Twilight Imperium 4 Faction Guide | The Xxcha Kingdom

A component review and in-depth look at The Xxcha Kingdom 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
00:42 - Component Overview
07:48 - Analysis
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[@michaellawrie903]

New to TI and just drew Xxcha for my first game on Twilight Wars. This was detailed and highly instructive. Thank you.

[@CardboardCrashCourse]

You’re welcome. Thank you!

[@andrewellis712]

Same here, we played half a game last night and I’m currently tied for the lead, and am now watching this video to see what I’m missing.

[@thomasromanelli2561]

The introduction of the Omega hero using Codex 3 has really changed the options for the Xxcha player- once unlocked, there's a tremendous economic boost which makes war suns a reasonable tech for the faction (especially since Xxcha can be advancing along a R/Y tech tree with things like Plasma Scoring and AIDA). I do disagree about Xxcha's CC economy, as they need a lot between their faction PN, Nullification Filed, Instinct Training and Quash. Many players are becoming aware of the power of the Xxcha if left unchecked (especially after the Omega hero gets unlocked), so I have found Xxcha to be shut out of transactions on to frustrate their early expansions. Informative video, thanks! 🖖

[@TurtleDude05]

While my knowledge of the game and world are highly limited. From what I do know, I love how well the lore for Xxacha is represented in the mechanics.

[@casimirlawnicki8990]

The username checks out

[@TurtleDude05]

@@casimirlawnicki8990 I mean... you're not wrong. 🤣

[@antoyal]

I know that every gaming group develops its own "meta" eventually, but hoo boy, in my experience the Xxcha are a powerhouse faction. They're downright scary.

[@CardboardCrashCourse]

Right? They’re terrifying now

[@MrGallaunbubi]

Cool video, thank you for your advices! 😊

[@Ashadow700]

I played the Xxcha Kingdom in my most recent game. I was planning on playing peacefully and diplomatically. But then, two unexpected things happened. My neighbor, the Titans of Ul player, took two systems from my slice on round 2, despite my best efforts to convince them it was not in their own best interest, and right after that I was able to convince the Muaat player to sell me their War Sun promissory note. Let's just say I did not end up playing peacefully and diplomatically that game.

[@IceGlade86]

Cool guides!

[@jasperblake2246]

Xxcha is probably the faction that I have been least interested in trying out. However, this guide has really opened my eyes to the possibilities with Xxcha, especially with the POK and Codex updates. I'm now actually really interested in giving them a try! I really like the idea of their flagship being a floating space cannon - that's a neat idea!

[@CardboardCrashCourse]

Absolutely! I never thought Xxcha would be quite as fun as they are, until I tried them myself for the first time. The flagship, although sometimes overkill, is a HUGE deterrent if you need one. Thanks for watching, jjb!

[@realmless4193]

I would go for AIDA->Cruiser II Really Xxcha has alot of good tech-paths and it really depends on the meta. The main pathways I see are 1. Hyper Metabolism rush. So many of their abilities require command counters that getting more from hyper is absolutely essential. It would probably be neural->bio-stims->hyper However, tech skips you have access to should also affect the choices you make. For example, if there is a green tech skip on your slice you should go psychoarceology->hyper->neural. I think counters are more important than ACs here. Now, if you have a yellow tech skip instead you should go neural->psychoarceology->hyper as that yellow skip will be very important for you getting nullification field. This is basically the Xxcha green path. 2. Red Unit Xxcha Or you could decide that you want to expand really far, really fast as the Xxcha because of your table meta and in that case you research AI development algorithm so that you can research Cruiser II by round 2 probably. Lots of factions can do this, of course, some can even research it round 1, but Xxcha does have the cruisers to do it with. If you do it this way you can easily start upgrading tons of units, PDS II, destroyer II if you need it. However, red technologies are also really good for Xxcha in general as plasma scoring helps their space cannons and their mechs are also good enough to allow for self-assembly routine. Because of the defensive nature of the Xxcha it is bery easy to make their slice impenetrable by focusing on unit upgrades. Also, you don't want to research PDSII right away as you won't always need to defend right away. this tech path would look something like this: AIDA->Cruser II->PDSII->Self Assembly->War Sun->Neural->Instinct->Inf II-Plasma Scoring This is 9 technologies which is alot, but you can focus on units, you can focus on offense, so you just have to decide which upgrades are needed when. The general best idea is to get as few unit upgrades as possible so you can get the upgrades you need when you need them by pre-filling most pre-reqs. Xxcha could reasonably get a war sun and buy it as early as round 4 with their hero so I wouldn't discount that. 3. Yellow Xxcha This was your recommended tech path and it is unfortunately the worst. Nullification field is great, but you won't need it at the start. The agenda phase lilely won't be unlocked till round 2 or 3 so it shouldn't be technology 1. If you are going with an agenda-focused strategy you need to focus on getting hyper-metabolism first so that you can use quash more and possibly get a political ally that will effectively help you use quash more. Yellow should come after green. In general: Neural->bio-stims->Hyper->predictive->faction techs as needed Your big mistake is basically saying you should always lursue nullification field. Nah, that's situational. 4. Red skip Let's say your slice has 1 tech skip and it is a red skip. Should you get psychoarcheology? My guess is no. A red skip is something the Xxcha want because it allows them to get PDS II in round 2 while is also doesn't stop them from getting Neural in round 1.

