TI4 session report / 13.July.2024
Starting setup.
In the Galaxy not so far away, on the Thepprasit road just opposite the Pattaya Night Market, 3 great nations of Sol (blue), Yissaril (red) and Xxcha (yellow) joined a competition to determine once and forever which nation is the most awesomest.
The starting winning objectives were simple: control 6 planets or spend 5 trade goods.
Round 1.
This round was peaceful exploration and establishing control over new planets. Xxcha used its diplomacy abilities to gain control over an additional planet, while the warfare strategy of Yissaril allowed him to gain 6 planets, taking the early lead.
Victory points:
0 – Sol (blue)
1 – Yissaril (red)
0 – Xxcha (yellow)
New objective: ships in 2 systems near Mecatol Rex.
Session – 13.July – Round 1
Round 2.
Nations proceeded with expansion, establishing trade relationships, taking planets and constructing infrastructure. Sol benefited from trade, while Yissaril and Xxcha secured positions near MR.
Victory points:
1 – Sol (blue)
2 – Yissaril (red)
1 – Xxcha (yellow)
New objective: 2 upgraded units.
Session – 13.July – Round 2
Round 3.
Feeling himself influential enough, Xxcha took over Mecatol Rex, gaining a free victory point.
Yissaril knew from previous experience that yellow tends to treat the MR system like its own home and launched a series of military maneuvers outflanking Xxcha and sending quite a clear message:
Mecatol does not belong to anyone.
Mecatol belongs to everyone.
Sol watched from a safe distance what was going to happen there in the center of the Galaxy and proceeded with strategic development as if MR was nothing of his business.
Victory points:
2 – Sol (blue)
4 – Yissaril (red)
3 – Xxcha (yellow)
New objective: 2 technologies of 2 colours.
Session – 13.July – Round 3
Since the MR was taken, parties have entered into the political agenda.
Yissaril, holding the position of the prime minister, used his political power to throw Xxcha under a bus with the directive of “destroy everything on MR or research 2 technologies”. Luckily enough, the light of wisdom shined over the Galaxy and all nations advanced on their technological track.
The second agenda was even more brutal, since the position of Minister of War needed to be voted. Sol decided that democracy is nothing but a scum and assassinated the Xxcha representative, effectively granting the position to Yissaril.
War was inevitable.
Round 4.
Feeling bad feelings about what was going to happen, Xxcha developed additional technologies to outsmart Yissaril.
Xxcha miscalculated that you can never be smart enough against somebody who can simply kick your ass.
Chis, the great warlord of Yissaril tribes, smiled, proclaimed “You only live once” and ordered a massive assault onto MR.
Xxcha used nullification fields to cancel the attack, but it did not work because of … yes, because of the Minister of War, obviously.
Fleet of Yissaril entered the MR system. After short and meaningless space combat, the expedition corpus of Xxcha was exterminated and Yissaril ground forces started to land on the planet. Xxcha air-defense system managed to destroy 3 of 4 landing units, but in one-on-one combat, survived Yissaril infantry proved its superiority.
Mecatol fell into the hands of its new masters.
That meant 3 victory points for Yissaril!!!
In a desperate attempt to prevent that, Xxcha launched a suicide attack to gain Mecatol back and failed miserably, literally committing a suicide. Well, maybe that is why it is called a suicide attack.
Sol continued to gather his forces. Quite reasonably assuming that if your infantry is the best in the Galaxy already, you do not need much of that. You can produce a mosquito fleet instead. 13 fighters of Sol were patiently waiting for the order to advance.
Victory points:
4 – Sol (blue)
8 – Yissaril (red)
4 – Xxcha (yellow)
New objective: control 11 planets.
Session – 13.July – Round 4
Round 5.
Seeing that Yissaril is heading for an easy victory, Sol and Xxcha entered into a military alliance to restore the balance of power. And backstab each other later, obviously.
But now Yissaril was the biggest threat, so Curtis, the Supreme Commander of Sol, decided that he had waited enough and Mecatol shall belong to Sol and to Sol only. Yissaril forces were eliminated easily and Mecatol was proclaimed as the territory of Sol.
Xxcha on its turn, moved the remnants of its fleet on a flank to bypass the main fleet of Yissaril. It was a way too simple plan to happen so easily and Yissaril mobilized reserves to oppose Xxcha.
