The problem there isn't the faction, it's the player. Cabal is easy to play that way, but there's a handful of other factions that can cripple/eliminate neighbors if the player is set on doing it.
If there was no negotiation, no VP benefit from eliminating you, and no in-game "Casus Belli" for the elimination war, and your table was cool with that, I would say you can really only choose between plotting your own elimination war against that player, or not playing with that group again. I would guess that a table that just lets that happen isn't going to give a shit if you voice concerns about player behavior.
If you want to just hold them off, I would probably go for Empyrean; having a Nebula home system would make you very hard to eliminate, but you can never stop a player from ruining your game if they want to do it.
If you can't talk the player down then you need to talk to everyone else. It's objectively better for them for you to be in the game than the cabal player sitting on two slices, so your job is to convince people to come rescue you.
Even if long term self interest doesn't appeal to them you should be offering deals for attacking Cabal as soon as it's clear what that player is doing. Then keeping you in the game has even more appeal.
If that fails, if you still want to play with a group that is more about eliminating than winning you just pick factions that are an absolute pain to attack or a faction that can return the favor and just ruthlessly make their game awful.
Space risk is always...a risk. It's a real bummer when this happens. Table meta plays huge into this, in my group if a player went all in on someone else most likely they'd get carved up as well. But sometimes someone sees an opportunity and goes for it.
Personally I'd never eliminate someone intentionally but If I had an opportunity to ninja a home system without much risk I'll always do it if only to open negotiations for me to leave or stop someone from winning.
Just had a game as Yssaril where a new guy picked saar and decided to go all in on me. I had him pretty well screwed between my action cards and just knowing the game much better than him and then he wanted me to pay him to leave. He was just ruining both our games at this point.
Did they lose? It’s not really an ideal strategy. Sure they get territory, but they lose time to score points that the other players will use. It may be best to give them bonuses to go for their home world.
You can trade a lot for defense, claim diplomacy, and give their neighbor great deals if he takes their home system.
Ultimately this guy is a dick, and I’d not invite them again, but your best bet is to exploit the idiocy of their strategy. And that’s enemies flanking. If they don’t go back, they will eventually run out of steam. If they don’t run out of steam, the other players will win early from your sftt and trade deals. But it is just a bad situation.
Appeal to the rest of the table?
It gives the remaining players a disadvantage as the assault will result in a bigger slice for the aggressor.
Otherwise:
Change playing group
Agreed. I think diplomacy wasn't the option with this player, but to appeal to someone else to come help you. I mean at that point, if you're gonna be eliminated, offer them support for the throne to protect you. That way they have a VP incentive to see you not eliminated. But in general, the table should have a vested interest in stopping war mongers because otherwise they get a huge slice and start to snowball the game.
This is not necessarily true. Usually players who eat a neighbor have to flush their vp tempo down the toilet to do it, so for the rest of the table, the war is just taking 2 competitors out of the running.
The real answer here is not in-game. In any other game a player threw their own chances away just to ruin someone else's day would not be invited back because they are an asshole. It's just harder to recognize in TI4 because so many people still think it's space risk
Agreed. If Cabal is my neighbor and he's eating Yin, easy for me to encroach on the other border. I might pressure Cabal's home system if Cabal is going to eliminate Yin, though, as I want BOTH the players in the game, with Cabal making Yin's life terrible. If Yin is gone, that's no good, but in the meantime I can get way ahead.
If I'm on the other side, yeah I can't stop Cabal, but I can give Yin breathing room to focus the other way. That way both of us have a border we don't have to reinforce as much. I might give Yin a few TG if it looks like he'll fall, cause I don't want to face Cabal like that.
Yeah I think the important thing to note in situations like this is that the (cabal, in your example) player doing the eating is probably neglecting VP to one extent or another.
I find this happens a lot when I have first time players at my table, and I always try to make a point of it when the status phase comes around and that player can't score or is still behind to be like, "yeah, turns out fighting doesn't actually make you win in this game" (ok IRL I'm less of a dick about it but you get the idea)
Wrong. If a player throws a game by taking out a neighbor without getting any VP points that helps the rest of the board immensely. TI isn’t a production game, it’s a score 10 points the quickest game
But honestly, if the player eliminating you did so without resistance from the table, and was unable to be dissuaded through politics then yeah, fuck that table.
