Welcome to the first of (hopefully many) game recaps of our playgroup’s adventures in Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition (henceforth abbreviated as “TI4”).

A quick word on the group: we have a rather experienced playgroup, at least from a Third Edition standpoint. We’ve played dozens of games, and are all reasonably good strategists in our own right. We’ve only collectively played TI4 a couple times before this, and one person (Welshy) hadn’t played TI4 at all.

Here’s a link to a quick bio on all the players, for reference.

We started with the following house rules:

Support for the Throne promissory notes have been removed.

Map placement was cooperative. We also did a terrible job of balancing the map.

After map placement, we drafted races, starting positions, and the speaker token. This is based on a method that was fan-submitted on the “Space Cats, Peace Turtles” podcast (which we highly recommend if you’re a Twilight Imperium fan).

The following players ended up with these races:

Chris: The Federation of Sol (blue)

Dan: The Ghosts of Cruess (purple)

Welshy: The Barony of Letnev (red)

Warren: Sardakk Norr (green)

Erik: The Nekro Virus (yellow)

Nate: The L1Z1X (black)

Our starting positions and map looked like so:

The speaker token started with Welshy and his Barony of Letnev.

Recap of first two rounds:

The resource-starved Federation of Sol took a gamble and struck out to Mecatol Rex quickly. This, combined with with an Imperial pick in round two and a completed secret objective at the end of round one (control four Cultural planets), vaulted them to 4 points at the end of the first two rounds!

The Sardakk Norr, sensing weakness and general apathy towards planet ownership, struck into the Federation’s slice while largely ignoring the looming L1Z1X menace to their right.

The Ghosts aimed to expand quickly in order to establish a second base of operations outside their home system. The Barony threatened an attack until they realized that Gravity Drive only allowed one ship to have an extra movement.

The Barony, after realizing they couldn’t immediately strike the Cruess-settled Bereg/Lirta IV system, moved to their right to threaten the slowly expanding Nekro Virus.

The Nekro Virus had a slow expansion, but had a large amount of resources at their disposal. However, they had not found an opportunity to copy a technology from anyone, and were faced with a soon-to-be-advanced Barony on their doorstep.

The L1Z1X, unencumbered by anyone else’s expansion, got around the gravity rift in front of their home system and threatened the Federation’s Mecatol Rex grab and kept the Ghosts to their right cautious.

A map after round two:

The objectives and victory track after round two:

Recap of round three:

The Federation of Sol sensed imminent danger and leapt off of Mecatol Rex, targeting the Mellon/Zohbat system as attainable and at least a temporary boon to their resources. The space battle and ensuing planet invasion were a bit of a Pyrrhic victory, however. The Ghosts didn’t take the aggression lightly and destroyed the ships, but weren’t able to uproot Sol’s ground troops to take the planets back. While the Federation maintains it was a tactical decision motivated by survival, the Ghosts insisted it was “still a dick move.”

The Ghosts, having a key system taken from them and the L1Z1X threatening from the left, had to revert to a defensive strategy in order to survive. At one point the L1Z1X even flew a ship into the Cruess’ home system to blockade their space dock, but that was remedied soon enough for the Cruess to begin rebuilding.

The Sardakk Norr only expanded further into Sol’s territory a bit, but also built further ships to supplement their now-stretched-out fleet.

The Barony officially began aggression against the Nekro Virus, taking a minor system and staging for a large assault on the Abyz/Fria system. The Barony acknowledged this as “totally a dick move,” but were OK with it.

The L1Z1X, having traded Cease Fire promissory notes with the Sardakk Norr, now resolved to stage an assault on the Ghosts. They additionally took the abandoned-by-Sol Mecatol Rex, though certainly didn’t commit much as it wasn’t tactically important to them.

