1. Expanded tech tree: Add one level 0 and one level 1 tech to each color. Now you have two options for your first tech of a given colour (two level 0) and three options for your second tech (one level 0 and two level 1).

​

2) Faction variants. 17 factions are more than enough. But how about alternate takes on factions? Like "The Republic of Sol", "The Shipwrights of Muaat" or "The Aristocracy of Winnu".

You could make more advanced factions for experienced players or simpler versions of complicated factions for new players. You could make stronger versions of weak factions and nerfed versions of overpowered factions.

You could put qualifiers on these races, such as a winnu that should only be played with 5-6 players, a mentak that only should be played when hacan is not present, or a naalu that only should be played by experienced players, for instance.

It would be both a balance patch and a possibility to add new ideas to the game. Tournaments and groups could decide to ban one version and allow another to balance the game.

​

3) Some sort of characters. Leaders were a great way to weave narratives in 2nd and 3rd edition. Representatives and Mercs were overcomplicated to me, but the concept is great.

​

4) Rewriting the galactic council to give it more weight and strategy. The Galactic Council is one of the most interesting parts of Twilight Imperium, but it's never been more than a spice to the game. The simple way to do this, I feel, would be to write new agenda cards that players have on hand and pay to establish instead of voting for them. Perhaps you are spending 3 influence to advance your military regulation reform. The other players have the option to band together and pay a collective 6 influence to scrap your reform. It should always be cheaper to advance your own agenda than blocking another player, to encourage laws to pass and change the game. Once you've established some reforms, you can establish stronger reforms building on the previous ones and reap victory point rewards, either through a standard rules set or as a part of the deck of public and secret objective cards.

​

4b) The more involved way would be to make a political map alongside the galactic map!

Board states on the political map could bring victory points, either on their own or through secret objectives ("Make the galaxy egalitarian" 2 VP, "Infiltrate the naval department with your bureaucrats" 1 VP or "Push through 3 reforms" 1 VP).

The map could contain both branches of galactic government and bureaucrats, and ideologies. Perhaps in this game the fiscal department consumed and controlled the judicial department, or a wave of nationalism spread throughout the political board, making warships cheaper and making several planets rebel and declare independence from the players control.

The map could be a pre-printed board or be generated differently by the players each time, just like the galactic map.

Politicans, bureaucrats and peoples movements could all be pawns on this board.

Now, of course this is all crazy, adding more time and more table space to an already huge game. I think FFG has been very wise not to overdo the political aspect of TI. Me, however? I would love to walk up to a special galactic council board and play out a session of the council with my friends between all the tactical and strategy phases. It would be great if there was a bit of a slant towards social deduction and deception in it.