Got a copy of Twilight Imperium under the tree this year!

First game is going to be this saturday. A friend and I did a dry run through the rules and had some questions we couldn't find answered anywhere. If the answers we seek were in the rule book, feel free to quote the page etc.

If and when a player has spent all his command counters from the strategic and command pool areas, will he really only start with 2 the next round? (Those 2 being earned during the status round) If so, then...

When a player is choosing an action during his turn, does he have to perform each action at least once? Is there anything stopping a player from simply passing all his turns in a round to simply gain more command counters?

You do not have to use all your counters each turn and yes you will only get 2 counters back a turn.

Exceptions:

The only race to get more is Sol as one of their race abilities gives you an extra to place and then of course you can research the ability with tech for any race.

You might want to download the recent FFG FAQ rules as well as they help answer a lot of questions as well.

http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Twilight%20Imperium%203/ti3faq2-2.pdf

Ninjaman65 said:

Correct.

Ninjaman65 said:

On your turn in intiative order you are required to either take an action, or pass.

You may not pass until you have used your Strategy Card (which is an action.)

After you have passed, you may not take any actions until next Round.

These are the only limitations. You are not required perform each action at least once. You are not required to perform every action you are capable of performing before passing (in fact, knowing when to stop is one of the more important strategic elements in the game.)

You may indeed pass repeatedly in order to save up CCs if you like (using your first action to blow your chosen SC and then passing on your second turn.) There are a few things to keep in mind about doing this, however:

1) Each complete game Round that passes will reveal a new Public Objective, and once you get into the second level POs, you never know when Imperium Rex might turn up and end the game. If you delay too long to save up CCs, you won't have the VPs to win.

2) Each set of Strategy Cards has at least one SC that lets you buy more CCs (in the set that comes with the base game I believe it's #4 - Logistics.) This can be a great way to get more than just two CCs per turn, so watch for it.

3) Once you have a feel for the game play, you'll realize that 2 CCs per turn is not as restrictive as it sounds. (It is still restrictive, and buying more via Logistics is still sweet, but you can manage with 2 per turn if you have to.)

The golden rule in this game is to remember that nothing else is VPs. VPs are what will win you the game, not how much firepower you can bring to bear or how badly you beat up your opponent. War is just one of many things you can do in this game. Every game Round you should be trying to complete one Public Objective. Don't kill yourself trying to complete more than one though, since you can only claim one per Round anyway (usually.)

Ah-ha. Good. I will be sure to pass these along. Thanks!

Ninjaman65 said:

IIRC, you are allowed to "shuffle" around the counters between Strategy Allocation, Fleet Supply, and Command Pool areas after receiving the 2 counters from supply. So you could start with more than two command counters if you're willing to drop down your fleet supply and move counters from fleet supply into your command pool area (whether this is a wise decision of course depends on the situation and how desperately you need them!).

Everything that's been said is correct. As far as the core game goes

You can get new command counters with the primary of Logistics (4), or if you aren't the one with the card, can buy them with influence (Remember, trade goods may be used as either influence or resources), you can pull and reuse one with warfare, and there is a tech that lets you gain one additional counter per turn. At the end of each round, before strategy cards are distributed, again, you can rearange your sheet. Just be careful not to lose too many from fleet supply...if you go under a number and you have too many ships in a system, things go splode until they're within the limit again.

How long does this typically take if you have players that are familiar with the rules? Some of my friends (and they are gamers) say they tried this at one point and stopped after like 6 hours with the game not even close to being finished. They were learning to play as they went, which obviously slows it down quite a bit... and does the amount of time needed drastically change with more players?

A well used rule of thumb is that the game takes one hour per player + one hour per new player + one hour setup + one hour packing down.

For a group of four ppl where three never played it before, this rule would give 9 hours of play. (4ppl+3new+1setup+1pack)

Skowza said:

I wouldn't say it changes drastically (comparatively speaking), but it is a LONG game, no matter how you slice it.

4 hours for a small group of experienced players, 6-8 for an average game of experienced players. Add a few hours for newbies. The forumla Fnoffen posted is probably fairly accurate for most groups.