Space Cats Peace Turtles

We JUST finished Tournament 5 but TOO BAD, it's time to talk about Tournament 6. We've got details on the structure and process on how to play in the 2024 tournament that starts in October of 2023. Once our website is up again we'll have the details typed out for you to pass around to your friends and hopefully I'll remember to come back and change this episode description when that link is available. Until then, listen to this to learn how radically different the tournament will be from years prior! After that, we give some details on the episodes to expect for the last few months of 2023. 1:16:12 - The Agenda Phase: Brassbird Asks: “I've been listening for a long time and I love a lot of your old content. Which old school SCPT episodes are your favorite? Which ones do you think are deserving of a reboot or revisit?” Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Early this year, we set out on a goal, (well a few goals really, but one of them was:) to learn GreaterThanGames' Spirit Island and hopefully help you learn it as well. We tackled the 8 spirits provided in the base game and have learned a lot along the way. It was the first time for this show to try and tackle a cooperative game, so today we're going to kind of rate and reflect on how we did and what it means to cover a game like this! Also there's a very extended edition of the Homebrew Review where we discuss many iterations of Yin's Impulse Core tech. For more Spirit Island content check out: Kindred Spirits Podcast: On Spotify or plenty of other podcast platforms! Kalen Noreth: https://www.youtube.com/@kalennoreth 1:17:29 - Homebrew Review: Impulse Core Homebrew Royale Music provided by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We went to GenCon, had a live show, then checked out what our friends over at Leder Games have been working on. Sam from Lord of the Board (https://www.youtube.com/@LordoftheBoard) joined us to demo a base game session of Arcs and chat with Cole as well as a demo of and chat about the "pre-alpha" build of Patrick Leder's "working title Blok." It was a splendid time with wonderful people and we hope you love our little conversations. 7:38 - Arcs with Cole Wehrle 36:40 - Blok with Patrick Leder Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

This episode was recorded LIVE at the Helium Comedy Club in Indianapolis, IN during the week of GenCon 2023! If you want to hear all of the stand-up, you'll have to come in person yourself someday, but this recording includes Old Gamer's Almanac playthrough of an old Sonic the Hedgehog Choose Your Own Adventure book as well as the SCPT Live show. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

The Galactic Council went chaotic evil this week and wanted us to provide you with the sequel to everyone's favorite episode: TI The Movie. This time we have to design a mini-series set in the Twilight Imperium universe, meant to be released on HBO circa 2010. We totally took the prompt really seriously and this is a very earnest attempt at that. There's no funny business, there's no references to the Watchmen, and there are absolutely no Muppets. Agenda Phase: RockPaperLizard asks “Would you be interested as content creators in recording games specifically oriented for ‘Listenability.’” To check out the Community Plays TI Discord: https://discord.gg/FXWFN6g5Q Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We've done it! After today, all of the Prophecy of Kings factions will have been revisited on this show as part of our Super Guide series! Don't talk to me about Council Keleres! We finish up with the Nomad, which is the first faction we ever learned about on this show and we've come a long way since then. Nomad has had some high highs, but they feel like they're slowing down a bit in their performance. What made them so good before and why have we seen that change over time? Come see us perform live during GenCon at the Helium Comedy Club on August 3 at 8:00 PM! https://indianapolis.heliumcomedy.com/shows/218650 Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

It's our last venture into the base game Spirits for Spirit Island! And we didn't do it on purpose, but we're each going out of spirits that didn't click with us quite as much, but that didn't stop them from being engaging to learn! Also we've got a lengthy Homebrew Review and Agenda Phase as well as a big important announcement at the end regarding our upcoming Weird Bear Exhibition "Tournament." 0:00 - Lightning's Swift Strike 56:14 - Shadows Flicker Like Flames 1:32:49 - Homebrew Review: William's Willard's Mentak Coalition Abilities 1:40:36 - Agenda Phase: DragoThaxton asks “Describe your dream TI4 IRL gameday" Music provided by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/ Tickets to our August 3rd show in Indianapolis: https://indianapolis.heliumcomedy.com/shows/218650

