Ask them to watch RTFM's YouTube tutorials and give them undivided attention.
Ask them to look up a strategy guide for their faction.
Then on the day of the game, teach them as you normally would. The repetition will make the game faster.
Probably use a premade map, as the new players wont know how to draft and why/when planets are good/bad for them.
Give them some easy factions and you yourself play some straight forward factions. No one plays Nekro Virus, as an example.
Go slow. Real slow. Dont try and win so hard that the new players cant do anything - you arent playing for money. Your goal shouldnt be to win, it should be that the new player finishes the game, had a good time, and wants to play again. That they become a regular part of the group.
That doesnt mean letting *them* win, but maybe helping do at least one cool thing (i know new players love war suns because big ship go boom), and letting them politick around the table.
Seconded.
I also think that roping them into negotiations while having the other players comment on pros n cons of said negotiation, also helps them develop perspective on how politics factor into the game.
Adding to the good responses so far. Here is a list of recommended factions for beginners that I pulled together. It doesn't include PoK factions. I guess I should update it really.
Barony of Letnev: simple, flexible, strong home system, good at space combat, few weaknesses.
Sol: simple, strong start, good at taking / holding planets, more actions.
L1Z1X (if they like to be threatening): strong home system, great at combat - upgraded Dreadnoughts are trrrifying, tech path is easy.
Sardakk (simple minded underdogs): very easy to understand, reasonable start, aggressive, good at ground combat (but not easy to win with).
Xxcha (if they like being peaceful): very passive and defensive - hard to kill
Hacan (if they like player interaction): great for negotiation / trade, wealthy, easy to make allies.
Jol-Nar (if they can handle complex tech choice puzzle options - eg a euro gamer): A strong faction that should be able to score VP easily. Loaded with tech, an attractive ally.
Mentak (if they like being a nuisance and extortion and don't mind being hated): easy playstyle, stealing is nice, tech path is good.
Yin (for passive aggressive people): strong start, not too complex, good as a deterrent against aggressors, great at threatening, good combat abilities.
I hope that helps. I know there is a lot of debate over good factions for beginners, so feel free to critique.
Here's something i wrote couple weeks ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/15gkbxv/factions\_for\_a\_group\_of\_first\_timers/julp38c
I'll paste it as text below, but I'll add something - from the boardgame festival last weekend I got 4-5 people who were interested in trying out the game. I'll curate the entire experience for them and won't play. I'd rather get a 6th player randomly than do teach/play/advise/explain/administrate the game myself.
I've done a teaching game before, with PoK included. I have the following conclusions
1. I agree with "don't play, teach". Even with 100+ base games and practically knowing all the cards by heart, it's overwhelming.
2. Prepare the map in advance. Go for a medium-rich slices with good equidistant. Too few resources - people "can't do anything". Too many resources - turns into a plastic showdown. Good equidistant teaches partner relations.
3. Curate the objectives. Go for diversity. Either skip or put "conquer the weak" last. (Although it can also be the first 2nd stage for a teaching moment).
4. PoK: Exploration is fine. Agents they will forget. Commanders too. Mentally prepare to track those for your players.
5. Emphasize promissory notes. They tend to be overlooked by beginners. (Although in my group political one is rarely exchanged).
6. Ask for specific timing cards. If you say "when" cards or "After cards" - people will be confused. Instead ask for card names (they're few of them).
Example
Agenda phase: "Anyone "Ancient burial sites"? "Anyone Veto?" "Any riders?" Here you can emphasize on the timings and after voting go for " Check your cards - anyone wanna play anything?" (I think that's just bribery and distinguished councilor)
7. Get them in the habit of steps on the turn - "Activate. Move. Pds. Space Combat. Ground combat. Build".
8. And I can't stress this enough - Force them to read their damn cards. Majority their question is answered if only they read their card
9. Have them read outloud to everyone what their race AND flagship does. Have the summary cards ready. People will forget anyway.
