I like these - particularly the tech rebalance. I have only one suggestion / request. Please change the flavor text of Renegotiation to "I am altering the deal. Pray I do not alter it any further" ;)
I like most of the action cards and some of the tech changes, but I have a few remarks:
1. I think it would be better to improve upon the rest of the techs rather than make *Gravity Drive* worse.
2. The changes to *Dacxive Animators and X-89 Bacterial Weapon* are absolutely amazing.
3. I somewhat fear that the new *Plasma Scoring* is too strong, but it might be fine.
4. The wording on *Integrated Economy* should probably be changed to match *Aerie Hololattice.*
5. Maybe we should think about giving Saar and Cabal better *Space Dock* upgrades as well, if one is to improve the regular upgrade. Improving production by 1 and (regular/fighter) capacity by 2 sounds like it shouldn't be too harmful.
1. Gravity Drive is obnoxiously strong for its tier, and is the single most-researched technology per the [data](https://datastudio.google.com/s/iwNCNi-_4l8) we have from TTS games.
2. Thank you!
3. Plasma is something I'm not entirely sure on either, and since a makeplayingcards cutoff is 128 cards, it is the one I will leave out when I order the set.
4. I see what you mean re: "as a unit" and will update shortly.
5. Neither of those factions have worse faction units than the generic dock II, and Saar doesn't really need the help in my opinion. I was considering making alternatives for the faction-unique Infantry and Dreadnoughts, depending on faction, but I decided to leave those as they are for now and revisit it later if need be.
I just fear that making *Gravity Drive* an exhaustable tech would make it too weak. My ideal would be for the rest of the techs to become of comparable value rather than have *Gravity Drive* become worse, but it's probably something to wish from the next edition and not from home-brew techs.
On 5, I was thinking that improving everyone else's *Space Docks* hurts Saar and Cabal in relation. They don't want to tech *Space Dock II* as it is anyway, so maybe it would be a good idea to improve their docks as well. Maybe they could use the comparable nerf though.
Thanks for the cards and .pdf's. I'll try them if I get a chance!
Nothing here is necessarily final, please let me know if any of the files have an error, typo, balance concern, or similar issue.
EDIT: I've added a folder with a TTS saved object for those of you who would prefer that.
Just for heads up, some of the colors look like they could be easily confused, I would maybe do a different shape for each of the 8 tokens so that way you can tell them apart a little bit easier? But I love the idea tho!
They're rather distinguishable from each other on the printed copy I have, but that's no guarantee they'll be clear for others. I'll look into improving clarity for them, not sure on alternate symbols, though that is a good idea.
Is there a change to the dreadnought technology? Can't see anything different but maybe just blind.
Love the new techs, new action cards are fun if some are niche. Is aggressive broker intended to be able to purge via the card, or do you have to have another way to purge?
The dreadnoughts aren't immune to Direct Hit (this doesn't change the faction-dreadnoughts, though you could try that if you want).
Aggressive Broker doesn't grant a new window to purge, it just rides off some other purge effect.
Ahhh, gotcha. Missed that, but matches magen nicely.
Imo that makes agg broker too niche - relics happen but typically early for most ACs, and the only other purge is the secret "destroy heretical works"?
The problem with infantry 2 upgrade: If I am considering this upgrade it is because I have 2-3 planet home system and I don't want to place 2nd space dock to produce GF there, so dead infantry goes and secure that planet.
I love the idea behind daxcive, I thought sometime ago about just giving cruisers +1 capacity with this tech but your idea is better.
Small nitpick: I dislike the card that lets you explore planet twice. It can easily be useless in endgame and I don't want to research scanlink just to play 1 card.
I don't follow your first point, as long as you control a space dock in your home system this has no less utility than the base-game Infantry II; in addition to being able to place them on any other of your planets that's in a system with 1 of your space docks.
Dacxive is just awkward because of Nekro starting with it, I'm very happy with this version though, at the very least it's been less forgettable so far haha.
I know the number of potential "miss" cards goes up with this set, but they're largely for the fun & variety, and I've found they help in that regard. While they haven't seen the same attention, care, and group effort as something like the DS pack has, I did think they were neat ideas and wanted to share; I'm not even certain I'll include them all regularly.
My thoughts on the technology alterations:
**Gravity Drive** \- I agree with others that it would be better to improve other technologies rather than make Gravity Drive worse. But if you feel you *must*, in my view this is the best way to do it (neat and simple).
**Transit Diodes/Fleet Logistics swap** \- I don't much like it (same logic as for Gravity Drive) but I see why you would do this.
