Top Races

By bowelbag2, in Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition

KelRiever said:

Yssaril Tribes and Mentak seem to be the most powerful.

For third place it's hard to pick, but I am beginning to thing the Nekko Virus might just be up there.

As a note, we tend to play with all expansions and all possible optional rules.

Nekro Virus up there? Sure, they're scary from a combat point of view, but their lackluster homesystem, mediocre trades, lack of voting participation and dependence on aggression to acquire technologies are potentially huge drawbacks. Plus it's easy to inhibit them from claiming certain objectives.

I would probably categorize the Nekro-Virus amongst the very low tier; they're simply too inconsistent performers, too random and too vulnerable to alot of factors such as politics. The Alastor - used defensively, mind you - is probably their greatest strength in my opinion, but they're simply too easy to hamstring when good players face off against them.

Reposted because this was in the wrong thread:

Well, we shall see. You obviously feel strongly about them not being powerful, but I'm not going to get into a 'theory' war on the internet about it. I'll say I'm open to considering they are not so great due to number of games I've seen them in. But they've been excellent from what I have seen. I'll admit that it takes someone who knows what they are doing to play them. It isn't a good faction for a person learning the game.

KelRiever said:

Yssaril Tribes and Mentak seem to be the most powerful

Mentak? Really? Sure, they're fun, but they're only middle-of-the-pack.

Let's look at their special abilities:

- Start with 1 extra CC. Nice, but nothing to write home about.

- Steal TG. Not super-useful. This does help to keep a cap on Hacan's stockpiling of TG, but typically players will unload TG down to 2 just to avoid losing one. So the topography of the unit structure might change -- maybe it's a little harder to get a War Sun out -- but this isn't an obvious benefit for Mentak only.

- Pre-combat shots. Great early and in small battles; not very useful in the mid-to-late game or in large battles, when 1 extra hit (on average) doesn't do much.

Certainly you can do well with Mentak ... but you could say that about any race. Mentak has to be played a particular way for them to be super-effective, as enhanced by Salvage Operations. But their power starts relatively high and degrades throughout the game. Hence, middle-of-the-pack.

That having been said, though, Mirror Computing is amazing, and might be enough all on its own to bring Mentak into the top tier, much as Winnu's Bioptic Recyclers could do before it was FAQ'ed out of usefulness.

- Pre-combat shots. Great early and in small battles; not very useful in the mid-to-late game or in large battles, when 1 extra hit (on average) doesn't do much.

Actually, that is one of hte best abilites they have. The trade goods ability is meh, the extra CC is good, like you said, but not a game winner. However, that cruiser ability alone is the winner. Cruiser tech up, and in an objective based game, like TI, I think you have everything you need with high speed cruisers, with stasis fields (and all the other good cruiser tech). Keep in mind we play with all optional rules, so that includes their race tech, mines, and the heroes. They're awesome.

KelRiever said:

- Pre-combat shots. Great early and in small battles; not very useful in the mid-to-late game or in large battles, when 1 extra hit (on average) doesn't do much.

Actually, that is one of hte best abilites they have. The trade goods ability is meh, the extra CC is good, like you said, but not a game winner. However, that cruiser ability alone is the winner. Cruiser tech up, and in an objective based game, like TI, I think you have everything you need with high speed cruisers, with stasis fields (and all the other good cruiser tech). Keep in mind we play with all optional rules, so that includes their race tech, mines, and the heroes. They're awesome.

Sure their TG racial ability is very situational, but the sole reason Mentak is considered powerful currently is the incredible synergy between Mirror Computing and Salvage Operations; aside from making almost every fight into very cost-efficient affairs military-wise, it also allows them to qualify for the otherwise harsh influence/resource stage II objectives that would otherwise be a hindrance to them lategame.

