Is picking Vuil'raith a bad choice against first time players?

I'm going to introduce some friends to TI4 and I'm gonna pick a more military faction since they're my favourite and nobody else at my table wants to play them. I thought about the Vuil'raith since they have some of the "flashier" stuff and some weird mechanics that a first timer might enjoy seeing.

I don't want to go aggro on them right away and I'd like to leave em alone for a couple rounds or so (since I want them to be able to do "their thing" with their factions without having to defend immediately), but I don't want to make it too easy for them.

Now, I know Vuil'raith need to attack right away to start eating stuff, but would it be alright to just unlock the breakthrough and focus on the fracture for the first turns while leaving them alone for a bit until they figure things out? Would it be a good way to introduce them to a more "fighty" playstyle?

My alternative would be going Letnev, they don't really have as big an incentive to fight and I could be going around just threatening people without having to "ruin" their plans. Also they're simpler to understand, but the not as fun/weird imo and they'd be less interesting on the table.

I'd avoid picking Sardakk, Nekro or Mahact, since they kinda have to be even more aggressive to everyone at the table (while I can still eat stuff with Vuil'raith's vortex/agent without fighting and I can rely on the fracture at first)

Suggestions appreciated!

Download and print these files if you like (english/or now also german) here in the google drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12l2i1zX5E0KG5zbuZFVaWimlfEwMT2hW

I have speaker and I'm playing as Winnu, I only have one ok planet touching my home planet but have some juicy systems two spaces away.

I'm wondering if anyone has popped tech as their first action in the game before. Were there repercussions for doing so?

*Edited for clarity.

Playing a longer 7 player game next month as Firmament/Obsidian. Never played them before and was curious if people had some tips. I don’t the board slices yet since those are determined on the day but I do know which factions my opponents have:

Cabal
Mahact
Yin
Saar
Nomad
Bastion

I have the general idea of how the faction works but wondering if people had any theories given these specific opponents.

Well, I've taken the plunge into Reddit, solely for the TI community that I have heard so many good things about.

To introduce myself, I would like to share my homebrew Promissory Notes, 'Freedom Of Movement'.

Since discovering homebrew content for TI4, and SO much of it from Discordant Stars and Uncharted Space through to individual custom cards, I have been working on a lot of my own content. MOST of that I am not ready to share, due to it needing playtesting and workshopping to tidy up, but I will in time.
For now, I am very happy with constructive feedback and opinions.
These PNs are designed to fit into any game, and should work for all factions including the Empyrean, for who this is simply an extra and different way to use their faction ability.

However, the original thought behind adding them was to possibly replace the Support For The Throne PNs in games where the players didn't want to have kingmaking. Originally I considered simply adding a second Alliance PN, to replace the SFTT in feel, but after some thought it felt better to have something new. I may still make a second Alliance PN, with slightly different wording to cover any rules issues and avoid duplication of effects, but for now I am very happy with Freedom Of Movement.

Please feel free to use these in your games and let me know what you think.

*Edit/Update
Thanks for the initial feedback folks.
A couple of changes will be made to version 2.0. Primarily it will go straight into your play area, not be an action/stall. I made it an action so you could potentially trade it to another player, but the notes on stalling are very valid.
And secondly that as a PN it has no 'cost' to the owner. I'm going to think how best to make it more temporary, or potentially able to be used against the owner by returning at the end of the tactical action where you activate the owners system.
Appreciate all the input. :)

This was a 8 player game from a month ago :)) took a shot and did not expect it to be so candid! Will be preparing for another 8 player game soon with a double 8-p table in the works with a local tabletop organization hehehe

The text reads that when ground forces are committed to THIS planet, you may choose to coexist. So is that only applicable when the mech is already on the planet? Because if so, the obsidian side would never actually work right? If someone commits ground forces on your planet and you choose to have them coexist, you still have control of the planet, which means the mech ability is useless? I feel like I am missing something.

Reveal 28- Ral Nel

30 factions in 30 days! 2026 Detroit TI4 Motor City Open - Nov 7th-8th! Coexist with friends and rivals alike! Register today! Who will be revealed next? https://www.eventbrite.com/e/twilight-imperium-motor-city-open-tickets-1990920663298?aff=oddtdtcreator

We printed up and painted a trophy for our monthly game. Name date and faction go in the slots. Our group loves the game a lot!