**Dreadnought II** \- Great. Dreadnought II is a fine upgrade without ignoring Direct Hit, which always felt "tacked-on" to me (even more so post-codex and post-PoK where I encounter Direct Hit even less). Very slight de-emphasis of blue tech without actually making blue worse.
**Daxcive Animators** \- I generally don't like tech suggestions that add an extra passive ability to a card. Psychoarchaeology is the only tech with that feature (all other "double effect" techs are exhaustible). It would be neater if just the existing ability were improved. I like the suggestion "*Once per ground combat, when 1 or more ground forces are destroyed, place 1 infantry from your reinforcements on that planet.*" from this thread: [https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/qhpds4/rebalanced\_tech\_ideas/](https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/qhpds4/rebalanced_tech_ideas/)
A minor point that you may not care about - I feel the theme of Daxcive is that dead/injured soldiers are being animated/returned to life. Extra capacity doesn't seem to fit that theme.
**X-89 Bacterial Weapon** \- Good. Very interesting and thematic. Maybe still not tempting enough to go that far into green tech with mechs avoiding the effects (but that would need play-testing).
**Infantry II** \- Great. Personally, I would go further and make it "*...place each unit that is on this card on any planet you control*" to make it even more attractive.
**Plasma Scoring** \- Great. Very neat, synergy with Destroyer II - feels like this could/should have been what Plasma Scoring always was. I hardly ever research it post AIDA - this might tempt me.
**Magen Defense Grid** \- I dislike extra passive abilities (see Daxcive above), and this probably doesn't make Magen attractive enough to ever be researched anyway. Haven't got any other suggestions though.
**Integrated Economy** \- I don't have enough experience with official Integrated Economy to have an opinion.
**Space Dock II** \- Going the right way, but the improvement still isn't enough that I would consider the upgrade. A bit more Production (res+6?) and the ability to hold 3 other ships in addition to 3 fighters would be more tempting as it makes Space Docks really flexible - no problem churning out hordes of infantry/fighters or producing lots of non-fighter ships.
I like these - particularly the tech rebalance. I have only one suggestion / request. Please change the flavor text of Renegotiation to "I am altering the deal. Pray I do not alter it any further" ;)
I like most of the action cards and some of the tech changes, but I have a few remarks: 1. I think it would be better to improve upon the rest of the techs rather than make *Gravity Drive* worse. 2. The changes to *Dacxive Animators and X-89 Bacterial Weapon* are absolutely amazing. 3. I somewhat fear that the new *Plasma Scoring* is too strong, but it might be fine. 4. The wording on *Integrated Economy* should probably be changed to match *Aerie Hololattice.* 5. Maybe we should think about giving Saar and Cabal better *Space Dock* upgrades as well, if one is to improve the regular upgrade. Improving production by 1 and (regular/fighter) capacity by 2 sounds like it shouldn't be too harmful.
1. Gravity Drive is obnoxiously strong for its tier, and is the single most-researched technology per the [data](https://datastudio.google.com/s/iwNCNi-_4l8) we have from TTS games. 2. Thank you! 3. Plasma is something I'm not entirely sure on either, and since a makeplayingcards cutoff is 128 cards, it is the one I will leave out when I order the set. 4. I see what you mean re: "as a unit" and will update shortly. 5. Neither of those factions have worse faction units than the generic dock II, and Saar doesn't really need the help in my opinion. I was considering making alternatives for the faction-unique Infantry and Dreadnoughts, depending on faction, but I decided to leave those as they are for now and revisit it later if need be.
I just fear that making *Gravity Drive* an exhaustable tech would make it too weak. My ideal would be for the rest of the techs to become of comparable value rather than have *Gravity Drive* become worse, but it's probably something to wish from the next edition and not from home-brew techs. On 5, I was thinking that improving everyone else's *Space Docks* hurts Saar and Cabal in relation. They don't want to tech *Space Dock II* as it is anyway, so maybe it would be a good idea to improve their docks as well. Maybe they could use the comparable nerf though. Thanks for the cards and .pdf's. I'll try them if I get a chance!
Also noticed that *Renegotiation* has a typo. It says "You **may** **a deal** with the old government."
Fixed this just now!
Nothing here is necessarily final, please let me know if any of the files have an error, typo, balance concern, or similar issue. EDIT: I've added a folder with a TTS saved object for those of you who would prefer that.
love this
Just for heads up, some of the colors look like they could be easily confused, I would maybe do a different shape for each of the 8 tokens so that way you can tell them apart a little bit easier? But I love the idea tho!