We're nearing the end of our super POK faction guides and today we get to tackle the first faction we ever dug deep into in POK, the Titans of Ul. They're a powerful faction that has always performed very well in our tournaments, but this year had a bit of a decline. (into the middle of the pack, so don't freak out) What makes this faction so strong and how can you make the most of their toolkit? 1:25:36 - Agenda Phase: OfficialDaveAcct asks “You mentioned in your Empyrean episode that you thought that faction was a great faction for a new player. What other factions would you recommend for someone's first time playing Twilight Imperium and why?” 1:33:57 - Homebrew Review: Simple's Vuil'Raight Idol Action Card Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

It's been a whole year and now it's time for us to prepare for the upcoming SCPT Patreon Tournament Finals! We've got interviews from all of the wonderful players and I'm so excited for you to hear them. Special thanks to JadiimJedi, Arratain, Sir Craigsworth, dzhiriki, Aljce, and Deshuga. *SOME EXPLICIT LANGUAGE* Are you going to Gen-Con this year? Maybe you should come see our live show at the Helium in Indianapolis: https://indianapolis.heliumcomedy.com/shows/218650 Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

The galactic council have bestowed us with a wonderful treat. The semis of Tournament 5 have concluded and before we get to the Finals, we are taking a look back at tournaments gone by. After some fun honorable mentions, we present to you Matt and Hunter's Top 10 Tournament Moments! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/ The Moments Duke ascends to valhalla (https://youtu.be/kCIjhyynpPE?t=3294) Craiken’s participation in the tournament (https://youtu.be/oGrbxKIwFxU) Jeol-Ir Cam (Tournament 3) (https://youtu.be/QQcOWT8EFCQ?t=2179) The Meta has 4 home systems (https://youtu.be/UBs_BHKIJ3E) Planet Erf uses Dice Magic (https://clips.twitch.tv/InventiveSaltyEggplantRedCoat-4lrGrE3Xw5v7aOvm) Jasper sabos 3 flank speeds (https://youtu.be/GZIPRaxqPbs?t=2231) Cody loses due to holding to his deal (https://www.twitch.tv/spacecatspeaceturtles/clip/SmoggyBigGooseYouWHY-5VmlHhDoWVr1kwLU?filter=clips&range=all&sort=time) Ixthian destroys squidtm’s entire game worst tournament ixthian (https://clips.twitch.tv/KnottyColorfulRadishBCWarrior-oCsxEodwTrqZ8wT-) The players elect a winner (Qualifier 18 Tournament 5) Clown fiesta with Spanish Streamers (https://youtu.be/wzJEHyqpO1o) Honorable Mentions Teddy can’t score his secrets and Visioness has a perfect opening (https://youtu.be/K9z4v6sSMIA) “The Plan” (https://www.twitch.tv/spacecatspeaceturtles/clip/FriendlyWimpySmoothieKeyboardCat-TE3JbLN0eyhbpJrX?filter=clips&range=all&sort=time) “Boot the dude” Rando retakes his HS in a stacked prelims game (https://youtu.be/GGiQvx8bjEA)

