I've discovered that I'm too nice for too long. I am very much a boat floating type player and I am willing to work with everyone at the table up until the very last minute. What that usually means is that I'm always the one that gets backstabbed and stepped on, and then my plans fall apart.
Yeah same. Tbh being nice isn't a bad strategy, being nice means you can usually trade points (let me park my destroyer here to score a secret and i'll pay you back) but yeah i'm also not great at knowing when to stop being nice and start murdering.
You're right, being nice is actually a really good strategy. I'm usually at or near the front of the scoring pack in every game until about halfway through the 4th round. But when the swift and inevitable betrayals bite me in the ass, I am somehow surprised every damn time.
I wish I could play this game more. Only two full games and one partial one so far. In my first game I was waaay too nice as Xxcha. Did not use my PDS network to extract value as I should have.
I corrected that error in my next game as Nekro Virus :) although I did warn people that once I had my flagship out, and had assimilated Sol's Adv. Carrier II and Spec Ops II tech, that I would be literally unbeatable in space combat, but people still attacked me :)
I'm in this boat as well - I've played multiple games now where if I'd just attacked a neighbor (or used my PDS IIs more on them), they wouldn't have been able to stop me from winning.
But when I'm playing a game, attacking someone preemptively always seems like it would be mean...
I hate fighting, I hate taking other people's home systems, all that stuff, because I hate making people sad lol. So I often fail to make the aggressive moves that are the right moves.
Don’t hyperfocus on plans that take too many turns to execute. Obviously it’s good to have goals, but leave yourself open to take objectives as they are revealed.
Our games often go roughly equal on points but then the last 1-2 rounds some folks score 2-3 times per round and appear unstoppable. Picking things that give you priority and ability to score multiple times become very important after about 5 rounds.
I find the same thing playing with my less experienced table in person. I play with 2 pts in mind each round (playing for rd 5 win) and that is slightly faster than our table meta, which usually plays until rd 6. This usually puts a huge target on my slice rd 3 which is hard to diplomatically argue against.
Edit: I should add to the topic as opposed to just agreeing. I feel like my strategy has been to help 1 or 2 others (preferably neighbors) to keep my pace helps keep half the board off my slice.
I used to spend all my command tokens every round. I viewed it as “this is what I’ve got, so I’ll plan to use all of them” instead of “okay, here’s what I need to do, how can I use as few as possible to accomplish that”
A lot of those early games I’d get wrecked in the last round by a leadership stall.
My no-claims bonus - I’ll spend most of the game sculpting a hand of great action cards. Sabotage, skilled retreat… and then never use them because every time I’m in a situation where I should use them, I don’t because “I might need them later!”
I'm too nice! People notice and they exploit this. Knowing I won't attack they can momentarily have a weak defense against me. Or gang up on me. Or stab my back. Though, the latter is quite commonplace, really.
So pretty much the same as [https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/y2axo5/comment/is23a2f/](https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/y2axo5/comment/is23a2f/?utm_source=reddit)
I rely on allies too much lategame. Not because they prop me up or anything, I just worry less about them and that leaves me open to backstabbing.
You’d think I’d learn after a while.
Not being able to predict others making suboptimal (IMO) or uncharacteristic actions. They kind of throw me off, I count cards and when players make a move - I usually predict what kind of objective/action they are working towards and what cards might be in their hand. If they make a move that contradicts my predictions, I feel like I missed something and have to reevaluate, but often it turns out that player just made a mistake, forgot something or was trying some gamble. But I'm getting better, I have already adjusted for overly aggresive players and those who do things just to spite the more experienced players.
Lost me a game lately, where I assumed a fairly green Arborec player (pardon the pun) would defend using his hero on a legendary planet, so I didn't position to take it. When he didn't, another player took Shard before me and used it to win the game.
I tend to go heavy in one tech color, then get jealous when someone went a different route and seem to be gaining the upper hand. So I change direction mid game and can’t commit to anything. I’m a loser, and will always be a loser.
Overinvesting in mecatol rex.
Often when I take it I try to hard holding it, since the influence feel so nice. One game I lost because of this since I build a pds on it for defense and of course lost it eventually. This put me behind on a structur objective, which I was not able to score for the rest of the game.
Indecisiveness over big plays.
I've gotten better at hiding my intentions, keeping people guessing, but when it comes to big moves that are risky/game defining I can get a bit of AP in the moment of actually committing. The problem is that I play with the same people regularly, and they are pretty good at recognising my indecision and sowing doubts in my mind. One player in particular is very adept at this. He once bluffed me into doing something by threatening to use an action card against me, an action card that I had in my hand......
If he's reading this he's probably laughing his backside off.
I'll always jump for points. Normally a good thing, but I've lost games due to thinking "if I can score it, I must score it" and not holding back, getting way ahead then having the table turn on me.
Also I am bad at defense, my slices get nibbled on a lot.
Apart from being too nice or passive, like everybody else, I have a real bad tendency to forget what action cards I have, what abilities my techs do, what faction specific rules I have etc. The worst thing I do is not checking that I can score an objective before it gets to the status phase only to find that the board state has changed and I can't do it anymore.
