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 Update...
Nov 14, 2024•34 min•Ep. 42
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.
Sep 06, 2024•18 min•Ep. 41
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
Aug 16, 2024•32 min•Ep. 40
BLT is back after a week off to tell you all about The Council Keleres and why they're definitely A tier!
Jul 26, 2024•38 min•Ep. 39
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
Jul 12, 2024•19 min•Ep. 38
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
Jul 05, 2024•28 min•Ep. 37
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...
Jun 28, 2024•29 min•Ep. 36
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
Jun 21, 2024•35 min•Ep. 35
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
Jun 14, 2024•42 min•Ep. 34
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 g...
Jun 07, 2024•40 min•Ep. 33
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
May 31, 2024•30 min•Ep. 32
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...
May 24, 2024•33 min•Ep. 31
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
May 17, 2024•20 min•Ep. 30
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...
May 10, 2024•18 min•Ep. 29
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-...
May 03, 2024•24 min•Ep. 28
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 Ra...
Apr 26, 2024•35 min•Ep. 27
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 u...
Apr 19, 2024•26 min•Ep. 26
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 ...
Apr 12, 2024•30 min•Ep. 25
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...
Apr 05, 2024•26 min•Ep. 24
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, ...
Mar 29, 2024•35 min•Ep. 23
BLT shares the joys of running fog games and the thought process behind the foggy maps he makes, plus the usual rundown of various things "of the week". 1:07 GMing fog of war games 3:33 Getting to see everything! 5:55 Building fog maps 13:38 Best thing(s) I saw this week: Enrick and ppups 16:06 Stats thing of the week: most common win paths for 10- and 14-point games 19:17 Tech of the week: X-89 Bacterial Weapon Ω 21:35 Async tip(s) of the week 27:10 Various updates...
Mar 22, 2024•28 min•Ep. 22
BLT shares how good an experience he had losing his SCPT game, talks about Arborec and Muaat again, and congratulates the 5th finalist in Async Tournament 2. 0:40 SCPT Prelims game mini-recap 1:50 Best thing I saw this week 3:33 Stats thing of the week: faction tech path data 6:10 Weird game mode of the week: 2 games using the same Milty draft 8:55 Tech of the week: War Sun 12:10 Various updates --- Winslaying blog from TheCalculatingPoet: https://bellumgloriosum.substack.com/p/the-many-flavors-...
Mar 15, 2024•16 min•Ep. 21
sarbor joins us to talk about campaign games in Twilight Imperium! If you've ever wanted a sort of "legacy" aspect to TI, this is a great way to get into it. 0:34 Async tournament 3! 2:24 sarbor! 5:22 Campaign TI games 19:20 How do I get started with my own campaign game? 22:20 Fog campaigns and fun Fin maps 25:49 Why we love Arborec 31:57 Various updates
Mar 08, 2024•33 min•Ep. 20
BLT is traveling, so instead of coming up with anything useful to say, he let the Discord server tell him what to say instead. He also may have almost lost his voice before recording. 0:37 Mailbag questions! 19:55 Tech of the week - PDS 2 22:45 Various updates
Mar 01, 2024•28 min•Ep. 19
BLT shares the latest from Sigma's leaders tournament, codytct's list of the best Taylor Swift song for each faction, and the first Async Rank Commander! (pally) Also the "p's" are kind of loud this time, I'm still experimenting! 2:00 - Best thing I saw this week (Taylor Swift song mapped to TI4 factions!) 4:52 - Stats thing of the week (Sigma's leaders tournament) 8:43 - Weird game mode of the week (Drrek's "Musical Planets") 10:47 - Tech of the week (Cruiser II) 13:48 - Weird rules thing(s) of...
Feb 23, 2024•25 min•Ep. 18
pally joins the podcast to talk about what makes TI fun, some of his favorite stories from games, Daxcive (or is it Dacxive?) Animators, and of course, Arborec. Also BLT continues to experiment with sound settings and isn't sure this one was the best :P 1:05 pally joins the show! 1:47 On dialing back how much TI we play 2:58 On novelty of TI wearing off over time 6:32 Weird game modes bring more novelty 10:27 The stories TI lets us experience 12:52 The glorious async TI community and pbd2000 17:...
Feb 16, 2024•56 min•Ep. 17
BLT opines about factions again, and encourages folks to use Sarbor's shoutout channel to send good vibes throughout the community (for devs, or for anyone!) 1:00 - Best thing I saw this week - Sarbor's shoutout channel 2:43 - Anecdote of the week - Kaiser and BackAtMatt 4:10 - Stats thing of the week - TIGL faction win rates 6:13 - Tech of the week - Light/Wave Deflector 9:01 - Weird rules thing of the week - Saar docks get wrecked 10:31 - BLT's tier list (tier C-1: 13 Muaat, 14 Empyrean, 15 Ar...
Feb 09, 2024•21 min•Ep. 16
1:20 - BLT's SCPT qualifer win 3:00 - susan's excellent treatise on mutiny 5:46 - Best thing I saw this week - pbd2000 8:20 - Anecdote of the week - IronMandalorian almost uses the Argent hero for victory 9:26 - Weird game mode(s) of the week - Bunkerdraft and Wekkerdraft 12:04 - Stats thing of the week - Sigma's survey on Relic ranks 16:00 - Tech of the week (Fleet Logistics) 20:18 - Weird rules thing of the week (rifts affecting weird kinds of movement too) 21:52 - Various updates Show notes S...
Feb 02, 2024•25 min•Ep. 15
1:07 - Best thing I saw this week (Will's stats) 3:10 - Most and least played factions 4:06 - Weird game mode of the week - FoW30, FoW41, and Ghoti fishing (hat tip to hawkeye52, whose idea that last one was) 7:30 - Weird rules thing of the week - what you have to declare before sabos 9:40 - Tech of the week - gravity drive 12:50 - Brief chat about having guests on the show 13:38 - BLT's faction tier list: C Tier (bottom half) 18:10 - Various updates (incl. PBD2000) Notes: FoW30 also had gravity...
Jan 26, 2024•24 min•Ep. 14
somno joins the show to talk about the history and pre-history of the async TI4 server, from BoardGameGeek play-by-forum games 6 years ago, to getting all the image files loaded up for the maps, and seeing the community grow from 20 to 2000. 1:17 - Best thing I saw this week 3:12 - Tech of the week - Self-Assembly Routines 6:10 - somno! 7:00 - Starting on BGG forums, descriptions of early maps, needing a host/GM 9:36 - somno's intro to TI4 10:30 - On GMing early games and uploading all the image...
Jan 19, 2024•39 min•Ep. 13
