Hello.

We played our first SotT game last night (without SE)

Wanted to know, if this is intended -

Player who chooses the Political II only gets to choose on which law to vote, nothing else? Since the Laws, that were drawn at start, weren't very gamechanging, noone picked Political. (We played with 5 players with house rule, that Imperial = Bureacracy with Productiion's secondary)

If this is intended, I'm thinking of buffing the political, so that it'd give again 3 action cards, because I really liked the Political Intrigue option the one time it did happen.

Second -

On Trade III SC, there isn't written that you must accept the new deals, that is - only bonus is the mercenaries for primary action?

I'm thinking of implementing back the Guildmaster option wether it's intended or not, because without it, the players were attacking their trade partners without thinking of consequences, since they would just make the agreement again, when the Trade card would be played.

(In my group Guildmaster usually holds quite a bit of power, since everyone wants their trade agreements, so he gets compensations + verbal promises of not attacking

P.S. Nekro Virus at first glance is just deadly. He got in Metacol early, because of map layout & other things, after that he got there his flagship, noone dared to attack being afraid of losing all their fleet - being the sacrifice for other players.

P.P.S. Action card, that lets you gain any racial trait of other races. Do you just copy it, or the target race can't use that trait? If copying, how does Naalu 0 SC card works? Who goes first?

Thanks for help!

Just a quick comment first off-

If you find the Laws you are drawing are not particularly interesting or potent, you can always alter the deck for the next game. I've seen many people trim the fat off the political deck, down to about 57 cards. This makes EVERY political card a gamechanger. It's up to you which you want to keep out of the game, but that's one way to assure the Political strategy is more interesting or attractive to players.

asmeus said:

Can't seem to edit and update my previous post…

If one player makes it to MR early in the game, they usually end up with a big target on their back. Other players are free (and usually do) to form alliances against someone who is clearly set to entrench themselves and dominate the VP scoreboard. If you all turtle in your sectors and avoid the aggressor (or opportunist/lucky b#stard) you're all just letting him or her steamroll you all. In this situation, it would be mutually beneficial for a couple of other races to ally and contribute to a space battle in the MR system. You can even agree to dissolve the alliance after a set goal is reached (such as the destruction of The Alastor - the Nekro Flagship). The Alastor is actually a great example, because with its destruction, ALL ships in the MR system would be destroyed. This would effectively level the playing field for any new inhabitants. As long as all other players activated the MR system, and blocked a Nekro resupply, MR would be up for grabs for anyone with the right positioning next round.

The Action card you're referring to is "Multiculturalism" I assume. Check the FAQ on that, it's decided by the Speaker who goes first. So if you aren't prepared to bribe or influence the Speaker in some way, you may want to pick a different racial ability to copy for one round.

asmeus said:

This is the case. However, choosing the law to be voted upon can in some cases be VERY useful. You just happened to have the bad luck of having some "boring" laws to choose from.

Imho, there are no boring laws as it is the wheeling and dealing to get your co-players to vote your way that's the fun part.

asmeus said:

Check the SotT rulebook under "NEW STRATEGY CARDS SUMMARY" on page 20. The last sentance in the first paragraph of the descriptive text about Trade III reads as follows: "The player who activates the primary ability must approve all new trade agreements." I would surmise that this is the "Guildmaster" thing you speak of.

Well spotted mate, I never noticed that in the FAQ's. Oops.