Best Round One as Mahact Gene-Sorcerers - Twilight Imperium: 4th Edition Strategy Guide

[@cages_]

Very clear and easy to follow! Keep up the good work!

[@Lirky77]

Not sure if getting Hyper is worth it. In PoK games are 5 rounds. Getting Hyper round 1 with a green skip might be the only way (even then, it nets you only +1 CC from round 3, since round 2 you're just getting back the CC spent for the tech), but in total, it's only 3 CCs more. Genetic Combination looks ok, but I would go that route only in smaller player counts (less than 6).

[@andus4389]

Nice detailed guide! I appreciated that you laid out some of the problems they have. Question for you, which faction would you say is your strongest? And which do you enjoy playing the most?

[@BeyondtheBoard]

Oh man, that's a difficult question. I feel as if I would need some more PoK games in before answering that. I might be able to answer it for the base game only if people still care about that? I imagine there's a large difference between what factions I enjoy the most and which I think are the strongest.

[@andus4389]

I still care about base game but only because thats all I own lol

[@BeyondtheBoard]

@@andus4389 Might be for the best, the first print run has some coloring problems.

[@maxpowerdup]

If I may throw something in: Statistically (yes, there is a statistic about this, counting over 5400 played games) Snake-Ladies, Sol and Jol-Nar win the most games in base game. Sardakk N'orr and Muat the least. I would count Winnu to the losers, but they are played only rarely. (500 games compared to at least 1000 Games) docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1c2fGqedk13kS8PR2XF1Olo7kWrjUu5LwZFLSRUKaKdo/edit#gid=0

[@brandonbiondo9208]

Ok I just powered through 5 back-to-back first-round-only games thanks to TTS and some patient friends. I like a lot of your points, but none of us can figure out how you keep coming up with that many resources round 1. Out of all 5 games, I never came anywhere close to the scenarios you elucidate here. The closest I could manage wasn’t anywhere near your “2 cruisers on Mecatol” play. I managed to limp to Mecatol with a single cruiser, and that only because my map offered up the “free mech” legendary planet. Can you elaborate?

[@BeyondtheBoard]

Check out my playthrough for an example. In that instance I got from trade strategy, 3 TG 3 Commodities, I think 4 from the table. Then I sold my agent to unlock another players ships. It doesn't always workout.

[@purebasketballproductions]

I will definitely do the deathmmatch strategy. The group of people i play with are cutthroat haha it's expected

[@BeyondtheBoard]

Let me know how it works out. I've never actually tried it, I just noticed the potential in several games.

[@maxpowerdup]

In my opinion the Mahact do not need Hypermetabolism. Their homeworld almost pays 2 CC a round, their Agent saves another CC per round and their Fleetpool fills up via faction ability. So is your this second research worth 3 Influence per round? I would say no and grab Infantry II instead. Of course, I saw from your Reports that you like to have huge stacks off CCs laying around. So its a question of play style I assume :D

[@StriderZessei]

As the faction that can abuse cc the most, there's no reason for them not to, especially with a green tech skip. Also, with a good slice, psychoarcheology becomes very good.

[@charleshixon1458]

How are you getting 10 resources easily turn one?

[@shanedestefano5890]

Without diplomacy, how would you use the tech skips on turn 1 if you need to exhaust the planets to use them?

[@BeyondtheBoard]

Mahact start with the tech Bio Stims which lets you ready an exhausted planet that has a tech skip. So you would use that.

[@shanedestefano5890]

@@BeyondtheBoard Figured I missed something. Thanks!

[@itamaramith]

At 6:20 you mentioned reaching 10 resources on turn one by getting 4 from tech. Which tech would *give* me 4 resources?!

[@BeyondtheBoard]

I mean, by taking tech you don't need to spend 4 for the secondary. So you need less than 10.

[@itamaramith]

@@BeyondtheBoard oh, that makes a lot of sense, I got confused by the terminology 😅 Thanks for the clarification!

[@BeyondtheBoard]

@@itamaramith Np

[@KingScal64]

For tech round 1 unless you have Winnu in the game, getting their faction tech is basically a waste

[@maxpowerdup]

Even with Winnu its a waste. They need to get Grav Drive or Flank Speed + Warfare Primary to get to Mecatol. Thats a lot of stones to drop in right places.