Twilight Imperium | Beginner Strategy Guide

This week, Ethan breaks down the basics of his favorite game of all time: Twilight Imperium 4th Edition!
For more advanced TI guides and breakdowns, check out Space Cats Peace Turtles here: www.youtube.co...
Contact 115 Gaming here: [e-mail]

[@ThatNerdDylan]

my board game crew is learning about TI rn and this video is amazing. Super underrated, I wish there was more TI strategy content on TH-cam.

[@Trueflights]

Diplomacy early on can ready up planets to give you extra resources and get a jump on production over others. It is definitely situational, but it can be a very good option for certain races.

[@RaK0]

24:50 is SO important!! Two weeks ago I played a match as the Muaat and were on a firm road to victory thanks to military might and a firm grip on Mecatol. But since I completetly blocked out the use case of Politics thanks to tunnelvision somebody snatched the victory from me with an anticlimactic construction objective with Imperial. During the whole game the Politics card only got picked once early, so everyone kind of forgot about it including myself. I would have easily wom but instead I picked Diplomacy in the 2nd to last round because everything else I wanted was already gone. And I let the Politics card just sit there. Waiting for the moment to punish me.

[@robertgrode2141]

You COULD get one VP per round, OR you can accumulate the perfect combination of action cards and trade goods and get three VP in the 4th round to at least feel like you’re in the running

[@Corroderptor]

Glad this exists. My second and most previous game I picked the Vuil’raith failing to realize fighting others constantly is very different from what the agendas usually call for

[@115-Gaming]

PoK added some more objectives that reward aggression, but by and large, non-aggressive objectives rarely come up before the Stage II objectives.

[@Corroderptor]

@@115-Gaming yeah maybe I look at the faction wrong but I got put in some spots where it’s hard to eat the Empyrean/Xxcha neighbors if they’re my only chance of getting paid

[@benrickman3538]

Good emphasis on how short the game can be. At round 5, the whole game could been just 14 player actions (uses of command counters(CCs)). Tapping Leadership and or getting hyper-metabolism is important to get CCs.

[@rooseveltcooper]

Started playing TI last month. I've played two games so far. So since I've played more than once a year, does that mean I'm not a new player anymore? My two last place finishes would say otherwise lol

[@RickarRickani]

In contrast what you were saying, Diplomacy does work in home system's. It make's late game kingslaying/ taking your home system very difficult, because your system cannot be activated. Your opponents need warfare, Mahact Commander or Action card shenanigans (which there are only two or three i beleave). ALSO! second in initiative isn't bad, the game is won this way.
Diplomacy is a good end game strategy card and pretty nice for early game. Doing Tech and building plastic, yes plz.

[@115-Gaming]

I think 2nd in Initiative isn't bad as well, but as for a game winning initiative, I disagree. At least for all of the games that I have played, either there is an Imperial win, or there is a Leadership win, in either case, 2nd in Initiative loses.
You'd have to win-slay both of those players, which can be incredibly difficult to do depending on the scenario.
Also, that's my bad for missing the home system availability on Diplomacy, thanks for pointing that out!

[@RickarRickani]

@@115-Gaming Don't forget, only the Saar can score public objectives with out having control of their home system/ Planets. Diplomacy enables the protection of that system. I've won a few games all because of Diplo, it's a good one.

[@SigurdBraathen]

You seem to not use PoK version of Diplomacy. I'd strongly advice you to do so, as that version is better.

[@SigurdBraathen]

PoK improvesTI. There's also codexes that can improve TI too, but slightly harder to get hold of :)

[@115-Gaming]

I understand there ARE good uses for Diplomacy. But I swear those opportunities just never come up in my games 🤷‍♂
At least, there’s just always a card that has a better use.
And yes, I am using PoK Diplomacy (you can see lots of PoK things on display in the video). I could only find the picture for old diplomacy, but I read the new version. I still stand by my opinion. It is the worst overall strategy card in the game.

[@SigurdBraathen]

@@115-Gaming Yeah, the main points of Diplomacy is to protect yourself against an attack, if it's clear where they will attack you.
Also, going early in initiative might be beneficial.
But economically it's often just a wash; benefiting most players as much as your self.

[@Arlae_Nova]

@@SigurdBraathen Sometimes a wash can give you a much bigger advantage than other players. Some factions take a lot of resources to get rolling (think factions that have a hard time early colonizing) while others don't have that much use for them. If you play one of those resource intensive factions, it may be very worthwhile and I sometimes take diplo early to use it like that. It's basically a weaker trade card. Late game the ability to protect you home system can honestly be insane and can easily win you the game, not having to worry about protecting your home and therefore being able to go all out on other parts of the board. I do agree however that it is the weakest card and usually there is a higher priority card, but it's great to have it as a backup imo.

[@Trueflights]

Naalu says NOPE to the Leadership Status Phase Win...