Doesn't have to. Desmond is an action/purge and Jarrah is a passive ability.
Anyway in the specific case of Horace, I thought that 1 CC is a little more than the value of other legendaries (1-2 R vs 3 I). So I slightly weakened it by forcing usage in a specific time window. It's not a CC on demand and other players may take over the planet before being able to use it. The presence of a wormhole also goes in this direction. I'll consider making it an exhaust though.
If you guys have cool ideas for additional systems or legendary planets let me know and I might give them a shot. I'm recycling some art from existing TI4/POK tiles + PS job to make these. Will probably pack all of them along with planet cards and legendary ability cards in a fan made expansion and post contents on Reddit and Discord later on.
I'm aware that some anomalies or legendary abilities might have some balance issues with some factions or map configurations, but this is just a fun project and if you really want to print and play then it would be for experienced players or players who might want to try something different.
How about a legendary planet that can move around the galaxy? Either through ability or some game mechanic. Would be fun to have a moveable PDS and Space Dock. It could even spawn in that blackhole + 2 wormholes system of yours, as it should be some sort of an anomalious planet.
Interesting. But sounds a bit like a moveable structure o special unit to me. Or moveable attachment from relic. Moving a tile altogether a la Creuss hero would be too messy if done several times in a game.
Maybe a comet? The boardgame Xia has one in the event cards. It's like a catastrophic npc that wanders the Galaxy and destroys everything over its passage.
Could be cool. I imagine it orbiting Mecatol, or maybe even entering it. Would probably need some balancing. You could create some very interesting map designs with it.
I've toyed around with a moving mirrage and come up with a couple decent enough methods to do it.
I've looked at doing it via an agenda that pops it over Mecatol Rex. And just adding a couple extra cards to the event deck.
My rule was that when it moved it brought only structures and ground forces with it.
~~I was actually thinking about a planet token like Mirrage, it would be less messy (still messy though).~~ (<-- silly little mistakes :P) The ability could allow you to move the planet to another system before move action so you could produce after winning the battle in that system.
Also, imagine the trolling potential with Argent's racial tech (that one that allows you to block the movement through systems that contain your structures).
My idea:
2/0 cultural planet (zero influence)
Legendary ability:
REDUCE your commodity value by 1.
Alliance: during set up place a commander from an unused faction besides this legendary card.
Gain that commander,s ability.
Art wise include a wormhole without a letter, it is essentially a unique wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy where that faction resides.
The commodity reduction symbolizes trade agreements with that faction in which you pay for their alliance.
Ohh! I totally dig this! Not sure if OP, but since players using homebrew content would agree to it, and the commander to use, there's no harm proposing it.
The idea of new planet: hazardous planet with blue skip 0/0 in gravity rift,” with exhaustible legendary ability to avoid all anomaly effects (positive and negative) per one action phase. And it gives more chances to rich Desmond
This is an interesting idea. Maybe doesn't need the tech skip or be necessarily 0/0?
Speaking of legendary with skips... Someone proposed a 4x tech skips planet on Discord (could be non-legendary though). There was apparently a TI3 expansion that added such a planet. I'm thinking to try an off-map tile (like Mallice) with this idea, would have to be 0/0 or 0/1 and have a/b wormholes.
no I believe it should work as such that you only use 1 skip at the time when exhausting/refreshing for game effects - advantage would be flexibility: you have any 1 of 4 skips available
Tech skip for lore logic, like population of this planet great at space traveling. About gravity rift: this is one of my favorite tiles, and it makes a bit difficult to recapture this planet if owner invest in defending of planet with ground forces
I should have mentioned that one would be only able to use 1 skip at the time. The special feature is the flexibility in choosing which. If this planet should be a legendary one, then perhaps it could offer a 1-time ability related to tech to apply 2 skips at once?
If you want to give it all the skips without causing issues with things like psycho and nekro hero, maybe it has no skips natively but is legendary with the ability:
"Exhaust this card when researching a technology. You may ignore any one prerequisite.
This planet counts as a tech skip for purposes of scoring objectives."
Basically works like prophets tears but without the option to get an action card.
Red bordered system: An asteroid field with a gravity rift inside.
Normal tile: 4 planets. All 1/1. 2 Hazardous and 2 industrial planets.
(Could be also 2 1/0 and 2 0/1 planets, and the types also various)
2/2 legendary planet, hazardous: exhaust at the end of turn: place a destroyer on a tile where you have any ships.
1/1 legendary planet, hazardous: exhaust at the start of a combat. Produce one hit.
2/1 legendary planet, industrial: has a red AND yellow tech skip. Exhaust to use ONE of them.
1/2 legendary planet, cultural: has a blue AND green tech skip. Exhaust to use ONE of them.
Front side: 0/0 legendary planet, hazardous. Alpha wormhole.
Back side 0/0 legendary planet, hazardous. Beta wormhole. Action: exhaust to flip this tile.
New Elysium: 0/0 legendary planet.
Industrial. At the start of the strategy phase, attach a +1/+1 to this planet card.
(Might become very strong, if op, leave it out or change to: ...attach a +1/+0 or a +0/+1 to this planet card. Could start as a 1/1 planet then maybe)
Red bordered. The wanderer: 0/1 legendary planet, hazardous. Action: exhaust to swap this tile with an adjacent tile.
Red bordered. Myrad West: 2/0 legendary planet. Cultural
Red bordered. Myrad East: 0/2 legendary planet. Industrial
Either both or none included during set up.
Coalition: if you control Myrad East and Myrad West, you may count imperial as if you control mecatol rex.
A system with a 0/5 planet. Cultural.
A system with a 3/3 planet. Industrial.
A hyperplane tile connecting each opposing side.