The Nekro Virus were having a rough go of it, having acquired zero technologies, as they didn’t manage to destroy a single ship in their first fight with the Barony or in a lone cruiser attack on Sol’s home system (who had managed to build up juicy technologies like Gravity Drive). The Barony were also threatening, and were already equipped with Non-Euclidian Shielding (which, even in a defeat, would make it harder to even destroy a single ship to copy it).

The map, after round three:

Objectives and victory track after round three:

Round 4:

The Federation of Sol got reduced to the ownership of a single planet (their home planet) at this point. They had no other planets, no extra resources, but a large victory point lead. They were fortunate, however, to be a bit underestimated, and so far had attainable public objectives even in their state. Their best bet after this was to take the Trade strategy card (as they did have a willing trade partner in the Sardakk Norr, strangely enough) and start to stack resources.

The Nekro Virus lost all their ships in the Abyz/Fria system to a frightening blitz by the Barony (but did keep the planets, as the Barony didn’t even bother to invade). Because of the combination of Duranium Armor and Non-Euclidian Shielding, they didn’t even manage to destroy a single ship to copy any technology, either. Their really unfortunate dice rolls (throughout the entire game as well, at least to this point) didn’t help either. They did manage to take a couple systems from the Sardakk Norr (which were in the Federation’s original slice), but gained no technologies as the Norr didn’t have any to copy. Bummer.

The Sardakk Norr continued to occupy the Federation’s slice (though really, it was pretty much the Norr’s slice at this point). They bartered to gain the Speaker token from Sol (who had activated Politics) simply by asking “I won’t invade your home system if you make me speaker.” The Federation complied, and also made a commodity trade to boot. The Norr also managed to take Mecatol Rex, but the L1Z1X certainly put forth zero effort in keeping it.

The L1Z1X had more aggressive plans in mind. They took the Mellon/Zohbat system from the Ghosts (who had ships there) and Sol (who had the planets, and a space dock in a foolhardy attempt to set up shop). While the Barony likely had the most fearsome fleet on the board due to its elite technology, the L1Z1X’s fleet was similarly oppressive.

The Ghosts, now very encroached upon by the L1Z1X, attempted to fortify on Bereg/Lirta IV and on their home system. To this point they were unable to leverage wormholes to any extent, but they had been under pressure from multiple threats early.

The Barony marched into Abyz/Fria, but refused to take the planets. They evidently were satisfied with proving a point. They then vowed to see “who’s got the goods” in a prospective war against the L1Z1X fleet.

The map after round four:

Objectives/Victory track:

At this point, the Federation had developed a humongous lead, but were left with a single planet and little hope to recover, at least resource-wise. Victory points were also harder to come by for others as the Imperial card simply hadn’t been picked, so there were no extra secret objectives for anyone (and no one getting Mecatol Rex points). The Barony also appeared to have little interest in victory points, and much more interest in punching people with their nigh-indomitable fleet.

The recap of round 5:

The Federation, now lonesome on Jord with little possibility of branching out further, did manage to shoot a lone cruiser into the asteroid field neighboring Abyz/Fria. This allowed them to have a willing trade partner in the also-downtrodden Nekro Virus. Taking Trade was Sol’s lone hope; if they could keep a trade partner they could net 6 resources a turn and try to keep up on objectives.

The Nekro Virus started to rebuild Abyz/Fria as the Barony left. Unable to immediately acquire any points, they set about just rebuilding and hoping to secure some technology from literally anyone.

The Sardakk Norr continued to fortify their existing position. In a bid to get enough trade goods to fulfill the “Spend 5 trade goods” objective, they traded their Trade Agreement promissory note to the Federation of Sol for a single trade good. While Sol needed every trade good it could get its hands on, this had long-term benefits attached.

The Ghosts of Cruess staged a counter-attack against the L1Z1X, taking two largely-open systems. This proved important as they saw their Bereg/Lirta IV system to be imminently taken away.

The Barony, following up on their trash talk of the L1Z1X fleet, used Warfare to move as close to it as possible, promising a battle in the system they ended up on. They would find the L1Z1X, at that time, to not be the most willing participants.

