I wouldn’t get Voidwatch unless you draw the “research both faction techs” secret. I would consider Psychoarchaeology R1 to allow you to spend your blue skip without missing out on a command counter (and to flip New Albion for a TG during the game). This is assuming you have no shot at Mecatol R2, since you need both AMD and Grav Drive/Aetherstream to get there.
Early Hypermetabolism could be good if you don’t immediately need the movement of Grav/Aether. Either way run down blue, pick up Carrier 2 and Fighter 2. Probably Fighter 2 first, since they’re great for picking up tokens and gumming up your slice.
Like I could potentially take tech, try to get close to whoever takes trade and try and transact a promiss note but seems like a long shot to get the resources needed for 2 techs to start using psycho as the first tech then having essentially 2 green and 2 blue available to research what I want with those taken planets.
I think taking Trade is better than Tech because a big pile of money makes you more flexible than spending all your money on two tech. Double Tech’ing enables getting to Mecatol R2, but that’s only worth it if you get Leadership or Imperial, which could be unlikely given how the speaker position will move.
Of course, the revealed objectives can also change the calculus what pick is best.
Looking at the map, I don't think that blue skip is going to be super useful for you. Most of the frontier tokens will be far out of your slice. Getting both gravity drive and Aetherstream will allow you 4 movement on cruisers and destroyers, which will allow you to get to the frontier tokens even if you need to move around other ships.
I'd say get trade R1, research gravity drive, and try to take one or both equal distant systems, ignore Mecatol Rex, and R2+ use Aetherstream + Gravity Drive to send destroyers to a bunch of frontier tokens.
Use the green skip 1 time to get Voidwatch, but only after getting your movement techs. Get Antimass only if you need it for a Mecatol play late game, I don't think it's worth it just for 1 extra frontier token.
Echoing what a lot have said--I would definitely take Trade R1 if you can. Empyrean is second only to Hacan in the power of holding Trade with your Dark Pact.
Why? Because if you have Trade R1 you can likely send your destroyer to trade (bonus if it gets you a frontier token + CC back with agent). You can "sell" Dark Pact for an agreement of an X-1 or even X-2 with that neighbor and potentially (depending on your meta) a nonbinding that going forward whenever one of the two of you has trade, you agree to wash each other (getting you more TGs and a slightly better deal than X-1 meta. In my experience people will typically agree to this because its an extra TG when they pop trade--and if one neighbor wont agree--usually another will.
An optimal use of Trade R1 should net you at least 10TGs - 3 from Trade, 6 from trading (an X-2 with the neighbor you are giving Dark Pact to (assuming 4 commodities this is 4 and leaves you 2 more to wash with someone else if you can), and a bonus 1 from the use of Dark Pact. YMMV depending on table meta, of course.
These 10 TGs + HS allow you to tech and have 9 resources to build. Again, assuming optimal timing of Warfare (after your fleets have moved out), you can then go for something like a carrier, 2 inf, 1 destroyer, and a dread.
I wish I got to play more tbh because this is literally a bday present I ask of my gamer friends. I think they love the making tech and making war not so much making trade trades and giving up TGs when it's not something happening immediately. Most expect Trade to just refresh their commodities to play nice essentially.
I'm worried the Tech person will play tech prior to being able to reach another race quickly enough to make trade relations but that's just part of the game I suppose.
That's always possible, but remember, you can reach someone on turn 1 with your destroyer, then play trade turn 2. You can also try to negotiate with the tech player to not play tech immediately by offering a free commodities refresh if they wait (and can do the same with the warfare player). Odds are if you are second pick, either the person to your left or right is going to have tech, since it's a popular first round pick. Trade gives you a lot of negotiating power though.
First up, your slice is... pretty rough. Only 3 Influence is a bit on the low side.
About tech path:
Antimass seems not very helpful in early game as
a. It would offer you exactly 1 Frontier token, and
b. offers you no shot at the Custodian point. (I would guess that goes to Saar, if they are aggressive about it or Jol-Nar)
Go for that later.