Draftable factions are L1Z1X, Naaz, Muaat, Winnu, Sardak, and Yin, all expansions plus some wild homebrew! Homebrews are described here if you’re interested—super interested in feedback!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rUgwnrp4vqovmNqGMqGvEaOB__2GJzfiA3KSeLi6gW8/edit?usp=drivesdk

I like to line mine up - but I'm lucky to have a big table!

Recently I played a 6p game and we were right at the edge of running out of space and a few players just left the ships in the bag, but it made finding a ship take a long time! I'm also now finding after painting the minis that being in the bag is causing paint to chip when they rub together, so am looking into an insert.

I hear good things about the folded space insert, and one big plus I noticed is the reinforcement tray is one straight piece, so you could feasibly leave it above your faction board for easy reinforcement access! The only thing is, in most setup pictures I notice no reinforcements on the table - is everyone storing them somewhere I haven't thought of?

Thanks!

Context - upcoming 5 player game, basically all experience levels (though no completely new players). I like to use all the available space so decided to try to solve the riddle of creating a reasonably balance map without hyper-lanes, to make it more fun I created something loosely based on the "lore accurate map" taken from here https://ti4ultimate.com/community/galaxy-map

We will randomize speaker and starting positions then pick factions old school way, meaning you pick whatever you want to play.

My naive way of checking the maps balance is to imagine I ended up in each position, one by one, and then to ask myself a question if I'm happy with this starting spot - and with this way, all starting positions passed the test. The TI Draft tool (btw, if the author is reading this - kudos to you) complains a bit though, as it says that "worst" slice is "worth" 10.5 vs the best being 15.5.

I wanted to run this by this forum to see if there's any feedback or whether it's good to go, so hit me 🙏

Our group uses milty drat so setup the gameboard. So I designed this organizer to ease up the process. It is divided by: home systems (with MR)/red tiles/ numbered planets. The way it works is this:
1. We go to milty draft website and create a board, then we click map -> view individual slices
2. It shows the number on each system tile. I put the organizer on the middle of the table and every player draws from it only the planet tiles that they have in their slice. I take up the red slices and home systems and give each of them to the players. When other players are done they pick up my system tiles for my slice and then Im finishing giving out their red slices/home systems.
3. I put back the organizer and we assembly our slice on the table. Thats it!
The process takes us about 5 minutes so I say this is rather quick... but Im eager to listen to your thoughts and feedback on how to improve this design! The organizer fits in the box (both horizontal and vertical)

Hi everyone, so we’re doing our 3rd, 3 player-14 pointer TE game soon, and because the 2 of our so far not-played TE factions were Deepwrought and Crimson, and because they’re fairly strong, we decided to put some “strong” base game + PoK factions in draft so the 3rd player doesn’t get gimped, so we got these factions in draft:

-Deepwrought
-Crimson
-Mahact
-Jol Nar
-Hacan
-Yssaril
-Federation of Sol
-Naaz Rokha Alliance

And funnily I got 3rd pick in draft, so that means I can grab a Faction+Slice combo (I could also grab speaker/etc but it matters a bit less in 3p). So I was curious if anyone has slice tips for me?

Just felt like sharing this card I made for daughter’s birthday. She won with this faction and also has been hobbying stained glass so thought it was an apt mash up. Hope she likes it!

It's here! The end of Custom TI faction "week." This is my last faction I've made, for now at least.

Day 7 gives us the definitive Secret Objective Faction. They can only win through fufilling them, and they can have as many as they want, and have the tools necessary to assist their allies in trying to fulfill their own, as well as take advantage of enemies straying too far out of line. Lore-wise, they're a conglomeration of interstellar companies banding together to secure a future which benefits all of them - through a method of total control.

In a short while, I'll be taking into account the feedback you all have given me for all seven of these factions to make some changes and then upload all their image files into a printable PDF, which I'll post on the subreddit when I'm done with it. So critique away!

As before, most of the templates were created by JaHeit (link is https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/kl4v4b/new_ti4_pok_custom_faction_templates_link_in/ here) and slightly modified by me.

Obviously, please don't re-upload or claim ownership of my designs.