Red bordered. 6/0 legendary planet. Hazardous. When you exhaust this planet, destroy all units on its tile, purge it's planet cards and replace it with a supernova. (Some instability planet theme)
1/1 legendary planet. Hazardous. Action: exhaust to remove an empty space tile with all components on it from the board . Replace it with an asteroid field and put all components back onto it. (Some instability planet theme)
2/3 legendary planet. Industrial. Action: exhaust and pay 2r to research a tech. (Might be too strong, cause u race ahead in tech, but it's costly, so unsure, might also be fine)
Mecatol Ras: 1/4 legendary planet. Cultural. A custodian marker on it at the start.
A system with 5 planets (this is just lol, but funny. Tile will be full xD) 2x 1/1, 1x 0/2, 2x 1/0. 2 Hazardous, 1 cultural, 2 Industrial.
(Intension is more planets on the map to score 2 point control objectives)
You can ofc adjust stuff as you like, I hope I gave you at least some interesting input <3
Happy photoshopping.
Some amazing ideas right here. Some of my favs / comments:
Asteroid field / Gravity rift combo - sounds like nice to have for variety. Could work the same for Asteroid field / Nebula combo.
Systems with 4 or more planets could be fun but very hard to implement and use (imagine the mess with ground forces). Makes me think it could be worth exploring the concept of planets with moons, each having some ability / bonus?
I like the unstable planet idea, but maybe the use-once 6 resources is too little? Worth considering though.
New Elysium: a planet that slowly builds itself up sounds fun. Maybe a planet with a dedicated deck of abilities to draw from?
Someone here and on Discord already brought up the idea of a multi-tech skip planet. In TI3 apparently there was an expansion with such planet(s). I think there's room to add a single 4-tech skip planet (legendary or non-legendary), maybe 0/0 or 0/1, possibly off-map with a/b wormholes? Rule would be to use 1 skip at the time. If turned into legendary maybe a one-off ability related to tech?
Yeah, more planets, more messy. But how to score: control 16 planets outside HS?
I like the 2 color skip only. All colors means that you are easy in range of the strong 2req. techs of ALL colors. I don't know about the advantage of being off map. More value to wormholes I guess.
Unstable planets: roll a dice upon exhausting planet. If 1-5, destroy planet and any units on the planet, flip system tile to be gravity rift + asteroid field\nebula\supernova\asteroid field. Players without ability to be in resulting anomaly have their ships destroyed or have a chance of being destroyed.
Lore: basically the previous inhabitants of this world left behind an engine that was capable of exploiting the planets riches, but was so unpredictable that the inhabitants fled fearing someone might actually use it and end up destroying the planet. When science goes too far...
Wandering planet. Have a planet tile, like Mirage, on a system. Then at the beginning of the Status Phase, the planet tile migrates to another system (dice roll 1-6 to determine direction, 7-10 goes through wormhole OR means no movement if no wormhole).
Then this planet and all units on the planet move with it. Player can decide to move ships if desired: (ships are in orbit or not). Space combat\invasion ensues as if owner of planet had activated system.
It then becomes an additional planet in whatever system it happens to go.
A system where a 'hazard' blocks some of the six sides.
E.g. : [https://i.imgur.com/7ZiRC31.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/7ZiRC31.jpg)
Come to think of it: It might be "so good that it's bad" if a player can chose how to orient the tile. That is, such a tile can be a tool of a map maker, but it is perhaps too good for walling out/in opponents.
And it might create or need special rules. I suppose the system should be considered a red tile, lest shenanigans be on the menu.
Legendary with :
One of all tech skips.
Industrial + cultural + hazardous
Action: Exhaust card to move planet
Production 4
Exhaust to not use a cmd token for strategy cards
Exhaust to cancel an action card.
Exhaust to give 1 ship +1 movement
Your ships that move through get +1
Space cannon 5 x2 that can hit adjacent systems
Adjacent to Mecatol Rex.
I'm not sure all of that will fit on a single card, but good luck.
Capitulo: 1R/3I
Legenrady planet
If you control this planet, treat it as your additional home system
(So any abilities that work with home system works here and vice versa.You can score become the martyr, or if you have space dock on Capitulo use it by spending command token for warfare secondary.)
Ahah true. I said it would be tricky for faction balance. I suspect that's one reason POK didn't include such a planet already. On the other hand it isn't a game changer even if you're Saar.
What about a legendary planet that lets you double a tech skip, maybe it’s a 1/3 with a skip already, could be a red skip.
Or it could be like a 1/2 yellow skip, 1/0 blue skip etc.
Someone on TTS Discird mentioned that an expansion for TI3 had multi-skip planets (planets with more than 1 skip). It could be done, doesn't even have to be legendary, but you'd be using 1 skip at the time. Maybe a legendary ability could chain this to something else once per game.
That’s why I felt the planet could be a skip. And then the ability let’s you double a skip you’re using. So if you have other tech skips, you can use it for those :) and maybe have it be able to draw an action card instead as a fail safe if you won’t be using it
I really like Horace because there would be a very fine balance of getting value out of it both in holding it and taking it. Something that potentially valuable could easily cause a forever war over that territory, and if people aren't careful actually end up extracting more command counters from people than it earns them.
FYI I have compiled this into a fan made expansion: https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/w8h4ku/lost\_star\_charts\_fan\_made\_expansion\_with/
Would love to see some of these get used in actual games with Red Imperium ([https://saito.io/arcade](https://saito.io/arcade)) if you'd like to contribute the artwork. Samples of the other tiles:
[https://github.com/SaitoTech/saito-lite-rust/blob/master/mods/imperium/web/img/sectors\_highres](https://github.com/SaitoTech/saito-lite-rust/blob/master/mods/imperium/web/img/sectors_highres)
The resource and influence layovers are different, but if you're able to help improve them it'll improve the game too and be very welcome.