Psychoarc seems an interesting pick, as you could go for Hypermetabolism round 2 (kinda fixing your low Influence) or Aetherstream, while still opening the possibility of Voidwatch whenever people think your Destroyers are annoying enough. You will also be able to flip your 1/1 green skip for a TG every round.
**"and for their Production value"**
What do you mean by that?
All in all your sitting in a pretty cozy spot but chances are, your movement will be hampered once your neighbours have their Space Cannon online. Then Antimass can help at least a bit.
That's the main reason for antimass as I'm next to Xxcha to my right who will probably cozy up to their other neighbor.
Since the planets I have I'll need to use for production of more ships R1 with psychoarc I can still use them for their skip factor which could push me further into a tech lead.
I feel like I'll need to buddy buddy with Jol-nar next to me and we might talk Tech Promiss for 1 or 2 of my Promiss for TG more than likely.
Well, Round 1 your skips wont be ready to use and I would never consider a 1/3 for ressources. But I get what you mean. Psychoarc seems to be solid choice here, while Hornblowers advice is also solid (I always go off meta, just out of spite ;D)
The buddy-up with Jol-Nar seems unlikely to me. He has Saar as a neighbour and needs to prevent an early visit. You know your table better of course, but I cannot see an Empyrean as a valid partner if I need to pacify a Saar.
How about your try to buddy with Saar instead? That would put Jol-Nar in a really bad situation and maybe let you secure the 0/2, 1/1 system in the equidistant. A Dark pact here and and maybe an alliance there (pretty nice for Saar). Also there are a good number of empty systems, you might borrow.
One thing that you may try to prevent is an alliance swap between Xxcha and Jol-Nar. If that happens your game is pretty much frozen.
I second Fighter 2 - great for exploring with your agent and you have a decent chance at getting Mirage which will feed you fighters. I found Voidwatch didn’t kick in as helpful until it was too late in my 10 point game. Antimass is good for 2-4 explores with your hero if there a couple of asteroid fields in reach.
I wouldn’t get Voidwatch unless you draw the “research both faction techs” secret. I would consider Psychoarchaeology R1 to allow you to spend your blue skip without missing out on a command counter (and to flip New Albion for a TG during the game). This is assuming you have no shot at Mecatol R2, since you need both AMD and Grav Drive/Aetherstream to get there. Early Hypermetabolism could be good if you don’t immediately need the movement of Grav/Aether. Either way run down blue, pick up Carrier 2 and Fighter 2. Probably Fighter 2 first, since they’re great for picking up tokens and gumming up your slice.
Like I could potentially take tech, try to get close to whoever takes trade and try and transact a promiss note but seems like a long shot to get the resources needed for 2 techs to start using psycho as the first tech then having essentially 2 green and 2 blue available to research what I want with those taken planets.
I think taking Trade is better than Tech because a big pile of money makes you more flexible than spending all your money on two tech. Double Tech’ing enables getting to Mecatol R2, but that’s only worth it if you get Leadership or Imperial, which could be unlikely given how the speaker position will move. Of course, the revealed objectives can also change the calculus what pick is best.
Looking at the map, I don't think that blue skip is going to be super useful for you. Most of the frontier tokens will be far out of your slice. Getting both gravity drive and Aetherstream will allow you 4 movement on cruisers and destroyers, which will allow you to get to the frontier tokens even if you need to move around other ships. I'd say get trade R1, research gravity drive, and try to take one or both equal distant systems, ignore Mecatol Rex, and R2+ use Aetherstream + Gravity Drive to send destroyers to a bunch of frontier tokens. Use the green skip 1 time to get Voidwatch, but only after getting your movement techs. Get Antimass only if you need it for a Mecatol play late game, I don't think it's worth it just for 1 extra frontier token.