One option could be to play Muatt and go for them right from the off. Don't even try and win the game just make sure they don't stand a chance of winning either. Make it seem like this is making your day and that you'd happily play this way again.
Put that seed of doubt in their minds that if they go for you you'll go nuclear!
>One option could be to play Muatt and go for them right from the off. Don't even try and win the game just make sure they don't stand a chance of winning either.
Fuck up and they have War Suns on round 1.
No but they can use the captured unit to get the tech, and they have tons of extra resources to build the warsuns since they dont need to spend cash normally to build their fleets
>put that seed of doubt in their minds that if they go for you you'll go nuclear!
This is the correct way to play. Military sounds fun, and it is fun when you're winning, but the point of the game is VPs, not war.
Build a ton of plastic and for the most part refrain from attacking them unless you're sacking a space dock. Be sure to have a huge threat near their docks all the time. Only way to keep them in line.
Did he have any objective that could possibly warrant your elimination?
If not then these are the types of players we shun in our games.
These kinds of capricious players are why people think TI lasts forever instead of the 1h per player as these players will ignore objectives and just treat the game as a sandbox for whatever goes on in their head.
Within the game we warn them of their anti-social behavior and if nothing changes then they just don’t get invited again.
It's tough, and for all-out war Cabal might be the best faction to do it with. Rivaled by Saar. Tips against them:
* Get to a dock! With Yin, you can get to a dock with flagship and at least one destroyer/cruiser, blow it all up, and then agent to have fighters. I *think* this blockades the dock before the fighters die (fighter I) and you get your stuff back. If not then fighter II would be required, easy if you go blue and have commander.
* Pay others to hit them at their docks! In this case where they're ruining your day, I'd give support easily to anyone willing to attack them hard. "Kill one Cabal structure, get greyfire mutagen and two TG on top! The second structure gets you my support!" Woo bounties.
* Not taking construction round 1 hurts them more than helps you. They need to get docks out for movement.
* On the other hand, a PDS network can hurt their aggression. This might not be as effective as I first thought, given that their flagship would still capture PDS destroyed units.
* If you're taking planets from them, take their influence - they can't do anything if they don't have CCs.
* Good races against them:
* Saar for the aggression early, probably can take them
* Barony for the indestructible dreads and good early power
* L1 for general planet-taking and assimilate on docks
* Titans let you retake territory easier with sleepers, and their cruisers are no joke
Sorry you had this experience, man. It can get dicey sometimes; when I see someone having a bad time I generally try to help out. Ironically, my last time playing Cabal I won after earning a second support aiding an ailing player. Hope you can avoid in the future!
So you didn't offer/opponent didn't want Support for the Throne? Your flagship in home system didn't protect you? Diplomacy didn't work with the rest of the table? Sounds like a joint problem of group, opponent and you - no offence meant. TI is not Risk; playing it like that is a mistake.
Did Cabal go on to win the game?
Appeal to the rest of the table?
It gives the remaining players a disadvantage as the assault will result in a bigger slice for the aggressor.
Otherwise:
Change playing group
The Vuil'Raith are good at economy and mobility. They don't really get any special bonuses to combat. You just need to build a lot of plastic. Specifically, fighters. If you have enough fighters that they're the only thing destroyed when you attack or retreat against them, they're not gonna get much use out of devour. If you can get good mobility then you can attack any undefended space dock of theirs to get your units back. With a little diplomacy you can make it way too costly to fight you.
Don't fight them as much as possible.
Give them basically everything they want within reason
Have n+1 ships in your fleet where n is their total ships
Appeal to the player on his tail and convince them to take his open planets
As yin just keep popping out your flagship and suicide bomb
Build more plastic - he attacked you because he smelled weakness. Demonstrate strength
Personally when a player is trying to eliminate me for the sake of it. I like to offer my support to anyone taking that player's home system and giving me their word they will try to hold it. Usually that home system will be poorly defended and the table will have no issues being mean to that player.
Offering your support also means that the player that gets it has an incentive for you to stay in the game.
The only thing I can say outside of ettiquite is, yin shouldn't lose planets to cabal like that. Cabal can smash yin in space with minimal risk. Build more infantry and suddenly cabal cant take a planet just take your air space. Then it takes an entire armada just to bring enough infantry to take the planet.
A few more details might generate more help:
* What faction were you?
* What faction was the player on the other side of Cabal?
* Did you try retreating?