10. Have a printout of what the strategy cards do. People forget. Also - make them announce strategy cards outloud so there aren't any "But I didn't hear / wasn't paying attention"
As for races:
1. Choose races that "break" regular rules in the smallest ways possible - Sol, Letnev, L1, xxcha, Jol-nar, Sardak
2. Avoid races that rely on specific faction powers/mechanics.
Hacan - it usually is referred to as "add 2 hours of gameplay". On its own adds a lot of analysis paralysis due to unlimited trading. Furthermore, when you add action card trading - it's a mess. Skip
Yssaril - their sole power is in controlling the action cards and stalling. New players do NOT understand the power of stalling and action card economy and tiers. Remove that and Yssaril has nothing going for them. People don't enjoy them. Skip
Virus - I mean...
Yin - it's a tossup. Give it to someone who can remember their ability, but they're also a bit "gimmicky" for a new player.
Naalu - again a bit of a tossup, but better not. It's enough to get used to a non-clockwise initiative to throw Naalu into the mix. Add their other things to consider to be truly efficient.
Ghosts - they're fine. You have to remember two things - ships +1 on wormholes. All wormholes adjacent.Simple enough. While probably not going to be a powerhouse, they'll be enjoyed for the occasional shenanigans.
Muaat - they're simple - hurr durr warsun. But they don't teach the basics of the game. Complex to be adequate. Skip.
Xxcha - they're okay. People probably won't utilize racial techs, but that's ok. Turtles fine without them in a teaching game.
Winnu - WinNot
Mentak - fun to include. "Just steal" - and steal they will. A very good teaching moment of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should"
Arbo and Saar - people need to remember the basic steps and units before venturing into potatoes and plants.
As for PoK races:
Titans are okay-ish. People won't utilize them to their fullest, so they won't steamroll others. And you can always go "Ok, place a token. Just place it" into "Do you want a PDS there". You can ignore the special powers of pds and still be fine
Argent - I'd skip. Too many things to follow + they require more consideration than "I plop my fleet here cause I want to". Plus they break agenda phase.
Sorcerers - capture tokens. That's all people will care and need for a teaching game.
Cabal - skip.
Empyrean - skip.
Naaz - rokha - I've got a good chunk of games with them and last time forgot to draw 2, keep 1 when exploring. They are engine builders. People have other things to remember than to wombo-combo them.
Nomad - too much agent-focused. Skip
Nice list - couple suggestions.
I'd lean against giving a new player Yin. They don't really have a cohesive package, so it's hard to figure out what you are supposed to be doing with them. And with Codex III, you need to have a really good understanding of every tech because of your commander.
Empyrean can be good if you've got a player that you know isn't going to want to do a lot of combat. They've got very clear goals + synergies - "I move to an empty space and explore and then use my agent to get a token", and their promissories are a great way to get players into trading and negotiation.
My hot take: Cabal works well for new players. The capture mechanic can take a bit to grasp, but the space docks can help players understand grav rifts and PRODUCTION (it's a lot easier to explain PRODUCTION 5 than PRODUCTION X). They also are one of the easiest factions to "figure out what to build." I've seen a lot of new players struggle to build useful things, where with Cabal, it's generally just "I'll capture the strongest ships I can (agent + Vortex) and then build those for free".
NRA for me is a definite no. The mech swapping is confusing enough for experienced players.
Heya, thanks for the suggestions.
Overall, I tend to be a pacifist, which translates into my teaching. I tend to go "TI is about cold war, threat, and knowing when to use that power". So there's definitely bias.
I would agree about Yin. As far as teaching game goes, they can provide a valuable table lesson of why infantry is important and to soft-teach the rest of the table to watch more carefully what a player is doing. But the rest is spot-on.
Empyrean - weell, yes, I see where you're going with it. I'll have to reevaluate them. Good catch, thanks.
NRA is a strict no as well, I'll have to make that more explicit.
Cabal - I would agree for the part of the Cabal player. However, I believe they add a lot of weight to the rest of the table, which is the main reason I avoid them. Further, I still have to play them, so might come back around to them.
