Alliance Game Variant

The Alliance Game Variant is an Optional play mode that was introduced in Volume II (Affinity) of the Official Twilight Imperium Codex

In this game variant, players form teams of two against 1–3 other alliances. This variant can be played with four, six, or eight players

Setup[]

Rules for normal setup are modified as follows

When choosing factions, each player must also be assigned an ally. Determine which pairs of players will be allies
When choosing a color, each player purges their “Alliance” promissory note. Then, each player takes the Alliance reference card that corresponds to their ally and places it into their play area
Each player flips their commander to its unlocked side; all commanders are unlocked at the start of the game

Note: While the Mahact Gene-Sorcerers do not have an “Alliance” promissory note, they do have an Alliance reference card

When you exchange commodities with your ally, they do not convert into trade goods
While you may receive promissory notes from your ally as part of a transaction (to later give to another player, for example), you cannot resolve those promissory notes

Your ships may move through and into systems that contain your ally’s ships; this does not trigger a space combat
Your ground forces may land on planets that contain your ally’s ground forces; this does not trigger a ground combat or cause you to gain control of that planet
When a game effect allows a player to redistribute command tokens, they may also exchange planet cards with their ally, provided that the receiving player has at least 1 ground force or structure on that planet. This exchange does not change the ready or exhausted state of a planet card and does not trigger abilities that occur when you gain control of a planet
You may, if your ally allows it, transport their fighters and ground forces using your units that have capacity
When your ally activates a system, you may simultaneously perform a tactical action into that system with your ally; if you do, you must spend and place a token from your tactic pool as normal

During a combat or unit ability roll where a player and their ally each have units present, both can participate in the same combat; their rolls are combined and hits are assigned as normal. When an opposing force produces hits against allied players, the allies will decide together which units the hits will be assigned against; if they cannot come to a consensus, the active player assigns the hits
Effects that produce hits that are assigned by an opponent against an allied pair can be assigned to either ally’s units in any combination

Your ally’s units count as neither your units nor as ‘other players’ units for the purpose of resolving game effects and abilities/attributes
Abilities that trigger when a player activates a system that contains another player’s units, planets, or command tokens do not trigger when those players are allies
Your unit abilities (space cannon, planetary shield, etc.) do not affect your ally
Agent abilities can be used on your ally
Your ally’s planets count as your planets for the purpose of resolving abilities, but you cannot exhaust them and they do not count for other game effects (such as scoring objectives or unlocking leaders)

The game is played using the “14” side of the victory point track
One player must have 14 victory points and their ally must have at least 10 victory points in order for that alliance to win the game