I have always wanted to play TI but have been worried about a couple things. It seems like a very indepth game and i am worried about having to read a novel sized rule book. Also i heard that games can last from hours to days to sometimes a week, again, i have no idea because i have never played it. Can someone clarify?

Generally, each game last on average 6 to 7 turns.

20 minutes to 1 hour per turn can happen. Not because it is too complicated, but most new players wait for the last moment before they figure out what they want to do.

Example: What ships are you going to build? I do not know, let me figure that out.

You must plan on a 6 to 8 hour game. But in 4 hours, it can be obvious what 2 players have the best chance to win it.

You do not have to play the game to the end.

Turn 1, 2 , 3 to grab planets

Turn 3, 4, 5 to build big fleets and do some small fleet battles.

Turn 5, 6, 7 attacking with big fleets to try to win the game.

So, in turn 6, 3 players attacked and lost their big fleets, so, whoever has a big fleet left probably is going to be the winner.

A very, very simplied view of a twilight game.

Some players may never fight in the game and still win because of how Victory points are scored.

The objectives may not reward fighting but owning lots of tech and spending resources

Like: 1 VP for having 2 techs in 3 colors. Spend 20 resources for 2 VP.

Everyone likes the game but needing to play for 6 to 8 hours means you may only play it 4 or 5 times in a year.

It is hard to get 4 to 6 people to have that much time to do a game. Start the game at Noon and you can be done at 5pm or 9pm.

But some really epic battles can happen.

thanks man sounds epic, may have to wait a bit before trying though lol

Its vital that everyone knows the rules to complete a game in a decent amount of time. My group generally is able to complete a 6 player game in 6 hours. A 4 player generally takes us a little bit longer because everyone has two strategy cards. In general a 4 and 8 player game is taking us around 7 hours, maybe a little bit more.

There is a rather good, 4-page rules summary available on the BoardGameGeek web site. It includes most things from the base game and both expansions. It's hosted on that site here:

http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/69373/ti3-compact-rules-rundown-v1

I found it really useful not only when I was learning the game, but also when teaching the game to others. Though you may want to cross out anything optional or from the expansions you're not playing with so as to remove any confusion for new players.