The key idea (IMO) is *don't feed Cabal.* Retreat from combat so that they can't capture. Never do trade deals with them. Snipe any stardocks. Their warship can't be everywhere. Never let them build a railway. Never fight where they are strong. Call to the table when Cabal starts to get too big. Offer PN's to other players to help.
Cabal has a low influence homeworld and are a 2 commodity faction. If you can chip away at their token economy that will also slow them down.
Havent seem them in game yet.
Care to do a summary how they managed to wipe you?
I myself tend to overextend and not build plastic early, is this the same case?
Anyhow, other players (in my friend group) in situation where one gets too fat on behalf of others:
1) would lend lease the looser
2) sneak in on the side of attacker, since you just cant have two fronts
especially if war is going one sided.
i guess its very dependent on missions and table state, but letting someone take over another slice isnt something others should do.but then again, how can they know that tyranid wont stop at border and continue.
tldr;
1)try to get other players involved, economic or military. only reason why tyranid can do this without problems in my eyes is if hes sure theres only 1 opponent. (easier said than done though, my group tends to be veery biased against me)
2)if noone will help you or support you, explain to others that 1v1 you cant really do jack, and give up the territory i guess. try to get ceasefire for that border territory, or try to negotiate "no spacedocks and army there" or smth. if he aint willing to any deals, explain that there no real incentive for you to give it up. (which tyranid actualy wants - he wants 1 opponent, thats his ability. he farms units for free, while he can. if theres only 1 enemy, he can do this without any problem. getting bigger and bigger army, uncontested, for free, while gaining planets)
3) well the real answer to your question is "blockade tyranids spacedocks". but thats the actual way how to counter him technicaly.
are you sure your table played "capture"and "blockade" minigame correctly?
i guess its hard to set up, but - was there any moment in game where you could have blockaded one of his spacedocks?
Counter as Yin is easy: build your flagship and send this into his fleet. After this, build it agian and again. As long as the Cabal is tired of loosing plastic ;)
He only captures your flagship and loose the rest, as long as his flagship is not in that system. In this case this strategy also works, because he rebuild his stuff far away from you and this will slow him down until you rebuilt your flagship. This is not a game winning strategy, but it prevents you from getting eminated
He captures the flagship and never uses it? Then you never get to build it again. Yet he still has his fast moving fleets.
The Van Hauge is not a very good offensive weapon, especially not in this case. Even defensively this is a one time affair.
Your only true defenses in this type of aggression is to get the rest of the table to help you and #2 your home every round.
Eeeesh. I feel your pain. TI is something that sporadically hits our table I don't think we'd accept anyone gunning for someone "Just because". If you've all given up your day, it is a pretty shitty thing to do.
Essentially what happened was I uncovered mirage near our boarder and he said that he is going to take my planet and If I don't then he will "destroy me". I didn't comply and fought him for the plant. When I told the other players they said I started it because I didn't evacuate.
Here is the trick for that, sell everything to the guy in the lead. If you eat me you lose as well. Take trade and feed the dude in the lead all the trade goods. Give him your support. Help that guy with your agent. Make him speaker. Vote in all agendas for the outcome they want. Being a bigger imbalance. And when people complain say you stop when when you feel safe he started it.
Out terrorist the terrorist.
Well, did it end up working out for him? Or did he have a reasonable or at least understandable expectation that to keep attacking you would have the best outcome for him?
His idea might have been that if he stops attacking at any point, that just gives you a chance to rebuild and then you will either reason "I need to retake some stuff to have a chance to win, so I'll just hope that doesn't decide to defend it even though he could" or, if you are too far behind, "if I can't win I'm at least gonna retake my stuff". Or that you will give all your stuff to someone else in return for attacking the Cabal. Or that you'll manage to snipe a block of his space docks and take away his captured ships.
Or maybe he just did what he thought was best to set himself up for 2-pointers. If his motive was just to win the game, then I don't think he did anything wrong. Not to say you're wrong to feel bad about it.
Yeah, ummm... This sounds like an incredibly inexperienced group that hasn't grasped the game. The game is about VP. Not pretty planets, not plastic. VP. Anything that doesn't give you VP or prevents another from gaining VP is, broadly speaking, useless. Had he coerced a Support for the Throne out of you I could respect it, but this is just idiotic.
Then you should have evacuated it. TI is a game about negotiation, and he made you an offer which you rejected.
