Space Cats Peace Turtles
An unofficial podcast for fans of Twilight Imperium and other strategy board games. Each episode is a humorous analysis of mechanics and strategies for new and experienced players alike!
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Episodes
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
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/
Wednesday Feb 22, 2023
Wednesday Feb 22, 2023
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/
Wednesday Feb 15, 2023
Wednesday Feb 15, 2023
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/
Wednesday Feb 08, 2023
Wednesday Feb 08, 2023
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
ElBlastoDo you think that there's a strategic advantage to being nice in TI (washing, letting score for little-no cost, etc)?
MerkiHow could the game be changed to have a 6pm game complete in 4-5 hours? Losing the least amount of the TI experience.
BigAlCupachinoWhat 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/
Wednesday Feb 01, 2023
Wednesday Feb 01, 2023
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/
Wednesday Jan 25, 2023
Wednesday Jan 25, 2023
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/
Wednesday Jan 18, 2023
Wednesday Jan 18, 2023
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/
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
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/
Wednesday Jan 04, 2023
Wednesday Jan 04, 2023
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/
Wednesday Dec 28, 2022
Wednesday Dec 28, 2022
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/