What has it got in it's pocketsis, Precious??! Oh, sneaky Yssaril - the faction I used to be forbidden to play - they got some fun spy gadgets! You are right about the agent, it is hands-down the strongest and most flexible in the game. Some excellent targets include the Jol-Nar (especially if you played a 'Rise of the Messiah' action card earlier) the Nekro (because you will have many spare AC's to throw) and the OP Nomad (because his agents are mental) The commander appears weak at first, but as you said, it combos with everything the Yssaril want to be. Knowing what AC people have means you won't ever waste Mageon Implants, and you can barter with that info. Knowing Secret objectives is another level of mean and is incalculable in its value - the amount of time people win off an unnoticed SO is huge, but now the Yssaril can publish those intentions to the table! The hero essentially reads 'draw 5 action cards' (in a 6 player game) - which is already very good. That is 5 free actions + 8 free resources of Mech units for 1 action! On the other hand, you could often simply empty everyone else's hand of AC on purpose (maybe to mess up the Secret Objective that requires 5 AC - evil!) The mech is a free unit, the only cost being doing what you want to do anyway - stall (there are more than enough useless ACs to chuck away) Strategically build these up on that round when you are going for the big play (take Mecatol or key planets) shift them to counter aggression/ SO scoring, or turtle hard somewhere. Overall, the Gollum people got a solid deal - not OP, but definitely a ramp up on the 'we hates it, we hates it forever!' scale for their opponents.
Agree on the hero - at minimum it's a pile of mechs + cards. I'm excited to play just about every faction in the game since PoK came out, but of the base game factions, Yssaril, Hacan and Naalu are the ones I'm currently most hyped to try out.
The hidden value of the Yssaril Commander is it makes you the warleader of the whole table - declaring that one player is about to get a certain secret objective once people at at that dangerous 7+ victory points can turn the whole table against them - even if you're lying!
Nice. Been waiting for this one. I don't actually have the game, bit I find it fascinating. Since I've never played the game I don't know the significance of actioncards, so I was hoping to better know the strength of playing a faction that revolves around action cards
Each action card has an effect that does something unique. Some influence combat results, others politcal voting, etc. Some flat out give your resources or even counter the actions of others. They're a diverse set of possibilities that are hard to predict.
They were already a very powerful faction, and I feel that their heroes and mechs are somewhat underwhelming to balance the fact that they are so strong already. That said I love their leaders they really lean into the spying flavour and are really cool!
Yeah, I reckon they didn't need much to get even stronger, and what they've got going on now is really a bunch of fun mechanisms to mess with the heads of other players. Love it.
Would the agent thus not be able to do all the other agents abilities, in a round? His card does not say that he must exhaust it, but specifically that he can do the other’s ability even if it’s exhausted?
@@MinhTran-dr3xu I agree with you there, but the Yssaril card says "each", implying that you could use each one. Unless we're reading it, that when using the other Agent's ability, that text effectively replaces the text on the Yssaril Agent's card?
It will have each, but it will also be exhausted after doing the first one you choose. If there is a way to ready the card again, you could choose any of the available ones again.
Does SSRUU have all of the abilities or one? Lol I get it’s a stupid question but the wording doesn’t specify that you can only use one. I assume you do but still
I'm a little confused about a detail about their commander: it can let you look at promissory notes. Maybe I don't understand promissory notes, but I didn't think they were secret, and Idk how they could be; like, how would I, player A, not already know that players B and C have traded alliance cards, for example (assuming I've been paying attention to the game)? Can someone explain why "promissory notes" is part of this commander's abilities?
Political secret, ceasefire, trade agreement, etc can be traded around. One example: it would be nice to know if the person you exchanged ceasefires with has subsequently sold yours to the person you are fighting. That said, like the video says, looking at someone’s secret objectives is probably a better deterrent.
@@SeattleCitizen51 "it would be nice to know if the person you exchanged ceasefires with has subsequently sold yours" That's what I mean, are transactions with promissory notes intended to be secret? How does that work at the table? Are players writing notes to each other, or leaving the room to negotiate?