[@Annihilator27]

Peace by force!

[@CardboardCrashCourse]

Huzzah!

[@Arlae_Nova]

I highly disagree that nullification field is a good tech for xxcha. Yes, the effect is amazing, on any other faction it's almost game braking. But for xxcha, you already have the best defense in the game. You can very easily create a pds network where you can shoot at least 6 shots that go directly onto big ships. With your mechs, although weaker than normal PDS's, and your flagship you can even move that kind of fire power around the board. With that amount of defense, nobody is going to activate your systems. It also takes a lot of investment into a tree that is honestly, in my opinion, not the best. How I usually build xxcha is by going for plasma scoring (better defense and the option of going up the red tree to assault cannon or war suns), pds II (making invasion super scary even if your flagship is somewhere else), then move up the blue tree because that's where all the actual good techs are. If you do want some yellow tech, go for scanlink drone network, because you will be moving within your own slice a lot, so getting extra explores is never a bad thing. Ofcourse, this all is very situational. Assault cannon for example can make your flagship even scarier, giving you 4 shots (plasma scoring, not even counting transported mechs) plus a guaranteed dead ship is a massive way to kill anything you come across. War suns are easy to obtain for you as well, because of the new xxcha hero giving them the best eco in the game. For blue techs, gravity drive is honestly a requirement for every faction to have, the movement is just too good. Fleet logistics means you can manoeuvre your flagship into a system to fire without having to commit it to the combat while also just being a very good tech that you can use in many interesting ways. Last but not least, your instinct training is very good in my opinion. Always having a sabotage makes people think twice about using action cards against you. Combining it with a solid command token economy means you can always have it on hand, and if you don't have to use it you can always use your free strategy command token for the quash ability. The only downside is that it is in the green group, by far the weakest group. Investing into green is therefore rarely a good option, but if you got a skip for it, then taking it if you've got no other high priority tech you are building towards is a very solid option. Hope I helped make sense of xxcha's tech options!

[@Altruist_Slava]

Best faction with new codex 3 hero))) all agenda is just yours

[@faldain_lotr6226]

Xxcha are my favorite species but my group doesn't understand the space cannon offense step and relegate pds to strictly defensive play, massively diminishing their value

[@cristinaioanayoung6049]

Can someone present a detailed plan on how to deal with the Xxcha's Nullification technology. Being immune to attack seems over-powered and frankly invincible.

[@Ashadow700]

I've played 3 games with the Xxcha Kingdom in the mix, and in my experience the best way to deal with the Xxcha is to simply leave them alone. Between all their space cannons and nullification tech, the Xxcha's defensive powers are so strong that attacking them is just not really worth it. You can even try to befriend them instead. Their 4 commodities per trade and power to veto any agenda can be really useful to you, if you are able to convince them to be your ally. The one exception to this rule is if you are able to get multiple players to attack the Xxcha. Their nullification field can only be used once per round, and since they don't start with any blue tech they are going to have a hard time researching gravity drive or upgraded dreadnoughts, meaning that their fleets will typically be quite immobile. This makes it difficult for the Xxcha to defend themselves if they are being attacked by multiple people. If you are in the endgame, and the Xxcha is about to win, you can probably convince at least 1 other player to join you in attacking them. Or, if the Xxcha is already busy with a war against another player, you can possibly find one or two moments for an opportunistic surprise attack against them. Hope that helps! =)

[@cristinaioanayoung6049]

@@Ashadow700 Thank you very much Ashadow for your thoughtful reply!!!

[@Ashadow700]

@@cristinaioanayoung6049 You're welcome

[@hjtvjzhgcjhg2532]

Am i counting right 19 Faction guides?

[@CardboardCrashCourse]

Yes, you are. 6 more to go!

[@EpicAwesomeness1000]

@@CardboardCrashCourse Saving the best for last, I see.

[@CardboardCrashCourse]

@Soeren Engelberth, Which one would that be?

[@EpicAwesomeness1000]

They all have several interesting strategies to pick from. Barony, Muat, Hacan, Mentak, Saar and Yssaril. My favourite is the Mentak faction with salvage operations.

[@hjtvjzhgcjhg2532]

@@EpicAwesomeness1000 well the best off the missing one are Yssaril and Saar.

[@Fangoros]

I've played them in my last game and the omega hero just felt too stupid strong. Our playgroup decided on the spot to just nerf it immediatly after an agenda phase. I had some big influence planets who made me an economic powerhouse with it. We purged the card after 1 round, if I remember correctly.

[@paceky1556]

With Codex 3 Xxcha breaks the game imo , agenda phase becomes a waste of time. Its just no fu

[@CardboardCrashCourse]

Fair enough, they may have overtuned the hero.

[@paceky1556]

​@@CardboardCrashCourse and thx for a great channel :)

[@hockeysexmaster69]

Got to say, just watched a guide from a year ago and then this one and your production value has really come around. Nice work. By the way, I didn't see the Etsy link in the description.

[@CardboardCrashCourse]

Whoops! Added now! Thank you very much, I appreciate that. I just got a new microphone in as well, so it should only go up from here.