but I would assume that the intent is that you need to be able to actually pick up the units and them off in the system. Which means no enemy ships in either the destination or the origin system.

6. Correct, you have applied 2 hits to the Dreadnought and fulfilled the card and you still get the +1 to combat.

7. They are done separately, but at the same time. So you can not use Sarween Tools on both space docks to produce only 1 unit. Each space dock may use the 1 resource for 1 unit at that 1 space dock. Each cruiser would cost 1. I believe you may pay the resources from any source. The only limitation is that you can't combine production capacity or sarween tools. If you had 1 extra production capacity on both space docks, you couldn't buy 2 fighters and split them between the Space docks.

8. Blockading only requires a spaceship, it does not require a non-fighter ship. So in this instance, the enemy space dock would be blockaded.

9. This card is tricky because you must know the tech tree. If all you had were enviro compensator and sarween tools and you wanted war sun you would not be able to use this card because you would be skipping TWO prerequisites, Hylar V laser and deep space cannon. If you had EC and ST and you also had Hylar V, then you could skip DSC and get war sun. Your second example is correct. micro tech has an either/or prerequisite.

10. Yssaril Tribes are not limited by this political law the same way that Clan of Saar space docks are immune to certain action cards, multiculturalism and cultural crisis. This is the benefit for playing these races.

11. In this case, all players are reduced to 5 fleet supply. Then, all fleets must be reduced down to 5 ships, with excess ships being destroyed.

12. The movement is done at the same time and fleet supply will be checked after movement is complete.

13. Yes, all ships with movement may move back and forth, all rules associated with pick up and off still apply. The carrier in your example could only off in the system he ends his movement in.

14. Nothing wrong with planning out your strategy. Once movement is finalized then you can't change your mind of course.

15. A leader must wait until activation before he can be picked up, just like ground forces and pds. He only benefits because he doesn't require carrying capacity.

16. You must actually spend those objectives during the time you are scoring the victory point, either during bureaucracy or status phase. So you must actually save those resources/influence/trade goods until then. Planets are exhausted in this matter. Influence is only NOT spent when voting. Any other use for influence exhausts the planet. Re-exhausted as you put it, are simply refreshed planets, they work the same as all other refreshed planets. Building units does not help at all toward objectives that require you to spend.

17. Imperial Mandate is not a law. Therefore, after voting, it is technically in the discard pile. It is of course helpful to keep it by the objectives to remind yourself how you gained or lost points.

18. Imperial Mandate can't be chosen to revote on, unless you are pulling from the discard pile. Any outcome of the new voting would not affect the old voting. The fact that Imperial Mandate is not a law means that once you are done voting on it, the effects are permanent.

whew....done. There were some good questions in there. This game can definitely be overwhelming at times, but it does make sense after awhile. Start by looking at the specific wording on the card. This can go a long way to help figure things out. I hope all this helps.

Perhaps next time you could ask fewer questions at once. "insane" takes a long time to answer!

Thank you!

About insane amount of them...Sorry, but all those questions did require answering... Well, because they are important! I understand most of the replies and agree with them, i'd like to only ask on certain ones:

1. The rules explictly say that ships from already activated system CANNOT move into newly activated system. Why does this rule not apply to the newly activated system? It has a CC in it, meaning ships from it CANNOT move to the destination system, arent they? Is it said anywhere in the rules, or is it "common sense" by any means, or is it in the official errata? We do as you say, but judging by the rules, it is not said anywhere that just activated system is not yet activated, since rules explicitly tell you to first activate it and then do the movement, so, by the time of movement, the system is activated, so, ships from it cannot move! Or can they, and why?

3. Yes thank you, i just thought there might be a rule like one that prevents taking a landing PDS as a casualty.

4.b. You say that Multiculturalism followed up by Cultural Crisis means a player copies a racial ability. Then, Cultural Crisis takes all abilities of that player away. This means that the player copying has just copied nothing. How come? The player does not copy, he gains an ability for a round. He gained it. Already. He does not care what cultural crisis happened to the other player! Or is this in an official errata?

4.c. What order is working when we have no SC on the hands? I belive, status phase and strategy phase, we have no SC's, since in status phase we return them back, and in strategy phase we don't have them yet (or what happens if something is played when some of us has them and some have none?)

