I played one 5 player game of TI3 in the dim mists of time, to the point that most of the players of that session have forgotten (This is for the best, two of them got into a 45 minute argument about Deep Space PDS and Wormhole travel). Otherwise my experience prior to the following was a single 3 player TI4 game where I was the only true noob, one player raced to Mecatol and got his score going only, I allied with the third player and made a failed gambit to take his home world and that was basically that.
I paused here to surf some music. Billie Eilish seems to be a mistake. If I'm honest with Hailee Steinfield I would definitely taste every animal in a zoo, only been disappointed by Crocodile so far. The math of amount of beer remaining vs Pretzels available is more engaging than it should be.
PLAYERS/FACTIONS
The Arborec, hereafter referred to as a variety of plant species. Run by the game owner and most experienced of
the TI players in general. The previous time we played they made the early pitch play of seizing Mecatol and
plonking upgraded PDS units in the vicinity, I wouldn't be shocked if that early grab was made again.
The Mentak, rebranded as "those pirate guys over there" or iterations thereof. Operated by the other of that three
player TI4 game I played in, didn't have a lot to go beyond a vague passivity. Did participate once the we were both
pushed into the losers bracket, so hope is there negotiation wise.
Federation of Sol, they're dirty humans and I will call them such. An experienced TI3 player, known the person a
good while, not a solid certainty on the in game approach.
The hallowed and glorious Xxcha Kingdom, me, so most likely in first person perspective pr "dirty/ugly Mole men".
We know what we are. Picked them as the planet seizing rule seemed decent and as a four player game I knew the
Diplo tile would be played every round to trigger. Expected to struggle somewhat with triggering the other racial
ability as I'm not super across what the Agenda deck can do and the racial techs needing research seemed out of
my reach (It took me a couple turns to really get into independently thinking about tech).
The Arborec, hereafter referred to as a variety of plant species. Run by the game owner and most experienced of
the TI players in general. The previous time we played they made the early pitch play of seizing Mecatol and
plonking upgraded PDS units in the vicinity, I wouldn't be shocked if that early grab was made again.
The Mentak, rebranded as "those pirate guys over there" or iterations thereof. Operated by the other of that three
player TI4 game I played in, didn't have a lot to go beyond a vague passivity. Did participate once the we were both
pushed into the losers bracket, so hope is there negotiation wise.
Federation of Sol, they're dirty humans and I will call them such. An experienced TI3 player, known the person a
good while, not a solid certainty on the in game approach.
The hallowed and glorious Xxcha Kingdom, me, so most likely in first person perspective pr "dirty/ugly Mole men".
We know what we are. Picked them as the planet seizing rule seemed decent and as a four player game I knew the
Diplo tile would be played every round to trigger. Expected to struggle somewhat with triggering the other racial
ability as I'm not super across what the Agenda deck can do and the racial techs needing research seemed out of
my reach (It took me a couple turns to really get into independently thinking about tech).
OPENING POSITIONS/BOARD
To our left are the Pirates with a glut of worlds before them.
Across the galaxy are the Plants, planet wise they probably have the most meagre direct options. To the right are the humans.
Mecatol is surrounded by two Asteroid blocks and a.....sun? Something burny with an angry red border. I find that
location for the centre of galactic politics to be sodding bizarre. The three points of entry are two planet tiles and
one open space.
The net positioning result for the mildly honourable Mole Men is the following:
1 - The Pirates to our left are gated through a single system, the hazardous terrain not being asteroids meaning tech
can't open up the boundary to much.
2 - Pirates have a good entry point to Mecatol with a pair of planets system as their entry point
3 - The fiendishly aggressive across the table plants have an easy line to Mecatol, however their logical entry point
lacks systems, so I won't re-live the PDS issue of my first game to the same degree.
4 - The real conniption, my entry to Mecatol is the same as the most convenient path for the humies. The non-asteroid
hazards being on my side also means I can't bypass via asteroid travel tech. Sod.
ROUND 1 - Secondary tech needs what now?
Public Objectives are to Control 6 non-Homeworld Planets and burn 8 Resources in the great cinderblock ofthe sky space.
