Twilight Imperium 4 Faction Guide | Sardakk N'orr
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- A component review and in-depth look at the Sardakk N'orr faction from Twilight Imperium 4th Edition, upgraded by the Prophecy of Kings expansion, designed by Dane Beltrami and published by Fantasy Flight Games.
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==Timestamps:========================================
00:00 - Intro
01:06 - Component Overview
09:10 - Analysis
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Sardakk is on my short list of favorite factions to play. Not only are they often overlooked by the table due to not having any gamebreaking abilities at face value, but they spread so quick and suddenly amass wealth and are potent with fighter 2 and carrier 2.
Fighter 2 & Carrier 2 ( via AI Development Algorithm & Anti Mass Deflectors) and your a scary force
I would go for AI Development Algorithm to help get unit upgrades, as those enhance their main strength of being good at fighting. It also makes it easier to go for Valkyrie Particle Weave. Tech skips really help (especially blue and red).
Their +1 attack affects units with weak attacks more. Their Fighter II hits on 7+ (40% Chance) and with numbers, can make a very cheap and fast force. I prefer researching Carrier II instead of Gravity Drive as multiple carriers moving at speed 2 is often better. Their Dreadnought II threat of destroying 2 ships is a huge deterrent, especially on defense against transports.
I like to choose them if I have a triple planet system in my slice, due to their commander ability. Sending 3 ground forces (usually 1 mech and 2 infantry) from that system and sometimes 1 or 2 more from other systems can often allow you to capture planets without using ships (especially against fleet-focused enemy factions). I especially like using this tactic on Mecatol Rex when an opponent has a strong fleet above it and has activated the system, as they end up protecting my ground forces. Just remember to spread your infantry to different planets.
I also feel that they are better suited for smaller player counts.
Their racial promissory notes should be highly sought after, so you should be able to trade it to a neighboring attacker on the turn he attacks with an agreement that he uses it that turn. Thus, it helps to be neighbors with more players.
A late-game Duranium Armor works very well with their mechs which trigger hits from Sustain Damage. Their mechs in combination with Valkyrie Particle Weave will produce 2 additional hits when the enemy produces a hit.
FUN FACT: Their war sun cannot miss if it is accompanied by their flagship (but is nowhere as cost-efficient as a few Carrier IIs with Fighter IIs).
I played them in my first game ever with my friends. All of us first timers. Didn't really read up on strategies, we were just reading through the rulebook as we went along. I figured as much that I would try to upgrade the dreadnoughts and construct my flagship as much as possible. And while this made me overpower my enemy in my first battle, it also painted a HUGE target on my back and... yeah... But it was absolutely super fun playing them.
We are about to play our first game of TI4 with 5 players and I drew the Sardakk… I’ll give it my best shot!!! 😂
Ideas for fighting Sardakk: Invest in bombardment and technology. There usually isn't a lot to worry about, since it is one of the hardest factions to play. If they are a genuine threat, make sure you have a lot of ground forces guarding your territory.
Just won a game as Sardakk N’orr! Started the game on a war of two fronts against my neighbors and made it to the lead by convincing both of them to ignore me and let me into their alliance as a “junior member” 😅 took Mecatol Rex from the leader for them and then just built up my forces there to weather the storm when the eventually turned on me.
Final turn I used an action card to guarantee imperial, then held out with my 2 exotrireme II’s, 3 carriers and 5 fighter IIs against a MASSIVE fleet of a warsun, four dreadnoughts, the cabal flagship 2 carriers, one cruiser, and 8 fighters. At the end of space combat he had just 2 dreadnoughts and the cruiser left thanks to the exptriremes blowing up. After ground combat and bombardment I still held Mecatol and scored 3 with imperial. Amazing game!!
Just discovered your channel - great content! There’s so much to process with each faction, and having it read aloud and explained is way easier for me than than just reading and parsing it myself.
I like your deep analysis. Good work!
I’m happy you enjoyed!
Half time 😀 - Thank you for this playlist. I'm watching these to get a better understanding how each faction plays and this is very helpfull. 👍
You’re welcome. Good luck in the second half!
Haven't played yet, but me and the boys have it on order. Very excited to get it
Did you get a game in?
I'm shocked that you barely touched on how their Commander lets them invade adjacent planets without ships. You don't need the Leader to "skip to ground combat" as long as you've got plenty of ground forces in an adjacent system. Just activate the system, move in ground forces, and fight.
I haven't even played 4th edition yet, but I still watch all of your videos. Hope you get many more subs, you deserve it ☺️
Thanks so much! I appreciate that, Lucas. Glad to have you around
I just spammed fighter twos. Had my flagship n five carriers. 23 fighters that hit on sixes. Oof that was a fun fleet to move around at end game
Only played Sardakk twice (pre-POK), but faced them a handful of times. They're very vanilla, but can definitely add some chaos and fun into the mix.
Imo you forego red techs completely (faction tech is nice to have, but unnecessary) and focus on exotrireme pathway as it gives way more options for additional "practical" techs ie Carrier II, Fighter II and the lovely blue techs.