And now the thrilling conclusion to the tale of Gasha, Rick, Wrexx, Borin, and Ser. It's time for our heroes to sort out a bit of a bug situation, learn the secrets of mysterious artifacts, and handle a bit of a ghost issue. We've really loved making these and it's been especially rewarding to hear everyone respond so positively to them. We absolutely hope to make more in the future! To join other fans looking to roleplay in the Twilight Imperium universe using this system, check out the RPG Cats Tabletop Turtles Discord! (https://discord.gg/CxEHsBxWNP) Music by Michael Keane. Find most at the Twilight Symphonium: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGXR2L8DPl_sHV_8m-R2CQ Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We're back with more Spirit Island content! This week, we were tired of being pushed around, so we're talking about two spirits that do a lot of pushing back, the fear based Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares and the nuclear missile that is River Surges in Sunlight. After that, it's some Agenda Phase and the finale of the Tournament Prelims Recaps! 0:00 - Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares 50:47 - River Surges in Sunlight 1:27:39 - The Agenda Phase: Will asks: “What is your favorite, and least favorite, codex change?” 1:41:06 - Tournament Recaps: Games 33, 34, 35, & 36! Music provided by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We've been having TOO MUCH FUN over here at SCPT the last few weeks, so it's time for some more chunky content. Today is a guide to the Vuil'raith Cabal that it feels like we've been working on for two years. Have we finally unlocked the secret to this faction, or has Matt mostly just learned to stop sweating the small stuff? Or is he capable of learning to stop sweating... 0:00 - Cabal Guide 1:46:26 - Homebrew Review: Wekker’s “Anomalous Anomalies Assortment” 1:53:10 - Agenda Phase: My Cabbages! asks "When you are dealt a hard to achieve secret objective do you start working on it right away or ignore it and plan to draw another later?" 2:06:45 - Prelims Report: Games 15, 29, 30, 31, & 32. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Our story continues as Borin, Ser, Gasha, Rick, and Wrexx must consult with a Naalu diplomat, investigate a violent rebellious group, and earn the chance to speak with a Sardakk N'orr general. They're far from the most qualified but they might be the luckiest group the Council Keleres could send to handle this galactic crisis. Music by Michael Keane. Find most at the Twilight Symphonium: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGXR2L8DPl_sHV_8m-R2CQ Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Thank you to everyone who has played Twilight Imperium. Thank you to everyone who has helped foster this magnificent community. Thank you to everyone who has listened to our show. Thank you to everyone we've played with. You all mean the world to us. Special Thanks to this episode's contributors: Dane Beltrami, Corey Konieczka, Chris Hosch, Sam Gregor-Stewart, Shea Parker, Ruel Gaviola, Tom Brewster, Rand and Henry from TI Junkies, Calvin Wong Tze Loon, Cole Wehrle, and Patrick Leder. 0:00 - Twilight Imperium Is 10:52 - Memories 22:39 - Stories 30:34 - Factions 37:45 - Nourishment 39:59 - How to Play 45:17 - Contribution Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ Jesse Gallagher. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD5hjK3sDzk2W-jw9roHuVw Unicorn Heads. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbDplVvtIq05AdyYKjVSUIw To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We are excited to present part one of our three part series playing Embers of the Imperium, the Twilight Imperium RPG. This is available from Edge Studios as a sourcebook to their Genesys RPG system. The de facto lore goddess Absol takes Hunter, Matt, Sun Sanders, and Kate Thompson on a journey into Lisis space to settle a dispute between the local government, the Naalu Collective, and the Sardakk N'Orr. The Council Keleres is trying to keep tensions amongst its governments low, but unfortunately they won't be able to send their best to solve this deeply complicated crisis. Music by Michael Keane. Find most at the Twilight Symphonium: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGXR2L8DPl_sHV_8m-R2CQ Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Our Super Faction Guide schedule has been shaken up a bit and a part of that is because the Empyrean one was just so dang easy to right we were able to get it out ahead of schedule. Hunter loves these ding dang bat-folk and honestly not a WHOLE LOT has changed since our Introduction to the faction. We have some things we feel you can rely on less, but mostly have fun getting rich and not dying easy! 0:00 - Empyrean Overview 54:05 - Empyrean Tech, Trade, etc. 1:35:40 - Homebrew Review: Relic Stan’s “Gyroscopic Gamma Cannon” faction 1:41:13 - Agenda Phase: Phi Smith asks “If you had to run a tournament for literally any boardgame other than Root or TI, what game would it be?” 1:52:26 - Prelims Report: Games 25, 26, 27, 28, & 29. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We've been doing our part as historical record keepers recently by looking back and previous editions of Twilight Imperium and noting how the game has changed over time. Today, we'd like to dig deep with you and walk through 1st Edition's life-cycle. What are the Twilight Imperium "fundamentals" and what has been tossed out over the decades? For tickets to our GenCon Live Show, visit https://indianapolis.heliumcomedy.com/shows/218650 0:00 - The History of Twilight Imperium 1st Edition 1:52:40 - Homebrew Review: AddictUnraveled’s Conquest and Galactic Progression Chart 2:00:50 - Agenda Phase: Moutstainz asks “How do you explain this game to someone who has never played before?” 2:10:58 - Prelims Report: Games 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, $ 24. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

