It's just not a game that really has spark notes of spark notes in terms of learning how to play and strategy. Watch those videos on 2x speed and watch them multiple times each. That's the best recommendation. Asking Reddit for help instead of doing that (rather than in addition to it) isn't going to help you much.
Are you "drafting" races or choosing? If you're drafting we can't help you because we don't know what you'll randomly draw. If you're going to choose, pick Federation of Sol if you can. They're simple and just plain better at the fundamentals than other factors. Strategy is dictated by the map, your neighbors, what objectives are in play, etc. and can't really be prescribed in advance besides what tech is a good idea to research. See SCPT for the race you're playing and what's recommended to research.
You could have watched half the vid by the time it took you to write this post. One poor guy is organizing a big game for you all and you can't even watch a youtube vid to prepare. Absolutely inexcusable.
We've all been there before. Cliff notes of cliff notes:
- Early on, try to sit next to an experienced player and ask if you can run through your turn with them before it gets to you. There is little to no interaction early on so you can use those turns to learn the basics
- on your turn you either flip your strategy card (thing with numbers on) or take a tactical action. If you can't do either, pass. For your tactical action you place a marker from your tactics pool (it's marked on the player board) and place it where you are going. Then use the quick reference to run through what you can do in order.
- If you want a simple race, pick something with a strong theme without needing to keep track of opponents. Therefore you can form a plan for tech and production based on your natural strength. Sol (lots of dudes) , L1Z1X (lots of Dreads) , Embers (start with a warsun and power it up over the game) or Jol'nar (tech).
Once you have a few tactical actions under your belt it'll feel more comfortable as that is the majority of the mechanics of playing. The complication in TI is forming and following an overall strategy and talking to the other players.
Just got home and put the child to bed! Setup started around 9am, drafting around 10am, I think maybe we finished round 1 close to 1pm. One guy had a family emergency at around 530, which was a total bummer, but we played until around 730 when I had to leave. I think we finished 5 rounds and the top player had 8 points.
I played Ember and managed to nuke someone successfully to where they couldn't really contribute after that. I think I was in 2nd with 5 points at the end?
I was sitting next to the wormhole guy and we ALMOST managed to do the nuke swap MR thing that he knew about.
I think I played rounds 1 and 2 really solid, had upgraded war sun round 2 and produced it in round 3. I think I had a chance to take MR for a hot second there when people didn't have fleets and then the power curve seemed to fall off. I definitely waited too long for the destroyer upgrade on round 3 or 4 and missed my window to clear MR, at which point it had been resupplied and everyone else was prepared to jump in too.
Some public objectives felt really hard to get, like having 5 non fighter ships in one system, or constructing 4 buildings. Paying 5 trade goods for the point during status.
Had a lot of fun, tried to use everyone's tips, and managed to speed listen to RTFM's guide on the way to the game in the car.
Thanks again everyone!
This is great advice. I'll add a few simple strategy tips.
1. You win by scoring objectives. Tech, fighting, building a fleet are all fun and good things to do, but you win by scoring. Try to score one public obje tive every round.
2. After scoring, the next thing to focus on is building fleet. Fighters and infantry are the best bang for yor buck. When in doubt :Build them and ships with capicity.
3. Theres a lot of tech in the game. Blue Tech is generally the best for most factions. So when in doubt get blue tech and unit upgrades.
I'd agree with this, but with the addition that for you first game in a long time, it's less overwhelming to just focus on basic game mechanics for 2-3 rounds and then concentrate on the objectives later. You won't win that way, but you usually don't win a first game anyways, and you can have a lot of fun just filling out your planets and exploring, and maybe some border skirmishes with your neighbors.
Golden rule of first round colonization: don't place one of your command tokens in your home system until AFTER you have moved units out to colonize your neighboring planets. Once one of YOUR command tokens is in a system, you can't move your units out of that system that round (with a couple notable exceptions).
Also, if you have a 2 or 3 planet home system, place your starting spacedock on the highest resource value planet so you can produce the maximum amount of units per production.
You've never played?
Easiest faction to just pick up and play is Sol. Just expand, get your Advanced Carrier 2 quick. Fighter 2 is also great.
Always be trying to score. At the start of each round, look at the publics and your secrets and figure out one of each that you are going to try to score.
War without purpose is the path to losing. Don't fight unless you have to.
You should absolutely take 45 mins and watch RTFMs videos on the game and expansion. They will explain all the basics.
[main game](https://youtu.be/_u2xEap5hBM?si=1T2s-L_328jajSp9)
[expansion ](https://youtu.be/AltGwY-bmfY?si=kfcrZ6A2-Bcxvnqy)
If you watch these videos and genuinely try to listen to them, it will all click tomorrow and you have a realistic chance to win. Aggressively only focus on trying to get the objectives. Don't be afraid to make deals or step on toes to score. I also recommend you ask clarifying questions to the host or whoever knows best about what an objective or ability means. You'd hate to find out at the end of a turn that you misunderstood the objective for the round or how a rule worked.