4.h. You say two action cards may not be played in the exact same situation. Morale Boost effects a combat round, so only one can be played. Does this mean that if MB got sabotaged, you cannot do another MB for this combat round?

4j. This:

Touch of Genius may duplicate ANY card in the discard pile, including Sabotage. ToG does not become the card itself, it simply duplicates the effects.

Sparkled a very serious debate amongst us. You see, the way game rules are written, there is no "interrupting" one ability with another, one AC with another. This means, one card cannot be announced before already announced round of cards are resolved. This means, ToG has to WAIT until the cards are resolved before it can be announced. If it has to WAIT, it CANNOT Sabotage because Sabotage is not announced, but shown, immediately after AC is revealed and its targets announced. ToG CANNOT be revealed like Sabotage because rules explictly say only Sabotage is revealed from the hand, all other AC's are announced in the SAME order.

So, for ToG to be able to copy Sabotage, it should be able to do an interruption of a set of AC's with another set of AC's, with second set of AC's resolving BEFORE the first set of AC's were resolved. This means that spell chain exists in TI, and this means it is pointless to announce AC's in a "I am playing an unnamed AC, do you want to play yours?" and then simultaneous reveal fashion. Because you as well could wait until the player reveals his AC, calls the targets and then tell him that you interrupt his resolution with your AC.

If such chain does not exist, and AC cannot interrupt another AC resolution, then you have to wait with your ToG announcement until the AC is played and discarded. Then, you cannot use ToG to sabotage because you have nothing to sabotage anymore, since "immediately after the AC is revealed" moment is already GONE! This would mean you can only use ToG to sabotage if you are later in the order of resolving the AC and you blindly announced it with the AC you meant to sabotage, and then, you announce it "digs" a sabotage and uses it on the opponent AC.

Please, correct me if i'm wrong.

7. So, i can use single planet to pay for production on both docks, right?

9. So, the wording for single prerequisite was for the tree, not for the card, right?

11. So, all excess fleet allocation CC go into reinforcements at once?

13. You mean, if carrier has 1 speed, it cannot do a "return trip", going there and returning, during tactical action?

16. So, you must WASTE those, right? Like, build nothing, and then at the status phase, exhaust those planets for sole reason of grabbing an objective alone?

About interruption and immediate action and order of things:

So you are telling me, there is no official wording, or, going by rules, we should resolve AC's always in order of SC numbers, and we cannot interrupt set of AC's with other set of AC's right? So, i cannot announce ER after opponent announced an AC and i didnt announce an AC and it happened to be a direct hit? And if i blindly announce ER when opponent announces an AC, it will only work in my favor if i have lower number on the SC, right?

There is no official wording that "any time" AC's are "faster" than "specific time" AC's, but you take it as a house rule, right? And you allow to interrupt Direct hit with ER because ER is faster, judging by its "any time" wording, right? So, there is no point to announce "at any time" cards along with other cards blindly, you can look what's in store and then decide if you "counterspell" this?

What happens to the played Direct Hit then? Does it go back into the hand, or to the pile?

And what about interruption? Again no official wording?

So, you think it is impossible to interrupt some actions that are done in "bulk" so either player takes SC with the bonus counters, and exhanges them, and then the AC is resolved, or the AC is resolved before he took it, right? If player is said to take three AC's from the deck, you cannot interrupt when he took two, only before he took any or after he took three (and discarded down to 7)? If player is said to take 3 TG's, you can only interrupt before he took any or after he took all 3? If you said you immediately distribute 3 hits and announce AC, opponent cannot announce AC before you distributed the second hit, even if he wished to?

But officially it is undefined and goes "as the people playing decide it should work"? Right?

Thanks again!

PS: And once more. How Checks and balances works in 3/4 player game, after the first round of selection?

Istrebitel said:

I'm not sure if it's actually written in the rules that a ship can leave the currently activated system and then come back, but the reasoning behind allowing that is that activation tokens are used to prevent a ship from moving more than once per round. If a ship is in a system that has been activated, it has (most probably) moved and/or participated in combat in that hex, or at least been built there, and thus has "taken it's turn." But if you're just activating the system now, any ships already there should still get a fair shake. They'll be locked in after this action, but if a carrier wants to zip out, grab some dudes and come back, that's cool.