The Galactic Council gave us permission to goof around this week and we couldn't be happier. We get to combine our two loves: Root and Twilight Imperium. Our task? To take a Root faction and distill it's essence into a crystal then smash that crystal against a treasure chest, open the treasure chest, and pull out a Twilight Imperium faction. We wanted to do this really earnestly, okay? But then really wild, funny ideas were too good to pass up... 0:00 Deciding Which Faction 30:04 - Translating the Faction 2:21:03 - Agenda Phase: Imsen asks: “Why should I swap supports with you guys?” Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We're back with more Spirit Island! It's exciting to continue exploring this game and this week we're both tackling potentially more complex factions. But stick around after for plenty of TI talk, including another round of Prelims Reports! I did it three weeks in a row everybody! A new record! 0:00 - Errata for 290 (Spirit Guides - Vital Strength of Earth and Thunderspeaker) 13:49 - Ocean's Hungry Grasp 1:13:21 - Spread of Rampant Greent 1:53:58 - Homebrew Review: BradleySigma’s Test Site 7 planet: New planet & tile. It’s a unit upgrade technology speciality; you can exhaust the planet when researching a unit upgrade technology to ignore one prerequisite of any color. 1:57:39 - Agenda Phase: LuckyLizzard asks: Please on the spot create a TI "knock knock" joke. HG Kool-Aid asks: What do you love about TI the most? What's the most enjoyable part of the game for you? 2:07:39 - Prelims Recap: Games 11, 12, 13, 16 Music provided by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

This week we got distracted and decided to run with it. We couldn't stop thinking about how we haven't seen a Codex yet this year and we just wanted to sit and dream up what sort of potential there could be to more Twilight Imperium content. We've done wishlists before, but this is a bit more off the cuff. Also we don't necessarily agree on most points, so come join us for a back and forth discussion about what we'd like to see added to TI! 0:00 - Dreaming 1:47:36 - Homebrew Review: Wekker's Bioplasmosis 1:52:46 - The Agenda Phase: Wonderflonium asks “I would like to hear more about Hunter's comedy work: favorite venue, stories from the road, hecklers, etc. If there needs to be a TI tie-in, which faction would make the best comedy audience?” 2:01:50 - Prelims Report Games 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Since PoK, we've had two player counts that have gone relatively unexplored by this show. We change 50% of that today! We're talking about some of our recent 7 player games and our takeaways about the differences between 6 and 7 player (with some healthy chat about 5 player games sprinkled in). Also, there is a whole segment about Magi's Madness, the 7 player asymmetric map released in Codex 2 (https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/ff/fe/fffe5e9d-33fb-4149-a3a2-cd6dfadb4de3/ti_codex_ii_rules_web.pdf) 0:00 - 7 Player Games 43:23 - Magi's Madness 1:03:07 - Homebrew Review: William Willard’s “The Big Naaz Cowboy” 1:07:00 - Agenda Phase: Walter asks “Will you consider going back to premade (non-Milty) maps in future tournaments?” 1:26:04 - Tournament Recap: Prelims Games 1, 2, 3, & 4. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com Additional Music and Sounds by Brian Kupillas. https://wanderinglake.bandcamp.com/ To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

This was a live recording of the Space Cats Peace Turtles Portland Hootenanny Liveshow at Helium Comedy Club on March 22, including opening act Old Gamer's Almanac! Featuring: E.J. Sanders, Jamie Carbone, Steven Wilber, Katie Nguyen, Aaron Harleman, and Sun Sanders! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We're in full prep and travel mode for our Portland live show and Hootenanny, but we have a special treat for you! We've been a part of a couple of "Fog of War" games recently and decided to bring resident Fog of War Weird Bear Correspondent Brassbird in to help us make sense of this very odd game mode. It's an adventurous, cutthroat, thematic way to play and there are a number of ways to try it out! Also, Matt and Absol read the first short story from The Stars Beyond, A Ghost of a Chance and are here with reactions and analysis. It's the first extended universe story we've read that wasn't written by Tim Pratt, so it's time to see how other author's handle our beloved franchise. 00:00 Fog of War with Brassbird 52:05 A Ghost of a Chance with Absol Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

NEW GAME NEW THEME. We've dabbled in Spirit Island as a show so far, but it's time to fully take the plunge. We've been practicing as some specific factions and we now come to you as two novices hoping to help you get started with two of the base game factions Vital Strength of the Earth and Thunderspeaker. Some of you definitely know more of us, but this episode is primarily geared to the people that don't yet! But also, this is the kind of episode where you get to jump over on the discord and roast us over the coals for all the things you think you know better! 0:00 - Vital Strength of the Earth 1:02:17 - Thunderspeaker 1:55:56 - Twilight Imperium Homebrew Review - BradleySigma's "Resonance Cascade" agenda 1:59:06 - The Agenda Phase: Nick asks: “What do you look for in a slice when Milty Draft?” Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