@@AxillaryPower2 full disclosure: I've never played this game in person... but if I did, I could definitely slip a PN to someone (face down so the table can't see) and say, "I'll give you this card for 3 trade goods." People would notice a PN was exchanged, but they could only speculate as to what it was... Over a period of hours, and multiple such trades, that ceasefire or whatever could have moved around a lot. I've had a couple games ruined when I went to make my big move and was stopped in my tracks by the ceasefire I sold to an entirely different player. In tabletop simulator, it's much easier to do stealthy deals since you can send private messages to people...
@@SeattleCitizen51 fair enough; I've only played a couple a games and in those we've all pretty well ignored more than half of the promissory notes. Thanks
Yeah some Prom notes go into your hand and some are played in front of you, like Alliance, and you can trade notes you got from other players. It can get messy if players are really into trading them!
Nice. Been waiting for this one. I don't actually have the game, bit I find it fascinating. Since I've never played the game I don't know the significance of actioncards, so I was hoping to better know the strength of playing a faction that revolves around action cards
Action cards are like a suite of opportunity :) They have all kinds of rule bending possibilities like affecting combat rolls, giving free resources, altering laws, giving you extra hits, faster movement etc. They're like a big toolkit of options.
I love board games and sometimes it was tricky getting people together to play, so to fill that gap, I started making these. Specifically for Twilight Imperium, I wanted to understand the factions better myself, so I made them to learn them. Seems other people thought they were useful too, so I kept going. I've plans to cover lots more games as well, just enjoying this series (which is almost complete!) so will finish that stuff before moving on. Will likely keep doing Twilight Imperium topics quite regularly too of course, as people are mostly here for that at this stage.
What has it got in it's pocketsis, Precious??!
Oh, sneaky Yssaril - the faction I used to be forbidden to play - they got some fun spy gadgets!
You are right about the agent, it is hands-down the strongest and most flexible in the game. Some excellent targets include the Jol-Nar (especially if you played a 'Rise of the Messiah' action card earlier) the Nekro (because you will have many spare AC's to throw) and the OP Nomad (because his agents are mental)
The commander appears weak at first, but as you said, it combos with everything the Yssaril want to be. Knowing what AC people have means you won't ever waste Mageon Implants, and you can barter with that info. Knowing Secret objectives is another level of mean and is incalculable in its value - the amount of time people win off an unnoticed SO is huge, but now the Yssaril can publish those intentions to the table!
The hero essentially reads 'draw 5 action cards' (in a 6 player game) - which is already very good. That is 5 free actions + 8 free resources of Mech units for 1 action! On the other hand, you could often simply empty everyone else's hand of AC on purpose (maybe to mess up the Secret Objective that requires 5 AC - evil!)
The mech is a free unit, the only cost being doing what you want to do anyway - stall (there are more than enough useless ACs to chuck away) Strategically build these up on that round when you are going for the big play (take Mecatol or key planets) shift them to counter aggression/ SO scoring, or turtle hard somewhere.
Overall, the Gollum people got a solid deal - not OP, but definitely a ramp up on the 'we hates it, we hates it forever!' scale for their opponents.
Agree on the hero - at minimum it's a pile of mechs + cards. I'm excited to play just about every faction in the game since PoK came out, but of the base game factions, Yssaril, Hacan and Naalu are the ones I'm currently most hyped to try out.
The hidden value of the Yssaril Commander is it makes you the warleader of the whole table - declaring that one player is about to get a certain secret objective once people at at that dangerous 7+ victory points can turn the whole table against them - even if you're lying!
Love the videos, man! This civilisation is one of my favourites. Super fun to play and looking forward to using their new abilities.
They mess with opponents' heads a lot now :)
They've finally made their move. I love it. Every time I play I have to will myself to play a different faction because these guys are so much fun.
They're great. So unpredictable.
Hey man. I just want to thank you for your videos and hope you have great life! :)
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!!!
You are so welcome! :) Enjoy!
Nice. Been waiting for this one. I don't actually have the game, bit I find it fascinating.
Since I've never played the game I don't know the significance of actioncards, so I was hoping to better know the strength of playing a faction that revolves around action cards
Each action card has an effect that does something unique. Some influence combat results, others politcal voting, etc. Some flat out give your resources or even counter the actions of others. They're a diverse set of possibilities that are hard to predict.