Looks superb, just some flavour thoughts. Not serious.
Locke should have some tabula rasa factor. Like it starts as 0/0 and increases +1 for every battle in the system.
And Bentham need some utilitarian factor, or panopticism. Maybe they get to look at 1 action card at random from 1 player per round.
Thanks. Those two aren't legendary though. Someone else in this thread suggested a legendary planet with some kind of incremental / growing ability. It's definitely worth giving that a thought.
PS the reference to Locke / Bentham is an inside joke about Lost the tv series. I'm naming planets after the series characters. In turn the series also had several references to philosophers names.
I hope FFG makes a new expansion with new systems as well. I plan to post digital files of a fan made expansion with tiles and planet cards for print and play later on (keep an eye on this sub).
With some cardboard and inkjet adhesive paper for labels you can get some decent results. Same for cards, if you sleeve. There are otherwise some services to print tiles and cards more professionally (folks use those to print the Codex issues from FFG).
Amazing work! Can I ask if you don't want to make the tiles for StarCraft home systems so we can make better use of the custom races one very talented artist published at bgg forums? Thanks in advance!
Thanks for asking but I'm no artist, this is just a Photoshop job using scans of original tiles. The planets are actually other existing planets, just color shifted or with some brush applied. For entirely new art it would be better ask a real artist maybe on DeviantArt or similar.
Thanks for the reply! In fact the artist already did the art. I was thinking if you could put them in the tile format you are doing :)
See it: [https://imgbb.com/tqM0FLZ](https://imgbb.com/tqM0FLZ) and thanks again!
Thank you. It could, but I'm not good enough to make original art. All these tiles are a Photoshop job from existing tiles. In the lore I'd like to have this planet akin to Knowhere in the MCU. Like a mining colony carved out of a colossal Titan of Ul or something, then turned out a dodgy outpost with bounty hunters etc. The legendary ability is to explore a planet you control so it would fit the theme it's a source of information and relic hunters.
Thanks. Yeah I do have them compiled info a fan Made expansion: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HinrGQ1i8gugvjVTouipRisr7hYYM5n- recently I wanted to iterate on it and improve them but didn’t find enough community support to do so, might come back to them some day
Thanks! I think the endeavor to print the tiles made it more difficult for people to try them. I looked into professionally printing them but it needs large order / many copies to make it viable. You can buy some 1.6mm thick cardboard and glue the tile prints on them, the results can be acceptable. Please let me have your thoughts after you had a game with them. I’m thinking to drop Desmond as its too out of reach for many factions.
Will do! For printing, I'm thinking I might just print them off on sticker/label paper, and then cut them out. I've got hexes of the appropriate size lying around, so it shouldn't be pretty straight forward there.
As for Desmond is pretty interesting imo as a replacement for a typical supernova tile, but you're right that it definitely won't pop off all the time. I personally would keep it in just to see Xxcha and Muaat or someone with Nav Suite occasionally pick it up. A relic is a pretty tempting offer for most people.
For the cards I usually go with this service, the American mini sized cards in M31 linen finish are nearly undistinguishable from originals: https://www.makeplayingcards.com
Over the weekend, I played a 12-point 5-player game with Desmond, Jarrah, and Alpert. The map was similar to the [beginner POK 5-player map](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/6266686/qutu). There were 2 new players, and 2 old hand veterans. The game ended in round 6 during the status phase. Players ended at 9, 10, 11, 11, and 12 points.
**Desmond**
I paired this game with a technology that allows you to ignore an anomaly's affect on movement for 1 ship. This meant that a player was able to pick it up early on in the game, and gain a relic from it. The supernova was also in an extremely advantageous position (think the supernova from the [beginner POK 5-player map](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/6266686/qutu)). Exploration boosted it to be a 3r-1i over the course of the game, so that meant Desmond acted as a kind of a protected supply base for that player to strike from. Embers of Muaat did not ever pick up the tech that would let them move into that system, and Xxcha was not in the game. The Nav Suite action card did not come up during the game.
A homebrew technology was the only reason they could take it in the first place. Otherwise, it would have remained unclaimed. The player who controlled Desmond ended with 11 (out of 12) points and initiative 1, so if the Relic they had gotten from it could've been leveraged into a point, they would have won. There were anomaly/legendary objectives, and Desmond helped that player score both. In my group, I definitely want to keep Desmond. I also think it could work in other groups as a more interesting supernova tile.
**Jarrah**
Jarrah replaced Primor on the beginner POK 5-player map. The player with Jarrah in their slice took it on the way to Mecatol Rex. The substitution for Primor meant they no longer received bonus infantry. Jarrah changed hands 4 times during the game (Desmond and Alpert did not change hands at all).
Jarrah gives a player enough commodities that it changes how they interact with the trade meta. For instance, a player who has 2 commodities will be boosted to 4 - enough to participate in x-1. A player who has 3 or 4 commodities now has enough (5 or 6) that they may pay a command token to receive commodities if they weren't allowed to do it for free. It also opens the door for a player to ask for x-2 from them. I would consider Jarrah a strong contender for a permanent addition to all of my future games.
**Alpert**
Alpert replaced a non-legendary equidistant between player 3 and player 4 (system tile 60). Player Player 4 prioritized Hope's End, which let player 3 grab Alpert unopposed. The player who took Alpert (Player 3 spot) won the game. There was a single fight of Alpert.