My opening Secret objectives don't seem super great, control four Hazardous type planets. I've got three I get reasonably get to, then it looks like it's
time to swallow sadness, the other Hazard planets on the board are all a fair distance from me. Second card was the same
for Cultural planets.
Opening round, the plants roll out to start as speaker. Should have put money on it, as predicted they nab warfare.
Humans grab Tech. I opt for Politics. Don't recall the remaining distribution.
Everyone folds out, claiming nearby planets.
Humans get nominated as speaker by the Moles, nominally this is for alliance feel goodness, really it's because with the seating position it gives us second tile pick and potential Speaker-dom.
Screw up wise, I spend Strategy points on Construction in the home system, forgetting that point was planned for Tech. Whoops. I also drew another Secret objective to control four Cultural planets. Sigh.
ROUND 2 - You're both from Starship troopers.....
New Public Objective: Burn 8 Influence
Sure enough, the plants seize Mecato. I TOLD YOU ALL YOU FOOLS! The intelligent triffids also had gained Imperial for an early Victory Point lead.
Critically, the glorious Mole People and the Humans form an alliance. Humans gain Support for the Throne, Mole Men gain Ceasefire and a promise of not being contested for the system tile allowing easy access to Mecatol.
Molemen make themselves Speaker for the incoming Agenda phase, end up finish the Tech pre-req's to get super
PDS' later in the game. An action card gives us a free Cruiser.
The Agenda cards crate a culture planet with a hands off rule, the state of voting is that Humies, Moles and Plants
tread equal amount of influence all game whilst the Pirates are comparatively voting poor.
Seond Agenda item *drumroll* is......a revote on the first item. It changed nothing. Being Speaker would be a
deciding factor in galactic politics in a similar vein for the rest of the game, this felt like the least eventful, though
\denying a planet to the Humies and Plants wasn't a null result.
VP's:
Plants - Streaking ahead with Mecatol and Imperial
Humies - Scored a secret and burnt resources to keep plant pace
Moles - Burn influence to score a Public
Pirates - Lag behind at this point
ROUND 3 - This smells like Guano and we aren't Fire Wizzzzards....
New Public Objective - Control 4 planets of the same type
As the objective is revealed a quick survey of the planets we'll end up with shows us to be a damned fool.
We do have access to four Cultural, even had a secret objective for it and misread our planets, ergo discarding it.
Alexander's incompetent Moleman bro looked up the galaxy and wept, for he done goofed, akin in the Nerds vs
Lady Robots battle.
First selection, we take Imperial, dreams of slopping our wet walrus like forms against it's dusty soil in a display
both decadent and disgusting. We end up with another tile of high initiative, the nature of which I don't recall.
As soon as we can the invasion of Mecatol begins. A cruiser goes down in the name of killing the pair of Carriers,
the vile vines viciously vivisected in space at least. Four flag Moles descend upon a trio of plant boyos in a glorious
invasion, to be commerated for all time in song, in dance, in praise.
As an epic failure. A single plant falls as the invasion force is wiped out.
Hmmmm.....rats. That plans on the backburner. More Secret objectives are churned, we get "beat the highest VP player
the action after the space fight where we could have claimed it. The objective deck is now under suspicion of
collusion.
The human "allies" make thing nervous, manouvering near our defenceless systems to get to a wormhole leading to
the other side of the galaxy, here's hoping they don't want to kick a mole while they're down. They also garner a
large fleet, matched by the Pirates who slowly move out.
Advanced PDS' are purchased and plonked on our system beside Mecatol. Alas, the plants build their own on the
capital world and pawn reinforcements. The Humans also feel the urge to procreate, making the Mole People roll
their eyes at this flagrant disregard for their planetary environments.
The Pirate expansion remains thorough, but slow. There is tension between the Humans and Plants as they both park
beside their border system, one planet of which is the Culturally protected deal.
There is some trade between the factions, aside from the pirates who are content to just nab their extra bits. Moles and
Plants exchange Trade Agreements as part of this arrangement, though damned if I recall what that agreement was about.
It'll look poor in a future senate hearing, have no doubt.
