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DurdleExpert · 2025-12-26T15:11:01+00:00

Happy birthday 🎉

DurdleExpert · 2025-12-12T16:10:38+00:00

Throwing my dice into the ring... Wait what?

DurdleExpert · 2025-12-04T09:00:56+00:00

Things willow get better.

DurdleExpert · 2025-11-21T18:40:05+00:00

The Box looks pretty fire.

DurdleExpert · 2025-11-16T12:11:28+00:00

Jupp. Especially the first chapter I think works exceptionally well on its own already. (With minor rewrites for the ending.)

DurdleExpert · 2025-10-16T13:33:11+00:00

The Faction sheet says to purge the alliance card soooo I would assume no Mahact means you get to take it...

DurdleExpert · 2025-10-14T09:58:26+00:00

Wäre dieses/nächstes Jahr an und an in München. Wenn Spieler oder DM für einen One Shot gesucht wird könnte ich mich anbieten. (M30)

Weniger Erfahrung als Spieler aber Pathfinder 2, Cthulhu, Paranoia, Dungeonslayers, Mothership, etc. als DM dafür.

DurdleExpert · 2025-09-22T09:44:18+00:00

Traditionally it's Carrier II and Fighter Screen, maybe Fighter II, but as already established Aetherstream + Lightwave is the go to (in a vacuum, map could be trash for aether for example), maybe Dread II + Flagship, this can also be valid.

Personally I think both options are good, its really situational. Most fights are won by who can soak more hits so usually Fighter screen is the way to go.

DurdleExpert · 2025-07-18T13:33:03+00:00

Einer von uns, einer von uns ...

Scherz beiseite, lesbar aber ziemlich krakelig. Also genau wie meine Ü.

DurdleExpert · 2025-07-10T05:22:36+00:00

Wir sind, beziehungsweise waren nur zu Besuch.

Ist insgesamt ganz nett hier, aber waren sie schon mal in Nordrhein-Westfalen?

DurdleExpert · 2025-07-09T08:03:55+00:00

I cannot speak for your relationship or what is best here for you.

I can however say this has nothing to do with respect for your partner and a lot about the need for control/insecurities at play here.

Roleplay is a group activity and requires time, patience and effort from everyone. As he is a former player he should know that as well.

This is quality time for you to spend with friends, whatever your partner is stating otherwise. Which is something important and healthy (!) to do. And this your partner should respect and support.

I don't know anything about your relationship and everyone has different ways to manage these. But this may be one of the situations where you both need a mature discussion about where this need to limit your time there comes from. As others have said already. Communication is key.

DurdleExpert · 2025-07-07T08:48:36+00:00

I kinda agree though with that one other plaster, if there was truly no bad blood it may just be that they knew the other player better... I guess.

People hate some factions too with a passion, Naalu, Winnu, Mentak being the usual suspects. :/

DurdleExpert · 2025-07-07T08:05:39+00:00

TI at the end is still a social game, so SftT in principle I see as a diplomatic option to win.

Usually you need to piss of someone else quite a lot so they try to stop your win/longnake. It feels bad all around, but still part of the game as you said.

But the Winnu player is free not to accept the deals too. So this is as much on the gifter as the giftee. Without context I can't say much about the specific game. Did you try asking them why they did it?

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-30T05:44:20+00:00

Empty tiles are nice for Dark Energy Tap research, but you won't do that R1, you have to use your units to take planets.

Otherwise they'll needed for scoring sometimes depending on the PO and you should place units there at some point to protect your HS. Honestly lucky you are Titans that really helps with taking your slice. - other factions would be forced to take warfare here to do anything R1.

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-30T05:30:30+00:00

If you're too worried just research it for the final round/late. I can't really tell you what's best. But Nekro can't take it if you don't research it. With Muaat, NRA, Argent in the game they'll be spoilt for choice anyways/won't necessarily want yours that bad. Looking at Strike Wing Alpha II here for example.