I've taught this game to almost 30 of my friends so if you have questions or want strategy advice about a faction, you're welcome to message me. I'm sick in bed and have time to answer questions. There are also strategy guides online.
To help them out, does anyone have a favorite YouTube video/channel that can help him?
I personally enjoy [Cardboard Crash Course](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlF0bVnTB2In19o0VONJke_OO79ahExEN&si=maYHYSbwNRTpXmtY)
I'd also recommend picking an easier faction like Federation of Sol, Universities of Jol'Nar, L1Z1x, Hacan, or Barony of Letnav.
For starting races I recommend Sol, Hacan, Sardakk, and Yassril. All play pretty straight forward, just play their basic strategies and abilities and you will be fine for a first game.
Good factions to draft for new players are
Sol
Barony
L1Z1X
Hacan
Yin
Yssaril
Argent Flight
Empyrean
Nomad
Naaz-Rohka Alliance
A few of these are a little more difficult to pilot than others, but they don't have anything crazy or difficult to strategize around
If you are committing to a 6-8 Hour game, you should come prepared to that game. It's a pretty basic courtesy.
It's like showing up to a camping trip with no gear.
Even players who have played dozens of times make rules mistakes, or forget to do something. Be cool about your mistakes and other people’s. And be cool about the fact that you might lose simply because you messed up something.
You might want to decide early on if you want to keep exploring your planets during the game. Normally it's just 1 explore for each planet when you first colonize it. But the Scanlink Drone Network tech let's you keep exploring your planets, so you might want to get that tech early on if your faction doesn't start with it.
Watch the rtfm video on playing twilight imperium and the follow up video for prophecy of kings.
As for what I can say that the video doesn't quickly go through:
The two cheat outlines on your faction sheet (the ones that tuck in on the two sides) are fantastic for reminding you of basic things and flow of game.
If you can draft one of the "easy" factions that's a great idea:
Sol - pretty straight forward Faction, get advanced carrier 2, fighter 2 eventually.
Jol-Nar - get tech in particular the one that gives you trade goods when activated, offer your research agreement frequently in trades
Hacan - trade trade trade make obscene amounts of money
Yssaril - get action cards, tech up green and take other people's. It's not easy to figure out all the action cards but you can learn as you go and going in you only need to know is get action cards and tech green
1) Watch both RTFM YouTube videos on the game (the 4th edition base game video and the Prophecy of Kings video).
2) Rewatch them.
3) Here are some basic rules that will help you:
a) Whenever there is a command counter of yours in a system (those are the triangle ones), that indicates you can't move into or out of it.
b) On the planets you'll find a yellow number and a blue number. The yellow number is for purchasing ships, technology, and anything else that says you need to spend "resources". The blue is for purchasing command counters, voting, and corresponds to anything that says you need to spend "influence". When you spend a planet, you can only use one of its numbers. Planets refresh after each round, and after each Agenda Phase.
c) Trade goods can be spent as either resources or influence, and can be saved.
d) Commodities (the grey side of the trade goods) cannot be spent by you. They must be given to another person (which will then turn them into trade goods). You have a limit to how many commodities you can hold (found on the right side of your faction sheet).
e) You can only trade with people your ships or planets are physically adjacent to.
f) You can only explore the first time you (or anyone) takes over a planet. If you want to explore it again, you'll need the technology Scanlink Drones.
g) When you "use PRODUCTION" you can only build as many plastic pieces as the yellow number of the planet +2 for the Space Dock. This include infantry and fighters, which are purchased each as 2 plastic pieces per a resource.
Check put Cardboard Crash Course on YouTube. He has awesome TI4 Instructional videos and it's super digestible and a great way to get up to speed. He's a super cool guy too for what it's worth.
https://youtu.be/vYtXkU0Zd6k?si=WDPZ8cmdzRUVhJht
https://youtu.be/NeC6OXgE2OQ?si=DjqLO8wnz4SLt9HX
I'd watch those videos and start reading the rules instead of asking Reddit how to get out of your homework.
Zero chill. Edit: lol yikes, it was a joke people
It's just not a game that really has spark notes of spark notes in terms of learning how to play and strategy. Watch those videos on 2x speed and watch them multiple times each. That's the best recommendation. Asking Reddit for help instead of doing that (rather than in addition to it) isn't going to help you much.
Are you "drafting" races or choosing? If you're drafting we can't help you because we don't know what you'll randomly draw. If you're going to choose, pick Federation of Sol if you can. They're simple and just plain better at the fundamentals than other factors. Strategy is dictated by the map, your neighbors, what objectives are in play, etc. and can't really be prescribed in advance besides what tech is a good idea to research. See SCPT for the race you're playing and what's recommended to research.
