Best Start and Strategy

[Grinsemann]

I am really addicted to the Game right now.
I guess it will not last forever because it seems a bit shallow in the long Run

I wanted to say what i think so far about the Strategy and hope someone wants to exchange.

Best first turn i think is Librarian + Nebula Whale.
Librarian is on the most likey to be rolled 5 and Nebula Whale is a good addition with a 6 and a very cost effective 2 cost and income.
World Ship/M.E.R.V. and Nebula Whale works too. Buy Nebula Whale first and hope for Librarian.
Maybe Beacon Hub + M.E.R.V. is also a good first Turn?
Is double Beacon Hub possible???

I think you should rather cycle for 2 then buy one of the overpriced (cost to income) mechs, Discovery and Deepspace Scout.

Generally you should try to contest the income Numbers of your Opponent to leach.
Darkspace Hub is a Card that is good to contest a Number you Opponent has and you have still a 0 on somehow.

I have no Idea about Seraph Gate. Is it worth over raw Income? When?

The Mech Cards are generally overpriced with the Option to make them cheaper by Beacon Hub and get additional buys by Fabricator Belt.
A Mech Strategy seems too slow though, am i right about that?

The high cost Cards Yggdrasil, Transit Hub and The Collective are situational. Dont buy them early, which is obvious i guess.
Yggdrasil is only good if you bought a few Nautiluses early game and then finish by buying 2 or 3 of them, which might happen.
For The Collective you have to count how much you will get from it, can be very strong or weak.
Transit Hub seems to be the best, because you spread out through the game anyway.
The drawback that it is capped at 7 income is not "real" because the game ends too quick for the other cards to achieve much more.

My Thoughts so far. I hope someone reads them and contributes.

[SwHawk]

Hey,

I agree with you on most of the points, especially what can be considered as a good first turn. IMHO Beacon Hub + M.E.R.V. isn't as good, even though you get the discounts for future mechs, I find that leaving the turn without any credits is usually difficult, since you first action will likely be to cycle a card or two instead of buying anything else.

Is double Beacon Hub possible???

Theoretically yes, since the first will cost 4 and the second 3. You just need to have them both in the build pool at the start, which as likely as getting 2 World ships/Yggdrasils/Seraph Gates/Fabricator Belt/Discoveries/Nebula Whales/T-Wings/Deepspace Scouts/Ancient Gates/Transit Hub or Darkspace Hub. I've seen that happen a few times already. But the big advantage with 2 Beacon Hubs is that T-Wings and Discoveries are free, M.E.R.Vs only cost 3, and World Ships 4, which make them very cost effective.

One first buy that you haven't mentioned and, IMHO that can get wuite powerful, is a double Ancient Gate, which gives you 4 production with a cost of 6 (so same as a World Ship). Buying a third one later will bring their combined production to 9, for 9 credits spent, which is as cost effective as the Nebula Whale, or even more so if you've gotten your hands on a Beacon Hub.

Darkspace Hub is a Card that is good to contest a Number you Opponent has and you have still a 0 on somehow.

Depends on what it locks you out of buying as well... I wouldn't advise placing a Darkspace Hub on a 4, 5, 7, 8 as there are some very interesting cards that you won't be able to buy afterwards, since each Darkspace Hub can't share its roll value with any other card you own.

I have no Idea about Seraph Gate. Is it worth over raw Income? When?

I find it quite useful, either to get to a value with more production, or even to change a value where one of your opponents would gain a lot of credits... Spending a regular action on this seems like too high a price to pay IMHO. I reckon that with 6+ players, the issue of changing your roll value isn't as important and has a much lower impact on your income compared to 2-3 players...

A Mech Strategy seems too slow though, am i right about that?

Depends if you can buy one or two beacons hubs and/or fabricator belts. First buys should be centered around M.E.R.Vs/Ancient Gates which wiil give you enough production for Fabricator Belt, and then up to Transit Hub.

For The Collective you have to count how much you will get from it, can be very strong or weak.

Or you have to build your strategy upon the hope of getting one in the game, buying cards as pairs, and then getting a nice +6/8/10 production when buying The Collective... Double collective is quite rare, but so powerfull...

Transit Hub seems to be the best, because you spread out through the game anyway.
The drawback that it is capped at 7 income is not "real" because the game ends too quick for the other cards to achieve much more.

I think you can buy a Transit Hub pretty early in the game (not as a first buy though), because you know it will bet quite big (like 4-6 is what you can usually aim for its production to be at mid-game... So not as cost effective as the World Ship, but nearly getting there). Having 2 of them is a huge boost as well... And it combines well with Darkspace Hub to fill vacant roll values.

Would be glad to see what you and other think of those points.