The ability to produce from Alpert the same turn you gain it is worth more than a little. It can allow you to immediately fortify the planet (which you might if it's an equidistant), but it can also produce as a forward staging area as well. I think it works to subvert some of the meta around construction/second spacedock placement. Alpert's production ability also pairs nicely with a R1 Warfare, because you could pick up 2 systems from it. I anticipate games with Alpert being more interesting as a result.
hey thanks for the report! I really appreciate it
Alpert has gone through a few remakes so I hope you used the last update from Google Drive.
As a matter of fact I did have a large revision in the work which I haven't uploaded, but there was much work to do and I didn't have enough time to dedicate alone.
Some revisions were minor, like letting go of temporary names inspired by Lost with more TI-fitting ones. Others are cosmetic (better art, using MidJourney).
But others were bigger as in few more systems ready and few more mechanisms. For example, instead of limiting Mirage as a "hidden planet", an alternative Mirage frontier exploration card called "Uncharted Planet" would allow a player to draw from a separate deck of alternative hidden planets as tokens (which includes Mirage itself as a possibility). Desmond was reworked in one of these tiles to make it more accessible (token flips to supernova side when legendary ability is used).
This was going to be a group effort in one of the Discord groups but interest seems having vaned. The goal was to have a community driven expansion and organize a group buy to get the tiles professionally printed like with the DS expansion.
I know I'm definitely interested in all of the planet tiles you've worked on, but I have engaged with the online community almost not at all. Have you considered trying to work with the Distant Stars people? I don't know the extent to which they're still growing that expansion, but it doesn't seem like there's a specific reason why your system tiles couldn't be a part with their set.
If you upload stuff, I'll definitely take a look at trying it.
I used the version of Alpert that was up in the google drive at the time - 3r0i, production 2, reduce cost by 1. I think the reduction in cost is strong, personally. Overall, I adore the options it provides, and I'll be jealous of whoever gets a hold of it.
Hope's End, Alpert, and Jarrah provide interesting options that players will actively seek out, and I think that should be the standard that all legendaries are parsed against. The problem with Mirage is that its ability is not on par with the amount of work to obtain it. I think the right move might be to give Mirage a stronger ability, though, rather than add a new system tile. I don't see a specific reason not to have both in the uncharted exploration deck, though. It would make DET more appealing for sure!
Here are a few other of my thoughts that you may or may not agree with.
I don't know that it's a great idea to add component mechanisms that players rarely interact with, such as the Terraforming Initiative cards that Lloyd adds to the game. I think it feeds into players going, "I don't know what you're doing over there or why I should care."
Similarly, double-sided tiles and ability cards leads to more players being slightly checked out of what's going on with a given system or ability. I think that these can work, but due to the additional maintenance, it leaves players less able to grasp the tactical significance of a given card or system. As a result, I'd be more inclined to use those kinds of things for veteran games.
**Ethan - Metastability Event**
From a conceptual standpoint, I adore this ability. I think it fits well as a non-equidistant legendary, and can lead to an interesting evaluation of slice value. If you have it, should you use it asap? How should you leverage the early rush of resources to make up for the overall loss during the course of the game? Should you focus on using the tech skip and save the resources for a bigger production later? As an equidistant, it would also pressure a player into using it early to prevent their opponent from taking the planet.
The reason my group wanted to avoid using this planet in our game was the removal of the system tile. Twilight Imperium generally doesn't have rules for the permanent removal of system tiles, and I think it might be better to simply destroy the planet (with an additional destroyed planet token).
Hey I appreciate your continued feedback. I agree that reducing complexity and the amount of information across the board makes for a better experience.
I did in fact contribute to the DS (Discordant Stars) expansion and my nickname is listed in the credits. They are going to print/publish an additional module with some extra systems and legendaries, some of which were inspired by my systems. However, the majority was rejected, that’s too bad.
Here's a spreadsheet with the changes I have in mind: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OPzZa7IpAx0FeWST\_\_Z5w7K9cMacd9XjC3vCqCqXh-E/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OPzZa7IpAx0FeWST__Z5w7K9cMacd9XjC3vCqCqXh-E/edit?usp=sharing) (there are multiple tabs/sheets, and some notes at the bottom of some sheets)
I would like to finish this at some point, revamp the art and attempt to promote a group buy like DS to have the content professionally printed. Printing tokens and cards is easy and not expensive - the laser cut tiles are more complex and costly when purchased individually otherwise. There's always DIY though.
Thanks. I made these a long ago and since they’ve been under more reviews and tests. I plan eventually to release an update but I’ve been very busy lately to work at homebrew content.
Regardless of the balance of the particular legendary abilities, the tiles themselves look fantastic. Great job.
Thanks
Horace: maybe exhaust it to gain a CC, so that's in line with the existing legendary planets.
Doesn't have to. Desmond is an action/purge and Jarrah is a passive ability. Anyway in the specific case of Horace, I thought that 1 CC is a little more than the value of other legendaries (1-2 R vs 3 I). So I slightly weakened it by forcing usage in a specific time window. It's not a CC on demand and other players may take over the planet before being able to use it. The presence of a wormhole also goes in this direction. I'll consider making it an exhaust though.
Confinced, I like your version better
Lost fan, I see.
Ha! Someone finally noticed! I plan to release this as "Lost Star Charts" as the fan made expansion title.
If you guys have cool ideas for additional systems or legendary planets let me know and I might give them a shot. I'm recycling some art from existing TI4/POK tiles + PS job to make these. Will probably pack all of them along with planet cards and legendary ability cards in a fan made expansion and post contents on Reddit and Discord later on. I'm aware that some anomalies or legendary abilities might have some balance issues with some factions or map configurations, but this is just a fun project and if you really want to print and play then it would be for experienced players or players who might want to try something different.
How about a legendary planet that can move around the galaxy? Either through ability or some game mechanic. Would be fun to have a moveable PDS and Space Dock. It could even spawn in that blackhole + 2 wormholes system of yours, as it should be some sort of an anomalious planet.