Agenda phase, the Plants are speaker. This is Vital as votes remain tied between Humans, Moles and Plants with a
smaller wildcard amount held by the Pirates.
The opening Agenda is a floating ceasefire card. Panic ensues. My strategy pool is tanked, so it can't be dropped.
In any event not a huge deal, an agreement is reached between Pirates, Moles and Humans, the latter two input minor
votes and the Pirates exhaust their influence to give it to the Pirates, getting a total one higher than the plants maximum.
This was the compromise position, boosting the Pirates whilst avoiding the plants and leaving enough votes to stop the
next Agenda as required.
Turns out, photosynthesis is good for some guile. The plants use their last place vote to exhaust their influence and
pop a card for extra votes to claim the ceasefire, the negotiations were for nought.
A new Agenda card pops out, weight of voting power now with the humans. It's Science....boosty.....thing. Minister
of Science, that's the one. Seems pretty good.
Both Moles and Plants opt to bet with Action Cards on the outcome. Moles for a VP, Plants for action cards. It is assumed
the humans will take it for themselves, this ends up being accurate.
VP Wise:
Humand Plants have a slight VP edge
Molemen are a point behind, opting to burn Resources for the point.
Pirates are a point behind them, seemingly primarily pursuing their hidden objectives, which seem unknownable. Beyond
a weird insatiable desire to build Dreadnoughts anyway.
ROUND 4 - YOUR THORNS WILL NOT HOLD A SECOND TIME!
New Public objective - Burn 3 command tokens from Tactics/Strategy
We finangle to get Warfare, a necessity forced by the need to build new troops in order to invade Mecatol again.
A deal is made for us to take Trade to aid the Pirates in order for them to trigger Leadership early in the turn, allowing
our depleted Strategy Pool to be rebuilt before all the secondaries happen.
The delaying this turn on all sides is very noticeable. I play two action cards to know discernible effect, Humans move
around in a lacklustre faction, Pirates keep building. A build a Destroyer, Carrier and troops.The plants both restock their
Mecatol troops and build some damn PDS'.
Finally Plants proc tech, which everyone was waiting for. The deal with the Pirates was solely made to allow the Strategy
refresh to pop advanced infantry, we needed the edge. Realising the Arborec' weed like troop spawning, the humans
were making an effort to get to Bio warfare, which already went in with their command token tech shenanigans.
The Humans make their move, Wormholing across the Galaxy with a Carrier/Cruiser fleet to seize a planet beside the Plant Homeworld, threatening it for a secret objective proc.
The Culturally protected planet proves vulnerable to an Action card as the humans pinch in on the Plants, seizing the previously protected planet.
These moves also cause the Plants to pop their roving Ceasefire Agenda card.
Once more to the capital! Mecatol will be ours!
Our Destroyer and Carrier join the waiting Cruiser, the Planetoids pew pew and land a hit. We allocate it to our Destroyer, in hindsight quite the silly, as a Direct Hit card implodes it. Rats. One of our descending Infantry also dies on the way down, leading to our 3 elites versus four basic potted plants.
The opening is a disaster. The opening shot is a death on either side, leading to a one long grinding battle of 1 v 2. Alas our final pew pew mole peep ends up being of high stamina but poor accuracy and falls, a pair of Plants stay
holding onto Mecatol. We weep for the dead. Well, their failure anyway.
Ho hum. What to do? The alliance with the Humans seems strong, though the superior strength of their fleets is
undeniable. The Pirates to are strong. We can only plod along and score each turn.
The Pirates move next door to Mecatol with a Destroyer/Carrier/Cruiser fleet. Our Moley hearts fill with fear.
Objective wise we burn Command tokens, from here we can score without painful spends. We do continue redlining into the Agenda phase, the opening card involves fighters/troops becoming more expensive to produce. I scorch it, not liking the odds of it helping my cause of seizing Mecatol.
The remaining Agenda cards don't do anything important as far as the Moles can remember.
ROUND 5 - WELCOME TO MY DALEK POETRY READING. THIS ONE IS CALLED DAFFODILS.
New Public Objective - Have 2 techs in all colours
No risk of anyone getting that objective, so that's something.
