/BGG/ Board Game General - 'Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition' Edition

...

I'm actually really surprised at how little of the core mechanics they seem to be changing. Pleased with most of what I see.
And rolling all the races into the box from the start makes me happy. Waiting for updated versions of expansions to attain content parity with the old version of a game pisses me off to no end.

Pre-Ordered instantly.

>Seventeen playable races are included in the game

fug

OP here. As I mentioned I never played TI3 but was always tempted. Some comments online mention gameplay problems such as balance.

What's that about? Is there anything you think needs fixing?

I was coveting 3E for some time, played several times with buddy who has it, and it's glorious.

But if 4E is going to fix the balance issues (Both faction balance and other issues, like weakass dreads. I hope it will) and put some expansion material in the core game... i would be even more thrilled.

It's just all the ones from 3E and expansions

You think 3E is worth keeping now?

fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/twilight-imperium-fourth-edition/

MSRP: $150

Seems it includes some of the modules of Shards and Shattered Empire; racial tech, flagships, revised strategy cards and factions, and I believe they've gotten *ahem!* inspiration from Shattered Ascension..

I have failed to get TI3 to the table, I guess I won't be getting TI4. At least I'll be able to resell my copy for a profit.

>I believe they've gotten *ahem!* inspiration from Shattered Ascension

What specifically?

There's balance issues, to be certain, but they're a long, long ways from crippling. Fighters are a little strong without expansions, for instance.

Still, there's enough room for improvement that I've put a lot of work into implementing the fan-made shattered ascension variant, which is as much a balance pass as it is an expansion and revision. But I'm probably a lot more motivated than most.

Hard to tell this early, but they don't seem to be ruining anything great about TI3 in the revisions here so far.

The pre-order edition also comes with a hardbound rulebook and a couple art prints, so the standard version might be priced a little lower. Still, it looks like the only significant feature they're missing from TI3+Expansions is 8 player support. . . which was always a trap anyways.

Well perhaps the new edition will have improved balance.

Wish they changed the combat desu. Hate a million dice.

>FFG
>put some expansion material in the core game
Nigga what. If anything, they're gonna do the opposite.

If you're wanting to try and get your friends into heavier games such as TI3/4, Forbidden Stars, etc, what games would you recommend?

Pretty much a given, the balance issues of the last edition have been pretty well identified and much discussed for years.

I'm actually pretty shocked they didn't, custom dice with symbol-driven resolution has pretty much become synonymous with FFG.

Look for yourself.

What kind of stuff are they already into?
Broadly, I recommend Kemet as a universally enjoyable middleweight with serious legs that serves as a great stepping stone to longer/heavier thematic games.

>Wish they changed the combat desu. Hate a million dice.
On that topic, they actually doubled the amount of dice in the game box from 4 to 8. Was always annoying to have to go dig for more d10s to play this game cause fights end up rolling so many dice.

Carcassonne, Catan, Pandemic, Forbidden Island, and Hive are pretty much all I've been able to teach them so far

Kemet would be a not-insignificant step up, but if they're not potatoes it's probably doable. Probably what I'd recommend if you wanted to go from where you are now to the likes of Twilight Imperium / Forbidden Stars in two jumps.

>2 /bgg/ threads up both on page 1-2
I suppose it's better than having to start a new thread daily because it kept dying.

The biggest question is why are they doing it in a coffin box, instead of one of those extra deep boxes like MoM 2e, or Rebellion. No one really makes the coffins anymore because they're a bitch to store

Awesome, thanks a bunch

I literally just bought a copy of 3rd edition last week.

Motherfuckers.

Between the conservative core changes, throwing in a ton of the expansion content, and the coffin box, I think they really want this to "feel" very much like third edition. And the bigass coffin is a not-insignificant part of 3E's personality.

Honestly my biggest gripe so far is the SpaceCat on the box isn't as regal as the TI3 one or as badass as the one on Rex.

That was merely speculation, but the Shattered Ascension community discussed, analyzed, houseruled and hotfixed a number of the most problematic issues of TI3.
Combat, overpowered fighter escorts, some issues regarding racial abilities. Basically they did a full overhaul, and I wouldn't be surprised if Petersen actually stole some of these changes. I wonder if SA will be credited.

BUT WE JUST FINISHED HOMEBREWING 3E

I wouldn't use the word "stole" in this context.

is this the ultimate version with all things in or you just get hammered with new expansions fast ?

>not reading the thread
They seem to be including most of the stuff from the 3E expansions right off the bat this time around. Who knows what their plans for expanding 4E are, but I wouldn't put a red cent on "nothing".

Take, use, pick up, steal, inspire, add, reimplement, plagiarize, modify, rework, extrapolate, append.
Use whichever word suits you, some of the content SA produced will probably find its way into 4th ed.

