Top 10 TI3 Races - with Sam Healey
Vložit
- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- Sam Healey gives us his Top 10 Twilight Imperium 3 Races.
00:00 - Introduction
00:56 - #10
01:31 - #9
02:34 - #8
03:37 - #7
04:22 - #6
05:15 - #5
06:49 - #4
07:46 - #3
08:43 - #2
09:42 - #1
Buy great games at www.gamenerdz.com/
Find more reviews and videos at www.dicetower.com - Hry
I'm really happy for Sam. These are the things he's really passionate about and you can see it in his enthusiasm. He's so much happier here or when he's reviewing Memoir '44 units than when he has to rank card games, or pick up and delivery games.
I love how, in the two games I've played so far, my races have happened to be your 2nd and 1st favorite (almost won the second game... Someone foiled my complicated master plan! So I spited them by ending the game like I was going to anyway (bureaucracy), causing me to lose on a tiebreaker and someone else to win. Ahhhhhh... Such wonderful TI3 memories...
Sam. Stream a game of this already. Please.
You didn't mention that the Lazax are supposed to only be played in the special scenario game. The big advantage there is if they pick the strategy card, they can basically dictate the outcome of a political agenda. Also everybody starts out pretending to love them because they're so powerful. Have you tried using them in a standard game?
Hey Sam, during a Q&A I asked what your favorite race was in TI3 and why it was the Mindnet (which is my favorite too) awesome to hear you to talk about this and great choices. Thanks for the list!
Great video. I almost wish it wasn't a top 10 and just a overview of the races. Can you do another video giving your take and opinion of the other races please? Thank You!
Dear Sam.
My group always plays with "Simulated early turns" variant to have control over some adjacent systems in the beginning of the game? Do you tend to play with this? If so, how does it work with Lazax race (I've never played the scenario mode before)?
I've so been looking forward to your take on this awesome game!
+Ink & Coffee Marks It's his favourite game. He talked about it a lot of times in the past...
www.dicetower.com/game/12493/twilight-imperium-third-edition
Love it! Awesome list for a awesome game! More ti3 content!!
Naalu Collective is awesome once you get the needed techs. (i.e. Advanced Fighters) Fighters that can actually fight? Amazing.
Mentak Coalition is at its best when Emirates of Hacan are also in the game. Someone to reliably snitch TG from. :)
Before watching video: Woohoo! More on TI3! Awesome! Like!
Thanks for sharing Sam (little late seeing this hehehehe). Solid list, especially considering that it is your favorite to play. I would like to honorary mention Hacan who can dominate trade, Yssaril who I think might be the strongest race with their multitude of Action cards and the Naalu who can be devastating at the hands of an experienced player. Final thoughts: This game is just awesome.
Hey Sam, great video. I would love to see you, Tom, and Zee get together and make a video on what you'd like to see in a hypothetical Twilight Imperium IV
I like the Emirates and Yssaril Tribes a lot.
Hey Sam did any of these change win TI4 came out?
I thought the Lazax can only be played in the special scenario? Or have they been FAQed in the main game?
TI3! Yes! The King of Boardgames. Always!❤️
The Naalu Collective are great. They ALWAYS go first each round, they can escape from Combat at the beginning rather than the end & if you upgrade all Techs on the Fighters, you could do some punishing damage with them!
How many games roughly have you played of TI3 so far? :)
I won with L1Z1X last game we played. Waiting to play TI4 now!
That's similarly how I won with the Mentak Coalition too. Only got attacked once, stole once or twice. Won through gaining objectives.
Live play video on Dice tower, WHEN ??
hmm no one mentioned the Humans? There my fav, the extra command counters offer lots of flexibility throughout the rounds.
How much of this still applies with 4th edition?
TI3 is the favorite game (!!!) of my group, although we only play it once per year. I guess´"Embers of Muaat" would be the top race in the group.
Please make a top10 list with focus on all the additional rules. That would be interesting because every time we want to play it, we have a discussion about it. Last time we tried the political intrigue and we liked it. And i remember a game with distant suns and it was too much luck involved for us, so we did never play with them again ;-)
My favorites are (in no specific order):
* Yssaril Tribes, I love the passing ability and the ton of action cards.
* Naalu great always going first, although that can backfire sometimes, and the race-specific technology that makes your opponent lose a command counter when they attack you - great deterrent
* the Arborec, I just find the ground forces as factories fascinating
* Letnev has been brought up to speed with their new race-specific tech for the dreadnoughts absorbing 2 damage when first hit
* L1z1x is just very powerful all-round
I find these kind of boring:
* Sardakk Norr the global +1 is powerful only if you fight all the time, but I'm usually not that warlike
* the Necro Virus has to attack, I tend to play a more subtle game
* Ghosts of Creuss, I find that extra step out of the home system a nuisance, although the wormholes come very handy in the endgame
* Lazax was only meant for the scenario in Shards of the Throne, right?!
I love the fact that none of the races feel unbalanced, you can win with any one of them. I will happily play any of them (except maybe Sardakk and the Necro :)). I have been lucky to play this game over 50 times in the last 8 years, and though we have kind of overplayed it in our group, it still makes me excited to think about those games.