The Molemen spend the turns licking our wounds, desperately attempting to regain our resources and energies
willfully spent on doomed dreams of possessing the capital.
We spawn PDS' and our Flagship beside Mecatol, claiming of leadership and expenditure of influence points gives
us a glut of command points for the first time in the game. Feels good. For the first time we raise our fleet cap as well,
feeling somewhat paltry as both Pirates and Humans are 5 in that field.
The Humans and Plants go to war in earnest, the plants destroy the fleet threatening their homeworld. They pushback on the boundary system, we Moles feel some sweet Schadenfreude as they too fail a planetary assault.
The humans nominate themselves as Speaker.
There is a point where the Humans build massively on our boarder, the Plants beseech us to do the logical thing and fire our 5 PDS shots in. The Humans indicate they will throw everything at us. We obsequious to their....suggestion.
Without the Alliance things seem poor.
The Pirates surge onto the Wormholes, finally completing a long held Secret objective.
We arrange an extensive trade deal with the Pirates. The Plants promptly nick our commodies with the long forgotten
trade agreement. Nuts.
Scoring wise, we continue our Public Objective plodding, scoring again.
We now lead with the Humans, the Plants a step behind due to war commitments and a table refusal to allow them
Imperial. The Pirates lag a further step behind, now needing to to attempt 2nd level objectives to get into it.
The Agenda cards occur. The Humans had found the most bizarre of artifacts, its vote was pushed through. Either
we gained tech or at last Mecatol would be cleared. The die was cast, Mecatol and multiple units around it were
vaporised, a Xanatos gambit for the Humans who lacked units around the planet.
A second Agenda card appears and is uneventful.
ROUND 6 - IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!
New Public level 2 Objective - Seize Have 3 unit upgrades
With this new objective both Humans and us Moles can win this turn. Humans need to trigger another Secret objective and
use their Speaker position to nab Imperial. We select next, Leadership is taken solely for the Initiative in scoring. We
have to score our first secret objective, if any of them can be.
Drained at last of enemies, our Flagship, a Carrier and a Cruiser float above the apocalypitcally devestated capital,
landing the Mole Mans. At last. Imagine if we had Imperial at this moment.
Tech triggers and our Cruisers improve.
The Pirates say sorry and pick up a Tactical token, hovering it over our Space lands. The bullets are truly sweating.
Are we to lose Mecatol so soon? No ships block their path to our homeworld, albeit it has some defences and our Action
cards are all combat stacked.
Fortune smiles on us, they seize a pair of undefended planets we no long have need of.
The Humans and Plants continue there back and forth, the Plants attempt to retake another Human seized planet, once
more the invading ground troops zappity zoopity bloopity die.
We get to the scoring, I trigger the public and finally, at long last, control Mecatol with three ships in the skies above to
net the 10th VP.
Most of the game I had a card for a point if I won a fight against the highest VP player. Every ground invasion of Mecatol was
timed for this to happen.
The Moles had won. I'd argue the Galaxy has a sever Pirate and various infestation problems, thankfully that's a future issue
for the TI sequel game that doesn't exist. I think.
Would Twilight again. As in Imperial, I was also forced to watch those movies. Not a fan.
After game thoughts:
Had some early screw ups, particularly was low on tech compared to the humans/pirates. Felt like the playing of the
players worked out pretty well. Did a lot of deal management in the Agenda phases.
Plants - Early lead seemed to burn them out of the game.
Humans - Built massively, had no Secret objectives so felt that the Mecatol alliance deal worked well for them anyway
Pirates - Got tunnel visioned on their secrets, such as the Wormhole one, that made them spread out and not move and be far to passive
End of Board State.
location for the centre of galactic politics to be sodding bizarre. The three points of entry are two planet tiles and
one open space.
The net positioning result for the mildly honourable Mole Men is the following:
1 - The Pirates to our left are gated through a single system, the hazardous terrain not being asteroids meaning tech
can't open up the boundary to much.
2 - Pirates have a good entry point to Mecatol with a pair of planets system as their entry point
3 - The fiendishly aggressive across the table plants have an easy line to Mecatol, however their logical entry point
lacks systems, so I won't re-live the PDS issue of my first game to the same degree.