They were already a very powerful faction, and I feel that their heroes and mechs are somewhat underwhelming to balance the fact that they are so strong already. That said I love their leaders they really lean into the spying flavour and are really cool!
Yeah, I reckon they didn't need much to get even stronger, and what they've got going on now is really a bunch of fun mechanisms to mess with the heads of other players. Love it.
Mageon Implants + Bio-Stims + hero = 0 action cards for the other players.
Would the agent thus not be able to do all the other agents abilities, in a round? His card does not say that he must exhaust it, but specifically that he can do the other’s ability even if it’s exhausted?
No it plays another heroes ability, and that other ability says exhaust
Each of those abilities will say to exhaust this card, so he can only do one.
@@MinhTran-dr3xu I agree with you there, but the Yssaril card says "each", implying that you could use each one. Unless we're reading it, that when using the other Agent's ability, that text effectively replaces the text on the Yssaril Agent's card?
It will have each, but it will also be exhausted after doing the first one you choose. If there is a way to ready the card again, you could choose any of the available ones again.
@@RulebreakerBoardgames by the way, i love your videos. Suggestions: Maybe doing a series of “Best Tips and Tricks for that Faction?“
Does SSRUU have all of the abilities or one? Lol I get it’s a stupid question but the wording doesn’t specify that you can only use one. I assume you do but still
You technically have all of them at your disposal but can only do one.
I'm a little confused about a detail about their commander: it can let you look at promissory notes. Maybe I don't understand promissory notes, but I didn't think they were secret, and Idk how they could be; like, how would I, player A, not already know that players B and C have traded alliance cards, for example (assuming I've been paying attention to the game)? Can someone explain why "promissory notes" is part of this commander's abilities?
Political secret, ceasefire, trade agreement, etc can be traded around. One example: it would be nice to know if the person you exchanged ceasefires with has subsequently sold yours to the person you are fighting.
That said, like the video says, looking at someone’s secret objectives is probably a better deterrent.
@@SeattleCitizen51 "it would be nice to know if the person you exchanged ceasefires with has subsequently sold yours" That's what I mean, are transactions with promissory notes intended to be secret? How does that work at the table? Are players writing notes to each other, or leaving the room to negotiate?
@@AxillaryPower2 full disclosure: I've never played this game in person... but if I did, I could definitely slip a PN to someone (face down so the table can't see) and say, "I'll give you this card for 3 trade goods." People would notice a PN was exchanged, but they could only speculate as to what it was... Over a period of hours, and multiple such trades, that ceasefire or whatever could have moved around a lot. I've had a couple games ruined when I went to make my big move and was stopped in my tracks by the ceasefire I sold to an entirely different player.
In tabletop simulator, it's much easier to do stealthy deals since you can send private messages to people...
@@SeattleCitizen51 fair enough; I've only played a couple a games and in those we've all pretty well ignored more than half of the promissory notes. Thanks
Yeah some Prom notes go into your hand and some are played in front of you, like Alliance, and you can trade notes you got from other players. It can get messy if players are really into trading them!
Nice. Been waiting for this one. I don't actually have the game, bit I find it fascinating.
Since I've never played the game I don't know the significance of actioncards, so I was hoping to better know the strength of playing a faction that revolves around action cards
Action cards are like a suite of opportunity :) They have all kinds of rule bending possibilities like affecting combat rolls, giving free resources, altering laws, giving you extra hits, faster movement etc. They're like a big toolkit of options.
@@RulebreakerBoardgames cool. Sounds like yssaril could be a fun faction to play.
I like these videos your making. What made you start making videos.?
I love board games and sometimes it was tricky getting people together to play, so to fill that gap, I started making these. Specifically for Twilight Imperium, I wanted to understand the factions better myself, so I made them to learn them. Seems other people thought they were useful too, so I kept going. I've plans to cover lots more games as well, just enjoying this series (which is almost complete!) so will finish that stuff before moving on. Will likely keep doing Twilight Imperium topics quite regularly too of course, as people are mostly here for that at this stage.