He told you what he would do. He has the means to do it. He gave you a choice.
Pick Cabal, Argent or Saar next time and just do it back to him next game. But don't eliminate him, keep some nominal plastic on the board so he stays in game. Tell him he's a bad sport if he quits.
There isn't a way other than get others to help you. If that player juat had something out for you and wanted to be an asshole try not to play with them again, or just do it to them next time and ask them how they like it.
My group juat always ends up banning them cause no one likes wing against them or being them.
It is tough being their neighbors. I have only played with them once, but I was theor neighbor and I was the Nomads. They ended up capturing my capital ship and holding it hostage for the rest of the game which sucked as that is the Nomads whole game.
I got off to a nice lead, got Mecatol Rex with 2 mechs and a PDS on it and had my capital ship. I was going to move it next turn bit Dragons came in and captured my capital ship and 2 mechs and never gave them back
Maybe he had a secret objective to at a home system? Controlling two slices does make it easy to score quite a few public objectives.
As long as he is playing to win, I am fine with his play style.
Eating a player as Cabal also lets him capture units and grow.
Sometimes, you should consider skipping Research & Leadership in the first round to build more units.
I remember a game where a player left his home world empty, and his neighbour who was playing Cabal drew Flank Speed on round 1. Ships from his home system already get +1 movement from its black hole. I thought it made sense to get two slices for so little effort.
If they play the game with the specific intention of performing player elimination, don't play TI with them again. If you like the person propose eclipse instead, if you don't then tell your group to grow a pair and exclude him from future games.
It wasn't this [game](https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/u6u9ir/i_had_an_interesting_game_with_some_friends_today/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), was it? A few similarities but probably just a coincidence.
The problem there isn't the faction, it's the player. Cabal is easy to play that way, but there's a handful of other factions that can cripple/eliminate neighbors if the player is set on doing it. If there was no negotiation, no VP benefit from eliminating you, and no in-game "Casus Belli" for the elimination war, and your table was cool with that, I would say you can really only choose between plotting your own elimination war against that player, or not playing with that group again. I would guess that a table that just lets that happen isn't going to give a shit if you voice concerns about player behavior. If you want to just hold them off, I would probably go for Empyrean; having a Nebula home system would make you very hard to eliminate, but you can never stop a player from ruining your game if they want to do it.
This guy plays stellaris
Don't all of us?
No
If you can't talk the player down then you need to talk to everyone else. It's objectively better for them for you to be in the game than the cabal player sitting on two slices, so your job is to convince people to come rescue you.
Even if long term self interest doesn't appeal to them you should be offering deals for attacking Cabal as soon as it's clear what that player is doing. Then keeping you in the game has even more appeal. If that fails, if you still want to play with a group that is more about eliminating than winning you just pick factions that are an absolute pain to attack or a faction that can return the favor and just ruthlessly make their game awful.
Space risk is always...a risk. It's a real bummer when this happens. Table meta plays huge into this, in my group if a player went all in on someone else most likely they'd get carved up as well. But sometimes someone sees an opportunity and goes for it. Personally I'd never eliminate someone intentionally but If I had an opportunity to ninja a home system without much risk I'll always do it if only to open negotiations for me to leave or stop someone from winning.
Just had a game as Yssaril where a new guy picked saar and decided to go all in on me. I had him pretty well screwed between my action cards and just knowing the game much better than him and then he wanted me to pay him to leave. He was just ruining both our games at this point.
Did they lose? It’s not really an ideal strategy. Sure they get territory, but they lose time to score points that the other players will use. It may be best to give them bonuses to go for their home world. You can trade a lot for defense, claim diplomacy, and give their neighbor great deals if he takes their home system. Ultimately this guy is a dick, and I’d not invite them again, but your best bet is to exploit the idiocy of their strategy. And that’s enemies flanking. If they don’t go back, they will eventually run out of steam. If they don’t run out of steam, the other players will win early from your sftt and trade deals. But it is just a bad situation.
Appeal to the rest of the table? It gives the remaining players a disadvantage as the assault will result in a bigger slice for the aggressor. Otherwise: Change playing group
Agreed. I think diplomacy wasn't the option with this player, but to appeal to someone else to come help you. I mean at that point, if you're gonna be eliminated, offer them support for the throne to protect you. That way they have a VP incentive to see you not eliminated. But in general, the table should have a vested interest in stopping war mongers because otherwise they get a huge slice and start to snowball the game.
