Xxcha Kingdom - First rounds for BEGINNERS [Twilight Imperium 4, PoK]

[@Mycoolcar666]

Nice video, but problem with diplomacy. You use it on a system with a planet you control. As in Joel Ir, not Everra. You can then control Everra, but as there is no token from other players, they can take it back.

[@essersgamingcave]

You're right, thanks for pointing it out. Peace Accords is resolved after the Diplomacy Strategy card is played, and then I don't control Everra at that time. I'll fix the video at a later point, but stick your comment for now, so hopefully no one misses it :)

[@Mycoolcar666]

@@essersgamingcave I do think it is still a brilliant strategy. I used it in a game this week and took 3 new systems and got the flagship turn 1. Just no tech upgrade turn 1. Worth it though.

[@armirat3440]

It is still a briliant move. You just need to play it a little bit diferently. You put your cruiser on everra instead of the right hex and you use your diplo on your home system. That way you are still protected this turn from the guy on the right and can occupy the hex in next turn, but you have a cruiser in everra already protecting it from being taken back in addtion to the PSD barage from your flagship.

[@essersgamingcave]

Yes, that will work :)

[@Corroderptor]

Glad you have a vid for these guys. Across 10+ games I have 3 Vuil-Raiths, 2 Naalus, 4 Creuss,1 Letnev, 1 L1. In other words I’ll take all the advice I can get with the whole peace-thing.

[@essersgamingcave]

Good luck with the Peace Turtles, and thank you for being here! :)

[@Lirky77]

Nice video. I liked your use of visual cues/tricks during the video. Very cool and userfriendly. The Flagship is indeed quite strong if you put it in the middle of your slice. As someone else pointed out, you did not write about the new Hero in codex 3, which changes Xxcha quite a lot.

[@essersgamingcave]

Thank you, I truly appreciate your feedback! I will of course use the new Hero from codex 3, when I eventually redo this faction guide :)

[@Lirky77]

@@essersgamingcave while all agree that the new Hero is great, it creates a great dilemma. Do you invest on a "great turn 1", or do you sacrifice it to do a VP so as to unlock asap the hero ? A great Xxcha game is when you unlock the Hero Turn 2 with 2 Public objective +1 secret. Doing no VP turn 1 means you need to score 2 secrets Turn 2, which is nearly impossible. I've always been advocating to develop your game Turn 1 and get back into VP with Imperial mid-game vs scoring Turn1, but I suppose most tournament players would say otherwise.

[@RuudvdElzen]

Cheers mate, Gave me a good idea how I should play my first round last saturday. Made me not to slow when I hadent played ever before.

[@essersgamingcave]

Cheers! Thanks for letting me know; I truly appreciate it.

[@viesturskokarevics2427]

Or if you have blue skip, go R1 Gravity drive, R2 Dread II, R3 Carrier II and go where you want. With Flagship in this fleet and Diplo racial you can do some fun staff. But tis way you are not playing Xxcha but just some standard TI4 faction :D

[@essersgamingcave]

Never tried this approach, but getting out of your slice is always more fun :)

[@Toftolus]

Very cool video, good structure, easy to follow when you show it on the board. Keep up the good work 👌

[@essersgamingcave]

Thank you, I have tried different structures and I will probably go back to something similar to the one in this video 👍 more videos are already in production

[@CiaranIsJustGreat]

My man! Keep these videos coming

[@calvincasper6904]

Great video!

[@essersgamingcave]

Thank you!

[@McBartsomeville]

Is there a reason why you‘re not using Codex 3? I lived through the old Xxcha hero once and have no desire to repeat that experience. Regardless, I do not like going down green for Hyper Metabolism because it simply takes too long to get there to be of any real use. Particularly with Codex 3, I believe that going for War Suns is preferable over digging through green techs. Utilising AI Development Algorithm and the red skip in the slice from your example, you can be there with the second tech research! The omega hero will then help you financing War Suns, which makes unlocking the hero the most important task at the beginning of a game. If you can’t get that done quickly enough, you can then consider throwing in Cruiser II to not spook your neighbours too much. The omega hero will also ensure that you won’t be missing Hyper Metabolism. The idea with the flagship, however, I do enjoy. I’ll be playing Xxcha next weekend so I may try that if the stars align (I’m not going to be starting in a slice as filthily rich as the one from your example so the Trade strategy card will be crucial). :D

[@essersgamingcave]

No, that is actually a good catch with the Hero. With the updated one, you combine the resource and influence values, when exhausting planets. It is so much better, and it should have been the one used in this video. I really like the idea of going after Warsuns, that will give you so much more flexibility. Especially if 1 or more Control objectives comes out. Thanks for writing this comment, I appreciate it :)

[@hogari]

To expand on this tech path - I love Technology as a strategy card on the first round, if you have a 3-resource planet next to your home system. Take it with your first turn, ready it with your agent on your second turn. Then on your third turn you get to double tech AI Dev and Cruiser 2. Now you get to conquer systems with your 2-move cruiser 2's you have from the get go. And you're well on your way to War suns. Of course, this makes it harder to sufficiently follow warfare (unless you're lucky enough with Trade), but you probably won't need to.

[@essersgamingcave]

Yes, that is a powerful start for Xxcha. I haven't tried Cruiser 2 with them. Are you then playing more offensive? I mostly see Xxcha sitting in their slice crossing their toes, that not too many control objectives comes out :)

[@hogari]

@@essersgamingcave it doesn't necessarily make Xxcha more aggressive, but it does give some options when them control objectives do start showing up early. 🙂 You anyways aim for round 4 war suns with this tech path, so there's plenty time to wreck folks up late game (if needed).

[@Nosam3975]

Great video!

[@essersgamingcave]

Thank you! I'm happy that you liked it