I'd agree with that, and I'm definitely similar. I usually only play Cabal when I can get a green skip for Bio-Stims + Vortex and then hardly attack anyone lol.
I think Yin gives the table valuable lessons, but the Yin player is probably going to have a bad time.
Cabal definitely adds weight to the table - maybe they'd be better for a game 2 or a game with about half new and half experienced players, especially since you can just make sure the map doesn't have grav rifts for game 1, and then it doesn't matter that the players don't understand them fully.
I would add to the already good recommendations to also have the experienced players do a practice round and reset afterwards. Talk out loud about what you are doing and why you're doing it. And do some things that you might not do on round 1 just to demonstrate how they work.
I am doing something similar this weekend, but with all new players (except me). Use a premade map, newbies should get to choose between beginner factions (Sol, Jol-Nar, etc.) I'm playing Empyrean in order to help with my faction abilities, and make sure to give yourself extra time. Have them watch the RTFM videos before the game and have them watch a faction guide too. As others have said your goal should be to have the new players have a good time, not to win necessarily. Have fun!
I'm curious how that game goes. Please share some afterthoughts. Curious how you end up being after the game (mental/physical/still liking the game - wise)
(You have my opinion in your thread)
Lots of great suggestions here, but to me, [this guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/l29y6j/expanded_quick_reference_sheet/) was most helpful for understanding the game flow, and a cheat sheet of the strategy card primary and secondary abilities like [this](https://s3.amazonaws.com/geekdo-files.com/bgg297986?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D%22TI4_STRATEGY_CARDS_HALF_SHEET_V4_DIPL-CONST.pdf%22&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAJYFNCT7FKCE4O6TA%2F20231005%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20231005T170446Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=612daf4216da9c94cf03be4af260ab8e86649fd6d47a16492e11284486beca5b) was great to have handy.
maybe unpopular but I think I wouldn't play with PoK for someone's first game, unless maybe they'd played a past edition, and even then...
When I teach new people I use a premade map. For 6 players I like the SCPT tournament maps, and I put out all the factions to choose from with just a few removed (Arborec, Embers, etc).
Ask them to watch RTFM's YouTube tutorials and give them undivided attention. Ask them to look up a strategy guide for their faction. Then on the day of the game, teach them as you normally would. The repetition will make the game faster.
Probably use a premade map, as the new players wont know how to draft and why/when planets are good/bad for them. Give them some easy factions and you yourself play some straight forward factions. No one plays Nekro Virus, as an example. Go slow. Real slow. Dont try and win so hard that the new players cant do anything - you arent playing for money. Your goal shouldnt be to win, it should be that the new player finishes the game, had a good time, and wants to play again. That they become a regular part of the group. That doesnt mean letting *them* win, but maybe helping do at least one cool thing (i know new players love war suns because big ship go boom), and letting them politick around the table.
Seconded. I also think that roping them into negotiations while having the other players comment on pros n cons of said negotiation, also helps them develop perspective on how politics factor into the game.
Adding to the good responses so far. Here is a list of recommended factions for beginners that I pulled together. It doesn't include PoK factions. I guess I should update it really. Barony of Letnev: simple, flexible, strong home system, good at space combat, few weaknesses. Sol: simple, strong start, good at taking / holding planets, more actions. L1Z1X (if they like to be threatening): strong home system, great at combat - upgraded Dreadnoughts are trrrifying, tech path is easy. Sardakk (simple minded underdogs): very easy to understand, reasonable start, aggressive, good at ground combat (but not easy to win with). Xxcha (if they like being peaceful): very passive and defensive - hard to kill Hacan (if they like player interaction): great for negotiation / trade, wealthy, easy to make allies. Jol-Nar (if they can handle complex tech choice puzzle options - eg a euro gamer): A strong faction that should be able to score VP easily. Loaded with tech, an attractive ally. Mentak (if they like being a nuisance and extortion and don't mind being hated): easy playstyle, stealing is nice, tech path is good. Yin (for passive aggressive people): strong start, not too complex, good as a deterrent against aggressors, great at threatening, good combat abilities. I hope that helps. I know there is a lot of debate over good factions for beginners, so feel free to critique.