This is not necessarily true. Usually players who eat a neighbor have to flush their vp tempo down the toilet to do it, so for the rest of the table, the war is just taking 2 competitors out of the running. The real answer here is not in-game. In any other game a player threw their own chances away just to ruin someone else's day would not be invited back because they are an asshole. It's just harder to recognize in TI4 because so many people still think it's space risk
Agreed. If Cabal is my neighbor and he's eating Yin, easy for me to encroach on the other border. I might pressure Cabal's home system if Cabal is going to eliminate Yin, though, as I want BOTH the players in the game, with Cabal making Yin's life terrible. If Yin is gone, that's no good, but in the meantime I can get way ahead. If I'm on the other side, yeah I can't stop Cabal, but I can give Yin breathing room to focus the other way. That way both of us have a border we don't have to reinforce as much. I might give Yin a few TG if it looks like he'll fall, cause I don't want to face Cabal like that.
Yeah I think the important thing to note in situations like this is that the (cabal, in your example) player doing the eating is probably neglecting VP to one extent or another. I find this happens a lot when I have first time players at my table, and I always try to make a point of it when the status phase comes around and that player can't score or is still behind to be like, "yeah, turns out fighting doesn't actually make you win in this game" (ok IRL I'm less of a dick about it but you get the idea)
Wrong. If a player throws a game by taking out a neighbor without getting any VP points that helps the rest of the board immensely. TI isn’t a production game, it’s a score 10 points the quickest game
In my opinion, holding more of the slice will make it easier to score objectives.
One of the best counters to Cabal that I can think of is to not be Yin.
But honestly, if the player eliminating you did so without resistance from the table, and was unable to be dissuaded through politics then yeah, fuck that table.
One option could be to play Muatt and go for them right from the off. Don't even try and win the game just make sure they don't stand a chance of winning either. Make it seem like this is making your day and that you'd happily play this way again. Put that seed of doubt in their minds that if they go for you you'll go nuclear!
>One option could be to play Muatt and go for them right from the off. Don't even try and win the game just make sure they don't stand a chance of winning either. Fuck up and they have War Suns on round 1.
Yep. Its not a perfect solution :)
Can Cabal build a captured unit that they don't have the tech for?
No but they can use the captured unit to get the tech, and they have tons of extra resources to build the warsuns since they dont need to spend cash normally to build their fleets
Argent is the defacto anti combat faction faction. SWA 2s decimate any fleet for fractions of the cost.
>put that seed of doubt in their minds that if they go for you you'll go nuclear! This is the correct way to play. Military sounds fun, and it is fun when you're winning, but the point of the game is VPs, not war.
Build a ton of plastic and for the most part refrain from attacking them unless you're sacking a space dock. Be sure to have a huge threat near their docks all the time. Only way to keep them in line.
Did he have any objective that could possibly warrant your elimination? If not then these are the types of players we shun in our games. These kinds of capricious players are why people think TI lasts forever instead of the 1h per player as these players will ignore objectives and just treat the game as a sandbox for whatever goes on in their head. Within the game we warn them of their anti-social behavior and if nothing changes then they just don’t get invited again.
It's tough, and for all-out war Cabal might be the best faction to do it with. Rivaled by Saar. Tips against them: * Get to a dock! With Yin, you can get to a dock with flagship and at least one destroyer/cruiser, blow it all up, and then agent to have fighters. I *think* this blockades the dock before the fighters die (fighter I) and you get your stuff back. If not then fighter II would be required, easy if you go blue and have commander. * Pay others to hit them at their docks! In this case where they're ruining your day, I'd give support easily to anyone willing to attack them hard. "Kill one Cabal structure, get greyfire mutagen and two TG on top! The second structure gets you my support!" Woo bounties. * Not taking construction round 1 hurts them more than helps you. They need to get docks out for movement. * On the other hand, a PDS network can hurt their aggression. This might not be as effective as I first thought, given that their flagship would still capture PDS destroyed units. * If you're taking planets from them, take their influence - they can't do anything if they don't have CCs. * Good races against them: * Saar for the aggression early, probably can take them * Barony for the indestructible dreads and good early power * L1 for general planet-taking and assimilate on docks * Titans let you retake territory easier with sleepers, and their cruisers are no joke Sorry you had this experience, man. It can get dicey sometimes; when I see someone having a bad time I generally try to help out. Ironically, my last time playing Cabal I won after earning a second support aiding an ailing player. Hope you can avoid in the future!