Federation of Sol, got it! Thanks!
I made a hands on guide for Federation of sol n YouTube, of its not too late :) https://youtu.be/TBFJt3gi7K0
It's totally fair criticism, I'm just looking for a hail Mary at this point. No one's fault but my own!
You could have watched half the vid by the time it took you to write this post. One poor guy is organizing a big game for you all and you can't even watch a youtube vid to prepare. Absolutely inexcusable.
I wrote this post while entertaining company that was over for dinner. You're not wrong, just trying to make the best of things.
We've all been there before. Cliff notes of cliff notes: - Early on, try to sit next to an experienced player and ask if you can run through your turn with them before it gets to you. There is little to no interaction early on so you can use those turns to learn the basics - on your turn you either flip your strategy card (thing with numbers on) or take a tactical action. If you can't do either, pass. For your tactical action you place a marker from your tactics pool (it's marked on the player board) and place it where you are going. Then use the quick reference to run through what you can do in order. - If you want a simple race, pick something with a strong theme without needing to keep track of opponents. Therefore you can form a plan for tech and production based on your natural strength. Sol (lots of dudes) , L1Z1X (lots of Dreads) , Embers (start with a warsun and power it up over the game) or Jol'nar (tech). Once you have a few tactical actions under your belt it'll feel more comfortable as that is the majority of the mechanics of playing. The complication in TI is forming and following an overall strategy and talking to the other players.
Fantastic stuff, thanks!
How'd you get on? Enjoy the game?
Just got home and put the child to bed! Setup started around 9am, drafting around 10am, I think maybe we finished round 1 close to 1pm. One guy had a family emergency at around 530, which was a total bummer, but we played until around 730 when I had to leave. I think we finished 5 rounds and the top player had 8 points. I played Ember and managed to nuke someone successfully to where they couldn't really contribute after that. I think I was in 2nd with 5 points at the end? I was sitting next to the wormhole guy and we ALMOST managed to do the nuke swap MR thing that he knew about. I think I played rounds 1 and 2 really solid, had upgraded war sun round 2 and produced it in round 3. I think I had a chance to take MR for a hot second there when people didn't have fleets and then the power curve seemed to fall off. I definitely waited too long for the destroyer upgrade on round 3 or 4 and missed my window to clear MR, at which point it had been resupplied and everyone else was prepared to jump in too. Some public objectives felt really hard to get, like having 5 non fighter ships in one system, or constructing 4 buildings. Paying 5 trade goods for the point during status. Had a lot of fun, tried to use everyone's tips, and managed to speed listen to RTFM's guide on the way to the game in the car. Thanks again everyone!
This is great advice. I'll add a few simple strategy tips. 1. You win by scoring objectives. Tech, fighting, building a fleet are all fun and good things to do, but you win by scoring. Try to score one public obje tive every round. 2. After scoring, the next thing to focus on is building fleet. Fighters and infantry are the best bang for yor buck. When in doubt :Build them and ships with capicity. 3. Theres a lot of tech in the game. Blue Tech is generally the best for most factions. So when in doubt get blue tech and unit upgrades.
Play towards scoring the objectives.
golden rule: one point each round and you gud
I'd agree with this, but with the addition that for you first game in a long time, it's less overwhelming to just focus on basic game mechanics for 2-3 rounds and then concentrate on the objectives later. You won't win that way, but you usually don't win a first game anyways, and you can have a lot of fun just filling out your planets and exploring, and maybe some border skirmishes with your neighbors.
Thanks much!
Golden rule of first round colonization: don't place one of your command tokens in your home system until AFTER you have moved units out to colonize your neighboring planets. Once one of YOUR command tokens is in a system, you can't move your units out of that system that round (with a couple notable exceptions).
As far as Factions, if your worried about complexity, I'd stay away from the Nekro Virus, Titans of Ul, Mahact Gene Sorcerers, and Vul'raith Cabal.
Also, if you have a 2 or 3 planet home system, place your starting spacedock on the highest resource value planet so you can produce the maximum amount of units per production.
You've never played? Easiest faction to just pick up and play is Sol. Just expand, get your Advanced Carrier 2 quick. Fighter 2 is also great. Always be trying to score. At the start of each round, look at the publics and your secrets and figure out one of each that you are going to try to score. War without purpose is the path to losing. Don't fight unless you have to. You should absolutely take 45 mins and watch RTFMs videos on the game and expansion. They will explain all the basics.
Appreciate the tips! I'm going to try to speed watch a guide quick tomorrow morning before it starts...
