First of all, by “micro track strategy” I mean strategy to consider on each specific move, as opposed to overall track strategy which was discussed in my #1 post.
Topic A – Income is Almost all that Matters Early Game
By far the most important early game micro track strategy to understand is that (almost) the only thing the matters in eras 1 and 2, and to a certain extent era 3, is generating income. Therefore, you should only make moves in eras 1 and 2 (and probably 3) if those moves in some way will help you work towards generating income on your next income turn. Tapestry is fundamentally about finding ways to optimize your income generation in eras 1-3 to set yourself up to score as many points as possible in era 4.
One of the most common mistakes players make related to this principle is playing E4 in era 1 or 2 to only explore a res exploration tile. Why are you doing this? This does not help you generate more income on your next income turn. It is quite literally a useless play at this stage of the game. You are far better off spending your res to get further up M as the M track quickly generates culture income, or going to T2 or S2 to generate some income on these spaces. Another example of a bad early game move would be taking S4 when you do not desperately need a tapestry card.
It is essential to understand that only getting out the first, third, and fourth income buildings on your income matts help generate future income. Getting the second income building out when you will not be able to get the third building out before your next income turn is practically a “useless” play. Yes, getting that building out will eventually benefit you later in the game, but if it makes no difference whether that move happens before or after your next income turn don’t waste time on the move before your income turn. Common examples of players making bad early game moves related to this point are going to S3 to get a 2nd house when you don’t have a chance to get the 3rd house out, picking an income building at T5 that won’t immediately help you get income on your next income turn, or going to E5 for a second farm when you wont be able to get the third farm out before your next income turn.
Just remember, in the early game never ever make moves that do not help you generate income on your next income turn unless you have a very good reason to do so. Such reasons could be:
- Racing for a landmark.
- Getting a tech card, either for you or to deny your opponent an important tech card.
- Setting up for an upcoming tapestry card (like dark ages).
- Racing for the middle island.
Topic B – Points is all that Matters Late Game
The same principle discussed in Topic A applies in reverse in era 4. At this stage of the game, all that matters is scoring points. Era 3 is a bit of a transition era. Generally income still matters the most in era 3, but moves that increase your score also start to matter (ie. getting a 3rd house out to score your city more might be a good move in era 3 even though it does not help your income).
Where this principle really matters is making sure you do not pay for “useless” income buildings in era 4. For example, S is not your primary track and you are not leading on it but you have advanced a bit on S. You already have your first 2 houses out, and are moving to S6. You could pick a house at S6, but you have no foreseeable chance to ever get the fourth house out. In this case, picking the house at S6 would be useless. Far better to pick the science roll.
There are multiple other scenarios where the above principle applies. Just make sure you are not spending res on late game income buildings that will not score you points.
In the transition era (era 3) advancement decisions often involve weighing the tradeoff between generating more income on one hand, versus making sure you have the res to finish your primary tracks on the other hand. If you can afford it, making moves on your non-primary tracks that will get you more income to ultimately score more points can be a good idea in era 3. However, you always have to be thinking at this point in the game “will I be able to afford to finish my primary tracks?”. If it ever looks like it is getting tight to be able to finish your primary tracks, you may need to forego income generating moves to either take an income turn or make moves on your primary tracks that may not generate income on your final turn, but at least score points and work towards finishing those primary tracks. Put another way, if you make an era 3 play that gets you one more income on your final turn, but the ultimate net effect of that play is that you cannot finish one (or more) of your primary tracks, then that was probably a bad play.
One notable exception to thinking about income generation in era 3 is if you can finish M in era 3. In this case, it is probably worth it to forego income generating plays to finish M for the new civ as soon as possible.
Topic C – Other Factors
- Always try to optimize your chances on your science rolls. Set up to make use of S1 if possible. T3/T4, M3/M7/M8/M9, E4/E5/E7/E9 are all excellent targets. If you are at S4 and are not pressured on S, do not play S5 until you are at T6 (if going T) or M6 (if going M) – just to optimize the return if you roll those tracks.