Really enjoying your series. While I completely agree that it's not really a faction for beginners, I had a blast with the bug boys in my last game due in part to their alliance. I gave it to Yin (a neighbor) and we basically used Gomma to spread across the map, eventually meeting up on the far side of the galaxy. It would also be hilarious to give it to Arborec, to see what they could do with their infantry. I found the alliance to be so good that your alliance partner really won't want to attack you, but will absolutely want to use it to cause havoc with other players.
Does that make the bugs top tier? No. But, it's fun and can create chaos (and maybe, just maybe, give them a shot).
Their commander with the arborec would be truly evil. I want to see that in my game now too
nice too see this, tho i am sad you didnt enjoy them much. i know they are an absolute top tier faction in 4player/14 point games, but i will have to try them out in a higher player count game
I feel bad that I don't particularly care for them. I appreciate that many do, however.
Why would you focus big ships with them? The flat +1 bonus scales up way more for a bunch of small ships
You need to have enough big ships to transport your smaller ships no?
@bio-m6832 no, you don't need big ships to carry smaller ships. All ships can move on their own. You want the ships that have carrying capacity so you can transport ground troops and fighters.
Did you explain them moving from planet to planet without ships thanks to their commander?
"Their hero isn't good because they can just come back in and kill all your dudes." Not if you plan it well? Sardakk wins fights on the ground. The agent gives you two more infantry on that planet, your mechs have guaranteed hits, duranium or VPW can add more... it can be hard to remove Sardakk from a planet they want to keep. Also their mechs don't need to hit harder than a 5 (not 6, they get the +1 too) because they auto generate a hit when they sustain. This is leagues better than hitting slightly harder as it makes small scale combat against them basically impossible and is still very good in larger combats.
Most of the time, their dreadnoughts are a trap. Fighters and carriers, cruisers, or just no ships with enough planet hopping is often better.
Uh oh.... So I just yelled dibs on red to everyone. We are playing in a couple of days for the first time sooo.......... This will be an interesting first game. I really need to look before I leap. Now I guess I need to study how to play as them.
OK just got finished.... In last place. These guys suck... Hard.
Objectively yeah they're not the strongest, but i'll always have a soft spot for the bugs since they're the guys i won my first game of TI with (even though ironically my favourite faction and the first one i played was their opposite, jol nar). I think the scanlink trick is cool, sure, but not really the best thing to be going for since you're not really guaranteed to be getting the "research something" relic/exploration card/whatever (by that same logic might as well go green with neural motivators and hope to get plagiarize). AI dev feels much more useful, both as a red tech to potentially get valkyrie and as an additional skip, quite useful for getting cool things like the exo 2 or infantry 2. About the hero, i agree it can absolutely be game changing, since in that game i won i used it to get my boys on mecatol thus letting me score some stuff, however i really hate that you're basically forced to play him with a sabotage in your hand since otherwise an enemy parlay can just destroy your life. Honestly the biggest things about them are the exo 2's suicide mission potentially taking out 24 resources worth of stuff and the planet hopping commander letting you pile on your enemies and use carriers just for fighter swarms (if you can afford to build them). Those two will be your game winners. Everything else is just a neat additional thing.
I havent played them yet, but wouldnt warfare be the best pick for round 1? They could capture 3 systems (since they dont need to build more units round 1) which could help bypass how poor they are early. And if you manage to somehow grab leadership next round you have first shot at mecatol (assuming you found enough influence in your slice). Once you get Mecatol and 3 systems you should have your commander unlocked, so you could start instantly stacking up infantry on Mecatol until you can bring reinforcements or build a dock. Dont get me wrong, not an amazing faction but I feel like since they have enough resource for secondary tech round 1 anyways you should prioritize warfare, leadership, politics, trade, and then tech imo (unless you can double tech round 1). And for tech path, it might make sense to rush fighter 2 / destroyer 2, cruiser 2, or carrier 2, as the more units you have, the more you can utilize your passive rather than going more into dreads.
you need position on Sardakk, is very easy to get 5 planets on round 1, with this you have you commander unlock, use the secondary on tech and research pds 2 as soon as possible if you get a speciality planet you can do it by round 2 next to "Meca". in the first round place a dock next to Meca rex then start getting constrution and hold you slice your pie and build once you get the swarm ready move to conquer you weakest "ally" don't stop the attack until you remove it from the game! You don't let people stay on " Meca" by you pds cover! You don't play for points instead for combat elimination! Recommend fleet, carriers and fighters plus mothership 1 mech and 2 ground troops. If you have Xxcha or Titan of Ur on the table let them for last. No one can stop the +2 at round 3.
Sardakk Norr is the only faction that can say: "Aaand, that makes 24 hits.."
With just a couple action cards, i have seen Sardakk's Advanced fighters fire at 2+ at the first round, which resulted in a net 20+ hits. It was soo worth to see that Jol-Nar's face as he got annihilated by a fleet that costed less than a quarter of his, in a single round.
It's also priceless to calmly pick up your dreadnaught and say "remove those 2 war suns".