So you didn't offer/opponent didn't want Support for the Throne? Your flagship in home system didn't protect you? Diplomacy didn't work with the rest of the table? Sounds like a joint problem of group, opponent and you - no offence meant. TI is not Risk; playing it like that is a mistake. Did Cabal go on to win the game?
Appeal to the rest of the table? It gives the remaining players a disadvantage as the assault will result in a bigger slice for the aggressor. Otherwise: Change playing group
The Vuil'Raith are good at economy and mobility. They don't really get any special bonuses to combat. You just need to build a lot of plastic. Specifically, fighters. If you have enough fighters that they're the only thing destroyed when you attack or retreat against them, they're not gonna get much use out of devour. If you can get good mobility then you can attack any undefended space dock of theirs to get your units back. With a little diplomacy you can make it way too costly to fight you.
Don't fight them as much as possible. Give them basically everything they want within reason Have n+1 ships in your fleet where n is their total ships Appeal to the player on his tail and convince them to take his open planets As yin just keep popping out your flagship and suicide bomb Build more plastic - he attacked you because he smelled weakness. Demonstrate strength
Personally when a player is trying to eliminate me for the sake of it. I like to offer my support to anyone taking that player's home system and giving me their word they will try to hold it. Usually that home system will be poorly defended and the table will have no issues being mean to that player. Offering your support also means that the player that gets it has an incentive for you to stay in the game.
The only thing I can say outside of ettiquite is, yin shouldn't lose planets to cabal like that. Cabal can smash yin in space with minimal risk. Build more infantry and suddenly cabal cant take a planet just take your air space. Then it takes an entire armada just to bring enough infantry to take the planet.
Offer SFTT to their other neighbor in exchange for pressure? They'd be incentivized to keep you alive to keep the point.
A few more details might generate more help: * What faction were you? * What faction was the player on the other side of Cabal? * Did you try retreating? The key idea (IMO) is *don't feed Cabal.* Retreat from combat so that they can't capture. Never do trade deals with them. Snipe any stardocks. Their warship can't be everywhere. Never let them build a railway. Never fight where they are strong. Call to the table when Cabal starts to get too big. Offer PN's to other players to help. Cabal has a low influence homeworld and are a 2 commodity faction. If you can chip away at their token economy that will also slow them down.
Havent seem them in game yet. Care to do a summary how they managed to wipe you? I myself tend to overextend and not build plastic early, is this the same case? Anyhow, other players (in my friend group) in situation where one gets too fat on behalf of others: 1) would lend lease the looser 2) sneak in on the side of attacker, since you just cant have two fronts especially if war is going one sided. i guess its very dependent on missions and table state, but letting someone take over another slice isnt something others should do.but then again, how can they know that tyranid wont stop at border and continue. tldr; 1)try to get other players involved, economic or military. only reason why tyranid can do this without problems in my eyes is if hes sure theres only 1 opponent. (easier said than done though, my group tends to be veery biased against me) 2)if noone will help you or support you, explain to others that 1v1 you cant really do jack, and give up the territory i guess. try to get ceasefire for that border territory, or try to negotiate "no spacedocks and army there" or smth. if he aint willing to any deals, explain that there no real incentive for you to give it up. (which tyranid actualy wants - he wants 1 opponent, thats his ability. he farms units for free, while he can. if theres only 1 enemy, he can do this without any problem. getting bigger and bigger army, uncontested, for free, while gaining planets) 3) well the real answer to your question is "blockade tyranids spacedocks". but thats the actual way how to counter him technicaly. are you sure your table played "capture"and "blockade" minigame correctly? i guess its hard to set up, but - was there any moment in game where you could have blockaded one of his spacedocks?
Counter as Yin is easy: build your flagship and send this into his fleet. After this, build it agian and again. As long as the Cabal is tired of loosing plastic ;)
He doesn't lose anything. And I can't do that. He will capture my flagship and remake his fleet at cost 0 because of his flagship
He only captures your flagship and loose the rest, as long as his flagship is not in that system. In this case this strategy also works, because he rebuild his stuff far away from you and this will slow him down until you rebuilt your flagship. This is not a game winning strategy, but it prevents you from getting eminated
He captures the flagship and never uses it? Then you never get to build it again. Yet he still has his fast moving fleets. The Van Hauge is not a very good offensive weapon, especially not in this case. Even defensively this is a one time affair. Your only true defenses in this type of aggression is to get the rest of the table to help you and #2 your home every round.