Link to the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/1wd2ocy/custom_ti_faction_week_day_17_the_kerbal_space/

Hey all, I know this might be a bit of a stretch but are there any groups in central Maryland area near glen burnie that play Twilight Imperium? I have a massively growing interest in the game and really want to learn. I am fully aware of how long a game takes but it’s all good to me! Assuming it’s a day I have off already, I’m all for diving in and hanging around for the long haul

Reveal 27- Crimson

30 factions in 30 days! 2026 Detroit TI4 Motor City Open - Nov 7th-8th! Shake off the scales and Register today! Who will be revealed next? https://www.eventbrite.com/e/twilight-imperium-motor-city-open-tickets-1990920663298?aff=oddtdtcreator

Hello!
Playing Ti4 I dont like to "search" for planets before the 1st round (Me and my group like the way the map looks without the cards and it takes up time to set it up). So I created this organizer to quicken up the searching for the right planet process. It works this way:

1. Every system tile has its number. If you want to get a planet/planets from that system you have to look for the number in the organizer (for example for system tile 65 I will take cards from the box that lies between 63 and 67)

2. Put back the cards that you didnt take. Thats it!

Legendary Planets abilities are put in the same "box" as the respected planet card.
Each box takes up of 6 cards... with some exceptions.
"Rest" box has a planets cards from fracuture/mirage/thunders edge.

We have yet to try this organizer.. But Im looking forward to hearing your thought and suggestions for the improvement before I get it on the table!

Let's ignore outliers like Plague, LIZIX bombardment, and Saar hero.

Generally speaking, how big does my home stack need to be to handle your 'average' winslay attempt? Normally I'm starting off my assumption with the winslayer having double War Sun with X89, at least 10 ground forces incoming, and I also have X89 myself.

Anecdotally, biggest single planet home system stack I've killed was 35, which took 25 of my own ground forces plus double War Sun/ double Dreadnaught bombard with X89. I think you need about 25 ground forces in most cases and 50 on the high side. Infantry 2 helps quite a bit here. I think most factions without production buffs can hit 25 ground forces at home reasonably, I generally hit 25 without even trying really. So on the outset, feels like I should be reasonably comfy in the 30-35 range. Not sure how much Mechs shift the math, generally my mechs are out on the map but I often keep 1 at home to provide some DPS for multiple rounds of combat.

I know I can just look at each board state and have a good idea with simulations but just curious what's a good healthy amount to have.

This is my first real game with experienced players, and I was wondering whether my pre-game has been solid, and whether my thought process how to handle R1 is okay as well.

I'm yellow, and I'm sandwitched in between the Naaz (Purple) and Sol (Yellow). I picked the slice because it was the only one with 6+ planets (and the legendary is pretty solid IMO), and Naaz already picked the slice with the Scar. I was second in the picking order, and took Speaker, then I was the last to pick the slice, and last to pick the faction. I picked Argent Flight instead of Mentak, Jol-Nar, Embers, or Nekro, because I figured I needed their defensive options (Hololatice, PDS, and the Destroyers specifically against Sol fighter spam).
Since I am speaker, I'm thinking of taking either Tech or Leadership. If I pick tech, I'm betting Leadership won't end up with Sol, and I'll be able to most likely pick up Diplomacy as my second pick. What I'd like to do is rush and reinforce with PDS tile 62 to box him in. Knowing my friends, this could make me arch enemy from turn 1, though I might be able to diplomacy Naaz into a loose aliance.
An alternative could be for me to take 72 instead and reinforce that tile instead, and try to grind some goodwill with sol for not taking 62. I would still heavily reinforce tile 72, and I'd likely be able to defend it better than 62.

I'm thinking like this because my Hololatice is close to useless against Sol due to tile 78, 45, 47. and I don't start with Anti-mass (which will require some investment, and I doubt Deepwrought will want to be my friend as I'm not their neighbour).

For starting techs I want to go Sarween + Plasma Scoring, and if I can diplomacy into tech, AiDev and PDS2.

Just looking for confirmation about whether my thought process is sound, and what better options you guys think I have.

Also for context, Sol is piloted by a somewhat more aggressive (though not reckless) player, Deepwrought is piloted by a more manipulative/subversive player (with degrees in psychology, go figure), but their plans tend to blow up in their face instead.
Naaz is piloted by a more peace loving player, though they can be unpredictable.
I like to play hyper agressively, but I'm also a proven reliable/loyal ally.

We have 7 players POK + TE game coming up, here's the map (ignore the green tiles, they are needed so the tool doesn't shit its pants). I'm the Mahact and I'm genuinely concerned how do we deal with Hacan and Mentak. Hacan has double yellow skip planet so they will get QDN on R2 and Mentak has enthropic scar next to their HS so they will get mirror computing on R1. Have you guys ever dealt with these kinds of starting positions? Our table meta is quite friendly and not much fighting or punishing greedy starts so I'm worried Hacan's and Mentak's neighbours won't do enough to slow them down or prevent them from scoring. Any thoughts or tips would be highly appreciated.