Hey all! A long time ago I bought TI3 in hopes of actually playing it. Sadly I only managed to play 2 two player games using a nicely done variant on BGG. It was ok and helped get the rules straight and enjoy the many cool mechanics and awesome gameplay. But it was lacking A LOT of flavor like negociations, laws, voting, trading and many more.

Then I sold it seeing it would sadlt never see a play with at least 4 players due to time constraint (friends having kids, locked weekneds with SOs when in a long-distance relationship, etc).

I'm on the verge of buying again just for the sake of possessing the beast. I love heavy and complexe games and one of my favorite is Runewars, which I played maybe 5 or 6 times and still playing it.

Knowing that FFG is "killing" their big box games and replacing them with revised and streamlined editions (Runewars rev. ed., Descent 2nd ed.) do you think that a "4th" edition of TI is coming in this format?

I doubt it. I'm pretty sure TI has a bigger fanbase than Runewars. Could be wrong. Maybe a 4th edition comes along but if they made it like Runewars I imagine most of the players would be disappointed and stick to 3rd.

I'm also confused by your post as you're seeming to say that Runewars has MORE flavor than TI. I have both games, have played both more than 10 times, and I just see Runewars as a bit garbled with a whole lot of things going on that don't really make play much deeper. TI is the one between the two that actually has trading and politics. Runewars is pretty much just a land control game with the clunky rune objective thrown in and a bunch of fluff on top. Some of the fluff is kind of neat, but in the end, not that worth it to me.

You did say that you only played with 2 people so maybe that's where the issue was. I've never seen a game of Runewars that came down to anything besides fighting and trying to pull off a swift win by taking the most runes (well, you could do this with just your heroes and some luck as well, but most of the time SOME fighting is involved). I will acquiesce to Runewars being the better 2 player game but that's mostly because it's 99% tactical and I kind of see 2 player TI as being not even playable due to how reliant the game is on player politics.

I have little doubt that Twilight Imperium 4 will come along SOME day. It is their flagship game, after all. However, I don't necessarily think it's coming along SOON, seeing as they just put out another expansion set a couple of years ago.

As for what format it's in and how similar to Runewars it might be, I honestly couldn't say. It's fairly clear that Runewars borrows a lot of ideas of TI3, so I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see some of the RW ideas make their way back into a TI4. That's not to say they would be identical aside form theme, though.

I think that IF they did make TI4 in the near future, it probably would be a low-plastic, smaller box deal similar to what they have been doing with other game lines. For that very reason, I sincerely hope they DON'T remake it soon. I don't think they need to, either. New editions of FFG games usually have significant changes to the mechanics to address issues formt he previosu edition, but aside from some vague wording on a few cards, I don't think there's that much that need addressing in TI3.

Yes, it's a giant beast that takes forever to play, but most of the people I know count that in the "pro" column for this particular game

Yeah TI3 looks like THE game when played a good amount of people and especially when people do their jobs prior to their first game: read the rules. That's another problem I have, most don't care or don't have time to read the rules and what them to be explained, which sometimes takes a lot of times and brings a lot of questions during a game.

@Koroviev: I never said TI3 had less flavor than RW. I said that the two games I played were lacking it because it was two 2-player games which I know it's REALLY not meant to play like this. I also know thaqt TI3 IS the king of flavor lol.

I might end up buying it anyways since it's getting easier to gather 4-5 people more regularly and some already played once or twice. With the group I have now I can see us finishing a 4-player game during a weeknight, even though if it end around 1am.

Next step, i'll try to find it in stock somewhere…I might know a FLGS that have one copy left for under 90CAD.

Ah, sorry. I misinterpreted what you wrote. A weeknight TI game is probably going to be rough though.

Make sure to get the Shattered Empire expansion. I'm guessing you already know that, but the strategy cards are vastly better than the original's.

Since FFG is currently reprinting TI3 I doubt that a TI4 is in the works at this moment in time. It's more probable that the reprint is heralding a grand new era by way of an expansion.

[EDIT] My bad. Base game finished reprinting and shipping from FFGs warehouses now. Shattered is in reprint though…

Oh man I hope a 4th edition isn't coming anytime soon. I just picked up this game last month!