My friend recently bought Twilight Imperium, we've played it 5 times now. We don't have any of the expansions. We've got another person to join us, so we're doing our first 6 player game tonight.

Anyway, I was reading the FAQ last night, to see if it covered any of our rules questions, when I saw something that makes me think we're doing Public Objectives all wrong.

The way we've been doing them as follows. When it's time to claim Objectives, we go round the table in turn order (as the rules say). Each person can declare they've completed an objective, and then they take the card. Then we go round again, in case someone can declare a second objective.

However, the FAQ says two or more people can both claim the same Public Objective, which means we've been doing it wrong.

But then that means, presumably the card doesn't go away, if several people can pick it. Would that mean it just sits there, so people could pick it again and again in later turns? Or can people only pick each objective once, but it stays there? That'll be awkward to remember, whether people spent 6 trade goods 5 turns ago, or whatever.

As far as I can tell, when it cames to claiming public objectives, you simply use a flag marker to show that you have achieved it. Anyone can claim for an objective, even one that's already been claimed by another (multiple people having a set number of technologies, say) but, rules permitting, you can only claim one per game round and once earned, you cannot claim it again. Your markers will serve as a reminder of your accomplishments.

I'm also pretty certain that certain objective requirements do not carry over the following game rounds, eg, if you currently occupy Mecatol Rex, don't claim the objective for whatever reason and subsequently lose MR over the following rounds, you will no longer apply for that occupation objective (until you can next occupy it of course).

Hope this clarifies a few things!

It does actually, thankyou. I didn't think of putting a flag marker on the objective, in retrospect it seems pretty obvious. Thanks.

Treguard said:

Correct on both counts.

Regarding point number 2, the specific rule is that you must be able to truthfully state the words on the card at the time you claim it. So an objective that says "I now spend X resources" means you need to have X resources in the Status Phase to spend as you are claiming the objective (you can still spend TGs as resources, mind you.)

An objective that says "I destroyed X enemy GF this turn " means that you must have personally exterminated X GFs belonging to enemy players in the course of the game turn just completed (GFs killed in previous turns don't count, nor do Domain Counters like Hostile Locals - those aren't actually plastic GFs, and besides the term "enemy" specifically refers to the other players.)

An objective that says "I have X technologies." can be claimed in any turn that you have X technologies - there's no limit on what turn you researched them, just that you need to have X of them. Since you can't generally lose tech after gaining it, these ones are good to save for later turns if you think you can hit something else at the same time.

In all cases, the PO card is not taken off the line or made unavailable to other players, but you can only claim it once. If the rulebook doesn't explicitly say to put a flag on it, then that's a very common house rule in my experience.

Steve-O said:

If it doesn't explicitly say that (which I think it does), then it's the most common house rule of all time! In fact, I'd wager every single game uses it. How else are you meant to keep track of which objectives you've claimed?

Yes, the rule book states to mark the objective with your race's marker.