4 - The real conniption, my entry to Mecatol is the same as the most convenient path for the humies. The non-asteroid
hazards being on my side also means I can't bypass via asteroid travel tech. Sod.
ROUND 1 - Secondary tech needs what now?
Public Objectives are to Control 6 non-Homeworld Planets and burn 8 Resources in the great cinderblock of
My opening Secret objectives don't seem super great, control four Hazardous type planets. I've got three I get reasonably get to, then it looks like it's
time to swallow sadness, the other Hazard planets on the board are all a fair distance from me. Second card was the same
for Cultural planets.
Opening round, the plants roll out to start as speaker. Should have put money on it, as predicted they nab warfare.
Humans grab Tech. I opt for Politics. Don't recall the remaining distribution.
Everyone folds out, claiming nearby planets.
Humans get nominated as speaker by the Moles, nominally this is for alliance feel goodness, really it's because with the seating position it gives us second tile pick and potential Speaker-dom.
Screw up wise, I spend Strategy points on Construction in the home system, forgetting that point was planned for Tech. Whoops. I also drew another Secret objective to control four Cultural planets. Sigh.
ROUND 2 - You're both from Starship troopers.....
New Public Objective: Burn 8 Influence
Sure enough, the plants seize Mecato. I TOLD YOU ALL YOU FOOLS! The intelligent triffids also had gained Imperial for an early Victory Point lead.
Critically, the glorious Mole People and the Humans form an alliance. Humans gain Support for the Throne, Mole Men gain Ceasefire and a promise of not being contested for the system tile allowing easy access to Mecatol.
Molemen make themselves Speaker for the incoming Agenda phase, end up finish the Tech pre-req's to get super
PDS' later in the game. An action card gives us a free Cruiser.
The Agenda cards crate a culture planet with a hands off rule, the state of voting is that Humies, Moles and Plants
tread equal amount of influence all game whilst the Pirates are comparatively voting poor.
Seond Agenda item *drumroll* is......a revote on the first item. It changed nothing. Being Speaker would be a
deciding factor in galactic politics in a similar vein for the rest of the game, this felt like the least eventful, though
\denying a planet to the Humies and Plants wasn't a null result.
VP's:
Plants - Streaking ahead with Mecatol and Imperial
Humies - Scored a secret and burnt resources to keep plant pace
Moles - Burn influence to score a Public
Pirates - Lag behind at this point
ROUND 3 - This smells like Guano and we aren't Fire Wizzzzards....
New Public Objective - Control 4 planets of the same type
As the objective is revealed a quick survey of the planets we'll end up with shows us to be a damned fool.
We do have access to four Cultural, even had a secret objective for it and misread our planets, ergo discarding it.
Alexander's incompetent Moleman bro looked up the galaxy and wept, for he done goofed, akin in the Nerds vs
Lady Robots battle.
First selection, we take Imperial, dreams of slopping our wet walrus like forms against it's dusty soil in a display
both decadent and disgusting. We end up with another tile of high initiative, the nature of which I don't recall.
As soon as we can the invasion of Mecatol begins. A cruiser goes down in the name of killing the pair of Carriers,
the vile vines viciously vivisected in space at least. Four flag Moles descend upon a trio of plant boyos in a glorious
invasion, to be commerated for all time in song, in dance, in praise.
As an epic failure. A single plant falls as the invasion force is wiped out.
Hmmmm.....rats. That plans on the backburner. More Secret objectives are churned, we get "beat the highest VP player
the action after the space fight where we could have claimed it. The objective deck is now under suspicion of
collusion.
The human "allies" make thing nervous, manouvering near our defenceless systems to get to a wormhole leading to
the other side of the galaxy, here's hoping they don't want to kick a mole while they're down. They also garner a
large fleet, matched by the Pirates who slowly move out.
Advanced PDS' are purchased and plonked on our system beside Mecatol. Alas, the plants build their own on the
capital world and pawn reinforcements. The Humans also feel the urge to procreate, making the Mole People roll
their eyes at this flagrant disregard for their planetary environments.