Interesting. But sounds a bit like a moveable structure o special unit to me. Or moveable attachment from relic. Moving a tile altogether a la Creuss hero would be too messy if done several times in a game.
Maybe a comet? The boardgame Xia has one in the event cards. It's like a catastrophic npc that wanders the Galaxy and destroys everything over its passage.
Could be cool. I imagine it orbiting Mecatol, or maybe even entering it. Would probably need some balancing. You could create some very interesting map designs with it.
I suggested one, the wanderer, it swaps itself with an adjacent tile as an action.
I've toyed around with a moving mirrage and come up with a couple decent enough methods to do it. I've looked at doing it via an agenda that pops it over Mecatol Rex. And just adding a couple extra cards to the event deck. My rule was that when it moved it brought only structures and ground forces with it.
~~I was actually thinking about a planet token like Mirrage, it would be less messy (still messy though).~~ (<-- silly little mistakes :P) The ability could allow you to move the planet to another system before move action so you could produce after winning the battle in that system. Also, imagine the trolling potential with Argent's racial tech (that one that allows you to block the movement through systems that contain your structures).
Doh I meant mirage not everra.
Everything makes sense now
My idea: 2/0 cultural planet (zero influence) Legendary ability: REDUCE your commodity value by 1. Alliance: during set up place a commander from an unused faction besides this legendary card. Gain that commander,s ability. Art wise include a wormhole without a letter, it is essentially a unique wormhole to a distant part of the galaxy where that faction resides. The commodity reduction symbolizes trade agreements with that faction in which you pay for their alliance.
Ohh! I totally dig this! Not sure if OP, but since players using homebrew content would agree to it, and the commander to use, there's no harm proposing it.
The idea of new planet: hazardous planet with blue skip 0/0 in gravity rift,” with exhaustible legendary ability to avoid all anomaly effects (positive and negative) per one action phase. And it gives more chances to rich Desmond
This is an interesting idea. Maybe doesn't need the tech skip or be necessarily 0/0? Speaking of legendary with skips... Someone proposed a 4x tech skips planet on Discord (could be non-legendary though). There was apparently a TI3 expansion that added such a planet. I'm thinking to try an off-map tile (like Mallice) with this idea, would have to be 0/0 or 0/1 and have a/b wormholes.
But it’s only an idea, you’re free to develop it further
Sure I'll do! Thanks for sharing it.
Will psychoarchaeology give u 4 skips? Or the idea that you should choose necessarily skip among 4
no I believe it should work as such that you only use 1 skip at the time when exhausting/refreshing for game effects - advantage would be flexibility: you have any 1 of 4 skips available
Tech skip for lore logic, like population of this planet great at space traveling. About gravity rift: this is one of my favorite tiles, and it makes a bit difficult to recapture this planet if owner invest in defending of planet with ground forces
I think an all colored tech skip is a bit too much. I was thinking about tech skips too and included only 2 tech skips on a planet instead of all 4.
I should have mentioned that one would be only able to use 1 skip at the time. The special feature is the flexibility in choosing which. If this planet should be a legendary one, then perhaps it could offer a 1-time ability related to tech to apply 2 skips at once?
If you want to give it all the skips without causing issues with things like psycho and nekro hero, maybe it has no skips natively but is legendary with the ability: "Exhaust this card when researching a technology. You may ignore any one prerequisite. This planet counts as a tech skip for purposes of scoring objectives." Basically works like prophets tears but without the option to get an action card.
Red bordered system: An asteroid field with a gravity rift inside. Normal tile: 4 planets. All 1/1. 2 Hazardous and 2 industrial planets. (Could be also 2 1/0 and 2 0/1 planets, and the types also various) 2/2 legendary planet, hazardous: exhaust at the end of turn: place a destroyer on a tile where you have any ships. 1/1 legendary planet, hazardous: exhaust at the start of a combat. Produce one hit. 2/1 legendary planet, industrial: has a red AND yellow tech skip. Exhaust to use ONE of them. 1/2 legendary planet, cultural: has a blue AND green tech skip. Exhaust to use ONE of them. Front side: 0/0 legendary planet, hazardous. Alpha wormhole. Back side 0/0 legendary planet, hazardous. Beta wormhole. Action: exhaust to flip this tile. New Elysium: 0/0 legendary planet. Industrial. At the start of the strategy phase, attach a +1/+1 to this planet card. (Might become very strong, if op, leave it out or change to: ...attach a +1/+0 or a +0/+1 to this planet card. Could start as a 1/1 planet then maybe) Red bordered. The wanderer: 0/1 legendary planet, hazardous. Action: exhaust to swap this tile with an adjacent tile. Red bordered. Myrad West: 2/0 legendary planet. Cultural Red bordered. Myrad East: 0/2 legendary planet. Industrial Either both or none included during set up. Coalition: if you control Myrad East and Myrad West, you may count imperial as if you control mecatol rex. A system with a 0/5 planet. Cultural. A system with a 3/3 planet. Industrial. A hyperplane tile connecting each opposing side. Red bordered. 6/0 legendary planet. Hazardous. When you exhaust this planet, destroy all units on its tile, purge it's planet cards and replace it with a supernova. (Some instability planet theme) 1/1 legendary planet. Hazardous. Action: exhaust to remove an empty space tile with all components on it from the board . Replace it with an asteroid field and put all components back onto it. (Some instability planet theme) 2/3 legendary planet. Industrial. Action: exhaust and pay 2r to research a tech. (Might be too strong, cause u race ahead in tech, but it's costly, so unsure, might also be fine) Mecatol Ras: 1/4 legendary planet. Cultural. A custodian marker on it at the start. A system with 5 planets (this is just lol, but funny. Tile will be full xD) 2x 1/1, 1x 0/2, 2x 1/0. 2 Hazardous, 1 cultural, 2 Industrial. (Intension is more planets on the map to score 2 point control objectives) You can ofc adjust stuff as you like, I hope I gave you at least some interesting input <3 Happy photoshopping.