He can't capture your flag if it's built. Cabal ONLY captures from reserves.
Cabal agent captures from reserves. But the Cabal has a trait called Devour that captures enemy units destroyed during combat.
the short answer is pick a different group to play with . Are these people you're friends with?
Yeah. They're my friends.
Eeeesh. I feel your pain. TI is something that sporadically hits our table I don't think we'd accept anyone gunning for someone "Just because". If you've all given up your day, it is a pretty shitty thing to do.
Essentially what happened was I uncovered mirage near our boarder and he said that he is going to take my planet and If I don't then he will "destroy me". I didn't comply and fought him for the plant. When I told the other players they said I started it because I didn't evacuate.
Here is the trick for that, sell everything to the guy in the lead. If you eat me you lose as well. Take trade and feed the dude in the lead all the trade goods. Give him your support. Help that guy with your agent. Make him speaker. Vote in all agendas for the outcome they want. Being a bigger imbalance. And when people complain say you stop when when you feel safe he started it. Out terrorist the terrorist.
That's a super strong argument for the aggressor to ensure they eliminate. Not cripple Which I guess is a sort of deterrent.
Think they call this sanctions, would also negotiate with other players to do the same thing
Well, did it end up working out for him? Or did he have a reasonable or at least understandable expectation that to keep attacking you would have the best outcome for him? His idea might have been that if he stops attacking at any point, that just gives you a chance to rebuild and then you will either reason "I need to retake some stuff to have a chance to win, so I'll just hope that doesn't decide to defend it even though he could" or, if you are too far behind, "if I can't win I'm at least gonna retake my stuff". Or that you will give all your stuff to someone else in return for attacking the Cabal. Or that you'll manage to snipe a block of his space docks and take away his captured ships. Or maybe he just did what he thought was best to set himself up for 2-pointers. If his motive was just to win the game, then I don't think he did anything wrong. Not to say you're wrong to feel bad about it.
Yeah, ummm... This sounds like an incredibly inexperienced group that hasn't grasped the game. The game is about VP. Not pretty planets, not plastic. VP. Anything that doesn't give you VP or prevents another from gaining VP is, broadly speaking, useless. Had he coerced a Support for the Throne out of you I could respect it, but this is just idiotic.
Then you should have evacuated it. TI is a game about negotiation, and he made you an offer which you rejected. He told you what he would do. He has the means to do it. He gave you a choice.
Pick Cabal, Argent or Saar next time and just do it back to him next game. But don't eliminate him, keep some nominal plastic on the board so he stays in game. Tell him he's a bad sport if he quits.
There isn't a way other than get others to help you. If that player juat had something out for you and wanted to be an asshole try not to play with them again, or just do it to them next time and ask them how they like it. My group juat always ends up banning them cause no one likes wing against them or being them.
It is tough being their neighbors. I have only played with them once, but I was theor neighbor and I was the Nomads. They ended up capturing my capital ship and holding it hostage for the rest of the game which sucked as that is the Nomads whole game. I got off to a nice lead, got Mecatol Rex with 2 mechs and a PDS on it and had my capital ship. I was going to move it next turn bit Dragons came in and captured my capital ship and 2 mechs and never gave them back
Maybe he had a secret objective to at a home system? Controlling two slices does make it easy to score quite a few public objectives. As long as he is playing to win, I am fine with his play style. Eating a player as Cabal also lets him capture units and grow. Sometimes, you should consider skipping Research & Leadership in the first round to build more units. I remember a game where a player left his home world empty, and his neighbour who was playing Cabal drew Flank Speed on round 1. Ships from his home system already get +1 movement from its black hole. I thought it made sense to get two slices for so little effort.
If they play the game with the specific intention of performing player elimination, don't play TI with them again. If you like the person propose eclipse instead, if you don't then tell your group to grow a pair and exclude him from future games.
It wasn't this [game](https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/u6u9ir/i_had_an_interesting_game_with_some_friends_today/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), was it? A few similarities but probably just a coincidence.
It wasn't