So in my first game i picked Yssaril and got crushed because I had no idea how to play them.

I'm trying to figure out what to do for the second. I'll either pick Yssaril again or the Barony of Letnev. Any advice for either?

No expansion, with leaders, domain tokens and the Imperial II card.

Things I've figured out so far.

With Y: Pick Politics first turn if able, and as often as possible after that. Don't expand too (take like one other system). Use action cards to as politics, making and breaking alliances. Action order is skip, action, skip, action, skip, action... unless absolutly necessary. Use this to play Politics card really late and control the vote. After Politics first turn priority is Tech, Trade, Initiative, Logistics, Imperial (make a bunch of fighters).

For Baron: First turn build asecond spacedock at homesystem. Current priorities of first turn strategy are in order Trade, Logistics, Tech, Warfare, Imperial, Initiative,

For both first tech is enviro capacitors.

Likely Other races are Haccan, Naluu, and l1z1x

Any Advice?

As Yssaril, in my opinon, you should alternate skipping turns as often as you can, unless you have something pressing to do. Here's why.

• Waiting the opponent out will cause them to spend their Command Counters, which (if the other players haven't planned ahead) could cause them to lose out on the secondary of your Strategy Card. Same goes for Trade Tokens.
• After a few players have passed, if you have positioned your fleets properly, you can make a final surge towards objectives without fear of instant retaliation. In the Status Phase, you can qualify before the enemy can fight back.

Here's a short list of circumstances when you wouldn't pass.

• You hold the Trade card and you're short on resources for the Technology Secondary that will be played.
• You hold the Logistics card and there are a few Secondary Abilities you want to participate in.
• You've got to take a system before someone else does.
• Time is otherwise of the essence.

I'm currently playing Yssaril in a 3 player FTF game (and not doing too well, so maybe take what follows with a grain of salt! )

In terms of expansion, I would take as many planets/systems as possible in the first Round. Yssaril is a great early expansion (aka 'fast') race, with 2 Carrriers with XRD, so take advantage of that. Given the XRD Carriers, I don't think Stasis Capsules is that important for Yssaril, in comparison with some other races.

Then with the extra resources, build up tour fleet in the 2nd Round,a s Yssaril is a) not very strong militarily; and b) more importantly, experienced players know how strong Yssaril is, so given a choice (or a chance!) Yssaril will usually be targeted.

In terms of techs, I think Enviro Compensators is vital, given one of the biggest weaknesses is their very poor production capacity - just 4 - in their Home System, IIRC. So Enviro followed by a 2nd Space Dock, preferably in Round 2, is the way to go.

Good luck in your 2nd game!

I could type my fingers wound, but why when others have done a better job at that? Have a look here:

http://www.ti3wiki.org/index.php?title=TI3_Links

Scroll down the side 'till "Guides".

You say you got crushed using Yssaril. In what way? VPs, or militarily?

militarily.

Really was my fault. I had no idea what I was doing. The Hacan player built up a huge fleet of fighters and dreadnaughts and just ran me over. Managed to stop his advance before my home system, leaving us both with almost no ships. Then the next turn he builds two more dreads and a couple of cruisers. We had to call the game at this point, but I was going to die.

I think you'll do better in your next game, just knowing that you need a lot more ships on the table. You start with two fantastic techs, I wouldn't buy much more until you're very comfortable with the size of your fleets. And even then, you'll be getting boring "staple" techs instead of traipsing all the way up the tree. Techs like Cybernetics, Enviro, and Hylar are your best bet. If you do manage to get the Tech card more than your fair share, you could even go for War Suns but I wouldn't do it unless most of the tech you get is free.

Your starting fleet is one of the best in the game (for taking planets, for its speed, and military power). But your production is poor so your opponents will catch up quickly. Take lots of planets, then hunker down and get your infrastructure to work. More docks, lots more ships. Focus on making money and getting your fleet bigger for a few turns. As long as you're not engaged in any wars by this point, you can then switch over into VP-mode. You don't HAVE to play this way... when you're more experienced you can pull some early game aggression, esp. if you're drawing some good cards, but the early turtle approach is pretty solid with the Yssaril. Just don't get so comfortable with your borders that you don't sally forth later to get points.

It sounds like you're playing without the expansion, am I right? In the vanilla game, Fighters are the ultimate unit. Dreadnoughts are overpriced crap (unless you're playing with a common house rule where they get 2 shots instead of 1). That means you have to get as many docks out there as possible, and preferably double-dock a good system. Take advantage of all the double-build opportunities (Imperial secondary, Warfare I) to fill up your carriers with a metric ton of Fighters. Later in the game, improve their power with Cybernetics. Then go to town. If your opponents field Dreadnoughts, laugh (on the inside... no need to let them know their purchases are unwise). As long as your docks are intact, you'll be able to replace your numbers far more quickly and cheaply and get them to their destination faster than the Dreadnought users can dream of.

Any AC you have in your hand at the end of the game was a waste. Try to avoid conflict and hold back mean cards (unless you're handed the chance to take somebody out on a silver platter) at first, but unload once you've got your eye on the prize. Don't forget about your ability to look at opponents' cards, and WRITE DOWN WHAT THEY HAVE. There's no rule against that and it will help a lot.

Good luck!

See, that look into the hand-ability I forgot my last game, where I played Yssaril, too. Oh, and get Neural Motivators early. Three AC per round are cool.