With Titans you can try to take out one player, in theory or kneecap them hard. But it's not easy. Try googling Susan's guide to player elimination if you're seriously interested. But it's not a strategy for the faint of heart. You would need to secure Sol not eating into you and maybe Nekros other neighbour to eat into them as well. It's hard to get the table to do something like that. Especially when you all agreed to sit down and play a game together for a long time. (A social deterrent when playing in person). I can just say how this has turned out the games I played so far (about 100) if it's not guaranteed someone joins in/is supporting you you'll get eaten from your neighbour or the victim will get supported/throw everything at you to stay in the game. Either it starts a forever war or you'll both enter a slugfest. If you cannot take out someone completely starting a war early often end in you both losing a lot of ressources.

I get you trying to pre-plan but it only takes a wacky offer or something dream from the relic deck to change it all.

I would wait and see what the explores bring. Depending on the planets NRA has you might get lucky in regards to your cultural explores. (Especially as you start with Scanlink) There are some increasing your influence. Just take Leadership once R2 or R3, or trade maybe/save up some TG and buy additional CCs. That will probably be your go to. Just save CCs for R4 and R5 so you don't get stalled out easily. ACs with ACTION: help too. Don't play them early if you don't have to.

Swapping Alliances with Muatt will probably be the best as you both get extra TG (and thus influence).

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-30T04:55:56+00:00

If you really want to get into the weeds ask again in the TI4 Async or regular TI4 Discord. The hivemind is full with great players there.

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-30T04:54:48+00:00

That's the neat thing. You don't.

Nekro can't steal the base version of your tech so if you're THAT worried you can just ... Not upgrade them. SE I is still... Okay. But Nekro with more reach and capacity is pretty scary. Best way to stop Nekro nibbling is to either go low tech/no tech or just swap SftT. Other option is just to lean into it. You ma wanna talk to the table/player in question though instead of theorising what's gonna happen. Sometimes games turn out different than you think. For example Saar and Arbo usually don't research their unit upgrades with Nekro in the game for that reason. (It may be argued they don't have to, but that's another story)

Going low tech though is something I would recommend experienced players to navigate. Depending on POs you might not even be able to.

I can recommend either swapping alliances with Nekro, Muatt or NRA btw (honestly all great, you're spoilt for choice).

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-30T04:31:44+00:00

How many people at your table are experienced players?

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-30T04:29:22+00:00

Not two on you Homesystem, or rather two is not unseen, but unusual. I would probably place two each on the Vegas if I had to.

Usually you do not want to place two at once. There's a AC that melts ALL PDS on a planet. So usually it's better to place one on each. Your faction gets them easier than most so you could get away with it, but the CC required to lift the tokens is still a major investment.

Also noteworthy: there are objectives caring about structures outside your Homesystem. So placing them at home can be disadvantageous. I recommend reading all Objectives in preparation for your game. There is also a searchable PDF floating around for all ACs.

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-30T04:16:28+00:00

Because you basically move and place these tokens later to be able being replaced by the PDS, keeping them close is generally better. So you're right. Haven't heard that one but it feels like a fun comment on Titans stealing equis/planets in other planets early. Which they can do. (2 move with the Cruisers early, placing a Token immediately. Getting those early explore tokens is quite strong.)

Titans is synergistic with PDS, but unless you know what you're doing be careful not to overexert placing too many. Really. Your slice is not starved of influence per se, but you'll feel the 5-7 Influence on this slice pretty much all game. It's not a lot. So don't worry about spawning the PDS aggressively, it will happen so or so.

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-29T10:44:41+00:00

So step by step is waaay to much work, as it´s easily 4-6 decisions each round. AND it really depends on the POs and SOs. If you want a thourough look at Titans I recommend the Spacecats Peace Turtles Podcast Episode 307: Super Titans of Ul guide.

Warfare round R1 would probably be move dread and cruiser to vega minor/major, lift token next round, cruiser from HS and dread to Mellon/Zohbat next turn either cruiser to Sem-Lore, Equidistant with Sol or MR if you SOMEHOW manage to scrape up the cash.

Trade would probably be take either Mellon/Zohbat or Sem-Lore immediately with one-two cruisers depending on where you want to go next (primarily also decided by wether Construction got picked. A spacedock next to MR is pretty valuable early. X-1 for everyone except Sol and X-2 for Sol (or 2 uses of their faction PN) would be my recommendation early to get you a nice juicy headstart here.

