Strengthen Bonds: an async Twilight Imperium podcast

BLT hops back into the podcasting chair to talk about which techs are correlated with winning the game, weird Yin rules, async Eclipse (?!), and the one-year anniversary of Async Rank! 1:21 Weird Game Mode of the Week (Async Eclipse) 3:28 Best Thing I Saw this Week 6:32 Stats Thing of the Week (tech winning correlation convo) 17:47 Tech of the Week (Supercharge) 19:25 Weird Rules Thing of the Week 23:00 Various Updates and Async Rank Explanation 29:24 List of New Rank-ups  31:45 Recent Bot Updates  

BLT pops in to talk about pbd1000 (48-player megagame) and pbd100-two (24-player megagame), catch up on TIGL ranks, and eat a sandwich.

BLT rambles for a while about Arborec and how "easy" it is to "win" with them! 3:00 Arborec component overview 10:46 Arborec guide 24:40 Best thing I saw this week 27:48 Weird rules thing of the week 29:07 Various updates  

BLT is back after a week off to tell you all about The Council Keleres and why they're definitely A tier!

Bluebird takes the stage for this week's episode because life got busy. If you've ever wanted a bunch of not-so-hot takes from Bluebird, this is your episode! Also, there is an IRL twilight imperium tournament in South Bend Indiana on July 20th and 21st. There will be prizes and also Jazz will be there. Sign ups close soon, Sunday the 14th, so if you're in the Midwest you should join up! 13:35 Tech of the week 15:58 Various updates  

BLT and Bluebird talk about what they do when it looks like they're about to be eliminated… not that that would ever happen, right? Also, congrats to Cal for winning Async Tournament 2 and to all the folks involved with getting pbd1000 going. 3:08 - So you're facing elimination 12:33 - Weird game modes of the week 15:37 - Tech of the week (Aerie Hololattice) 20:38 - Various updates

BLT breaks down how Miltydraft works, and shares how he thinks about Miltydrafts in his games. Miltydraft is fully supported within the async bot!  1:25 Async Summer Showdown 2:41 Overview of Miltydraft 8:05 What I prioritize in Miltydraft 21:20 Best thing I saw this week 22:26 Tech of the week (Mirror Computing) 24:55 Various updates --- Signups for Async Summer Showdown from Chassit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfcs2hIxVk58qfnfYVsd6h0wF-0JYB-uUn_pkLjFHzuj7rnlA/viewform 

BLT and Bluebird talk about which factions are B-worthy, how to make diplomatic pressure fun for everyone, and what Miltydraft is. 1:56 What to do when someone plays Diplomatic Pressure on you 4:57 BLT's B tier factions 20:40 "Best" thing I saw this week 24:49 Tech of the week (Duranium Armor) 27:34 Async tip of the week (/custom customization) 29:52 Various updates

BLT and Bluebird do their first faction promissory note tier list, both for how good the note is for the faction whose note it is, and how good it is to use or buy.  2:25 Faction promissory note tier list extravaganza! 35:32 Stats thing of the week 36:14 Tech of the week 39:02 Various updates

BLT chats with JakeyJakersJakeington about the difference between IRL and async metas, some fun Discordant Stars factions, and the joy of 14 point games. Bluebird also shares about about the game he and BLT started up recently, with a stuffed penguin playing Argent Flight.  3:52 Best thing I saw this week 5:34 Interview with JakeyJakersJakeington 7:28 Online vs IRL metas 10:22 Playing async on top of regular IRL games 11:50 On playing in tournament games, and having a reputation coming into the game 14:07 On 14 point games 17:00 Chatting about the IRL game, and the Discordant Stars factions that featured (and how I apparently cannot learn boardgames digitally) 27:40 Weird game mode of the week 28:55 Tech of the week 31:24 Async tip of the week 33:39 Weird rules thing of the week 35:05 Various updates  

BLT and Bluebird tell you all the stuff you're missing out on in the status phase, plus we're celebrating the finals of pbd2000 and BLT's first ever wekkerdraft game! 1:20 Productive things to do in the status phase 7:57 Best things I saw this week 14:32 Weird game mode of the week 19:54 Tech of the week 23:00 Weird rules thing of the week 25:20 Various updates

BLT and Bluebird talk about how BLT is too wimpy to go for the Custodians point, Dane's new homebrew, and automated ground combats. 1:35 When to go for the Custodians point? 6:50 Opportunity cost and benefits, and whether it matters if you can hold on to Rex 9:50 On sniping undefended planets, and whether it matters if they are neutral, equidistants, or in their slice 12:00 On BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) in negotiations, including letting people score the imperial point 15:08 Best thing I saw this week (https://discord.com/channels/943410040369479690/972540551096320030/1241125290248376410) and also OfficialDaveAcct's legendary retreat 17:50 Tech of the week 19:50 Async tip of the week 22:10 Weird rules thing of the week (or, Dane's new stuff he shared after we won the Geek Madness Tournament) 26:55 Various updates ----- Map website: https://ti4.westaddisonheavyindustries.com/ Package to show map/stats side-by-side: https://github.com/aogden/TI4LandscapeMap Dane’s announcement: https://x.com/CreussEmissary/status/1792421868885959064