The Pirate expansion remains thorough, but slow. There is tension between the Humans and Plants as they both park
beside their border system, one planet of which is the Culturally protected deal.
There is some trade between the factions, aside from the pirates who are content to just nab their extra bits. Moles and
Plants exchange Trade Agreements as part of this arrangement, though damned if I recall what that agreement was about.
It'll look poor in a future senate hearing, have no doubt.
Agenda phase, the Plants are speaker. This is Vital as votes remain tied between Humans, Moles and Plants with a
smaller wildcard amount held by the Pirates.
The opening Agenda is a floating ceasefire card. Panic ensues. My strategy pool is tanked, so it can't be dropped.
In any event not a huge deal, an agreement is reached between Pirates, Moles and Humans, the latter two input minor
votes and the Pirates exhaust their influence to give it to the Pirates, getting a total one higher than the plants maximum.
This was the compromise position, boosting the Pirates whilst avoiding the plants and leaving enough votes to stop the
next Agenda as required.
Turns out, photosynthesis is good for some guile. The plants use their last place vote to exhaust their influence and
pop a card for extra votes to claim the ceasefire, the negotiations were for nought.
A new Agenda card pops out, weight of voting power now with the humans. It's Science....boosty.....thing. Minister
of Science, that's the one. Seems pretty good.
Both Moles and Plants opt to bet with Action Cards on the outcome. Moles for a VP, Plants for action cards. It is assumed
the humans will take it for themselves, this ends up being accurate.
VP Wise:
Humand Plants have a slight VP edge
Molemen are a point behind, opting to burn Resources for the point.
Pirates are a point behind them, seemingly primarily pursuing their hidden objectives, which seem unknownable. Beyond
a weird insatiable desire to build Dreadnoughts anyway.
ROUND 4 - YOUR THORNS WILL NOT HOLD A SECOND TIME!
New Public objective - Burn 3 command tokens from Tactics/Strategy
We finangle to get Warfare, a necessity forced by the need to build new troops in order to invade Mecatol again.
A deal is made for us to take Trade to aid the Pirates in order for them to trigger Leadership early in the turn, allowing
our depleted Strategy Pool to be rebuilt before all the secondaries happen.
The delaying this turn on all sides is very noticeable. I play two action cards to know discernible effect, Humans move
around in a lacklustre faction, Pirates keep building. A build a Destroyer, Carrier and troops.The plants both restock their
Mecatol troops and build some damn PDS'.
Finally Plants proc tech, which everyone was waiting for. The deal with the Pirates was solely made to allow the Strategy
refresh to pop advanced infantry, we needed the edge. Realising the Arborec' weed like troop spawning, the humans
were making an effort to get to Bio warfare, which already went in with their command token tech shenanigans.
The Humans make their move, Wormholing across the Galaxy with a Carrier/Cruiser fleet to seize a planet beside the Plant Homeworld, threatening it for a secret objective proc.
The Culturally protected planet proves vulnerable to an Action card as the humans pinch in on the Plants, seizing the previously protected planet.
These moves also cause the Plants to pop their roving Ceasefire Agenda card.
Once more to the capital! Mecatol will be ours!
Our Destroyer and Carrier join the waiting Cruiser, the Planetoids pew pew and land a hit. We allocate it to our Destroyer, in hindsight quite the silly, as a Direct Hit card implodes it. Rats. One of our descending Infantry also dies on the way down, leading to our 3 elites versus four basic potted plants.
The opening is a disaster. The opening shot is a death on either side, leading to a one long grinding battle of 1 v 2. Alas our final pew pew mole peep ends up being of high stamina but poor accuracy and falls, a pair of Plants stay
holding onto Mecatol. We weep for the dead. Well, their failure anyway.
Ho hum. What to do? The alliance with the Humans seems strong, though the superior strength of their fleets is
undeniable. The Pirates to are strong. We can only plod along and score each turn.
The Pirates move next door to Mecatol with a Destroyer/Carrier/Cruiser fleet. Our Moley hearts fill with fear.