Istrebitel said:

I believe the player order at times when there are no SCs is taken to be clockwise, starting with the Speaker. Keep a close eye on the steps in each Phase, though. For example, returning SCs is the last step in the Stauts Phase so you still do have your SCs when claiming objectives and doing everything else in that Phase.

Istrebitel said:

Correct.

Istrebitel said:

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I'm pretty sure that most people play ToG as if it were a real sabotage card if it is duplicating sabotage. ie: it inherits the ability to interrupt that sabotage normally has.

Istrebitel said:

Yes, you can exhaust all the planets you want and then divide the resulting resources between all docks producing in the active system. Note, however, that you can't "split a resource in half" to produce a fighter at one dock and a GF at the other. FT and GF have a cost of 2 for 1, not 1 for 0.5. If you only want to (or are only able to) produce one FT for some reason, you still have to pay 1 full resource for it.

Istrebitel said:

Prerequisites are prerequisites, there's no "for the tree" vs "for the card." Microtech requires one of two different techs to buy. If you had one of those techs already, you wouldn't even need the ability to skip a tech to buy it. Warsun requires ALL those techs, but you can only skip one them, meaning you need to actually have all the rest.

Look at the list of techs on the card you want to buy, switch one "false" into a "true" and see if you can meet the requirements while pretending to have that one you don't have. Use logical deduction. AND means AND, OR means OR.

Istrebitel said:

Yes.

Istrebitel said:

This is true, a carrier with speed 1 could not leave and return because it needs 2 movement to do so and it must end its move in the active system or not move at all. Also, keep in mind that dropping units off happens AFTER moving, so you can't drop things off in another hex and then come back to the active hex.

Istrebitel said:

Correct. Although it isn't really "wasting" them since Victory Points are what win you the game. Building things and buying techs is fun, but it doesn't help you win unless it somehow earns you VPs.

Istrebitel said:

The official rules say you need to all declare your ACs before any are revealed (except Sabotage.) So you would need to blindly declare your ER and hope that the opponent's AC is DH (and even then it would only help you if you have the lower SC number.) Assuming you would consider it a waste to use ER normally, that is. I mean you still get the healing even if his AC isn't DH.

That said, we don't generally play that way ourselves, nor do I know anyone who actually does anally declare every AC before resolving any. We just play ACs whenever we see the opportunity, and assuming there's a conflict in resolution, we use SC value to break ties. We understand what RAW says, but that's just too pedantic for our tastes. Call it a house rule if you like.

In cases where ER nullifies DH, the DH is wasted and gets discarded. Likewise for the ER in cases where DH wins.

Steve-O said:

But as you say, i can buy Adv Fighters on round 1 with the card. I reverse the requirement of Type IV Drive to TRUE and i now can buy it. But the official errata disagrees with it, saying you cannot do it...

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So, about DH/ER - who wins, the one who announced first, or the one who is the first in the "play order", meaning, least number on the card?

1. This ruling was on page 4of the latest Faq under movement. Ships with movement of 2 or more can move out of a newly activated system and back in. This ruling references page 11 of the Rulebook which states "a ship may not move if it is located in a system that already has been activated" So a newly placed activation does not lock the current ships down, until after this tactical action.

4b. Multiculturalism states "you gain that special ability this round". It does not say you copy or duplicate, it says you gain. If the player then has all his abilities taken away through Cultural Crisis, you have gained an empty ability. I could be wrong about this as I only found a ruling that says you can't use Multiculturalism on someone who has previously been Cultural Crisis, but not the other way around.

4c. I could not find where it was listed, but when nobody has a strategy card, either the speaker will break ties in this instance or it is the player closest to the left of the speaker. I believe it is speaker breaks ties.

4h. This is correct. No two action cards can be played in the exact same situation.

4j. Touch of Genius is played "At the time specified by the card being duplicated". So in the case of Sabotage, the timing is exactly the same and will not need to be announced. Touch of Genius IS sabotage in this instance, except that someone can actually sabotage ToG.

7. When paying for something, like units. You first decide what you want to build. Say it costs 7 resources. You can then spend those 7 resources from ANY source. Think of the planet cards as currency. It does not matter where the resources come from when spending them, it just matters that you do spend them.

