Twilight Imperium: Third Edition

Would be the best game ever if only it were fun.

[Vote and comment refer to the standard game, without variants of any sort] This game gives you everything you need to bring a great space saga on your table, however TI3 also offers a set of rules that in the end don't seem very well rounded, needing that last tweak or two to "click" properly. A role selection model is functional if, depending on the situation, each and every role can become your best choice. That doesn't seem to be the case with TI3: having to choose a specific role (Imperial) every round or another specific one (Initiative) whenever the former isn't available is not metagaming, it's an engine that you have to kick every round to make it work properly. The balance among the strategy cards can also become a matter of debate, even considering the difficulties of trying to put together such a variety of contexts (commerce, political options, technological advancements). Playing time is too long and that, of course, is not a fault of the game per se, it's me (you have to rule over an entire galaxy, for Pete's sake, what was I thinking?). The objectives usually support the enforcing of your position without leading to open conflict, with a "cold War" feel that doesn't really fit with my idea of space combat. Please, use at least the Age of Empire variant, unless you want to wander pointlessly around the galaxy while you wait to know what can make you win the game. The command counters system has its own issues: production is coupled with movement, transfer actions are limited to two systems, the fact that command counters need their own economy adds much more problems than the ones they solve, not to mention the strange mix of aspects that they try to put together. I've decided to sell my goods and study some kind of new scientific gizmo, so I can't move my ships. REALLY? Other minor complaints include the balance of some units and the overall "patchwork" feel of the rules, which of course can be a minor flaw as long as everything works properly, but still makes the learning curve quite steep. On the other hand, if you're looking for an immersive experience, TI3 it's really up to the task with its (albeit sporadic) space battles, a complex technology tree, a bit of political role-playing, space exploration and almost everything else you could expect. Most of all, it's like a space-opera kit that you can use to tailor the game to your tastes, and somewhere in there you could probably find your favourite, mind-blowing, don't-call-us-for-the-next-few-hours space civilization game. The Shattered Empire rulebook is definitely worth a look, because some of its tweaks are easily applicable to the base game even without the extra bits.

The box, the amount of bits and cards, the table you need to keep everything at hand and, of course, the hole in your wallet (made even worse if you consider the expansion): everything about this game seems to be huge. Huge props to FFG's customer service: I got a couple of badly molded units and they took care of the substitution quickly and for free, even if I'm on the other side of the pond. Great overall graphics for a very well implemented theme. Good rulebook.

A grand scale game in every sense that is way, way too long for it ever to get the number of plays it deserves.

This is the game of all strategy games. It truly doesn't get any better than this! There's politics, technology advances, threats, warfare, back stabbing...everything you could hope for. Its only downside is that it takes six plus hours to play and it is tough to find people willing to sit down for that long to play. Best game ever!

Fine game. Not for me.

My initial thoughts after one game:

There is a lot to like about TI3. The components are awesome, the scope is enormous, the sheer amount of decisions and options is insane. That being said, after 1.5 hours of rules and 6 hours of gameplay, I didn’t feel like I did much of anything.

I was never able to move more than 2-3 tiles away from my home system. It would take two whole rounds (or three!) to really move your fleet, which is to say, 2-3 hours of game time. I was involved in only a couple battles, during which my entire fleet was wiped out. Except in one case where my wife destroyed another player in a battle, war seemed to cripple both players rather than help the winner advance – meaning it was more trouble than it was worth.

The downtime also increased exponentially with each hour of the game. At one point near the end I went over 30 minutes without being involved in the game at all. Also, scoring VP is kind of baffling. I don’t think anyone had a realistic Secret Objective they could achieve (all had to do with controlling a laughable number of planets and/or Mecatol Rex) and the ISP was only chosen sporadically, so Public Objectives didn’t really come out until hours 4, 5 and 6.

The sheer length of the game is troubling considering that it takes so long to do anything. I suppose I should have researched it more, but I thought with the high rating on BGG and it being a 6-8 hour game that you would be doing a ton of stuff in an epic space opera. In reality it felt more like Sid Meier's Civilization, the board game, in space (a game I'd be content never to play again). I own and have played Empires of the Void several times, and I feel like I do much more in that game in a total game time of two hours than I ever felt in 6+ hours of TI3.

And yet, despite my misgivings, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the game in the days since. It looks like the expansion and variants like Age of Empires fixes most of the issues I have with it (the snail’s pace at the beginning, limited chances for VP, rewards turtling over warfare). I would try it again, but I would prefer to do so using a variant that fixes some of the base game’s many issues.

The game that made me realise I enjoy reading rulebooks.

Bombastic space epic with a few tasty Euro influences carefully installed. Quite possibly ruined miniatures combat games for me (not that it took much). Not taken the plunge on my own copy due to the difficulty in finding a group & day for it, but will happily accept an opportunity to play it.

This is the most epic game I own. The days I spent playing this game is well worth it. My favorite amount of people to play with is 3 or 5.

How do you design a game like this? There are so many moving parts, decks of cards, tiles, bits, choices...

A very fun and interactive game, but a hell of a lot going on to keep track of. Great theme, nice presentation, lots of strategy, and lots of fun. Ameritrash gold.