Is cost reduction the best strategy for newbies?

[Flyndersticks]

Hi all, I'm getting the hang of this game after kickstarting it, and have noticed that a lot of my better games tend to be ones where I pick up Frugal Bagman or one of the HCs who can save money. I suspect this is related to my own difficulties planning out turns, and that the difference between having one of your core resource and having two of it is really key.

I know it's early yet for a meta to develop, but it feels like a decent strategy for new players is to slap together cost-reducing improvements until you figure out what your engine for this particular match is going to be. Any thoughts?

[bolnerap]

Two of my best scores (220+) came when I got Frugal Bag Man early. It’s fantastic at that point, and has often led to me being able to more easily get 11-12 cards out.

I think another good combo for a relatively new player would be Booster Driven Pipeline followed up immediately by expensive money-generating cards such as Stadium Alcohol Permit and Athletics Endowment. BDP is extremely potent when the Bucks are flowing, and you can funnel all your envelopes into recruits.

Another simple combo would be heavy money generation as noted above, with State NIL Law, for a reverse effect (using your Bucks for recruiting saves envelopes for cards).

[Flyndersticks]

Money generation seems like it should be useful but I feel like I can't remember the cards I need to turn them into VPs, so I end up forgetting them or letting them fall down the discard pile hole when it resets every three months. Like, I really would love to see replays or playthroughs about how to better generate campus and fundraising stuff b/c it seems trickier than "just go sign some 'croots for real cheap."

[bolnerap]

By campus do you mean the orange personnel/facilities cards? I’d be happy to pull up a couple of my replays for you. I’m sure I can find something. I did have one heavy fundraising game as well, but it wasn’t one of my best scores.

[Andrewsmile]

I think another good combo for a relatively new player would be Booster Driven Pipeline followed up immediately by expensive money-generating cards such as Stadium Alcohol Permit and Athletics Endowment. BDP is extremely potent when the Bucks are flowing, and you can funnel all your envelopes into recruits.

I think BDP is extremely potent regardless, and is my pick for best card in the game (except for some of the ludicrous endgame scoring cards). The fact that marketing exists and there are so many ways to generate $ means you get a free EC every turn + 6 points + the opportunity for more ECS if you have any of the 4EC region $/travel cards that allow you to pay 1$ for 2 points or a few other cards. It's also fairly easy to put into play at only 2 unique colors, if you get a good purple roll in the first turn or 2 you can set it up within 6 months even if you only take the red the turn it comes out. I tend to not use marketing almost at all in the beginning and once you know BDP is on its way you can usually find a $ generating card and then you're off to the races. My favorite HC is actually Zen Master rather than a cost reducer since zen master smooths out a lot of the dice luck

editing this comment to note I had the complete wrong card lol I was thinking of the card that gives you an EC whenever you pay for points with money. Thats embarrassing. BDP is a great card as well

[Flyndersticks]

useful clarification: I was today years old when I realized that BDP is 3 booster bucks for ALL envelopes to put a card into play, not 3:1 per envelope. I am now going to grab that a lot more often.