It's time to get back to trusty ol' faithful. Argent Flight just have a lot of things that make sense and go well together. Despite that, they've actually had a bit of a rocky history in competitive play. However, that rockiness is generally in relation to wins, but not necessarily total points scored. That's right, it's time to talk about how to reliably not stall out at 9 points as one of the more defensive factions in the game. 0:00 Argent Flight Overview 39:32 Problems and Strengths 46:56 Technology 1:02:35 Trading 1:14:26 Early Game 1:30:28 Mid and Late Game 1:57:45 Homebrew Review - Absol's Neural Motivator 1:59:50 The Agenda Phase - Eagan asks: “is fighting to be elected for Search Warrant worth it? Are there some factions that are better with it/need it more than others?” Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

The Galactic Council finally got to vote on an episode again and they've chosen a very very odd one. Hunter and Matt are not ethicists or philosophers and yet we are tasked with ranking the 25 TI factions on the basis of their morality. Some of this will be based on their established lore, but some of it will be based on mechanical and strategic implications. Anyways, this is really stupid and please take none of it even remotely seriously. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Hey look! It's a really good faction. That doesn't mean we can't sit around for 2 hours and talk about the "best" ways to win games as the Naaz-Rokha Alliance. Sometimes it's fun to crush your opponents with friendship and kindness, okay? Open your heart up to kissing that little goblin on your back. 0:00 - Component Overview 40:29 - Strengths and Technology 1:16:41 - Economics 1:32:30 Round 1 Strategy Cards 1:46:10 - Mid and Late Game 1:59:15 - Homebrew Review - Baldrick: An unnamed Green tech. ACTION: Exhaust this card to discard 1 AC or 1 SO. Then, draw a new card of the same type. 2:00:54 - Agenda Phase - Furniture Damage: "Which factions do you think have the strongest flavor? And do their in-game mechanics reflect that strong flavor?" Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

One project we wanted to tackle this year on the show was doing more to explore the history of this game we know and love. So to start that journey, we wanted to learn to properly play Twilight Imperium: First Edition from way back in 1997. It's the game that launched this franchise as well as Fantasy Flight Games as a company and we were curious how many elements are central parts of the TI DNA. Turns out...it's pretty good! Go figure! 1:06:07 Homebrew Review - Absol's Relics 1:13:12 Agenda Phase: Lucreitiel "How much of the meta do you think is "truly" best practice for the game, vs how much is simply evolved against only what is "considered" current best practice? Do you think if we could magically totally reset everyone's knowledge of TI strategy that we'd eventually arrive at the same meta, or would different strategies and then counters become dominant?" Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Listen, y'all. I don't know what to tell you. Sometimes you've got questions and we've got answers. Sometimes we ask questions because we secretly have answers we think are clever. And sometimes Matt asks a question thinking he'll find an answer along the way and that answer never really turn up. The concept of "the midgame" is referred to in a lot of our commentary and faction guides, but it's hard to say what we specifically mean by that. So we THOUGHT it'd be good to try and define that and offer up some strategic advice for your Midgames. But it turns out asking the question was a bigger challenge than we planned for... 0:00 The Early and Late Game 34:04 The Midgame 1:09:54 Homebrew Review: wekker: Action card: Facsimile Fabrication 1:14:41 The Agenda Phase ElBlasto Do you think that there's a strategic advantage to being nice in TI (washing, letting score for little-no cost, etc)? Merki How could the game be changed to have a 6pm game complete in 4-5 hours? Losing the least amount of the TI experience. BigAlCupachino What pie do you buy yourself and what qualities do you look for? What pie would you buy for the other if heading over to their place? Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Prepare to KNEEL! It's been two years since we last approached the topic of Mahact, and so much about our understanding of Prophecy of Kings has changed. So it's time to set the record straight, especially as we've seen Mahact's win-rate skyrocket in the last year or so. What makes this faction so complicated and how can you best control the reins? 0:00 - Mahact Component Introduction 40:53 - Problems, Tech, and Economics 1:16:39 - Round 1 Strategy Cards 1:27:03 - Mid Game and Late Game 2:09:22 - Homebrew Review - TimeThief: Alternate Space Docks 2:14:17 - The Agenda Phase - Seras: "Given an unlimited budget, where would you hold an IRL tournament finals?" Keep an eye out on this feed for an upcoming Tournament Recap bonus episode! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