It's not about whichever word suits me. Some of the words you listed are crimes, others are not. That's a pretty important difference.

Arguing semantics is not the point (unless you're taking personal offense about me speculating things).
Even if the actually used some of SA's rules without permission (assuming it was needed in the first place), no crime can be proven unless the exact word-by-word phrasing was inserted into the final published product, which even then could have zero legal implications.
I do not know if there's any agreement or collaboration between FFG and whomever, I just believe the community discussed a lot about the rules of a beloved game and some of that is bound to end up one way or another in the new iteration of the official rules.

Great, they just fuckin ruined Twilight Imperium.

>ruined
How?

>$150
lol I'll continue to never come in contact with this game. No one out of all my board game friends (and me) wants to spend the money or time on this game
There's a chance I'll try it at PAX Unplugged. I don't know if I want to spend more than a couple hours on one game there

Even if they'd copy SA in its entirety it wouldn't be a crime because SA is fanmade content based on their own property. They can do with that what they want. They are the copyright holders.

Why not split the bill? If you are 5 people it would be just 30 bucks a head.

I'm happy with it as long as it includes the best of what the expansion packs did. Flagships were the most important thing to me and it looks like they're back.

Yeah, figured as much, hence >assuming it's needed in the first place.

>Fourth Edition not only streamlines many of the rules found in earlier editions of the game, but also places further emphasis on player interaction.
fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/twilight-imperium-fourth-edition/

Cause it loses the special collectible geeky magic sparkles if any old person can just go online and buy a copy for $100 without jumping though hoops.

Great, so they made Cosmic Encounter again. Modern Fantasy Flight is such a 1 trick pony.

I've waited for this moment for so long.

>they fixed the imperial card
>and they even made it into a version we were always using
>flagships and all races are available in the base box

Those are some good decisions on their part. I'll wait for the full rules and then probably buy it. My group will be really excited for this.

Also, making trade tokens dependent on the territory is pretty cool. I already imagine how my favorite Hacan Emirates will be able to exploit this.
>"Khajit has wares, if you have coin! Don't mind 4 dreadnoughts on your border, they're trade dreadnoughts, yes!"

Asking from the previous thread.

Look at the turn summaries on the player aids.
Look at the unit stats.
Look at the strategy cards.
All of it reads VERY close to the third edition rules.
They certainly haven't gutted it and turned it into cosmic encounter.
All the streamlining I see is things like disabling politics until someone grabs Mecatol, which should speed up the early game.

>trade dreadnoughts
The Shattered Ascension Hacan Flaghsip is totally this.

Anybody know games that use stacking dolls or stacking cups?

Quick Cups, Top That!

The box is fucking terrible.

Lions look more regal on it. That's the only thing that matters, good customer.

It looks more like the space cat from previous TI editions to be honest. I'm more dismayed at just how big a change the design of the Norr is.
The Jol-Nar look about the same, and the humans battle armour doesn't appear to have much changed about it, and Letnev appears about the same, heck it might be the same guy just older. Assuming that guy is a Letnev and not a Winnu of course.
Xxcha look like they've had their design altered a little, but they're still obviously soace turtlers, and most likely still crap.

At this point, Xxcha being useless is almost as much a part of the game design as the combat system.

Plus, you can't copyright game mechanics.

Yeah, the angular N'orr are almost giving me a Starship Troopers movie vibe. Not sure if I like it yet.

>tfw I have no real interest in TI3, but am happy that everyone else here is so excited

Anyway, which do you think is better as a "narrative experience" game - Fortune & Glory or Tales of The Arabian Nights?

I was hoping to be able to completely control the economy as cats, but it seems like it won't be possible now.

I'm okay with it being TI3.5, really. The one thing I'm not okay with is the combat, that was the first thing I wanted changed.

I'm perfectly happy otherwise!

Didn't TI3rd have unique ships shapes for different colors/races?

Or am I thinking of something else?

Something else for sure. They have unique flagships, and that's it. I wouldn't MIND some semi-unique ship upgrades tailored for your race, I also wouldn't mind some kind of optional upgrade tree rather than a straight progression for them as well but I doubt I'll get it.

So, did FFG effectively roll both the v3 Thrones and S.E. expansions directly into the v4 core box for the $150 price tag? If so, I'm on-board.
Damn crack-dealers...

At a guess - you're thinking of pic related, which is Ship Pack 1 for the Eclipse board game.

I don't see any evidence they included the Councillors variant or distant suns and domain counters, or shock troops (I WANT MY DAMN SHOCK TROOPS) but most of the major pieces seem to be there.

I actually don't see any extra fighter tokens anywhere. Which is really interesting. Do you think they'd make fighters component limited?

I doubt they will include all the modules from the expansions; the mercs, the Lazax scenario and the politics/diplomacy/trade variant are probably not in, nor are the pieces for 7th and 8th players.