Bluebird joins BLT as a co-host this week to talk about the best strategy cards, enjoying the lore of the game, and why the Argent Flight is the best faction.    1:25 Strategy card discussion 3:30 Tech of the week 7:10 Weird game mode of the week - Bluebird's version 12:00 Async tips of the week 14:24 Weird rules thing of the week 17:15 Various updates

BLT reads a bunch of action card flavor text and asks you to guess which action card it comes from! Anyone know who Connor is? Oh, and he took Mecatol Rex while on an airplane.  Check out the flavor text quiz here: https://forms.gle/p72GzRumyxDtLjYF6 1:12 On explaining to "normal" people that I have a weird podcast 2:50 Intro to flavor text quiz 4:40 Flavor text time! 9:45 Tech of the week (Assault Cannon) (and… Production Biomes is good?) 13:50 Various updates        

BLT talks about playing, fast and slow — plus, let's win a silly popularity contest on BGG!  0:35 - Root for Fin in the SCPT Finals! 1:35 - On playing fast and floating windows 7:55 - Vote for TI4 in the BGG Geek Madness tournament! (and like a lawnmower or something?) 10:28 Weird game mode of the week 11:33 Tech of the week (Psychoarchaeology) 14:42 Async tips of the week 17:00 Various updates BGG Geek Madness: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/335702/2024-geek-madness-tournament-quarterfinals-elite-e?itemid=10706244#10706244

Rand joins the show to talk about the origin of TI Junkies, the importance of emojis, the joy of playing Nekro, and an idea for building up a TI Junkies-esque story for every async game! (warning: I think I actually got the volume louder finally!) 1:28 Why play async when you get to play TI synchronously so often? 4:07 Why async is better than IRL!  6:25 The origin of TI Junkies 9:45 Can we record micro-summaries from each player at the end of each round, and then reveal them at the end? 14:45 Rand's infinite money printing scheme 21:35 Do you derp more in async or in live games? 24:30 Shoutout to Zulu's tournament in Seattle 27:20 Tech of the week (Plasma Scoring) 31:04 Various updates TI Junkies YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TIJunkies

BLT introduces the Tournament 2 finalists and shares some info about each of them, so we know who we're watching! Also a final update on Sigma's leaders  tournament, the first all-Commander game, and BLT hits 100 PoK games played. 1:41 - Intro to Tournament 2 finalists 9:44 - Best thing I saw this week 10:57 - Stats thing of the week (Sigma's leaders tournament: https://challonge.com/ti4lead/standings ) 15:40 - Tech of the week (Infantry II) 21:30 - Weird rules thing of the week 23:03 - Various updates  

BLT discusses the practice of selling the speaker token to the person on your right, with input from pally and OldTom'sBootsandHat. Also, this was recorded before the  last Tournament 2 finalist was determined — more on that next week! 1:45 Selling the speaker token 13:55 Best thing I saw this week (infinite Nekro/Letnev money) 15:58 Random stats thing of the week (randomkiblitzer’s Tech tournament: https://swissonlinetournament.com/Tournament/Rating/2342875ccec149ed849dcf1edc38793f ) 19:00 Tech of the week (Dread 2) 21:25 Async tip of the week (bot thread buttons) 24:58 Weird rules thing of the week (Creuss IFF) 26:26 Various updates

BLT shares a few fun game anecdotes, including the Hil Colish being… good? Plus, a 4v4 alliance fog game variant, and Milty draft coming into the bot itself.  2:33 Random personal thing of the week 4:35 Best thing(s) I saw this week, from pally and sarbor (and BLT) 11:05 Stats thing of the week (Ghosts winning tech paths) 12:50 Weird game mode of the week (4v4 alliance fog mode from Fin) 16:20 Tech of the week (Sling Relay) 20:35 Async tip of the week 22:15 Various updates  

susan joins the show to talk about playing TI with a more aggressive playstyle, the power of whispers, and Embers of the Imperium.    1:33 - Best thing I saw this week 2:50 - susan joins the show! 3:40 - Why are you aggressive, and how do people tend to respond? 7:25 - Aggression can be fun; going counter to the meta can be especially fun 10:38 - A conversation about whispers in async games 13:48 - Aggression in async games (vs synchronous games) and ghosting/ragequitting 17:10 - Creative writing, TTRPGs, susan's TI4 murder mystery, and async Embers of the Imperium 20:30 - susan's favorite faction 24:42 - Being aggressive but still being chill above the table 25:53 - Tech of the week: Space Dock II 28:20 - Async tip(s) of the week 31:36 - Weird rules thing of the week - Mahact Commander 33:00 - Various updates   Susan’s guide to Being a Pleasant Habitual Murderer https://docs.google.com/document/d/144B9ikAVa6s2_NxzT5eQSlBSiThbYN85fhJSmtYz7nM/edit