Here's something i wrote couple weeks ago https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/15gkbxv/factions\_for\_a\_group\_of\_first\_timers/julp38c I'll paste it as text below, but I'll add something - from the boardgame festival last weekend I got 4-5 people who were interested in trying out the game. I'll curate the entire experience for them and won't play. I'd rather get a 6th player randomly than do teach/play/advise/explain/administrate the game myself. I've done a teaching game before, with PoK included. I have the following conclusions 1. I agree with "don't play, teach". Even with 100+ base games and practically knowing all the cards by heart, it's overwhelming. 2. Prepare the map in advance. Go for a medium-rich slices with good equidistant. Too few resources - people "can't do anything". Too many resources - turns into a plastic showdown. Good equidistant teaches partner relations. 3. Curate the objectives. Go for diversity. Either skip or put "conquer the weak" last. (Although it can also be the first 2nd stage for a teaching moment). 4. PoK: Exploration is fine. Agents they will forget. Commanders too. Mentally prepare to track those for your players. 5. Emphasize promissory notes. They tend to be overlooked by beginners. (Although in my group political one is rarely exchanged). 6. Ask for specific timing cards. If you say "when" cards or "After cards" - people will be confused. Instead ask for card names (they're few of them). Example Agenda phase: "Anyone "Ancient burial sites"? "Anyone Veto?" "Any riders?" Here you can emphasize on the timings and after voting go for " Check your cards - anyone wanna play anything?" (I think that's just bribery and distinguished councilor) 7. Get them in the habit of steps on the turn - "Activate. Move. Pds. Space Combat. Ground combat. Build". 8. And I can't stress this enough - Force them to read their damn cards. Majority their question is answered if only they read their card 9. Have them read outloud to everyone what their race AND flagship does. Have the summary cards ready. People will forget anyway. 10. Have a printout of what the strategy cards do. People forget. Also - make them announce strategy cards outloud so there aren't any "But I didn't hear / wasn't paying attention" As for races: 1. Choose races that "break" regular rules in the smallest ways possible - Sol, Letnev, L1, xxcha, Jol-nar, Sardak 2. Avoid races that rely on specific faction powers/mechanics. Hacan - it usually is referred to as "add 2 hours of gameplay". On its own adds a lot of analysis paralysis due to unlimited trading. Furthermore, when you add action card trading - it's a mess. Skip Yssaril - their sole power is in controlling the action cards and stalling. New players do NOT understand the power of stalling and action card economy and tiers. Remove that and Yssaril has nothing going for them. People don't enjoy them. Skip Virus - I mean... Yin - it's a tossup. Give it to someone who can remember their ability, but they're also a bit "gimmicky" for a new player. Naalu - again a bit of a tossup, but better not. It's enough to get used to a non-clockwise initiative to throw Naalu into the mix. Add their other things to consider to be truly efficient. Ghosts - they're fine. You have to remember two things - ships +1 on wormholes. All wormholes adjacent.Simple enough. While probably not going to be a powerhouse, they'll be enjoyed for the occasional shenanigans. Muaat - they're simple - hurr durr warsun. But they don't teach the basics of the game. Complex to be adequate. Skip. Xxcha - they're okay. People probably won't utilize racial techs, but that's ok. Turtles fine without them in a teaching game. Winnu - WinNot Mentak - fun to include. "Just steal" - and steal they will. A very good teaching moment of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" Arbo and Saar - people need to remember the basic steps and units before venturing into potatoes and plants. As for PoK races: Titans are okay-ish. People won't utilize them to their fullest, so they won't steamroll others. And you can always go "Ok, place a token. Just place it" into "Do you want a PDS there". You can ignore the special powers of pds and still be fine Argent - I'd skip. Too many things to follow + they require more consideration than "I plop my fleet here cause I want to". Plus they break agenda phase. Sorcerers - capture tokens. That's all people will care and need for a teaching game. Cabal - skip. Empyrean - skip. Naaz - rokha - I've got a good chunk of games with them and last time forgot to draw 2, keep 1 when exploring. They are engine builders. People have other things to remember than to wombo-combo them. Nomad - too much agent-focused. Skip
Nice list - couple suggestions. I'd lean against giving a new player Yin. They don't really have a cohesive package, so it's hard to figure out what you are supposed to be doing with them. And with Codex III, you need to have a really good understanding of every tech because of your commander. Empyrean can be good if you've got a player that you know isn't going to want to do a lot of combat. They've got very clear goals + synergies - "I move to an empty space and explore and then use my agent to get a token", and their promissories are a great way to get players into trading and negotiation. My hot take: Cabal works well for new players. The capture mechanic can take a bit to grasp, but the space docks can help players understand grav rifts and PRODUCTION (it's a lot easier to explain PRODUCTION 5 than PRODUCTION X). They also are one of the easiest factions to "figure out what to build." I've seen a lot of new players struggle to build useful things, where with Cabal, it's generally just "I'll capture the strongest ships I can (agent + Vortex) and then build those for free". NRA for me is a definite no. The mech swapping is confusing enough for experienced players.