I'm not entirely certain Mentakk is actually top-tier, but if not, they are certainly amongst the very top of the middle-tier. And that is solely due to the synergy between Mirror Computing and Salvage Operations. Plus their flagship, Fourth Moon, is potentially quite strong, at least from my experience; it's the cheapest Flagship of all if memory serves, and it provides a neat bonus against Mk II Carriers, Inheritance Systems-boosted Dreads and War Sun fleets. Not much, but combined with certain action cards or a healthy dose of Destroyers + 2 Cruisers, it should certainly make any of the aforementioned fleets think twice before committing to an attack. But the primary reason Mentakk seems to be on the rise is definitely the synergy between their two racial techs.

Just to be sure every one understands...I think Yssaril is the top race. gran_risa.gif

Bill

I have never tested the Yssaril myself - I already have a reputation as a devious player, and I don't need the platinum-colored Bull's Eye on my Home System that an unlimited hand of nasty surprises would provide in combination with this rep. However, my Yssaril opponents actually were not really thougher than others, though certainly not to be toyed with, either.

Basically, I think, the choice of Race (if one has it) depends on personal style. I favor a defensive style, so I would be ill advised to choose N'orr or L1z1x, for example, though others may do better with them. Also, I like having some possibility of surprise moves. These may be granted by obscene amounts of Trade Goods (Hacan) or equally obscene technological advancement (guess...), but also by the combat specials of Mentak or Yin. Naalu and Xxcha, however, I find hardly appealing, without any good explanation.

The Saar were heavily und discussio here, and actually I wondered why the Muaat were not equally discussed. Both races have a distinct advantage, which is somewhat deceptive IMO: if handled poorly, both advantages can easily become disadvantages, respectively by being too aggressive in the early game with the Muaat's War Sun and thereby losing it before having aquired the resources to rebuild it or, as pointed out before, by putting the mobile docks to the front and thereby losing the base for the racial advantage in addition to potential unit production any race would lose with a dock. Thus, both races are great examples of choices which should consider the player's style.

Another point here was the necessary development of racial technologies to take full advantage of a race's abilities. The examples mentioned were mostly races from SotT, which I have not yet played, so no experience here. I can imagine, however, that this is less limitation in comparison to other races than it may seem on first glance. It is true, that, for example, the N'orr have more flexibility when choosing their technologies, but to take advantage of the N'orr's ability, one must engage in combat - otherwise, the Combat Roll bonus is a wasted resource. If the Creuss or Arborec prove to be more flexible in other ways, a mandatory technological development is OK with me.

After all this theory, here my personal ranking:

1. Hacan

2. Yin

3. probably Arborec

4. Jol Nar

5. Saar

6. Sol

This is my ranking.

I feel confident on the vanilla one, but considering Shattered Empire makes races much harder to rank.

Adding in Shards makes me even more doubtful about the ranking, but I will write it just to put up some discussion.

This is the Vanilla one, when I'll have time I'll post the others.

Vanilla:

1- Yssaril [ great starting fleet, overwhelming racial abilities]

2- L1Z1X [ huge overall advantage at the beginning: great HS and starting techs, respectable fleet ]

3- Jol-Nar [great at the economic game, if left alone they are almost guaranteed to fulfill an objective per turn, good starting fleet and tech ]

4- Naalu [ very powerful and tricky abilities, good starting fleet ]

5- Hacan [ when they are set up, they can afford almost everything they want : 3 planet system + STools with a scientist to speed up SD construction, plus the trade bonuses, even though I think they are usually overrated ]

6- Sol [extra CC is incredibily powerful, they start with the right techs to go Fighter crazy, which is by far the best tactic in Vanilla ]

7- Letnev [ their starting system is great and +1 FS ability is handy, but they do not have much else to offer ]

8- Xxcha [ their racial abilities can be useful, but they have a very slow economic start, eventhough their starting fleet is pretty strong]

9- Mentak [ they are set up for an aggressive start, but this is a tactic that doesn't bring VPs in Vanilla; their pre-combat shot is not very useful when enemy fleets are saturated with Fighters]

10- N'orr [ they have an awful start, and their ability, albeit good in theory, is of little value because of the cold-war-like flow of the game]

I am pretty darned new player. I have only played the following races personally: Sol, Naalu, Lizix and Muaat. I have seen most of the others in action though, including what appears to be everyone's top dog, the Yssaril.

