I am a newbie to the game, and while I have the game, I have not had the chance yet to try it out with my group. Currently going over the rules and sorting all of the MANY pieces .

I was reading the different strategy cards and wanted other players opinions on the Imperial Strategy token. Since the objective of the game is to reach 10 victory points, it would seem that all a person has to do is pick the Imperial Strategy card 5 times to win the game. I realize that the same person might not have the chance to pick it again next round, but it seems to me that would be what most people would try for. I would like to hear from others who own and have played the game if they have encountered people trying this tactic, or am I just not seeing the big picture since I have not played yet? Thanks

A lot of people have had issues with the Imperial card, for the reasons you state. In practice, nobody really ever gets it multiple times in a row, though.

Typically, what happens is the first round, the first player will take it. The next player will take Initiative. This will allow them to pick FIRST next round. Then the next round, that player takes Imperial, and the next player after that takes Initiative, and so on. In this way, Imperial ends up going in a circle around the board.

I personally haven't had problems with it, but I'm a fairly laid back gamer. However, some people don't like how the initial first player usually ends up being able to pick it twice, giving them a 2-point advantage over the other players, and it can often help give them the win.

One thing you might consider, if you don't like the Imperial card as-is, would be to use the alternate variant version you can find on the Official Variants document on the Support page for TI3. It changes the way Imperial works as such:

- The secondary actually stays the same

- The primary ability has 2 options. One is to execute the secondary of the card, and prevent anyone else from doing the secondary. Thus, it essentially becomes a nice build card (because you can build without activating a system). The second option has 2 main points: If you control Mecatol, you get 1 point. And during the Status Phase, you can qualify for ANY number of public objectives (rather than just 1). Many people like this variant, as it reduce the "need" to take Imperial, and prevents the cycle that some people don't like.

The other option would be to pick up the expansion. Most people generally find the expansion's Strategy Cards more fun to play with (though I still occasionally use the original ones).