The extra systems, the expanded races, the racial tech, te revised strategy vards and the flagships are probably all you needed from the 3ed expansions anyway, the rest was mostly rules bloat.

Also SU&SD are apparently doing a short documentary on TI4's development. Should be the most interesting thing they've done in. . . ever?

Probably just excluded for the sake of reducing clutter, so maybe shock troops are still in too.

I wish I liked especially the mercs more, but they don't add enough to counteract the time and effort of tracking them.

So, what's about gamezone's heroquest? will it go to sale someday? the page have not been updated since april

>playing the Elder Sign app
>tablet charger starts to make sparks
>red sparks
EIther I need a new charger, or I just summoned an Elder God

Probably just star children in the rectifier diodes, nothing to worry about.

Thank you both. As long as they got the meat and the potatoes in, I won't grumble to loudly if the parsley on the side didn't make it into the box. The main problem for me is that there's still plenty of stuff on my 'Wish List' and damn game-designers keep coming up with more...

Does anyone play Shogi here?

irasutoya.com/2015/12/blog-post_6.html

Which icons here does Veeky Forums think would best represent
>King
>Gold
>Silver
>Knight
>Lance
>Bishop
>Rook
>Pawn
?

My only thoughts were maybe Fuji would make for a good King or Rook, but I'm not sure at all.

Never. They made the game without the license

>Also SU&SD are apparently doing a short documentary on TI4's development. Should be the most interesting thing they've done in.

I'd like to say I'm excited / interested. But SU&SD just makes me cringe. I can take Rahdo in small doses as his enthusiasm makes his scattered and often somewhat disorganized presentations at least bearable. But between SUSD's forced 'humor' that lacks... 'humor', and their cringe worthy SJW shiz, I have almost no desire to watch anything they make. (Seriously SUSD - if I have to look to a bunch of hipster board gaming nitwits to be my morale compass, then I am already fucked beyond all repair.)

>so maybe shock troops are still in too
Honestly you could very easily just houserule those in, especially since you already have the pieces.

In case anyone hasn't seen this yet

I already have TtR on my tablet, and I think Mysterium would lose a lot without the face-to-face aspect

...

My board game friends are single serving. We don't really hang out outside of game night and I see them once a month at most, why would I share a board game with them?

>Due to the very high demand, we have to pause the free game redemption program until August 17th, when Gen Con opens. Thank you for your patience and your understanding.
Thanks, bro.

It's rumored that Restoration Games is announcing their own edition at Gencon

Luv ya like a brudda STEEV, but ya 'shoopin game needs some work.

Whoops meant to save as .jpg

Does it still take 7+ hours per game like the old ones?

It only takes about 45 minutes per person once everyone knows how to play.

Shit, are you serious?

Which is bloody feckin' unlikely, given most people who actually own the game will only get to play it once or twice a year, if at all.

Yeah, sometimes STEEV gets two games a day in, apparently.
Only because people are intimidated by its reputation. It's like teaching calculus to grade schoolers, don't tell them it's supposed to be hard and they'll learn in no time.

I just looked up the rules and you don't even need the cardboard tokens, you can easily just use pennies.
My only real complaint so far with TI4 is that it doesn't seem to include the wormhole nexus.

In my defense, I was on my way out of the house to go stab someone.
. . . And also devoid of artistic talent.

>Two games in one day.
Hell, I wish. We've certainly had the opportunity, but everyone always wimps out on it and want to wind down with something else.

I'm sure I saw a saw tooth edged tile, but it was probably just the Creuss home system.

>If there are another faction’s ships in the activated system, your forces and theirs collide in an epic battle. In battle, players will roll one ten-sided die for every participating ship—should that roll be equal to or greater than the ship's combat value, a hit is assigned to the enemy. After all dice are rolled, players assign the hits rolled against them to their ships. Some ships may only take one hit before being destroyed, while others with the “sustain damage” ability may take two. The process then repeats, with both players having the opportunity to declare a retreat and moving to a friendly adjacent system at the end of the next round of combat.

Woooow is this for real? People gush over TI and the combat is barely a step up from Risk? What the fuck why? You have this huge epic game and the combat works like that? What a fucking disgrace.

>own pandemic
>decide to expand to on the brink expansion
>dat price tag

Holy fuck why is it so fucking expensive??
What the fuck!!

One thing I really hoped they would fix for a 4th wdition was Action Cards.
And by fix I mean eliminate.
I'm not a fan of Agenda cards already states to fiddle with VPs either. When playing with my group we always removed Political and Action Cards that alteres the score.

Between printings likely; Z-Man was like Asmodee even before becoming part of the monster, they let games lapse a while between printings.

It's a 20 year old ameritrash design, it enormously predates dice falling out of favor as a combat resolution method.
But yes, it's a little weird that they haven't given it a facelift.