Sheer intimidation factor of this faction if they survive to late game is priceless, even if you lose, you hold the power of the board at your fingertips.
ALSO: a simple math formula for you guys:
Advanced fighter and Cruiser II are the most cost-effective unit upgrades mathematically if you don't have a special use for your dreadnaughts.
I feel like this faction absolutely NEEDS both a blue tech skip, and AI Development Algorithm in their slice. Maybe even a Red skip. THEN they might be able to get some catch up enough, and just pump out Dreadnought II's, Carrier II's, and Infantry... I still think this is the faction I'm least excited to try.
Agreed, sadly
My style of playing Sardakk succeded a lot of wins with this race.
First of all, forget about faction technologies and focus only in a faction ability. How do you benefit of +1 to dice roll the most? Well, you roll tons of dice! So, the basic interest is to make thousands of units each of one roll you over in one-rwo combar rounds. For that you only need 3 units: your flagship, dozens of fighters and as much carriers as possible. Upgrade those two and you have a knuckle of ten fighters each of them rolling like a dreadnought. Cheap and numerous. And if the game is still going, from 2 blue techs u may consider going either after 2 turns tech, or maybe start creating your exotrirems. No random needed. So I definitely disagree with that you must "fix" them, because I like to make best of their ability. And with expansion it benefits even more. Just fly with a dozen fighters, and all the infantry just enter the fight automatically without spending a carring space. Ideal.
It is funny. I just played in a game that had the sardakk then watched this video. it was a four player game with the creuss the nekro, the winnu, and the n'orr. creuss won, but the sardakk were just blasting the nekro. that flagship is nuts. they went for it as soon as they could and with those exotrireme II (those were hitting at 3) they were beating the Nekro in nearly every battle. however they are to slow! they can not keep the advantage as they have to stop at keep building up. they got tech on their first turn and where saved some tech by getting gral and using that to get the exotrireme II. they ended the game with four victory points, and that is not losing any the entire game. If I do use the N'orr, i will not expect to win.
Unfortunately I’ve found myself in some pretty rough situations myself with them!
Would you allow a house rule letting Sardakk start with Scanlink Drone? That way a player is completely starved for tech in the early game. Opening up more tech paths for Sardakk player.
Isn't*
First I guess :D For the gomma momma
Great to have you ;)
Got to admit, I disagree on your assessment on how good the bug boys are.
For tech, starting with nothing means they're not pigeonholed into one play style. The key is to tech AI Dev first and then use that in conjunction with whatever tech skips you can grab. Or if you have no tech skips go AI Dev, go into blue tech then into Exotrireme using AI Dev. That also gives you room to still go for Valkyrie Particle Weave.
I've seen people play a total ground game. Forward dock in the centre of their slice, build nothing but Mechs, infantry and PDS then spread out. Teching AI Dev, PDS2, Mageon Defence Grid and Valkyrie Particle Weave. Go full PDS and nobody can touch your slice.
Their commander is second only to the Mahact, my group calls it the Space Jam. 🤣
Most people only defend planets with one or two guys. Have a wave of Mechs and infantry planet hopping and there's little people can do to stop them.
The hero is the ultimate 'I'm gonna take your HS and stop you scoring' move if you need to kneecap someone and their upgraded dreads are one of the best anti Warsun deterrents. If it survives the first round of combat the enemy death egg is going down.
You are indeed correct that they are not new player friendly, I also had them in my first ever game. My god they were a struggle in base game. 😁
Really enjoying these TI videos. 👍
I absolutely should take another crack at them for my own enjoyment. Thanks for the tips, I might not be so turned away from them after reading.
We played for the first time with 4th edition but don't see any mech or leaders for our factions. is Sardakk n'orr still worth playing? thank you
Hi, the mechs/leaders/etc came out with the Prophecy of Kings expansion. Without the expansion, I would say they’re probably the worst or tied for the worst faction, especially when it comes to enjoyment level. With the expansion however, it turns them into a really fun faction that’s worth playing in my opinion.
Just played my first game as them and by turn 4 I was quite far behind everyone. Wasn't playing PoK so just got the 10% boost to combat and that's pretty weak
Agreed. They’re really not a great faction to start with. So many weaknesses and not many strengths. That being said, don’t get discouraged from the game entirely! It’s great, just mix it up :)
Our group has home rules that the Sardak Nor's Mech's hit on 5 and they also start with one red tech.
They do hit on 5 they have the plus ability
10 percent is 10 percent...yeah
Isn't it beter to go AI Dev instead of Scanlink. This as Yellow skip for Exotrireme II and a dubble Red for Destroyer II. Blue is the tech path we want, a shame Valkyrie Particle Weave won't be used; even when we are one skip away. It should have been their starting tech or just an sheet ability tbh. The Scanlink world hoping is interesting tho.
I completely agree that it should have been a sheer ability. They don’t need to be so simple, I know it’s a gimmick of theirs but gimmicks for ONLY the sake of gimmicks aren’t my forte
9:46 Hahahaha 😂