Here are my opinions on what I know:

-I got curb stomped when I played Sol. Probably because I didn't know what I was doing and I was playing with a group of veterans. I haven't played Sol since then, so hard for me to say on them.

-Naalu have an advantage and disadvantage built in. You go first sure, which is nice for Objective scoring if you and another player are about to win, but it also lets everyone see what you do first... which is not always good. Big advantage in a 4 player game where you are always first no matter what strategy agendas you choose.

-Lizix have an advantage which actually makes Dreadnaughts useful to them. I did not play them well when I ran them, but I have seen them when they are run well... nasty.

-Muaatt start with War Sun access. That is a huge early game advantage that forces the hand of all the other players. The one time I have won the game early in my TI career is with Muaat.

-Hacan trade advantage is just that - a big advantage. No one heals from battle damage as fast as the Hacan - ridiculous speed. And if not harassed in battle they can quickly Tech-Up with or without the Technology agenda... which you likely want to keep out of their hands to keep this in check.

-Jol Nar have a ridiculous tech advantage. Good lord their tech climbing is nasty. If played right they can quickly make their defenses and fleets far, far, far superior to anyone else in play.

Top Race rankings in twilight 3 depends on three things....

1. Skill level of the Player playing that particular race.

Saar's ranking totally depends on how skillful the player is.

2. Large or Poor Resource Galaxies

Hacan's rankings goes up in Poor Resource Galaxies.

3. .Peaceful or Hostile neighbors

Jolnar's ranking drops like a rock in a Hostile Galaxy

(The less fights you have at -1 to hit, the better your game will be.) gui%C3%B1o.gif

So.... After looking through this thread again, I see many people poo-pooing the Norr. Most mention that their ability (+1 to Space Battles and Invasion combats) isn't all that good because the game is about Cold War victory point collecting.

My question is this: If you know the sentiments above going in, why would you not try to force the game into an all out war? Attack right away, start attacking people whenever possible with fast moving fleets - hammer away. Put people on their heels and more cautious about expanding quickly to grab victory point, that and looks for ways to use attack to prevent VP scoring, such as taking planets in home systems.

Sure, the Norr would be crippled in a resource poor galaxy where they cannot quickly make fleets, but in general I don't understand why you would not focus on attacking ad nauseum to prevent VP scoring, and thereby allow yourself the ability to pick up VP along the way when you can. It seems like you would want to do this as a Norr player and hopefully force the game into Turn 10 with no one winning and allow yourself the best chance to win in return as you capitalize the most on your racial ability.

I am sure many veteran players can now enlighten me as to how wrong I am and how this strategy with the Norr simply will not work. gui%C3%B1o.gif

Most races use speed and stalls to claim victory points. These races also use alot politics to hamper their warlike adversaries.

Other races uses warfare to claim victory points and generally try to disrupt politics as much as possible since they do not have alot of influence.

Races like Norr, L1Z1x, Barony uses this method. They are set up to easily to get Deep Space cannons and make lots of pds.

These races are much slower to expand but the pds grids make any counter attack very expensive.

(Alot players do not like this because stealing a planet from you with just 1 carrier is near impossible then)

This is called Pds Grid creep method. Take a territory drop a pds. Build another pds behind you. Move forward and repeat the process.

These races are played theme-like and use the brute force method to wear down their opponents.

High skill playing of using speed and stalls are not required.

You let the brute force of +1 to hit do the work for you. With pds and Space mines to back you up, conquering the board is easy.

The method is try not to do too many secondaries but put your counters into fleet supply and play your race advantages religously.

Try to do the minimum amount of tech and build ships instead. (Example: Barony only needs 3 more techs for the game)

This method is highly unpopular to players but it does work. (Players just love to do secondaries and buy unneeded tech)

I have consistantly conquered half the board with these war races. But if you do this method, you are gambling that Political II objective cards reward Warlike behaviour, Like conquer 11 Planets, Conquer 2 homeplanets.

And you almost have to have a War-like Secret objective like "Conquerer" or at least "Threatening" to justify this commitment.