The L1Z1X took Bereg/Lirta IV, adding to their impressive portfolio of resources. They were receiving no threat from the Sardakk Norr, and out-gunned the Ghosts. However, the Barony were coming for them, like it or not. They scraped together three victory points and prepared for the worst.

Map after round 5:

Objectives/Victory track after round 5:

Here is where the agenda phase really took off. The Norr acquired the “Master of Science” law earlier, which allowed them free access to technologies. They were sure to take Technology on their next turn, and they were Speaker as well. However, another agenda passed, and the Norr had Public Execution handed to them, which discarded their hand of action cards, and most importantly shifted the Speaker token to the Federation of Sol.

The Federation then saw a light at the end of the tunnel; the new 2-point objective revealed was “Own 2 technologies in each of 4 colors.” They already had two green and blue technologies, and they now had the Technology strategy card, enough resources to double-tech with it, and unknown to other players, an action card that allowed them to acquire another technology for 4 trade goods.

Other players, specifically the L1Z1X, pointed much of this out, but the only race in a position to take Sol out of the game was the Sardakk Norr. They had a chance in earlier rounds, but traded that threat for the Speaker token. Now Sol had managed to stack over a dozen ground forces on Jord, which wasn’t going to be possible for the Norr to overcome. Both the L1Z1X and Barony had abilities to overcome Sol’s infantry advantage, but they were going to end up in a much different kind of conflict, and were also too far away to get to Jord anyways.

Finally, another agenda was passed that made the Barony’s completed secret objective a public one: “Have 1 or more ships in a system that is adjacent to a player’s home system.” This also favored the Federation, as this was actually an attainable goal.

Recap of round 6:

The L1Z1X, wanting no immediate part of the Barony’s superfleet, actively moved away from the armored and shielded red mass. They focused on acquiring more victory points, in hopes that someone else would handle the Federation’s scratching and clawing towards the finish line.

The Barony gave chase for the L1Z1X’s fleet, publicly admonishing them for “being little bitches.” While flippant and callous, no one had a problem with the Barony’s denouncements. The L1Z1X had been similarly oppressive, and everyone wanted to see a rumble.

The Ghosts, having two giant and dangerous fleets near them, holed up in the Thibah system and attempted to not be an attractive target.

The Sardakk Norr, having had enough of doing nothing, struck out into L1Z1X’s slice and took the Corneeq (though not taking Resculon in the same system). This was obviously a bid for the new public objective. While the L1Z1X had the Norr’s Ceasefire promissory note, they chose not to use it as it wasn’t an important planet to them (and angering another opponent seemed to be a bad idea with the Barony knocking down their door)

The Nekro Virus actually managed to crawl out of the grave and re-establish their position. They took Mecatol Rex, scored a point off of Imperial, and claimed two public objectives to get back to the pack. They even scored some technologies from the Norr in some skirmishes, finally getting in line with the rest of the board.

The Federation, seeing the new victory point, was able to stall out the turn using action cards and their Orbital Drop racial ability. The last action of the turn was taking their lone cruiser to the system adjacent to the Barony’s home system. This scored a critical victory point (as it allowed them to skip the “5 trade goods” objective which would have otherwise been an near-impossible strain on their resources), and set them up at 8 points. The table could absolutely see a Sol victory coming, and was largely unable to prevent it.

Map after round 6:

Objectives and Victory track after round 6 (as well as a beer):

The Federation crossed their fingers, hoping the agenda phase didn’t hurt them. Luckily nothing horrific occurred, and the start of round 7 had them set up to take the win.

Recap of round 7:

The battle began.

As most predicted, the Barony won this war, but lost a number of ships in the process.

The Barony, happy with their military victory, also gleefully built a War Sun because “why the $&#! not?”

The L1Z1X, despite their fleet being wrecked, still focused on more victory points and were able to make a small run.