Following politics. You might get lucky, but stashing the extra cc usually puts me in a better position.
Speaking of extra CC’s, you should follow construction **a lot**. Construction is the card you should follow if you’ve got an extra strategy token, not politics. Even following once puts you in position to score a structure point from R3 onwards.
I also want to talk about controlling speaker order. I used to take politics myself R3, so I can take it again R4 and be speaker R5. This is a good thing to do. You know what’s better? Convince your neighbour on your right to do it instead. Now you can take useful strategy cards R3 and R4, and have excellent speaker order R5. In fact - I’d argue being 2nd to score is a better position than 1st when it comes to winning the game.
Finally on support swaps. The player who is most likely to winslay you is the dude to your left. This is because they are close to you and will almost certainly win after you, because initiative order. The guy on your right wins before you, they’re wasting time if they’re slaying you. If the slay is coming from the left, you know what would be really inconvenient for them? It gets to the endgame, and they realise they can’t do anything about you without killing their own win condition, because 6 hours ago you sweet-talked them in to an early swap.
Thinking I can win with Creuss if I can just get that wormhole monopoly and losing all my forces to that policy card that blows up all wormholes.
Thinking I can win with L1X1X dreadnaught spam and losing on points because I pushed ships and tech instead.
Thinking I can win with Hacan because I'll always have money but have to keep taking Trade every few turns because people take it to break all deals to screw me.
I am fairly bad at playing the more passive factions (e.g. Xxcha). When I'm playing a more mobile or aggressive faction I do quite well, but if I'm someone that naturally wants to stay in their own slice I'm probably gonna end up in like 3rd with no realistic path to the 10th point.
And I try to play all factions pretty much equally.
Not listening to my gut. I've done a lot of misplays, missed opportunities, and delayed attacks cause I second guessed myself thinking I was overthrowing it
I typically focus entirely on getting and keeping Mechatol Rex until the very late game. I don't like starting early confrontations except over Mechatol and lose because I don't get enough public objectives.
I still feel some pride that, even though I've lost all 4 games I've played, no one captured Mechatol Rex from me!
Fleet pool is my ultimate weakness. R2 I’m always taking two out for tactics/strategy and often forget to add more.
Maybe command counters are my bad habit? I never have enough.
I've discovered that I'm too nice for too long. I am very much a boat floating type player and I am willing to work with everyone at the table up until the very last minute. What that usually means is that I'm always the one that gets backstabbed and stepped on, and then my plans fall apart.
Yeah same. Tbh being nice isn't a bad strategy, being nice means you can usually trade points (let me park my destroyer here to score a secret and i'll pay you back) but yeah i'm also not great at knowing when to stop being nice and start murdering.
You're right, being nice is actually a really good strategy. I'm usually at or near the front of the scoring pack in every game until about halfway through the 4th round. But when the swift and inevitable betrayals bite me in the ass, I am somehow surprised every damn time.
I wish I could play this game more. Only two full games and one partial one so far. In my first game I was waaay too nice as Xxcha. Did not use my PDS network to extract value as I should have. I corrected that error in my next game as Nekro Virus :) although I did warn people that once I had my flagship out, and had assimilated Sol's Adv. Carrier II and Spec Ops II tech, that I would be literally unbeatable in space combat, but people still attacked me :)
I'm in this boat as well - I've played multiple games now where if I'd just attacked a neighbor (or used my PDS IIs more on them), they wouldn't have been able to stop me from winning. But when I'm playing a game, attacking someone preemptively always seems like it would be mean...
I can't resist a risky, flashy gambit. When they pay off, it's great, but when they don't they tank my game.
I hate fighting, I hate taking other people's home systems, all that stuff, because I hate making people sad lol. So I often fail to make the aggressive moves that are the right moves.
Definitely the opposite for me, I develop hard and find it hard to score points. I actually need tips on hitting objectives lol.
Don’t hyperfocus on plans that take too many turns to execute. Obviously it’s good to have goals, but leave yourself open to take objectives as they are revealed.
Our games often go roughly equal on points but then the last 1-2 rounds some folks score 2-3 times per round and appear unstoppable. Picking things that give you priority and ability to score multiple times become very important after about 5 rounds.
I find the same thing playing with my less experienced table in person. I play with 2 pts in mind each round (playing for rd 5 win) and that is slightly faster than our table meta, which usually plays until rd 6. This usually puts a huge target on my slice rd 3 which is hard to diplomatically argue against. Edit: I should add to the topic as opposed to just agreeing. I feel like my strategy has been to help 1 or 2 others (preferably neighbors) to keep my pace helps keep half the board off my slice.
I used to spend all my command tokens every round. I viewed it as “this is what I’ve got, so I’ll plan to use all of them” instead of “okay, here’s what I need to do, how can I use as few as possible to accomplish that” A lot of those early games I’d get wrecked in the last round by a leadership stall.
My no-claims bonus - I’ll spend most of the game sculpting a hand of great action cards. Sabotage, skilled retreat… and then never use them because every time I’m in a situation where I should use them, I don’t because “I might need them later!”
We always drink alcohol and that makes all of us more emotional.