Objective wise we burn Command tokens, from here we can score without painful spends. We do continue redlining into the Agenda phase, the opening card involves fighters/troops becoming more expensive to produce. I scorch it, not liking the odds of it helping my cause of seizing Mecatol.
The remaining Agenda cards don't do anything important as far as the Moles can remember.
ROUND 5 - WELCOME TO MY DALEK POETRY READING. THIS ONE IS CALLED DAFFODILS.
New Public Objective - Have 2 techs in all colours
No risk of anyone getting that objective, so that's something.
The Molemen spend the turns licking our wounds, desperately attempting to regain our resources and energies
willfully spent on doomed dreams of possessing the capital.
We spawn PDS' and our Flagship beside Mecatol, claiming of leadership and expenditure of influence points gives
us a glut of command points for the first time in the game. Feels good. For the first time we raise our fleet cap as well,
feeling somewhat paltry as both Pirates and Humans are 5 in that field.
The Humans and Plants go to war in earnest, the plants destroy the fleet threatening their homeworld. They pushback on the boundary system, we Moles feel some sweet Schadenfreude as they too fail a planetary assault.
The humans nominate themselves as Speaker.
There is a point where the Humans build massively on our boarder, the Plants beseech us to do the logical thing and fire our 5 PDS shots in. The Humans indicate they will throw everything at us. We obsequious to their....suggestion.
Without the Alliance things seem poor.
The Pirates surge onto the Wormholes, finally completing a long held Secret objective.
We arrange an extensive trade deal with the Pirates. The Plants promptly nick our commodies with the long forgotten
trade agreement. Nuts.
Scoring wise, we continue our Public Objective plodding, scoring again.
We now lead with the Humans, the Plants a step behind due to war commitments and a table refusal to allow them
Imperial. The Pirates lag a further step behind, now needing to to attempt 2nd level objectives to get into it.
The Agenda cards occur. The Humans had found the most bizarre of artifacts, its vote was pushed through. Either
we gained tech or at last Mecatol would be cleared. The die was cast, Mecatol and multiple units around it were
vaporised, a Xanatos gambit for the Humans who lacked units around the planet.
A second Agenda card appears and is uneventful.
ROUND 6 - IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!
New Public level 2 Objective - Seize Have 3 unit upgrades
With this new objective both Humans and us Moles can win this turn. Humans need to trigger another Secret objective and
use their Speaker position to nab Imperial. We select next, Leadership is taken solely for the Initiative in scoring. We
have to score our first secret objective, if any of them can be.
Drained at last of enemies, our Flagship, a Carrier and a Cruiser float above the apocalypitcally devestated capital,
landing the Mole Mans. At last. Imagine if we had Imperial at this moment.
Tech triggers and our Cruisers improve.
The Pirates say sorry and pick up a Tactical token, hovering it over our Space lands. The bullets are truly sweating.
Are we to lose Mecatol so soon? No ships block their path to our homeworld, albeit it has some defences and our Action
cards are all combat stacked.
Fortune smiles on us, they seize a pair of undefended planets we no long have need of.
The Humans and Plants continue there back and forth, the Plants attempt to retake another Human seized planet, once
more the invading ground troops zappity zoopity bloopity die.
We get to the scoring, I trigger the public and finally, at long last, control Mecatol with three ships in the skies above to
net the 10th VP.
Most of the game I had a card for a point if I won a fight against the highest VP player. Every ground invasion of Mecatol was
timed for this to happen.
The Moles had won. I'd argue the Galaxy has a sever Pirate and various infestation problems, thankfully that's a future issue
for the TI sequel game that doesn't exist. I think.
Would Twilight again. As in Imperial, I was also forced to watch those movies. Not a fan.
After game thoughts:
Had some early screw ups, particularly was low on tech compared to the humans/pirates. Felt like the playing of the
players worked out pretty well. Did a lot of deal management in the Agenda phases.
Plants - Early lead seemed to burn them out of the game.
Humans - Built massively, had no Secret objectives so felt that the Mecatol alliance deal worked well for them anyway
Pirates - Got tunnel visioned on their secrets, such as the Wormhole one, that made them spread out and not move and be far to passive
End of Board State.