The Ghosts took a stab at the L1Z1X’s home system out of sheer spite, but failed to take it down. The dice gods were quite unkind to the Ghosts in this endeavor, unfortunately.

The Sardakk Norr more or less sat there. There was a moment when they thought they could get to the X-89 Bacterial Weapon technology to un-root and eliminate the Federation of Sol, but that was not to be.

The Nekro Virus stacked up more on Mecatol Rex and tried to set themselves up for more victory points, but it was too little, too late. They begrudgingly assisted the Federation in a tiny bit of king-making, being a still-willing trade partner and also Sabotaging an action card played against the Federation.

The Federation was able to avoid destruction by way of a giant pile of infantry, and repeatedly taking Trade to keep enough resources to fortify Jord, purchase technologies, and fulfill objectives. They purchased one of the last two technologies they needed from the secondary of the Technology strategy card, as they should. They then stalled out the round again using action cards and Orbital Drop, then activated Trade to gain a whopping 9 trade goods (3 from Trade, 3 from a trade with the Nekro Virus, and 3 from the Trade Agreement promissory note from the Sardakk Norr). At that point, they had an action card to purchase the final technology to fulfill the 2-point objective, but they also had enough trade goods to fulfill “Spend 16 influence.”

Map after round 7, and end of game:

Final objectives/victory track:

And that was the tale of the evening: the Federation of Sol, taking an early lead and reaching the finishing line despite only having a single planet the last four rounds of the game.

Admittedly, this group was still finding its footing, and this wasn’t the most competitive game because of it. Welshy (Barony) was really just exploring mechanics and having fun. Dan (Cruess) had some unfortunate setbacks and wasn’t terribly familiar with the Ghost’s primary strategies. Warren (Norr) was also still figuring things out, and had locked himself out of an obvious path (punishing the L1Z1X) after trading Ceasefires. Erik was just crapped on generally, failing to gain a single technology until round 4 (I think). He even failed to call an agenda correctly until round 3 or 4.

Normally our group is much more competitive, but the adjustment to Fourth Edition is still occurring. Additionally, this is one of the first games of any version of Twilight Imperium for this group in quite some time (at least three months, if not longer).

Some strategy and game notes, at least from my perspective (Sol):

Heading into a game with three other military giants (L1Z1X, Barony, Norr) made me believe I had to get my points early, and find a way to continue gaining points while staying out of fights. I angled towards technology early, simply hoping that more objectives involving it would pop up.

The objectives absolutely favored my strategy, as they were eminently attainable despite being holed up half the game. If the objectives were different I wouldn’t have had a chance.

Trade is super-powerful. That, coupled with Sol’s 4-resource starting planet, were shockingly enough to get to 10 points, at least in this game. I took trade most of the time, and only allowed promised trade partners to replenish commodities. Everyone else was too command-counter starved to spend the strategy token to bother.

I also used the secondary of Politics at every opportunity; I wasn’t using my command counters for much else, and since I was poor in every other sense I figured I needed to tilt something to my advantage. I was effectively drawing four action cards per turn (Sol also starts with Neural Motivator), and this proved to be critically important as well.

As previously mentioned, we did a terrible job of balancing the map. We tried, we were just bad at it. We do still plan to play this way in the future though, so we’ll get better.

Finally, some general TI4 and coverage notes:

The two most overhauled systems in TI4, trade and the agenda phase, are so good I don’t have further words.

The general consensus among our group is that TI4 is excellent, easier to grasp, has less complication, and will most certainly continue to be a favorite on Friday nights (when we can round everyone up, that is).

My apologies for not having all the details or perfectly focused pictures. Please note that there is beer involved on these game nights.

Game time started at 8PM and ended at 2AM, with frequent breaks (probably 10 minutes after every round).

We hope to deliver these recaps whenever we get these games together; please stay tuned for more, and let us know if there’s anything you’d like to see, or any questions.

Thanks, and may your dice roll true.