I think important races NOT to consider are JolNar and Yssaril, but especially the first.

That depends on the cards, pull the right ones for public or secret objectives and 'tech binging' become a route to victory.  And a good thing too, pulling a combat card (like mine that required me to threaten two homeworld systems) is really had to fulfill for the Jol Nar.  That and having tech on the Jol Nar is the way to redress that -1 to all combat rolls.

I have only played one game so far and I was utterly crushed, but there was honestly no way I could have won as a newbie since I didn't understand the complexities of smart and dumb combats, or the importance of victory points. I don't think giving them an "easy" or "simple" faction will help.

However, I do think giving newbies a race with XRD and/or Stasis Capsules will help (I believe I started with XRD as the Winnu). In my experience, the easiest way to make a newbie never want to play again is when they have a bad start and spend most of the game watching their side in decline. This is effectively getting eliminated early while still being in the game. With these techs, at least I spent the important first 3/4 of the game as a contender since I can colonize fast, and therefore build a fleet fast.

It's a good feeling to know that you can own an eight system empire with most of your plastic on the board...before the more experienced players eat up said empire for the last 1/4 of the game for objectives because you can only have THREE capital ships per system :) (first and last time I'm making that error).

Tepes said:

A) It does help to have a simpler faction simply because people learn how to play them faster. I played against two newbies (their first game) as Norr. They had Yssaril and L1z1x. I got crushed. I would say the races do matter.

B) A thousand times yes. More expansion means they can make up for the little mistakes. Winnu start with Stasis, not XRD. They are one tech away from XRD.

C) You can have more than THREE capital ships per system. You just have to allocate Command Counters to Fleet Supply.

Beren_Erchamion said:

A) Like I said, I've only played once, so you are probably right. I'm just saying that my experience matches that of the posts that say the newbie will be hard pressed to win not because of misunderstandings of the rules or races, but because of misunderstandings of game nuances like the importance of the Bereaucracy card or Fleet Supply.

C) I miswrote and I don't know how to edit posts on this site. I meant to write I could not have more than three capital ships in a system because every time I got CCs I thought "I don't need a bigger fleet supply, I have all my full carriers and dreadnaught on the table and I'm on the verge of war suns" then got overrun by a 10 strong fleet with one sun and no dreadnaughts. Sure they are Jol Narr cruisers and destoryers, but they roll a lot more dice with Direct Hit to back 'em up.

Tepes said:

Not surprising considering the edit button is only available for like 5 minutes on this site.

I think, in general, this game just has a steep learning curve in general.  I think the "best factions" for new players are those that have powerful abilities that don't have to be strategized too much.  The L1Z1X, for example, are powerful.  Their abilities are relatively simple, and you don't have to really try and set them up.  The Yssaril are about the same.

In general, I think the newbies first game is going to be more in watching the nuances, and trying to incorporate them.  With the right group, too, this game can be almost as much fun and interesting to lose than to win, especially if you pick up some new tactics along the way.