If the Political II objectives reward Warlike behavior, you should easily Win the game. But if they are not, you cannot win even if you conquer half the board.

Everything you have is devoted to the war effort and keeping your opponents from counter attacking.

So the "Turting to avoid needless fights" and just "Skirmishing for a VP" remains the consistant strategy for most players regardless of which race they play.

Why should any player commit to an all out war strategy when 2/3 or the time the Political II objectives are peaceful in nature?

Shadow said:

This is called Pds Grid creep method. Take a territory drop a pds. Build another pds behind you. Move forward and repeat the process.

These races are played theme-like and use the brute force method to wear down their opponents.

High skill playing of using speed and stalls are not required.

You let the brute force of +1 to hit do the work for you. With pds and Space mines to back you up, conquering the board is easy.

The method is try not to do too many secondaries but put your counters into fleet supply and play your race advantages religously.

Try to do the minimum amount of tech and build ships instead. (Example: Barony only needs 3 more techs for the game)

I saw a Jol-Nar player do something similar - using PDS tech to help either eliminate or lessen the possibility of counterattack.

By saying "...Barony only needs 3 more techs for the game...." I assume you mean the main techs you are going for you in your War Monger board creep method are: Deep Space Cannon, Magen Defense Field, and Graviton Laser System. Is that correct?

If so, isn't that easily countered with: Antimass Deflectors, XRD Transporters, Maneuvering Jets.

It seems like the strategy you propose is good for board control, but the PDS backbone of it is countered easily enough. Which leaves me still wondering if you wouldn't be better off rampaging across the board with a simple plan of denial, not necessarily retention and control.

Barony only needs Deep Space Cannon, XRD, and his Racial tech. Unless the objectives are tech objectives, you really do not have to buy another tech.

I do not mind sacrificing a carrier to grab a 2 or 3 resource world.

Send 1 carrier with 4 ground troops and 1 pds across Mecatol Rex to grab a planet pretty much ensures it is yours for 3 or 4 turns.

XRD allows you to do this.

Barony's racial tech make the ground troops hit on 6's. The pds prevents a Dread from bombarding and the Deep space cannon pds just creates havoc in an opponents backfield.

As far as your opponent countering with Manuevering Jets, Warsuns and building a hoard of ground troops and such.

That is going to take him 3 or 4 turns to do and any game plan he had is totally disrupted.

The techs he wanted buy, the fighters he wanted to buy, the Warsun he was really not interested in, etc.

Now if your entire backfield is like this, it will be very hard for your opponent to take more then 1 or 2 planets from you.

Disrupting your opponents game plan can be game winning especially against those players that consistantly win the game by negotiations and politics.

Those experiance players usually take the military weak races but have high influence to rule in politics.

The only way to beat an experiance player to attack him early. Disrupt his game plan before it gets off the ground.

But you do not have to eliminate him, just steal some planets and dig in.

Eventually his neighbors will realize how weak he is and attack him themselves.

The question is where is this surplus resource come to build extra ground units and pds come from?

Your Double Space dock has one of the highest production slots in the game and if you do not buy 2 extra techs, that is probably 8 resources that can be devoted to ground troops and pds. The carrier is paid for from the planet you took.

My ranking of the 14 races, Shattered Empire

1- Yssaril [ still the best by far ]

2- L1Z1X [ huge initial advantage ]

3- Muaat [ huge initial advantage but in a more fragile position than L1Z1X ]

4- Naalu [ suffer from Fighter nerf, but new POs reward aggressive play; RST is expensive but powerful ]

5- Jol-Nar [ peaceful development is not so good now; cheaper tech narrows a bit the gap between them and the other races ]

6- Saar [ are quite a jolly, they can be very powerful in the right hands; TG ability is great, especially early on ]

7- Yin [ powerful combat abilities, can stall and start with two carriers, but they usually fall behind in the economic game ]

8- Winnu [ solid race overall; nice advantages, start with Stasis Capsules]

9- Hacan [ Trade II isn't picked often; economic prowess is far less important than in Vanilla ]