9. Faq page 2, "Focused Research allows you to ignore one prerequisite on the tech tree" not the tech card. So you can't get advanced fighters on the first turn by skipping the one prereq listed on the AF card. Here is a good tech tree that is laid out nicely. boardgamegeek.com/filepage/27486/twilight-imperium-3e-shattered-empires-tech-tree

11. Correct, they would be removed and move to reinforcements.

13. Correct, it has enough movement to move out, but not back. In this case, it MUST end its movement in the activated system, so can not move out.

16. Definitely not wasted. VP are how you win the game. It becomes of balance of VP and strength to defend yourself.

For an action card to be resolved, it must be legal to be played. So in the case of DH/ER, if one were to go off before the other, the other would now be illegal to be played. So I believe this would go back into your hand as you can not simply play a card and NOT execute the ability on it. All cards are executed in order of Initiative technically. This, in practice, can be slightly weird. Why should someone who took diplomacy be faster than someone who took warfare? That is how it is, however, so it is up to you whether you follow this by the rules or allow some leeway by giving people options. Like, "I will damage these dreadnoughts and then play this emergency repairs before you can play your direct hit"

As with your interrupt/bulk question. There is no official wording, but it makes more sense that they would be completed all at once. The player is receiving 3 bonus counters at once, 3 trade goods at one time, not 1 trade good, 1 TG, then 1 TG. or 1 AC, 1 AC, 1AC. They are receiving everything at once and must complete that before being interrupted.

Checks and balance would work the same way for the second round of strategy cards, you would choose a second one and give it to a player that didn't already have a second one. Each player must receive 1 before any player can receive 2.

Istrebitel said:

Ah, I see the difference you meant now. I misunderstood what was being said before. No, you couldn't ignore Type IV Drive all alone because you're still missing a lot of things you need to buy Type IV Drive. If you already had all the prequisties for Type IV Drive, but hadn't yet bought it, then you could skip it to buy Adv FTs.

Istrebitel said:

Whoever has the lower SC value. Meaning don't waste your ER if the other guy has a lower SC than you when the battle takes place. At least that's how we play.

DavidG55311 said:

This is actually incorrect; if a card is Sabotaged, it is considered to never have been played at all. Which means, if you play Signal Jam, and it's sabotaged, it's like the Signal Jam was not played, and you COULD play a second Signal Jam and target the exact same system.

Also, I agree that with the FFG forum software, it's much easier to answer several posts with just a few questions each, than the massive list here. The quote/reply feature of this site is horrid.

sigmazero13 said:

That severely weakens the sabotage card, if that's true. Especially considering there's only 4 of them in that entire massive deck. I guess I'll have to try to implement a house rule to turn that around in our games.

Steve-O said:

The FAQ is pretty clear - a Sabotaged card is NOT considered to have been played. It uses the example of not counting as your action, but the general answer it uses is that if you sabotage a card, it's basically null and void for ALL purposes.

I disagree it weakens Sabotage - it's still very powerful, cannot be sabotaged, and the chances of a single player having the same card in multiple copies is pretty slim. Sure, there's only 4 of them, but there's also only 4 Signal Jamming (and I think Signal Jamming is probably the most powerful card in the game, as it can REALLY hose a player, worse than any Sabotage can do.) Plus, if using leaders, there are also Agents which work the same way, thus increasing the Sabotage amount.

I think it's good that every card has it's counterbalance. Having Sabotage be the ultimate trump that not only blocks cards, but keeps them from being played again is a bit TOO much.

There is actually 5 sabotage cards. Its the most numerous card in the deck, as others only come up to 4 of each.

I pointed this out to my play group and their reaction was "interesting..."

That is a completely new way of looking at things.

Your interpretation of the ruling looks correct.

Steve-O said:

This one bit was bugging me a bit so I looked in to this:

Pg. 11 of the core rulebook, 1st paragraph of step 2 in the activation sequence: "Only movement into the activated system is allowed"

This would strongly suggest that a ship could not move out of an activated system & return since only moving into the activated system is allowed.

That aside, do you feel that having the added flexibility of having a "round trip" to scoop up some troops or fighters adds much to the game? I'm going to have another play of this game soon and neve encountered this situation before. I'm wondering if this makes gameplay better?

Nargnarfer said:

This has been officially clarified that you CAN move out and back into the system you just BARELY activated as part of the activation. I can't remember if it's in the FAQ, or if it was just ruled on by Corey via email/forum but it was ruled upon

Thanks Sigma,

I appreciate the update!