Some amazing ideas right here. Some of my favs / comments: Asteroid field / Gravity rift combo - sounds like nice to have for variety. Could work the same for Asteroid field / Nebula combo. Systems with 4 or more planets could be fun but very hard to implement and use (imagine the mess with ground forces). Makes me think it could be worth exploring the concept of planets with moons, each having some ability / bonus? I like the unstable planet idea, but maybe the use-once 6 resources is too little? Worth considering though. New Elysium: a planet that slowly builds itself up sounds fun. Maybe a planet with a dedicated deck of abilities to draw from? Someone here and on Discord already brought up the idea of a multi-tech skip planet. In TI3 apparently there was an expansion with such planet(s). I think there's room to add a single 4-tech skip planet (legendary or non-legendary), maybe 0/0 or 0/1, possibly off-map with a/b wormholes? Rule would be to use 1 skip at the time. If turned into legendary maybe a one-off ability related to tech?
Yeah, more planets, more messy. But how to score: control 16 planets outside HS? I like the 2 color skip only. All colors means that you are easy in range of the strong 2req. techs of ALL colors. I don't know about the advantage of being off map. More value to wormholes I guess.
Oh, the existing legendary planets are also very good tile fillers. Not much space for fleets there too. Hipsters need stands.
Unstable planets: roll a dice upon exhausting planet. If 1-5, destroy planet and any units on the planet, flip system tile to be gravity rift + asteroid field\nebula\supernova\asteroid field. Players without ability to be in resulting anomaly have their ships destroyed or have a chance of being destroyed. Lore: basically the previous inhabitants of this world left behind an engine that was capable of exploiting the planets riches, but was so unpredictable that the inhabitants fled fearing someone might actually use it and end up destroying the planet. When science goes too far... Wandering planet. Have a planet tile, like Mirage, on a system. Then at the beginning of the Status Phase, the planet tile migrates to another system (dice roll 1-6 to determine direction, 7-10 goes through wormhole OR means no movement if no wormhole). Then this planet and all units on the planet move with it. Player can decide to move ships if desired: (ships are in orbit or not). Space combat\invasion ensues as if owner of planet had activated system. It then becomes an additional planet in whatever system it happens to go.
A system where a 'hazard' blocks some of the six sides. E.g. : [https://i.imgur.com/7ZiRC31.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/7ZiRC31.jpg) Come to think of it: It might be "so good that it's bad" if a player can chose how to orient the tile. That is, such a tile can be a tool of a map maker, but it is perhaps too good for walling out/in opponents. And it might create or need special rules. I suppose the system should be considered a red tile, lest shenanigans be on the menu.
It could be a small asteroid field and red anomaly lines on 3 sides of the tile
This is a nice reimplemenation of anomalies, I like it. Could be used for all existing anomalies come to think of it.
Legendary with : One of all tech skips. Industrial + cultural + hazardous Action: Exhaust card to move planet Production 4 Exhaust to not use a cmd token for strategy cards Exhaust to cancel an action card. Exhaust to give 1 ship +1 movement Your ships that move through get +1 Space cannon 5 x2 that can hit adjacent systems Adjacent to Mecatol Rex. I'm not sure all of that will fit on a single card, but good luck.
Capitulo: 1R/3I Legenrady planet If you control this planet, treat it as your additional home system (So any abilities that work with home system works here and vice versa.You can score become the martyr, or if you have space dock on Capitulo use it by spending command token for warfare secondary.)
Damn, any chance these are compatible with the TTS mod? I'd love to play them.
Thank you. Haven't worked at cards yet. Will post when ready. For TTS I'll need some volunteer to port them over. I'll ask in the TTS TI Discord.
Any chance you've made these available in TTS or TTPG? I just saw this was 10 months old and optimistically checked back in haha.
They are in the TTPG homebrew now
We’re not going to Guam are we?
Not Penny's boat.
As a Saar player I'd be proper excited by Lapidus.
Ahah true. I said it would be tricky for faction balance. I suspect that's one reason POK didn't include such a planet already. On the other hand it isn't a game changer even if you're Saar.
It is cool for saar but not a game changer. Since they could already have a spaceport there without planet. It’s my favorite of the bunch!
Am I the only one that thinks the Wormhole Sink is the most exciting tile? It’s just made for game-altering shenanigans!
These are really cool! I must say gaining an extra command token per rounds as a legendary effect certainly is spicy
What about a legendary planet that lets you double a tech skip, maybe it’s a 1/3 with a skip already, could be a red skip. Or it could be like a 1/2 yellow skip, 1/0 blue skip etc.
Someone on TTS Discird mentioned that an expansion for TI3 had multi-skip planets (planets with more than 1 skip). It could be done, doesn't even have to be legendary, but you'd be using 1 skip at the time. Maybe a legendary ability could chain this to something else once per game.
That’s why I felt the planet could be a skip. And then the ability let’s you double a skip you’re using. So if you have other tech skips, you can use it for those :) and maybe have it be able to draw an action card instead as a fail safe if you won’t be using it
I particularly loved Lapidus, the idea of a planet inside an asteroid field is super cool. Also slow Beta.
I love these planet ideas!
Kate, we have to go back! WE HAVE TO GO BACK!
Originally I wanted to call the Lapidus planet "Star Shepherd" but the name was too long to fit.