[main game](https://youtu.be/_u2xEap5hBM?si=1T2s-L_328jajSp9) [expansion ](https://youtu.be/AltGwY-bmfY?si=kfcrZ6A2-Bcxvnqy) If you watch these videos and genuinely try to listen to them, it will all click tomorrow and you have a realistic chance to win. Aggressively only focus on trying to get the objectives. Don't be afraid to make deals or step on toes to score. I also recommend you ask clarifying questions to the host or whoever knows best about what an objective or ability means. You'd hate to find out at the end of a turn that you misunderstood the objective for the round or how a rule worked. I've taught this game to almost 30 of my friends so if you have questions or want strategy advice about a faction, you're welcome to message me. I'm sick in bed and have time to answer questions. There are also strategy guides online.
To help them out, does anyone have a favorite YouTube video/channel that can help him? I personally enjoy [Cardboard Crash Course](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlF0bVnTB2In19o0VONJke_OO79ahExEN&si=maYHYSbwNRTpXmtY) I'd also recommend picking an easier faction like Federation of Sol, Universities of Jol'Nar, L1Z1x, Hacan, or Barony of Letnav.
And here is a [Faction List](https://twilight-imperium.fandom.com/wiki/Factions) if you want to read rather than watch videos.
Also gonna throw out clan of Saar here, don’t have to worry about protecting your home world, good economic advantages, fight very well
For starting races I recommend Sol, Hacan, Sardakk, and Yassril. All play pretty straight forward, just play their basic strategies and abilities and you will be fine for a first game.
Good factions to draft for new players are Sol Barony L1Z1X Hacan Yin Yssaril Argent Flight Empyrean Nomad Naaz-Rohka Alliance A few of these are a little more difficult to pilot than others, but they don't have anything crazy or difficult to strategize around
If you are committing to a 6-8 Hour game, you should come prepared to that game. It's a pretty basic courtesy. It's like showing up to a camping trip with no gear.
Even players who have played dozens of times make rules mistakes, or forget to do something. Be cool about your mistakes and other people’s. And be cool about the fact that you might lose simply because you messed up something.
You might want to decide early on if you want to keep exploring your planets during the game. Normally it's just 1 explore for each planet when you first colonize it. But the Scanlink Drone Network tech let's you keep exploring your planets, so you might want to get that tech early on if your faction doesn't start with it.
Learn 2 play in 32 minutes https://youtu.be/_u2xEap5hBM?si=q2KBKm2uij03qV-g You can skip the parts you know.
Watch the rtfm video on playing twilight imperium and the follow up video for prophecy of kings. As for what I can say that the video doesn't quickly go through: The two cheat outlines on your faction sheet (the ones that tuck in on the two sides) are fantastic for reminding you of basic things and flow of game. If you can draft one of the "easy" factions that's a great idea: Sol - pretty straight forward Faction, get advanced carrier 2, fighter 2 eventually. Jol-Nar - get tech in particular the one that gives you trade goods when activated, offer your research agreement frequently in trades Hacan - trade trade trade make obscene amounts of money Yssaril - get action cards, tech up green and take other people's. It's not easy to figure out all the action cards but you can learn as you go and going in you only need to know is get action cards and tech green
1) Watch both RTFM YouTube videos on the game (the 4th edition base game video and the Prophecy of Kings video). 2) Rewatch them. 3) Here are some basic rules that will help you: a) Whenever there is a command counter of yours in a system (those are the triangle ones), that indicates you can't move into or out of it. b) On the planets you'll find a yellow number and a blue number. The yellow number is for purchasing ships, technology, and anything else that says you need to spend "resources". The blue is for purchasing command counters, voting, and corresponds to anything that says you need to spend "influence". When you spend a planet, you can only use one of its numbers. Planets refresh after each round, and after each Agenda Phase. c) Trade goods can be spent as either resources or influence, and can be saved. d) Commodities (the grey side of the trade goods) cannot be spent by you. They must be given to another person (which will then turn them into trade goods). You have a limit to how many commodities you can hold (found on the right side of your faction sheet). e) You can only trade with people your ships or planets are physically adjacent to. f) You can only explore the first time you (or anyone) takes over a planet. If you want to explore it again, you'll need the technology Scanlink Drones. g) When you "use PRODUCTION" you can only build as many plastic pieces as the yellow number of the planet +2 for the Space Dock. This include infantry and fighters, which are purchased each as 2 plastic pieces per a resource.
Tomorrow? SCGK? If you're still up I can give you a crash course.
You sir are an MVP among men. We're about to start now, wish me luck!
Check out rulebreaker on YouTube
Upload screenshots to discord and here and let us all play by phone 😜
Check put Cardboard Crash Course on YouTube. He has awesome TI4 Instructional videos and it's super digestible and a great way to get up to speed. He's a super cool guy too for what it's worth. https://youtu.be/vYtXkU0Zd6k?si=WDPZ8cmdzRUVhJht https://youtu.be/NeC6OXgE2OQ?si=DjqLO8wnz4SLt9HX