Damn. We played our 20hrs TI3 game one week too early. I could have shown this to the other players !
Lazax? They are only scenario race. You can't play them during normal game
Are you sure??
100% L1z1x is their replacement in regular game.
Yeah he's right.
I always wanted to try them in a normal game. Just to see what happens, you know?
its a special scenario, they start on mecatol rex, and are fighting a war on 5-6 fronts as everyone moves in
I really want another expansion of this game
The N’orr and the Nekro virus are my favorites
I like the Mentak Coalition, however I wished they played more like a pirate race as they are suppose to be one.
Going by pure power:
#1 Yssaril- Pretty much everyone agrees they're miles ahead of any other race in the game. The stall ability, starting with 2 XRD carriers, the action cards, the action card stealing. The 2nd place race doesn't even come close. You can impose major house rule nerfs on them and they're STILL the best race! Without house rule nerfs, there's no reason that an experienced player should ever NOT win with the Yssaril.
Top tier: Jol-Nar, Hacan, N'orr, L1z1x, Naalu, Nekkro Virus (if they have a Jol-Nar neighbor). I've never seen any of these races NOT be a close contender to win. Still well behind Yassril though.
Upper mid tier: Mentak. They would make top tier if it wasn't so easy to prevent them from stealing your trade goods.
Mid tier: Any other races not mentioned
Lower tier: Winnu, Xxcha. Having 2 diplomats for leaders is the ONLY thing Xxcha have going for them. If you're not playing with leaders they're close to the worst race in the game.
Bottom of the barrel: Xxcha (without leaders), Yin. The Yin are made up of a collection of abilities that are conditionally sort of useful when they randomly work. The worst starting techs in the game; they only get 2 techs and they're the only race in the game that doesn't start with a tech that's a prerequisite to getting one of the all important 2 movement infantry transport abilities (automated turrets is something you research reactively). You can't even have fun with their theme because they have none (clones of a scientist with space psoriasis?).
Love Yssarill Tribes. Love to mess with the tempo and being nasty at others at the table.
Difficult to win though, as a more militaristic race can easily wipe them out in fights.
Wha???? They're recognized by everyone as by far the most powerful race in the game. 2 carriers starting with XRD, the skip ability, tons of action cards, and stealing action cards. The gap between them and any other race isn't even close. They're miles above at the top.
We nerfed the Yssaril for this reasons in some points: Now they still start with XRD but only one carrier. The AC limit is also binding for them and when they want to look at another player's AC, they need to spend a CC from Strategy. And they can skip only once per round.
My favorites are Yssaril and Hacan, both aesthetically, and because I really love the social aspect of the game so, im either the duplicitus spy or the furry version of Don Corleone.
I find the Barony of Letnev to be one of the best races. Due to a great home world, slap 2 space docks there and you are pumping large amounts of units out every turn, also the fleet cap is a huge bonus. The Ghosts and Nekro are very hard to play and not particular strong. The Mentak are ok if you use their cruiser bonus very early in the game, otherwise their stealing of trade goods is useless and everyone makes sure to spend everything before you get a chance to get any loot
Letnev is lower middle tier. The one, the ONLY thing they have going for them is their homeworld. Everything else about them is nearly useless.
We introduced two upgrades for the Letnev on our own because we found that they can hardly make use of their combat Bonus, due to their bad trade agreements:
1. Once per turn, as an action, they can get two fighters by spending a CC from Strategy (like the Sol with GF, but only once)
2. During the production step of a tactical action, they can turn ressources of unexhausted planets into trade goods (and exhaust them by doing so)
With this adjustments, the Letnev perform better and can catch up on L1Z1X, Sardakk or Naalu for example
Not to mention their fleet cap bonus isn't that great. Sol gets +1CC per round so after just two rounds (where the fleet cap won't matter much anyway) they're ahead of Letnev and the gap only grows from there. So they're stuck with a reroll ability they'll never get to use and a fleet cap ability that's way worse than Sol's CC bonus (and Sol is a solid middle of the road race to begin with).
How many races are there overall? I've never played.
+Mentat1231 Should be 16 if I recall correctly. 17 with Lazax. Top 10 races is over half of the races available. I'm glad you like so many, Sam :D
Puddnhead
Thanks! I'm really considering getting into this game, because it has so many things I love. But I don't know that any of my friends would go for a game that takes this long to set up and play.
+Mentat1231 +Puddnhead Actually, pretty sure it's 18 (including Lazax). 10 in the base, and 4 in each expansion.
I won my first and only game against veterans with the naluu collective against necro, space gollums and mentak.
You give a cool overview of the races you mention, but I really can't tell what this list is supposed to be.
If it's supposed to be the strongest races, Yssaril Tribes is indisputably #1 unless you're counting Lazax (which are not playable usually), but you don't list them. If it's the coolest/most interesting races, I have to wonder why you've put Sardak N'orr, arguably the most basic race in the game, over the Arborec for the extreme uniqueness.