It's our first strategic foray into Spirit Island, but we're still rookies over here. But we've got a good grasp on how the game is played now and we'd like to relay our experience of learning the game to you. Hopefully we can provide some tips to getting started but mostly we want you to not be intimidated by the many many words that Spirit Island is going to throw at you. But stick around if Spirit Island isn't for you, because we have a prolonged TI topic about being kind to each other and a small handful of Tournament Recaps! 0:00 - Learn to Learn Spirit Island 1:13:08 - The Agenda Phase: Visioness - I want to hear about strategies to mend relationships when things get heated in a game. 1:35:18 - Tournament Recap: Qualifiers 7, 8, 10, 11, & 12. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

There's no codex or expansion or rules FAQ. Sometimes we just want to talk to our friend Dane and learn more about him and force him to be our friend. And we figured you all would want to be his friend to, so you get to listen in as we chat about his roots in board game designing, his love of Final Fantasy, and we also force him to answer a whole slew of strange TI design questions! It's a fun episode, y'all! Dane's 5 Year Anniversary Portrait: https://twitter.com/FFGames/status/1603819802648248325?s=20&t=LNXTnyvA6_A2OW5ffv-RxQ Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We've taught you how to learn this game and how to teach this game, but we've never taught you the proper way to set it up! So today is a treat for relatively new players or players looking to change up their faction drafting and map building as well as different tools to help enhance the Twilight Imperium experience. We've got tips, tricks, and herbal supplements to get you feeling 150%!! 0:00 - Faction Drafting and Map Building 45:57 - Online and In Person Toolshttps://milty.shenanigans.be/ 1:21:05 - Homebrew Review: Garbozia Legendary Planet by Bradley Sigma 1:28:17 - The Agenda Phase: Wysper - If you could change one rule, what would it be? 1:33:33 - Tournament Recap: Qualifiers 5, 9, 11, 14, & 15 Links Mentioned in Episode Map building - https://joepinion.github.io/ti4-map-lab/ and https://keeganw.github.io/ti4/ Miltydrafting - https://miltydraft.com/ and https://milty.shenanigans.be/ Color Picker - https://www.ti.vetinari.net/ Battle Calculator - https://ti4battle.com/ Extracomputer - https://extraboard.net/extracomputer Homebrew Card Maker - http://ti4-card-images.appspot.com/static/card.html Printable Hyperlanes - https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/161185/ti4-hyperlane-sector-5-players Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

It's a new year! Our custom 'round these parts is to use this time to take stock of how the last year of episode and Patron bonuses went and what we can do going forward. This year is very little change in how things operate on the Patreon, but some big changes coming your way for the show. And part of those changes was our desire to hash out the next slew of episodes with you in the room and then get your feedback on what the next few months of the show looks like! So take a listen and then hop on the discord and tell us what you want to hear more of! 1:41:25 - Tournament Recap: Qualifiers 1, 2, 3, 4, & 6 Come to our Portland Live Show March 22! https://portland.heliumcomedy.com/shows/200093 Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We played a game on Dec 27 2022. There were 7 of us. That game should be on Youtube. It was a good game! You should go watch it. This episode is what we recorded right after that game, when we were all quite tired. Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, we love you, see you in Tournament 5! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

And you all thought we'd learned to listen to you. HA! Don't forget who steers this ship. There are only two opinions that matter and they are ours and they are absolute. You are just lucky enough that we grace you with our guidance and thoughts! Our yearly faction ranking is here and it has never been more correct than this... Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

December had two Galactic Council polls, the latter of which was for us to feature ANOTHER non-Twilight Imperium board game. They chose the space negotiation game Sidereal Confluence. It's a wild, non-violent game about slinging cubes and makin' deals as fast as you can before there's no deals left to make. But the bigger question is how would SCPT cover a game with so much math and interpersonal conflict? We're good at neither! Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