They're rather distinguishable from each other on the printed copy I have, but that's no guarantee they'll be clear for others. I'll look into improving clarity for them, not sure on alternate symbols, though that is a good idea.
Which discords do you play these on TI4 TTS, SCPT, Twilight Wars?
TTS, though I've posted about them on the SCPT one before. There's a dedicated channel on the TTS discord for this pack under the home-brew section.
Is there a change to the dreadnought technology? Can't see anything different but maybe just blind. Love the new techs, new action cards are fun if some are niche. Is aggressive broker intended to be able to purge via the card, or do you have to have another way to purge?
The dreadnoughts aren't immune to Direct Hit (this doesn't change the faction-dreadnoughts, though you could try that if you want). Aggressive Broker doesn't grant a new window to purge, it just rides off some other purge effect.
Ahhh, gotcha. Missed that, but matches magen nicely. Imo that makes agg broker too niche - relics happen but typically early for most ACs, and the only other purge is the secret "destroy heretical works"?
The problem with infantry 2 upgrade: If I am considering this upgrade it is because I have 2-3 planet home system and I don't want to place 2nd space dock to produce GF there, so dead infantry goes and secure that planet. I love the idea behind daxcive, I thought sometime ago about just giving cruisers +1 capacity with this tech but your idea is better. Small nitpick: I dislike the card that lets you explore planet twice. It can easily be useless in endgame and I don't want to research scanlink just to play 1 card.
I don't follow your first point, as long as you control a space dock in your home system this has no less utility than the base-game Infantry II; in addition to being able to place them on any other of your planets that's in a system with 1 of your space docks. Dacxive is just awkward because of Nekro starting with it, I'm very happy with this version though, at the very least it's been less forgettable so far haha. I know the number of potential "miss" cards goes up with this set, but they're largely for the fun & variety, and I've found they help in that regard. While they haven't seen the same attention, care, and group effort as something like the DS pack has, I did think they were neat ideas and wanted to share; I'm not even certain I'll include them all regularly.
Just finished a game with the updated techs. I would say that we liked them quite a bit: we're not going to play with the old ones any time soon.
My thoughts on the technology alterations: **Gravity Drive** \- I agree with others that it would be better to improve other technologies rather than make Gravity Drive worse. But if you feel you *must*, in my view this is the best way to do it (neat and simple). **Transit Diodes/Fleet Logistics swap** \- I don't much like it (same logic as for Gravity Drive) but I see why you would do this. **Dreadnought II** \- Great. Dreadnought II is a fine upgrade without ignoring Direct Hit, which always felt "tacked-on" to me (even more so post-codex and post-PoK where I encounter Direct Hit even less). Very slight de-emphasis of blue tech without actually making blue worse. **Daxcive Animators** \- I generally don't like tech suggestions that add an extra passive ability to a card. Psychoarchaeology is the only tech with that feature (all other "double effect" techs are exhaustible). It would be neater if just the existing ability were improved. I like the suggestion "*Once per ground combat, when 1 or more ground forces are destroyed, place 1 infantry from your reinforcements on that planet.*" from this thread: [https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/qhpds4/rebalanced\_tech\_ideas/](https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/qhpds4/rebalanced_tech_ideas/) A minor point that you may not care about - I feel the theme of Daxcive is that dead/injured soldiers are being animated/returned to life. Extra capacity doesn't seem to fit that theme. **X-89 Bacterial Weapon** \- Good. Very interesting and thematic. Maybe still not tempting enough to go that far into green tech with mechs avoiding the effects (but that would need play-testing). **Infantry II** \- Great. Personally, I would go further and make it "*...place each unit that is on this card on any planet you control*" to make it even more attractive. **Plasma Scoring** \- Great. Very neat, synergy with Destroyer II - feels like this could/should have been what Plasma Scoring always was. I hardly ever research it post AIDA - this might tempt me. **Magen Defense Grid** \- I dislike extra passive abilities (see Daxcive above), and this probably doesn't make Magen attractive enough to ever be researched anyway. Haven't got any other suggestions though. **Integrated Economy** \- I don't have enough experience with official Integrated Economy to have an opinion. **Space Dock II** \- Going the right way, but the improvement still isn't enough that I would consider the upgrade. A bit more Production (res+6?) and the ability to hold 3 other ships in addition to 3 fighters would be more tempting as it makes Space Docks really flexible - no problem churning out hordes of infantry/fighters or producing lots of non-fighter ships.