This may just be my bias as an Arborec player showing though =)
Isn't the Lazax just for that special Lazax Scenario?
+Nathan Larsen Yes, they suggest only using the Lazax for the Scenario game mode. That makes me curious whether Sam plays Scenario mostly or if they have allowed Lazax into regular games.
+Puddnhead I read a post somewhere about modifying them for normal game play but it seemed like it was a lot of work to stick them in. He must play the scenario!
random comment here: His voice sounds different in this vid. Then again I might be crazy
The Nekro are my favs. Muaat my second
I'm just glad that the Gollums didn't make the list... The Emirates should've been on it though...
I am pretty sure that the Yssaril tribes will obliterate many of the racesa on here. But Sam was going for favorites/coolness rather than power rankings.
I wish there was an online TI3 game so I could play against other people... Unity3d is call me with her siren call.
He didnt even mention the amazing racial techs or flagships that the races have. Those make every race way cooler, especially the l1z1x
I disagree with U. I also have problems with W and X. Z is Ok though..
~smiles~
We play TI3ed on my birthday every year. ..and usually a few times just after wards because we'd forgotten how much fun it was.. I'm up to nearly 16-18 plays over the years I think? But in our games the political deck and voting is usually fairly major thing. Not having enough votes can really get you screwed. Also if you want to go early in the turn order, the political strategy is your friend. Usually the winner is the player who gets all the other players fighting and stays clean. I love that about this game.
We also like using less anglo pronunciations for the race names (they are alien after all). J becomes 'Y', X becomes 'sch' (like mandarin) and some of the S become "Z". Adds to the colour
HA... 11:18... The "Mental" Coalition!!!
Ranked by coolness...
Isn't there only 14 total? Why not a full list.
Actually, there are 18. The base game has 10 races, Shattered Empires adds 4 and Shards of the Throne adds 3 to the normal gameplay and the Lazax for a special scenario. Still, why not a full list²
I really wish I knew more people who played board games, this game is one of the main reasons why. On a scale from 1-10, how badly would this game play with two players, if at all possible (through some game tweaks or something?)
10. Really badly. It even plays badly with 3 players and that's the minimum number printed on the box.
Aramis Yeah... Figured as much, but had my hope up that maybe someone somewhere had come up with a two player variant that actually worked very well ;) Miracles do happen, just not to me :P
The main point why 2p won't work is the lack of political interaction as that would be basically 0, and even small stroke of bad luck will put the other player under the bus. Lose your main fleet.. well good luck rebuilding while the winner sits in Mecatol Rex collecting points. That's also mostly why 3p is bad too. It always comes down to 2v1 where 2 band against 1 to curbstomp him to the ground, then start beating each other or 1v1 while the other player sits in the corner waiting for the other two to bang their heads together and then sweeps to steal their stuff while they are low on resources and units.
TL;DR: 2/3 is really bad balance, +4 must, 5-6 optimal.
ofc you could make a variation/mod to make it more balanced, but that would require HUGE changes.. and at that point you should just pick another game.
Oh well, I guess I will just try to hold someone at gunpoint and get them to play with me ;)
First order of business... Get a gun...
no love for the greatest of them all the Yssaril Tribe
Ysarril cause action cards, many action cards
Nearly every race only starts with 2 tech. Why does he keep mentioning that as some sort of rare disadvantage?
Sardakk N'orr start with two techs but one of them is bad (Deep Space Cannon) and they start with neither Antimass Deflectors nor Enviro Compensator. I like the race and enjoy playing as them but their starting techs do suck (and their starting forces suck and their home system kind of sucks).
No Cats, Humans, or Turtles?
Sardakk Nor are by far the best race in the game.
If we're talking most powerful and not personal favorite, then it's Yssaril. Hands down no contest.
Lizzy midnight
Just to be a bit difficult: The Mentak Coalition isn't a race. It's just a band of space pirates with members from different races ^^
Overall a very weak top ten.
first of all, Lazax are not even a playable faction outside their own scenario.
Then, basically all the races you highlights are war races, all but Jol-Nar, Creuss and Naalu. Most of my victories come without a single war I cause.
Some of the races you choose are nice, even cool to play, but most of them are basically "low level races": put the SardakK Norr against the Naalu Collective and see what happens (the same that happens with 7/10 of the races of your choice), for example.
There are not the Yssaril Tribes. HOW is it even possible, being the strongest race in the game BY FAR, given em to the right player: as you name your video "top 10 TI3 Races" instead of "My favourite TI3 Races to have fun having a lot of battles", how can you imagine a game where, for example, the Clan of Saar has more chances to win than the Yssaril? That's simply nonsense.
Sorry to say it, still appreciate your job guys, but this top10 is simply useless.
Greetings from Rome.
Sorry to say, but your favourite race choice is most probably the reason why you've only won only one game ;)
I was thinking the same thing :D Man, those dreadnoughts SUCK without some homerules. Mass fighters usually stomp everything...
We actually play with DN having two dice rolls in space combat and they are still not overpowered or anything.
No traders of hacan? BS 😆
Top 10 - White, Japanese, Chinese..., LOL! REEEEE!