10- Letnev [ get a little boost from the new POs, can start a war early on ]

11- Mentak [ get a huge boost from Fighter nerf and new POs; good RST ]

12- Xxcha [ they lack a distinctive trait ]

13- Sol [ suffer a lot from Fighter nerf and CCs are less costly, they gain a buff if playing with artifacts though ]

14- N'orr [ incredibily slow start makes it impossible to capitalize on their racial bonus in the early game making them fall behind in the VP race ]

Experimental ranking of the 17 races in Shards:

1- Yssaril [ their FG is mediocre, but new RST is great ]

2- Nekro (?) [ their strenght depends a lot on the players involved, they can overwhelm every race in a 1-1 fight ]

3-4- Muaat, L1Z1X [ need more experience with Shards to tell if they still are top tier with all the new races and the huge boost to Hacan ]

5- Arborec [ awesome production capabilities, all they need to get going is Spore Acceleration ]

6- Hacan [ Trade III is way way better than both its precedent versions, new RST is powerful (but can backfire), FG is good ]

7- Ghosts of Creuss [ if they manage get both RST+FG they are really hard to stop ]

8- Naalu [ their new RST is practically useless, but their FG is very good ]

9- Jol-Nar [ new RST is ok, FG is very good although it doesn't matter a lot since they can get WS tech easily ]

10- Saar [ new RST is situational, FG is too slow ]

11- Letnev [ new RST is incredibily powerful and has great synergy with new techs and their FG; still they require a huge investment to exploit all these advantages ]

12- Yin [ new RST and FG are average]

13- Mentak [ new RST is very powerful, their FG is among the strongest ]

14- Xxcha [ new RST is one of the best, FG is nothing special ]

15- Winnu [ new RST has very limited usefulness, FG is mediocre ]

16- N'orr [ new RST is powerful, as is their FG ]

17- Sol [ new RST is pathetic, FG is nothing special ]

GMO said:

KelRiever said:

Yssaril Tribes and Mentak seem to be the most powerful

Mentak? Really? Sure, they're fun, but they're only middle-of-the-pack.

Let's look at their special abilities:

- Start with 1 extra CC. Nice, but nothing to write home about.

- Steal TG. Not super-useful. This does help to keep a cap on Hacan's stockpiling of TG, but typically players will unload TG down to 2 just to avoid losing one. So the topography of the unit structure might change -- maybe it's a little harder to get a War Sun out -- but this isn't an obvious benefit for Mentak only.

- Pre-combat shots. Great early and in small battles; not very useful in the mid-to-late game or in large battles, when 1 extra hit (on average) doesn't do much.

Certainly you can do well with Mentak ... but you could say that about any race. Mentak has to be played a particular way for them to be super-effective, as enhanced by Salvage Operations. But their power starts relatively high and degrades throughout the game. Hence, middle-of-the-pack.

That having been said, though, Mirror Computing is amazing, and might be enough all on its own to bring Mentak into the top tier, much as Winnu's Bioptic Recyclers could do before it was FAQ'ed out of usefulness.

We had a virgin winner who used the Mentak, the double TG is insane

I have read the replies and have to say that if you do not play for victory objectives it changes things drastically. My freinds and I are way to blood thirsty and play till one person/alliance is left.

First off apologies for Necroing and old thread. It is tough to know what way to go…post in an old thread and you are a necro, start a new one that has been discussed and you are an idiot who doesn't know what the search function is. Catch 22 i guess, but regardless I was hoping to get some discussion on the power level of the races and specifically how people have worked to balance them.

First off, and this is different from everyone's opinion obviously, but this is how I think the races play out based on the games we have played. Granted our sample size is not too large, only a dozen or so games but we have a minimum of 5 players each time we play, most games have 6 and 8 players. I am ranking them not by neumerical ranking but rather grouped into three tiers of power scale, as such they are ordered alphabetically within tiers to show this scale of equality. Obviously each race has advantages and disadvantages, the state and circumstances of each individual game have a greater impact on the outcome than race alone. Our playgroup is fairly aggressive and we play with the set of strategy cards that came with the second expansion with one change, and that is to include the Warfare card from the base game as it provides better interaction with Diplomacy and Signal Jamming. That said some advantages are greater than others and when looking at those this is how we have come to see the races.