- Pay attention to the prerequisites on both your tech cards and your opponent’s tech cards. Sometimes it makes sense to hold off advancing to an era if it is going to block your opponent from making an upgrade. This is especially the case with the radio, the lithium ion battery, or with tech cards that give an income building when upgraded to the top row.
- If you do not have good tapestry cards early game, in the absence of other factors prioritize moves in era 2 that will both get you a tapestry card and generate income (ie. T2, S2, M2).
- In the late game, don’t forget that finishing a track first is a 10 point swing.
- Try to pay attention to the little ways to get a few extra points. Here is one example – You are going M+T or M+S, and you need to at some point get to E2. Go to E1, then M4, then E2 to optimize points.
Another example – you are playing T+M. If possible, play M5 and M6 before T6.
These decisions are only a few points here and there, but paying attention to these small opportunities over time will eventually make the difference in a game or two.
- Income buildings are normally the correct choice at T3, M3, E3, and S3, but this is not always the case. If taking an income building at T3 means you won’t be able to upgrade anything on your next income turn, taking a tech card could make more sense. There are multiple scenarios where a conquer action makes more sense at M3 (pirate rule, race for the island, desperately need another res, you have an easy different way to get your armouries out, etc). At S3 if you are in multiple track races or you are playing a game where res is very tight to finish tracks, rolling could make sense.
- Some of the best early games moves are moves where you can both make a good income generating move for yourself, and at the same time force your opponent to make a move that does not generate income.
For example, you are at S2 and have 2 houses out. Your opponent is at S3. If you go to S3, this ups your income by 1 and at the same time forces your opponent to play S4 if they want the landmark. Perfect situation.
Another example – you are at E2 and your opponent is at E3. Playing E3 gets your first farm out and forces your opponent to play E4 if he wants to guarantee the landmark. Again, perfect situation.
- If you are playing S, make sure you have thought through a plan for using S9 and S11. Ideally these spaces should be used to advance on tier 3 spaces of other tracks. You are wasting res if you use S9 and S11 to advance on tier 2 or tier 4 spaces.
Topic A – Income is Almost all that Matters Early Game
By far the most important early game micro track strategy to understand is that (almost) the only thing the matters in eras 1 and 2, and to a certain extent era 3, is generating income. Therefore, you should only make moves in eras 1 and 2 (and probably 3) if those moves in some way will help you work towards generating income on your next income turn. Tapestry is fundamentally about finding ways to optimize your income generation in eras 1-3 to set yourself up to score as many points as possible in era 4.
One of the most common mistakes players make related to this principle is playing E4 in era 1 or 2 to only explore a res exploration tile. Why are you doing this? This does not help you generate more income on your next income turn. It is quite literally a useless play at this stage of the game. You are far better off spending your res to get further up M as the M track quickly generates culture income, or going to T2 or S2 to generate some income on these spaces. Another example of a bad early game move would be taking S4 when you do not desperately need a tapestry card.
It is essential to understand that only getting out the first, third, and fourth income buildings on your income matts help generate future income. Getting the second income building out when you will not be able to get the third building out before your next income turn is practically a “useless” play. Yes, getting that building out will eventually benefit you later in the game, but if it makes no difference whether that move happens before or after your next income turn don’t waste time on the move before your income turn. Common examples of players making bad early game moves related to this point are going to S3 to get a 2nd house when you don’t have a chance to get the 3rd house out, picking an income building at T5 that won’t immediately help you get income on your next income turn, or going to E5 for a second farm when you wont be able to get the third farm out before your next income turn.
Just remember, in the early game never ever make moves that do not help you generate income on your next income turn unless you have a very good reason to do so. Such reasons could be:
- Racing for a landmark.
- Getting a tech card, either for you or to deny your opponent an important tech card.
- Setting up for an upcoming tapestry card (like dark ages).
- Racing for the middle island.