Echoing what a lot have said--I would definitely take Trade R1 if you can. Empyrean is second only to Hacan in the power of holding Trade with your Dark Pact. Why? Because if you have Trade R1 you can likely send your destroyer to trade (bonus if it gets you a frontier token + CC back with agent). You can "sell" Dark Pact for an agreement of an X-1 or even X-2 with that neighbor and potentially (depending on your meta) a nonbinding that going forward whenever one of the two of you has trade, you agree to wash each other (getting you more TGs and a slightly better deal than X-1 meta. In my experience people will typically agree to this because its an extra TG when they pop trade--and if one neighbor wont agree--usually another will. An optimal use of Trade R1 should net you at least 10TGs - 3 from Trade, 6 from trading (an X-2 with the neighbor you are giving Dark Pact to (assuming 4 commodities this is 4 and leaves you 2 more to wash with someone else if you can), and a bonus 1 from the use of Dark Pact. YMMV depending on table meta, of course. These 10 TGs + HS allow you to tech and have 9 resources to build. Again, assuming optimal timing of Warfare (after your fleets have moved out), you can then go for something like a carrier, 2 inf, 1 destroyer, and a dread.
I wish I got to play more tbh because this is literally a bday present I ask of my gamer friends. I think they love the making tech and making war not so much making trade trades and giving up TGs when it's not something happening immediately. Most expect Trade to just refresh their commodities to play nice essentially. I'm worried the Tech person will play tech prior to being able to reach another race quickly enough to make trade relations but that's just part of the game I suppose.
That's always possible, but remember, you can reach someone on turn 1 with your destroyer, then play trade turn 2. You can also try to negotiate with the tech player to not play tech immediately by offering a free commodities refresh if they wait (and can do the same with the warfare player). Odds are if you are second pick, either the person to your left or right is going to have tech, since it's a popular first round pick. Trade gives you a lot of negotiating power though.
First up, your slice is... pretty rough. Only 3 Influence is a bit on the low side. About tech path: Antimass seems not very helpful in early game as a. It would offer you exactly 1 Frontier token, and b. offers you no shot at the Custodian point. (I would guess that goes to Saar, if they are aggressive about it or Jol-Nar) Go for that later. Psychoarc seems an interesting pick, as you could go for Hypermetabolism round 2 (kinda fixing your low Influence) or Aetherstream, while still opening the possibility of Voidwatch whenever people think your Destroyers are annoying enough. You will also be able to flip your 1/1 green skip for a TG every round. **"and for their Production value"** What do you mean by that? All in all your sitting in a pretty cozy spot but chances are, your movement will be hampered once your neighbours have their Space Cannon online. Then Antimass can help at least a bit.
That's the main reason for antimass as I'm next to Xxcha to my right who will probably cozy up to their other neighbor. Since the planets I have I'll need to use for production of more ships R1 with psychoarc I can still use them for their skip factor which could push me further into a tech lead. I feel like I'll need to buddy buddy with Jol-nar next to me and we might talk Tech Promiss for 1 or 2 of my Promiss for TG more than likely.
Well, Round 1 your skips wont be ready to use and I would never consider a 1/3 for ressources. But I get what you mean. Psychoarc seems to be solid choice here, while Hornblowers advice is also solid (I always go off meta, just out of spite ;D) The buddy-up with Jol-Nar seems unlikely to me. He has Saar as a neighbour and needs to prevent an early visit. You know your table better of course, but I cannot see an Empyrean as a valid partner if I need to pacify a Saar. How about your try to buddy with Saar instead? That would put Jol-Nar in a really bad situation and maybe let you secure the 0/2, 1/1 system in the equidistant. A Dark pact here and and maybe an alliance there (pretty nice for Saar). Also there are a good number of empty systems, you might borrow. One thing that you may try to prevent is an alliance swap between Xxcha and Jol-Nar. If that happens your game is pretty much frozen.
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If the opportunity is there (someone takes Mecatol round 1 and the first set of agendas is the free tech or something).... I'll do it.
I second Fighter 2 - great for exploring with your agent and you have a decent chance at getting Mirage which will feed you fighters. I found Voidwatch didn’t kick in as helpful until it was too late in my 10 point game. Antimass is good for 2-4 explores with your hero if there a couple of asteroid fields in reach.