Sides clashed in fierce and brutal combat, suffering immense casualties. Nobody wanted to give up and the outcome of the battle was decided by the duel between damaged Dreadnought of Yissaril and damaged Flagship of Xxcha. Against all odds, Dreadnought managed to miss 5 times in a row (!!!) eventually allowing Xxcha to produce a magic hit and win the fight.
The road to the home system of Yissaril was free.
Victory points:
5 – Sol (blue)
8 – Yissaril (red)
5 – Xxcha (yellow)
New objective: spend 16 influence.
Session – 13.July – Round 5
Round 6.
The revealed objective meant only one thing – despite military defeats and territorial losses, Yissaril was still influential enough to score this objective and win the game.
The only way to prevent this was to overtake planets in Yissaril home system. Xxcha took strategic initiative and before Yissaril could realise what happened, the repaired flagship of Xxcha was already disembarking ground troops on native planets of Yissaril.
Sol proceeded to push forward into the red territory, preventing Yissaril from restoring control over its home system. Yissaril was doomed. In a desperate attempt to return its planets, Yissaril lost support for the throne of Xxcha and 1 victory point.
Balance in the Galaxy was restored.
Victory points:
7 – Sol (blue)
7 – Yissaril (red)
7 – Xxcha (yellow)
New objective: spend 10 trade goods.
Session – 13.July – Round 6
In the agenda phase, Yissaril managed to gain one victory point from the Imperial rider, mostly because tricky Xxcha wanted to convince Sol that Yissaril is still a threat, while secretly preparing his own plan for winning the game.
The parties passed a bill revealing a new 2 point objective – spend 6 command tokens, which meant that the next round would definitely be the final one. With all nations having equal chances of winning the game. By all, we mean Sol and Xxcha.
Yissaril was singing a song by Linking Park:
I tried so hard and got so farBut in the end, it doesn’t even matterI had to fall to lose it allBut in the end, it doesn’t even matter
Round 7.
In the previous round, Sol secretly traded Ceasefire of Xxcha to Yissaril, reasonably assuming that Xxcha has something bad in mind and Yissaril is in great danger. Oh God, how correct Sol was!
For the entire game, Xxcha held a secret objective of destroying a flagship of another player. And now the Flagship of Yissaril accompanied by a fragile fleet of few cruisers and destroyers was chilling just one move away from the main forces of Xxcha.
Everything was to be decided in the strategy phase during the distribution of strategy cards.
Xxcha held the position of Speaker, which granted him the first draft. Obviously, it was the Imperial card. The second draft for Xxcha needed to be a card with the lowest initiative number – to assault Yissaril before he makes a move to regain its home system. Sol took Leadership (1), Yissaril took Warfare (6), so the only choice for Xxcha was Diplomacy (2).
Now, the question was, whether Xxcha would be able not even to win the combat, but at least to damage the Flagship of Yissaril. Yes, Xxcha held a Direct Hit action card. And 2 cards of Shield Holdings.
The only thing which could save the day for Yissaril was the yellow Ceasefire, granted to him by Sol, who wanted in this way, to secure his own victory.
Remember kids, nobody is kind in Twilight Imperium.
Everybody is only thinking about himself and about exploiting others for personal benefit.
Your fleet and your army are your only friends.
The action phase started and Xxcha immediately attacked Yissaril with full power. It was the moment for Yissaril to play yellow Ceasefire to stop the attack, but Yissaril just forgot that he had it!!!
Xxcha was rising from ashes.
The space cannon offense of Xxcha did not bring much result, but the combat roll was pretty effective, producing 4 hits. One of those hits was sustained by the Yissaril flagship, triggering the Direct Hit and effectively destroying the ship. Yissaril played the same trick on the flagship of Xxcha, but it did not matter anymore. The objective was accomplished and the victory point secured.
Now it was the time for Sol to undertake some actions … in the home system of Xxcha, of course.
Sol activated the system and … Xxcha used Ceasefire of Sol, finishing its turn.
Nothing could prevent Xxcha anymore from playing the Imperial card, scoring 2 victory points and winning the game.
Victory points:
7 – Sol (blue)
8 – Yissaril (red)
10 – Xxcha (yellow)
Session – 13.July – Round 7 – Final
The moral of the story.
Stay focused and concentrated.