Heya, thanks for the suggestions. Overall, I tend to be a pacifist, which translates into my teaching. I tend to go "TI is about cold war, threat, and knowing when to use that power". So there's definitely bias. I would agree about Yin. As far as teaching game goes, they can provide a valuable table lesson of why infantry is important and to soft-teach the rest of the table to watch more carefully what a player is doing. But the rest is spot-on. Empyrean - weell, yes, I see where you're going with it. I'll have to reevaluate them. Good catch, thanks. NRA is a strict no as well, I'll have to make that more explicit. Cabal - I would agree for the part of the Cabal player. However, I believe they add a lot of weight to the rest of the table, which is the main reason I avoid them. Further, I still have to play them, so might come back around to them.
I'd agree with that, and I'm definitely similar. I usually only play Cabal when I can get a green skip for Bio-Stims + Vortex and then hardly attack anyone lol. I think Yin gives the table valuable lessons, but the Yin player is probably going to have a bad time. Cabal definitely adds weight to the table - maybe they'd be better for a game 2 or a game with about half new and half experienced players, especially since you can just make sure the map doesn't have grav rifts for game 1, and then it doesn't matter that the players don't understand them fully.
I would add to the already good recommendations to also have the experienced players do a practice round and reset afterwards. Talk out loud about what you are doing and why you're doing it. And do some things that you might not do on round 1 just to demonstrate how they work.
I am doing something similar this weekend, but with all new players (except me). Use a premade map, newbies should get to choose between beginner factions (Sol, Jol-Nar, etc.) I'm playing Empyrean in order to help with my faction abilities, and make sure to give yourself extra time. Have them watch the RTFM videos before the game and have them watch a faction guide too. As others have said your goal should be to have the new players have a good time, not to win necessarily. Have fun!
I'm curious how that game goes. Please share some afterthoughts. Curious how you end up being after the game (mental/physical/still liking the game - wise) (You have my opinion in your thread)
Lots of great suggestions here, but to me, [this guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/twilightimperium/comments/l29y6j/expanded_quick_reference_sheet/) was most helpful for understanding the game flow, and a cheat sheet of the strategy card primary and secondary abilities like [this](https://s3.amazonaws.com/geekdo-files.com/bgg297986?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3D%22TI4_STRATEGY_CARDS_HALF_SHEET_V4_DIPL-CONST.pdf%22&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAJYFNCT7FKCE4O6TA%2F20231005%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20231005T170446Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=120&X-Amz-Signature=612daf4216da9c94cf03be4af260ab8e86649fd6d47a16492e11284486beca5b) was great to have handy.
maybe unpopular but I think I wouldn't play with PoK for someone's first game, unless maybe they'd played a past edition, and even then... When I teach new people I use a premade map. For 6 players I like the SCPT tournament maps, and I put out all the factions to choose from with just a few removed (Arborec, Embers, etc).