The first of your two December Galactic Council episodes is another opportunity for us to make a list of demands for Dane before the holidays. The dust from Codex 3 is beginning to settle, and rather than be happy with what we've got, it's time to beg for more delicious board game content. So we sat down and thought through what we'd most like to see in another Codex if Dane were ever to make another. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

THERE'S IMPORTANT BUSINESS TO TEND TO. The Tournament 5 Signups email is going out December 10 at 20:00 UTC. This is to all members of our Patreon who were active during the months of October and November. We also detail our hopeful schedule for this year's tournament and what everyone can expect. Then it's time to have fun. The Galactic Council wanted us to play Spirit Island, and I bet only a few of them knew we'd like it as much as we did. So let's talk about WHY we liked it and what that could mean for the show. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Matt's been playing games with the Homebrewer's Guild this year and he had a very specific project in mind. Today's episode is a sort of Abstract of the findings of that project. We were after a sort of "Tournament Mode" or some set of rules that could shake up that conventional Tempo of a game of Twilight Imperium without too much rules overhead. Was any of it successful? Well here's your report. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

This is a major part of almost every faction guide, but it feels like a very long time since we last checked up on and took stock of how we feel about Technology. What's good? How much should you expect to get per game? What are some of the trends we see in competitive play? The answer to all of these questions is of course "Blue Tech." Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Hunter's got the week off while Matt and Absol talk about the third and final novel in Tim Pratt's Twilight Imperium series! All of the main characters from our first book are back in this spy adventure and this might be the best book of the whole set! Save for some Arborec nits Absol desperately needs to pick, this book has a lot of fun in it and feels more political than any of the previous entries. Our first half is a spoiler-free review if you'd like to check the book out, and after that we break the book down more in-depth for those less sure they'll have the time to give it a read. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

The Galactic Council decided it wanted us to spend some time this month playing and researching Alliance Mode, the variant provided in Codex 2. It's a silly variant that isn't even fully play-tested, so expect hiccups and a lack of rules clarity. But if you're willing to allow your Twilight Imperium to be fun, instead of a serious no-fun cage match, it's probably worth checking out! Although it's not for those looking for a shorter playtime. (without some modifications that we recommend) Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

With this episode, we put a sort of wrap on Codex 3 required update episodes! A few factions drastically changed, and none more than the Naalu Collective. Naalu's "ranking" amongst the factions has been quite a roller coaster, but with these recent additions the snakes are back on top. So, how do you wield the raw power of such a strong faction? How much gas is too much?? Similar to our recent Win From Ahead episode, we're going to talk a lot about tempo and how to pump the breaks today... Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

It is a wild one this week. Matt has been away on vacation and so Hunter has been left to his own devices! So obviously, it's beach episode time. Hunter brought his buddies on to just talk about various board games we like as if this is some normal boring regular cool podcast. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

This is us revisiting a classic SCPT topic. When we first asked "How does one win from ahead?" I don't think we even fully knew what being "ahead" truly meant. Not only that, but an expansion and multiple codices have released since then, so it seemed an important time to make another attempt at an answer. More important, winning from ahead seems harder than ever and it's time to get to the bottom of WHY Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

Oh my dear, another year is upon us. It is officially sign-up season for the next SCPT Patreon Twilight Imperium Tournament. The first half of this episode is most of the things you need to know about the upcoming sign-ups as well as new Patreon Goals, followed by a discussion of our experience with the Asynchronous TI Discord server (https://discord.gg/vY3nBkegkn) Async TI begins at 42:47 Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We've been taking some time recently to revisit old topics deserving of an update. One of those is surprisingly recent: Exploration. We've only had this mechanic since Prophecy of Kings was released, but we've learned a lot since we first introduced it, and it's about time we cleaned up our thoughts a bit. So, here we'll read the exploration cards for every deck, including Frontier and Relic, and analyze what a player is meant to do with all of that. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/

We're big time important kids and our opinions matter. That's why we were sent a copy of Twilight Inscription to give our unbiased, unfiltered, uncompromised, objective review. You came here for hard hitting journalism and boy howdy I tell ya that's what we're here to deliver. Game Journalism matters A LOT, and we take our roles very seriously. Music provided by Ben Prunty. Find more at benpruntymusic.com or benprunty.bandcamp.com To learn more about our Discord, Twitter, Patreon, Merch, and more, visit https://spacecatspeaceturtles.com/