Space Cats Peace Turtles

The tournament has begun, and this week is a quick recap of the first game. It was a fun game with a lot of surprises, which bodes well for the rest of the tournament. Afterwards, there is a lot of errata about last week’s Tier List!   Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

The year is over and it’s time to RANK THINGS. We wanted to talk about how this year felt for all the different factions and give you a DEFINITIVE list of how they compare against one another. This is the most serious episode ever and our opinions are final. We are nerd masters and we have thought many eons longer than your tiny human peon brain has. FEAR US. No errata!   Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

THIS IS IT. As I type these words, we officially involved ourselves in Twilight Imperium related activities for 15 hours. I'm going to bed. Please enjoy this post game(s) wrap-up discussion, recorded after our one serious game of TI and our one....less serious game.   Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! Prepare yourself for the high octane action of probably something like 12 to 14 hours of TWILIGHT IMPERIUM! This week’s episode is a bit of a filler, but for those of you who have never tuned in to a streamed game we’re here to convince you to join us! We play some normal TI, but also some very strange TI, and this episode is all about breaking down those strange games. It’s a strange episode, but IT’S THE HOLIDAYS and we’re going to stream literally all day on Dec. 23...so bear with us...   Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

The Galactic Council has voted again, and this time, despite all of our expectations, is an episode about fleet compositions! Today, we break down the role of each ship within a fleet and how different factions think about putting fleets together. Afterwards, there’s some errata in there about four player games. Make sure you don’t get any on your shoes, I hear the stench never goes away.   Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

Matt played a four player game and was reminded how long it has been since he’s done Four Player. This is because Hunter despises Four Player games of Twilight Imperium. So, today is a regular old duel to the death over whether or not Four Player games are “good.” Afterwards, there is some important errata on the Tournament Prelim Round Map, including a couple of changes to the map itself.   Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

Tournament preparations are underway, and first on our list was to make a properly balanced map for the Preliminary round. Eighteen games will be played on this map, so we wanted to make sure it had exactly the right feel. On today’s episode, we breakdown the map and discuss its yin and yangs between slices and go over which factions we think can flourish in which spots. Then we have some errata on last week’s Player Profile about Hunter! To see the map, visit this link!     Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

It’s time for another Player Profile! There’s only one other host of the podcast, so that means this week’s profile is all about Hunter! We cover his much more strategic background, how he goes about handling relationships at the table, and how he manages his salt output. Also included is a breakdown of the structure of the upcoming Patreon tournament and some overview of a recent Good Yin Brotherhood game. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

The votes are in, and the Galactic Council has spoken! This time, the council proposed a conversation about what factions are best for new players and what skills new players can hope to develop when playing a specific faction. We brought in our friend and frequent contributor E.J. to help us with this discussion. We hope this is a great episode to show to new players as a possible entry point for getting into Twilight Imperium! Afterwards, there’s a lot of errata about our Tournament Draft method that we detailed last week, and some further speculation on what to do about 5 player tournament games. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

It’s Election Day! Which means it’s time to discuss the best way to elect a faction in Twilight Imperium. This episode is focused on our Draft method for the upcoming Patreon Tournament. We outline the system in detail, and discuss the pros and cons to using it. Then it’s a breakdown of how the system works and analyzing the types of decision making we expect players to make when using it. Enjoy! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

Today is the first episode of a new concept for the show: Player Profiles! We find there is value in assessing why a specific player makes the decisions they make. You can use their ideas to better your own play, or use their thoughts AGAINST THEM. For the first one, we break down how Matt has thought about strategy games in the past, and what goes through his head when he plays Twilight Imperium. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

Shh! There are many secrets in this episode. This week, Matt and Hunter discuss the value of secret, backdoor politicking in Twilight Imperium, and the different amounts of whispering that seem acceptable within the community. Looking for more feedback on this discussion, so be sure give your thoughts! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

Today’s episode is a bit of a stranger topic. But with the Patreon tournament more on our mind, we felt it was best to talk a little bit about the benefits and pitfalls of playing on Tabletop Simulator. We’re hoping this episode sparks more discussion from TTS experts in the community that we can follow up on next week. After our TTS discussion is errata for Tech Skips. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

While tech paths are still topical, Matt and Hunter decided to sit down and talk about planets with Tech Specialties, otherwise known as Tech Skips. They break down the different planets themselves, the best techs to skip, and how this impacts different factions' tech paths. After that is errata for the “Always and Nevers” episode from last week. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com

It’s time for an episode decided on by the Galactic Council! The “Always and Nevers” of Twilight Imperium is our list of somewhat absolutes players should consider when playing. None of this is actually absolute, and there is no such thing as always and no such thing as never. Unless we’re talking about Stymie. Then "Not Even Once..." Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com