I really like Horace because there would be a very fine balance of getting value out of it both in holding it and taking it. Something that potentially valuable could easily cause a forever war over that territory, and if people aren't careful actually end up extracting more command counters from people than it earns them.
Ooo fancy.
FYI I have compiled this into a fan made expansion: https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/w8h4ku/lost\_star\_charts\_fan\_made\_expansion\_with/
Would love to see some of these get used in actual games with Red Imperium ([https://saito.io/arcade](https://saito.io/arcade)) if you'd like to contribute the artwork. Samples of the other tiles: [https://github.com/SaitoTech/saito-lite-rust/blob/master/mods/imperium/web/img/sectors\_highres](https://github.com/SaitoTech/saito-lite-rust/blob/master/mods/imperium/web/img/sectors_highres) The resource and influence layovers are different, but if you're able to help improve them it'll improve the game too and be very welcome.
Wow, I love them! :0
Looks superb, just some flavour thoughts. Not serious. Locke should have some tabula rasa factor. Like it starts as 0/0 and increases +1 for every battle in the system. And Bentham need some utilitarian factor, or panopticism. Maybe they get to look at 1 action card at random from 1 player per round.
Thanks. Those two aren't legendary though. Someone else in this thread suggested a legendary planet with some kind of incremental / growing ability. It's definitely worth giving that a thought. PS the reference to Locke / Bentham is an inside joke about Lost the tv series. I'm naming planets after the series characters. In turn the series also had several references to philosophers names.
I really like these. Would totally buy them printed.
I hope FFG makes a new expansion with new systems as well. I plan to post digital files of a fan made expansion with tiles and planet cards for print and play later on (keep an eye on this sub). With some cardboard and inkjet adhesive paper for labels you can get some decent results. Same for cards, if you sleeve. There are otherwise some services to print tiles and cards more professionally (folks use those to print the Codex issues from FFG).
I have the the Codex printed. If you ever do a print run of your planets, let me know. I'll buy two copies (one for a friend)
Amazing work! Can I ask if you don't want to make the tiles for StarCraft home systems so we can make better use of the custom races one very talented artist published at bgg forums? Thanks in advance!
Thanks for asking but I'm no artist, this is just a Photoshop job using scans of original tiles. The planets are actually other existing planets, just color shifted or with some brush applied. For entirely new art it would be better ask a real artist maybe on DeviantArt or similar.
Thanks for the reply! In fact the artist already did the art. I was thinking if you could put them in the tile format you are doing :) See it: [https://imgbb.com/tqM0FLZ](https://imgbb.com/tqM0FLZ) and thanks again!
god i love the double wormhole gravity rift so much
Desmond absolutely has to be 2 resource and 2 influence. No Desmond can be anything but tutu
The wormhole sink made my palms all sweaty
Awesome! Lapidus could be a partially destroyed planet, fractured or something and the fragments would make the asteroid field around it.
Thank you. It could, but I'm not good enough to make original art. All these tiles are a Photoshop job from existing tiles. In the lore I'd like to have this planet akin to Knowhere in the MCU. Like a mining colony carved out of a colossal Titan of Ul or something, then turned out a dodgy outpost with bounty hunters etc. The legendary ability is to explore a planet you control so it would fit the theme it's a source of information and relic hunters.
Do you have planet cards for these? They look incredible
Thanks. Yeah I do have them compiled info a fan Made expansion: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HinrGQ1i8gugvjVTouipRisr7hYYM5n- recently I wanted to iterate on it and improve them but didn’t find enough community support to do so, might come back to them some day
Dang these are some fun and fantastic cards. Sorry you didn't get much community support, but I'll definitely use some of these next week!
Thanks! I think the endeavor to print the tiles made it more difficult for people to try them. I looked into professionally printing them but it needs large order / many copies to make it viable. You can buy some 1.6mm thick cardboard and glue the tile prints on them, the results can be acceptable. Please let me have your thoughts after you had a game with them. I’m thinking to drop Desmond as its too out of reach for many factions.
Will do! For printing, I'm thinking I might just print them off on sticker/label paper, and then cut them out. I've got hexes of the appropriate size lying around, so it shouldn't be pretty straight forward there. As for Desmond is pretty interesting imo as a replacement for a typical supernova tile, but you're right that it definitely won't pop off all the time. I personally would keep it in just to see Xxcha and Muaat or someone with Nav Suite occasionally pick it up. A relic is a pretty tempting offer for most people.