Tier 1 - Yssaril Tribes

Yssaril Tribes - This will be no surprise to anyone that has played a game involving the gollum race as they are so fondly called in our group. XRD transporter, 2 carriers, lots of ground forces give them a huge economic edge early game and are almost unparalled when looking at the other races. On top of that the racial abilities to simply pass one round (we play with the pass action limited to once per game round) and wait and see what happens combined with the insane card advantage and card theft of their racial tech leaves them well above any other race in the game.

Tier 2 - Barony of Letnev, Emirate of Hacan, L1Z1X Mindnet, Mentak Coalition, Necro Virus, Sardakk N'orr.

Barony of Letnev - The Barony is a slow starter thanks to its lackluster starting units and tech. Their racial ability also means that they will find themselves with less choice in the matter of Strategy Cards if they want to stay competitive. However, once Arc Secundrus hits the table with the Noneuclidian Shielding, the Letnev fleets are a force of nature that cause even the L1Z1X and Norr to pause before engaging them.

Emirates of Hacan - There is so much going on for these guys that no other race in the game can do. Trading action cards, Swapping Strategy cards, and generating free resources put them into the top tier. With 2 carriers and plenty of ground troops these guys will hit the ground running every game and almost always have an economic advantage.

L1Z1X Mindnet - With starting tech and racial powers that give them a +1 in combat to almost every unit in the game, as well as the single highest production world in the game the L1Z1X are easily counted among the games best races. Late game their racial tech allows them to pick and choose out of the tech tree making them even more deadly.

Mentak Coalition - The First Strike ability is absolutely devastating to nearby opponents in the early game. The key for the Mentak is the Tech, once they get their racial tech and stasis capsules up and running they become a deadly force making the most out of the most cost effective ship in the game (cruisers) and with fleets that can rebuild and pillage as they go they can penetrate deep into enemy territory. On top of that they get a big resource advantage once their second racial tech hits the table. They are very very strong.

Necro Virus - People might point to the fact that because they don't vote in politics these guys are not a great race. They are wrong. The ability to gain tech from battles is a massive resource advantage. While others are spending resources on tech, you can spend them on ships, to kill your opponents ships, and then also take their tech. They will almost always have the most units on the board unless the Hacan are in the game.

Sardakk N'orr - Everyone seems to rank this race low for some reason. I will admit, the Sardakk N'orr don't have any neat racial abilities or tech, they are boring. But **** are they good. A flat bonus on every combat roll, combined with racial tech and a flagship that shoots that up even more. These guys simply do not lose battles. They only thing stopping them from being tier 1 along with the Yssaril is that they start fairly slowly. Once they get rolling however they are nigh unstoppable.

Tier 3 - Arborec, Clan of Saar, Embers of Muaat, Federation of Sol, Ghosts of Creuss, Naalu Collective, Universities of Jol-Nar, Winnu, Xxcha Kingdom,Yin Brotherhood

Arborec - The Arborec are a race that can really do some neat things when it comes to producing units, and the ability to drop anywhere on the map can be a huge advantage. Their units, tech, and flagship are all a little lackluster but the production off their ground troops makes up for it and keeps them competitive.

Federation of Sol - The Sol do one thing, and they do it well. They don't lose worlds. Once they get a slice of territory carved out it will take a serious effort to take those planets off their hands. Unfortunately for the Sol, the space combat is where the real expansionary efforts lie, but thanks to their ability to pour troops onto the board they are sure to retain control of their worlds and use those steady resources to keep a stream of ships pouring out the space docks.

Clan of Saar - Before the latest expansion this race was a tier above due to their lightning fast start, with XRD Transporters, two carriers, and ground troops. Couple that with moving Space Docks, extra trade goods early game, and not needing to control their home planet to win and you have an amazing race. Sadly their racial tech was nothing special and their second tech and flagship are completely lackluster in every way. With every other race getting a significant boost that dropped the Saar into a third tier race.