Topic B – Points is all that Matters Late Game
The same principle discussed in Topic A applies in reverse in era 4. At this stage of the game, all that matters is scoring points. Era 3 is a bit of a transition era. Generally income still matters the most in era 3, but moves that increase your score also start to matter (ie. getting a 3rd house out to score your city more might be a good move in era 3 even though it does not help your income).
Where this principle really matters is making sure you do not pay for “useless” income buildings in era 4. For example, S is not your primary track and you are not leading on it but you have advanced a bit on S. You already have your first 2 houses out, and are moving to S6. You could pick a house at S6, but you have no foreseeable chance to ever get the fourth house out. In this case, picking the house at S6 would be useless. Far better to pick the science roll.
There are multiple other scenarios where the above principle applies. Just make sure you are not spending res on late game income buildings that will not score you points.
In the transition era (era 3) advancement decisions often involve weighing the tradeoff between generating more income on one hand, versus making sure you have the res to finish your primary tracks on the other hand. If you can afford it, making moves on your non-primary tracks that will get you more income to ultimately score more points can be a good idea in era 3. However, you always have to be thinking at this point in the game “will I be able to afford to finish my primary tracks?”. If it ever looks like it is getting tight to be able to finish your primary tracks, you may need to forego income generating moves to either take an income turn or make moves on your primary tracks that may not generate income on your final turn, but at least score points and work towards finishing those primary tracks. Put another way, if you make an era 3 play that gets you one more income on your final turn, but the ultimate net effect of that play is that you cannot finish one (or more) of your primary tracks, then that was probably a bad play.
One notable exception to thinking about income generation in era 3 is if you can finish M in era 3. In this case, it is probably worth it to forego income generating plays to finish M for the new civ as soon as possible.
Topic C – Other Factors
- Always try to optimize your chances on your science rolls. Set up to make use of S1 if possible. T3/T4, M3/M7/M8/M9, E4/E5/E7/E9 are all excellent targets. If you are at S4 and are not pressured on S, do not play S5 until you are at T6 (if going T) or M6 (if going M) – just to optimize the return if you roll those tracks.
- Pay attention to the prerequisites on both your tech cards and your opponent’s tech cards. Sometimes it makes sense to hold off advancing to an era if it is going to block your opponent from making an upgrade. This is especially the case with the radio, the lithium ion battery, or with tech cards that give an income building when upgraded to the top row.
- If you do not have good tapestry cards early game, in the absence of other factors prioritize moves in era 2 that will both get you a tapestry card and generate income (ie. T2, S2, M2).
- In the late game, don’t forget that finishing a track first is a 10 point swing.
- Try to pay attention to the little ways to get a few extra points. Here is one example – You are going M+T or M+S, and you need to at some point get to E2. Go to E1, then M4, then E2 to optimize points.
Another example – you are playing T+M. If possible, play M5 and M6 before T6.
These decisions are only a few points here and there, but paying attention to these small opportunities over time will eventually make the difference in a game or two.
- Income buildings are normally the correct choice at T3, M3, E3, and S3, but this is not always the case. If taking an income building at T3 means you won’t be able to upgrade anything on your next income turn, taking a tech card could make more sense. There are multiple scenarios where a conquer action makes more sense at M3 (pirate rule, race for the island, desperately need another res, you have an easy different way to get your armouries out, etc). At S3 if you are in multiple track races or you are playing a game where res is very tight to finish tracks, rolling could make sense.
- Some of the best early games moves are moves where you can both make a good income generating move for yourself, and at the same time force your opponent to make a move that does not generate income.
For example, you are at S2 and have 2 houses out. Your opponent is at S3. If you go to S3, this ups your income by 1 and at the same time forces your opponent to play S4 if they want the landmark. Perfect situation.
Another example – you are at E2 and your opponent is at E3. Playing E3 gets your first farm out and forces your opponent to play E4 if he wants to guarantee the landmark. Again, perfect situation.
- If you are playing S, make sure you have thought through a plan for using S9 and S11. Ideally these spaces should be used to advance on tier 3 spaces of other tracks. You are wasting res if you use S9 and S11 to advance on tier 2 or tier 4 spaces.