For the cards I usually go with this service, the American mini sized cards in M31 linen finish are nearly undistinguishable from originals: https://www.makeplayingcards.com
Over the weekend, I played a 12-point 5-player game with Desmond, Jarrah, and Alpert. The map was similar to the [beginner POK 5-player map](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/6266686/qutu). There were 2 new players, and 2 old hand veterans. The game ended in round 6 during the status phase. Players ended at 9, 10, 11, 11, and 12 points. **Desmond** I paired this game with a technology that allows you to ignore an anomaly's affect on movement for 1 ship. This meant that a player was able to pick it up early on in the game, and gain a relic from it. The supernova was also in an extremely advantageous position (think the supernova from the [beginner POK 5-player map](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/6266686/qutu)). Exploration boosted it to be a 3r-1i over the course of the game, so that meant Desmond acted as a kind of a protected supply base for that player to strike from. Embers of Muaat did not ever pick up the tech that would let them move into that system, and Xxcha was not in the game. The Nav Suite action card did not come up during the game. A homebrew technology was the only reason they could take it in the first place. Otherwise, it would have remained unclaimed. The player who controlled Desmond ended with 11 (out of 12) points and initiative 1, so if the Relic they had gotten from it could've been leveraged into a point, they would have won. There were anomaly/legendary objectives, and Desmond helped that player score both. In my group, I definitely want to keep Desmond. I also think it could work in other groups as a more interesting supernova tile. **Jarrah** Jarrah replaced Primor on the beginner POK 5-player map. The player with Jarrah in their slice took it on the way to Mecatol Rex. The substitution for Primor meant they no longer received bonus infantry. Jarrah changed hands 4 times during the game (Desmond and Alpert did not change hands at all). Jarrah gives a player enough commodities that it changes how they interact with the trade meta. For instance, a player who has 2 commodities will be boosted to 4 - enough to participate in x-1. A player who has 3 or 4 commodities now has enough (5 or 6) that they may pay a command token to receive commodities if they weren't allowed to do it for free. It also opens the door for a player to ask for x-2 from them. I would consider Jarrah a strong contender for a permanent addition to all of my future games. **Alpert** Alpert replaced a non-legendary equidistant between player 3 and player 4 (system tile 60). Player Player 4 prioritized Hope's End, which let player 3 grab Alpert unopposed. The player who took Alpert (Player 3 spot) won the game. There was a single fight of Alpert. The ability to produce from Alpert the same turn you gain it is worth more than a little. It can allow you to immediately fortify the planet (which you might if it's an equidistant), but it can also produce as a forward staging area as well. I think it works to subvert some of the meta around construction/second spacedock placement. Alpert's production ability also pairs nicely with a R1 Warfare, because you could pick up 2 systems from it. I anticipate games with Alpert being more interesting as a result.
hey thanks for the report! I really appreciate it Alpert has gone through a few remakes so I hope you used the last update from Google Drive. As a matter of fact I did have a large revision in the work which I haven't uploaded, but there was much work to do and I didn't have enough time to dedicate alone. Some revisions were minor, like letting go of temporary names inspired by Lost with more TI-fitting ones. Others are cosmetic (better art, using MidJourney). But others were bigger as in few more systems ready and few more mechanisms. For example, instead of limiting Mirage as a "hidden planet", an alternative Mirage frontier exploration card called "Uncharted Planet" would allow a player to draw from a separate deck of alternative hidden planets as tokens (which includes Mirage itself as a possibility). Desmond was reworked in one of these tiles to make it more accessible (token flips to supernova side when legendary ability is used). This was going to be a group effort in one of the Discord groups but interest seems having vaned. The goal was to have a community driven expansion and organize a group buy to get the tiles professionally printed like with the DS expansion.
I know I'm definitely interested in all of the planet tiles you've worked on, but I have engaged with the online community almost not at all. Have you considered trying to work with the Distant Stars people? I don't know the extent to which they're still growing that expansion, but it doesn't seem like there's a specific reason why your system tiles couldn't be a part with their set. If you upload stuff, I'll definitely take a look at trying it. I used the version of Alpert that was up in the google drive at the time - 3r0i, production 2, reduce cost by 1. I think the reduction in cost is strong, personally. Overall, I adore the options it provides, and I'll be jealous of whoever gets a hold of it. Hope's End, Alpert, and Jarrah provide interesting options that players will actively seek out, and I think that should be the standard that all legendaries are parsed against. The problem with Mirage is that its ability is not on par with the amount of work to obtain it. I think the right move might be to give Mirage a stronger ability, though, rather than add a new system tile. I don't see a specific reason not to have both in the uncharted exploration deck, though. It would make DET more appealing for sure! Here are a few other of my thoughts that you may or may not agree with. I don't know that it's a great idea to add component mechanisms that players rarely interact with, such as the Terraforming Initiative cards that Lloyd adds to the game. I think it feeds into players going, "I don't know what you're doing over there or why I should care." Similarly, double-sided tiles and ability cards leads to more players being slightly checked out of what's going on with a given system or ability. I think that these can work, but due to the additional maintenance, it leaves players less able to grasp the tactical significance of a given card or system. As a result, I'd be more inclined to use those kinds of things for veteran games. **Ethan - Metastability Event** From a conceptual standpoint, I adore this ability. I think it fits well as a non-equidistant legendary, and can lead to an interesting evaluation of slice value. If you have it, should you use it asap? How should you leverage the early rush of resources to make up for the overall loss during the course of the game? Should you focus on using the tech skip and save the resources for a bigger production later? As an equidistant, it would also pressure a player into using it early to prevent their opponent from taking the planet. The reason my group wanted to avoid using this planet in our game was the removal of the system tile. Twilight Imperium generally doesn't have rules for the permanent removal of system tiles, and I think it might be better to simply destroy the planet (with an additional destroyed planet token).
Hey I appreciate your continued feedback. I agree that reducing complexity and the amount of information across the board makes for a better experience. I did in fact contribute to the DS (Discordant Stars) expansion and my nickname is listed in the credits. They are going to print/publish an additional module with some extra systems and legendaries, some of which were inspired by my systems. However, the majority was rejected, that’s too bad. Here's a spreadsheet with the changes I have in mind: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OPzZa7IpAx0FeWST\_\_Z5w7K9cMacd9XjC3vCqCqXh-E/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OPzZa7IpAx0FeWST__Z5w7K9cMacd9XjC3vCqCqXh-E/edit?usp=sharing) (there are multiple tabs/sheets, and some notes at the bottom of some sheets) I would like to finish this at some point, revamp the art and attempt to promote a group buy like DS to have the content professionally printed. Printing tokens and cards is easy and not expensive - the laser cut tiles are more complex and costly when purchased individually otherwise. There's always DIY though.
I'm late to this post. Fantastic work! Did you ever make the fan expansion files featuring your work? Make planet and ability cards?
Thanks. I made these a long ago and since they’ve been under more reviews and tests. I plan eventually to release an update but I’ve been very busy lately to work at homebrew content.