After many weeks of planning, we finally held our big summer Twilight Imperium game session – a two day boardgame bonanza. Twilight Imperium (TI4) is something I have had on my shelf for a couple of years, but had only had the opportunity to play once, and then only partially. I had always wanted to get a group together to play a full game, with enough time to finish the game entirely. However, it is a game that is rumored to take all day, or multiple days.
With the house, and a dedicated game space, the planets had finally aligned (TI pun). We started Saturday at 2 PM, and played until 11, then resumed Sunday at 2 and played until 9. In both days, we practically concluded 2 games, with 3 players being completely new to the rules.
The first game with a mixed bag – the game was going well, but we fundamentally misunderstood the production rules. Our understanding was that Production capacity equally production level – a spacedock with +2 production could then create 4 to 6 points worth of production. And the Arborec (being played by one player), with infantry with 1 Production, could build +2 infantry each for each turn – leading to explosive and geometric growth. Although the Arborec ended up not being aggressive, they did grow very quickly and ended up with well over several hundred infantry by the end of the night. Outside of game, I researched, and determined that it was actually Production “Capacity” – meaning the number of pieces of plastic. Production was funded by the resource level of your planets, but limited to a number of pieces equal to your capacity. Thus the growth rate for the plants was nipped in the bud (TI pun).
However, that also practically invalidated the entire game, so after some discussion, we restarted on Sunday with a new setup (and swapped the Arborec and Necro Viruses out for two different ones). With everyone understanding the proper rules, and now familiar with the game, it moved far faster. In the 7 hours, we managed to complete the same number of turns as the prior 9 hours, and most players had quite a few points. We did not officially “end” the game, but we did reach a satisfactory conclusion to the game, with everyone managing to grab several last minute objectives. In the end, the game came down to a tie between the Emirates of Hacan and The Yssaril Tribes, though I believe in the initiative timing, the Yssaril had the official win.
The main thing though was that everyone had a fun time, and we are eager to do it again.