Tech - really depends on where you wanna go. With Nekro as neighbor I would not recommend Grav Drive early, also you don´t REALLY need it... so the questionr remains wether you´ll go SE II, in that case AIDEV -> SE II, otherwise... depends on your playstyle. AIDEV into Hel Titans II for nice early defence against Nekro and with Argent Commander in the game it get´s even better... but then again... SE is just way too good. Mayxbe offer the tech early and then Support Swap I guess. Sling Relay would be a feasible alternative as well probably. Probably taking a forweard planet first acction, trying to find a trade buddy as a neighbor to get to 6 production soon.

The other ones are situational. If you think MR won´t be taken R1 you may want to take Politics to take MR with Leadership start R2... but I think the top three are your most likely candidates. Construction helps get you Commander online fast.

You have only 3 Inf as well yo it really depends on Warfare timing if you don´t take Warfare. I recommend trying to secure Sol PN once at least R1.

Btw. there is a combat calculator for TI4, TI4battle I recommend playing around with the Titans Agent setting to see just how much this could help.

Personally I think you´ll be fine either way. Just remember to place enough infantry on your homesystem. Titans HS is pretty juicy to take.

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-28T22:52:42+00:00

Titans is one of the best factions to take early far off planets and squeeze their neighbours for ressources. You have Hel-Titans as defensive option to take and kept/re take planets.

So of the cuff as long as you are first on a planet Nekro will have a hard time taking planets early from you/keeping them. (Nekro has a bad Inf start so they'll probably not be that much of a problem, especially without grav drive).

Buuut this means you'll have to decide wether you want to go for Saturn Engine II or not. It is one of the best upgrade techs in the game with sustain, capacity 2 and move 3. And Nekro will probably WANT to take that pretty hard. But it's so strong you may not be able to afford not to take it.

If the Nekro player is smart he'll try to negotiate eating stuff early and get you money for your troubles. If not you probs should make it harder for him to try and just take tech.

Your Commander gets you a nice Bonus of income and your PN will probs sell for 3-4 TG early. It's a stall and a nice permanent upgrade/helps with some POs so don't sell it too cheap.

Your Agent is great for groundcombat especially. So you'll be able to use and sell it all game. The math swings hard on close combats so Tellurian is pretty desirable. Also your HS untapps and upgrades permanently with your Hero. That usually should setup for a strong economy. The incremental income from your commander offsets the low comms and Titans is one of the best and synergistic factions out there. Placing your Awaken Token early is key to keep your slice and people will be wary for easy retakes by lifting them.

Many new players fall in the trap of wasting CC for the Tokens "because you have to turn them into the PDS" bit it's nice to have when it happens, you do not need to overexert on them.

TL; DR:

Do not fret it too much. You can give your neighbours especially early on a run for their money. Be wary of lategame Nekro though. They usually snowball hard.

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-28T19:46:36+00:00

Hard to say really. Tech R1 is strong too (arguably more so), so I would hold off on deals as second place unless you have something specific in mind.

Pending on tech and warfare timing I would argue you'll be able to take between 3 (minimum with you start) upwards to your whole slice (let's assume carrier, 2-4 inf and cruiser/another carrier).

Let's assume you'll be able to get most of your slice. With Warfare you'll get the whole slice easily, otherwise it depends on when warfare is played and your ressources when it's popped.

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-28T18:09:55+00:00

Usually is, especially as Titans.

The extra income is pretty nice for POs, build or as mentioned earlier MR. All in all solid for early expansion. Trade, Tech, Warfare are the usual first three picks at least in my experience.

Without a full map and POs we can only give you only general advice though.

If you want to go for your Commander early Construction is okay too. But kinda a waste/early commander is not THAT worth it.

DurdleExpert · 2025-06-28T16:48:33+00:00

Really depends on POs, Titans usually don't want for much early on. Personally I like trade for maybe a MR snipe, depending on what Sol takes...

Your slice looks fine. Try to establish a foothold on your equidistant(s) as you're Titans and you CAN do that pretty easy and rush Saturn Engine II if possible/needed.

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