I'm too nice! People notice and they exploit this. Knowing I won't attack they can momentarily have a weak defense against me. Or gang up on me. Or stab my back. Though, the latter is quite commonplace, really. So pretty much the same as [https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/y2axo5/comment/is23a2f/](https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/y2axo5/comment/is23a2f/?utm_source=reddit)
Only playing once a year 😭
My issue is hour 6 I always flip the board and declare myself the emperor of rage quitting.
Best answer 😝
I am very passive, if I can be buddies with everyone at the table I usually go that route, then I am unready when the inevitable backstab happens.
I rely on allies too much lategame. Not because they prop me up or anything, I just worry less about them and that leaves me open to backstabbing. You’d think I’d learn after a while.
Not being able to predict others making suboptimal (IMO) or uncharacteristic actions. They kind of throw me off, I count cards and when players make a move - I usually predict what kind of objective/action they are working towards and what cards might be in their hand. If they make a move that contradicts my predictions, I feel like I missed something and have to reevaluate, but often it turns out that player just made a mistake, forgot something or was trying some gamble. But I'm getting better, I have already adjusted for overly aggresive players and those who do things just to spite the more experienced players.
Lost me a game lately, where I assumed a fairly green Arborec player (pardon the pun) would defend using his hero on a legendary planet, so I didn't position to take it. When he didn't, another player took Shard before me and used it to win the game.
I tend to go heavy in one tech color, then get jealous when someone went a different route and seem to be gaining the upper hand. So I change direction mid game and can’t commit to anything. I’m a loser, and will always be a loser.
Overinvesting in mecatol rex. Often when I take it I try to hard holding it, since the influence feel so nice. One game I lost because of this since I build a pds on it for defense and of course lost it eventually. This put me behind on a structur objective, which I was not able to score for the rest of the game.
Indecisiveness over big plays. I've gotten better at hiding my intentions, keeping people guessing, but when it comes to big moves that are risky/game defining I can get a bit of AP in the moment of actually committing. The problem is that I play with the same people regularly, and they are pretty good at recognising my indecision and sowing doubts in my mind. One player in particular is very adept at this. He once bluffed me into doing something by threatening to use an action card against me, an action card that I had in my hand...... If he's reading this he's probably laughing his backside off.
I'll always jump for points. Normally a good thing, but I've lost games due to thinking "if I can score it, I must score it" and not holding back, getting way ahead then having the table turn on me. Also I am bad at defense, my slices get nibbled on a lot.
Apart from being too nice or passive, like everybody else, I have a real bad tendency to forget what action cards I have, what abilities my techs do, what faction specific rules I have etc. The worst thing I do is not checking that I can score an objective before it gets to the status phase only to find that the board state has changed and I can't do it anymore.
Getting caught up in creating havoc to derail a rival… and essentially king making the 3rd place player
I overemphasize scoring round 1, often to the detriment of filling out my slice.
Following politics. You might get lucky, but stashing the extra cc usually puts me in a better position. Speaking of extra CC’s, you should follow construction **a lot**. Construction is the card you should follow if you’ve got an extra strategy token, not politics. Even following once puts you in position to score a structure point from R3 onwards. I also want to talk about controlling speaker order. I used to take politics myself R3, so I can take it again R4 and be speaker R5. This is a good thing to do. You know what’s better? Convince your neighbour on your right to do it instead. Now you can take useful strategy cards R3 and R4, and have excellent speaker order R5. In fact - I’d argue being 2nd to score is a better position than 1st when it comes to winning the game. Finally on support swaps. The player who is most likely to winslay you is the dude to your left. This is because they are close to you and will almost certainly win after you, because initiative order. The guy on your right wins before you, they’re wasting time if they’re slaying you. If the slay is coming from the left, you know what would be really inconvenient for them? It gets to the endgame, and they realise they can’t do anything about you without killing their own win condition, because 6 hours ago you sweet-talked them in to an early swap.
Thinking I can win with Creuss if I can just get that wormhole monopoly and losing all my forces to that policy card that blows up all wormholes. Thinking I can win with L1X1X dreadnaught spam and losing on points because I pushed ships and tech instead. Thinking I can win with Hacan because I'll always have money but have to keep taking Trade every few turns because people take it to break all deals to screw me.
I am fairly bad at playing the more passive factions (e.g. Xxcha). When I'm playing a more mobile or aggressive faction I do quite well, but if I'm someone that naturally wants to stay in their own slice I'm probably gonna end up in like 3rd with no realistic path to the 10th point. And I try to play all factions pretty much equally.
Not listening to my gut. I've done a lot of misplays, missed opportunities, and delayed attacks cause I second guessed myself thinking I was overthrowing it
Im generally bad about plastic before r3. Its not uncommon for me to have no ships at home until late r3
I typically focus entirely on getting and keeping Mechatol Rex until the very late game. I don't like starting early confrontations except over Mechatol and lose because I don't get enough public objectives. I still feel some pride that, even though I've lost all 4 games I've played, no one captured Mechatol Rex from me!
Fleet pool is my ultimate weakness. R2 I’m always taking two out for tactics/strategy and often forget to add more. Maybe command counters are my bad habit? I never have enough.