Embers of Muaat - How can this race not be second tier? I mean they start with a war sun. A WAR SUN. Yes the Embers have a significant military edge in the early game the only problem is that to combat this advantage they are a fairly slow starting race. In a game where lots of Mecatol Rex objectives flip, these guys become a huge heavy hitter since they can hold it uncontested in the early game and get entrenched there. However with lackluster racial tech once the other races get to war sun capability in late game they will surpass the Embers.

Ghosts of Creuss - The Flagship and Racial tech for this race is outstanding. The directed hit is huge in combat. In the hands of a skilled player they can be a menace, unfortunately the learning curve for this race is a little steeper than most. They also don't have a lot of other advantages and rely solely on their flagship and racial tech. This makes it hard for them to protect a larger section of territory.

Naalu Collective - In the base game I think the Naalu were top tier for sure. The ability to always go first regardless of strategy cards should not be overlooked. Their ability to escape without taking losses when they get into a bad board position is a game saver. Their fighter fleets are resilient, and their racial tech makes attacking into their territory a costly endeavor if you take more than a system or two.

Universities of Jol-Nar - The smartest species in the galaxy and the second easiest species to tech into war suns they can be a force in any game if they are given time to develop. The -1 in combat is a huge huge drawback however and this makes them fragile in the early game and even vulnerable in the late game. They do however get one of the best flagships in the game on par with Arc Secundrus and Alastor which can help them to overcome the odds stacked against them.

Winnu - One of my favorite races due to sheer flexibility the Winnu can do it all. With easier access to tech, solid racial tech, and some political chops these guys are just all around solid. The immunity to Local Unrest is highly underrated as I have yet to see a game where that card did not play a big role. Starting with Statis Capsules also allows them to get off to a good start.

Yin Brotherhood - For some reason this faction is one of the most polarizing races we have seen. Some love them, some hate them, I think overall they are solid. Good starting units, abilities that are helpful in both space and ground combat as well as the political arena (with the 4 influence starting world) and they have a built in stall action that can be very useful to frustrate opponents plans or wait for the perfect timing window.

Xxcha Kingdom - The turtles are another race that favor a specific playstyle and so players seem to either love or hate these guys. They have poor starting units but they have great racial powers, letting them shore up their weak points, control the political arena, and also allow them to be impressive in combat. If they can use retreats to their advantage and maximize the number of rounds they fight opponents with the -1 penalty in play they can easily hold their own. They also get some of the best racial tech in the game. If their starting units were a little better they would easily be a second tier race.

Well that is a rundown of the races of TI coming to you from a small corner of Canada. I am curious to hear some more input on how you guys balance the races, or if you simply play them as they are. How can we bring the top 7 races down a little or else boost the others up.

For anyone interested in some game reports we had a 15 hour session of TI last saturday and got in two games back to back. There is a report up on my gaming blog .

Eu8L1ch said:

Experimental ranking of the 17 races in Shards:

17- Sol [ new RST is pathetic, FG is nothing special ]

I see a close consensus that the Yssril Tribes ARE the top teir, or sometimes even considered "vastly OP". Looking over the numbers, I can't disagree that they are at least one of the top teir-- especially given their wealthy starting system. However, in every game that I've seen them participate in, which has been at least half a dozen, they lose. I don't think this is always because they are being singled out, picked on, or being played in an overly-poor manner either.

They get their glut of action cards, but if most turn out not to be very useful in their given situation, they get owned. Having XRD Transporters at the beginning is overrated-- while this is among the most important techs to have/get, there are almost always several decent adjacent systems to exploit early which do not require them. Also, although their skip ability does get good use, especially when they want to delay playing Production so that they are the only ones who get to make use of any new units built by it that round, the Naluu initiative requires less time and planning to be strategically useful against agressive players.

Yssaril and the old Winnu does not look impressive when played by the average player.

But if they are played by highly skilled player, they are unbelievably good.

Some race's rankings depend greatly on the skill level of the player playing them.