Any quick strategy tips for a novice player?

[jimbojimjim]

I am wondering if anyone has any tips for me to be better at this game.

I am very bad at it. I've played it 24 times here and maybe 10 in irl. Any wins on my profile are because someone quit the game.

I watch better players take their turns and yet can't seem to put a finger on what I'm doing wrong.

I really like this game so if you have any helpful advice for me, thank you.

[hymnal]

I'm not an expert but until someone wiser comes along, perhaps this will help.

A common mistake is to think the game is about getting good hands of cows and delivering them for points. The truth is that most points come from other things. The game is really about improving certain abilities and benefiting from them on each circuit of the trail.

So, focus primarily on one of the domains (buying cows, building buildings, or pushing the train to upgrade stations). The most important thing is to get employees that improve that ability, and you can also build buildings that help or reward you for it.

Your choice of which domain to focus on will come down to which employees are available, what other players are doing (eg, if they are buying all the good cows, there will be none left for you, so focus on something else), what objective cards and bonus tiles you get.

As with many games, at the beginning you will want to focus on making money and investing it on things that will increase your powers (i.e. employees, cows, buildings). Then towards the end just look for whatever you can do that makes the most points.

[davypi]

In line with what hymnal has said, you can't really win GWT by just making deliveries. Fast delivery strategy only works if you can reliably make quality deliveries, which takes time to setup. So what you really need to be doing is figuring out how to make money. Most points in the game are made by buying things (cattle, buildings, hazards, station discs) so GWT is really a game about making money more than it is about making deliveries. A common mistake I see lower ranked players make is to skip neutral buildings in favor of deliveries, but you need those neutrals to either make money or buy the points. I'm not saying you should stop at every building on every pass through the map, but in most cases you shouldn't be skipping more than one or two buildings per run.

In that vein, toll buildings are, IMHO, a bit overpowered, especially if the southern hazard path gets filled up. If you can get a 2 coin toll at the front of the path, everyone is paying you right after they've delivered. This is effectively a four coin swing between the building owner and each player that occurs on every pass through the trail (unless they mimic the move). I've seen games won and lost on tolling alone. Its the one thing I wish they had nerfed in 2e.

[Posti]

Quick tips:

- Always deliver to Kansas 1st delivery, no exceptions. In 1st edition first two deliveries goes to Kansas, in 2nd it's game dependent. It will kickstart your economy and heavily reduce pressure in future deliveries.

- Do not make too many stops on the trail. Generally you want to take ~1-2 strong actions into delivering to "reset" your strong actions. Early on it's usually worker market and build, later depends on strategy. It is very rarely correct to make more than 3 stops per loop.

- Realize the importance of private buildings, even when not playing builder (1st taxer, 4b is massive for cowboys, 3b can boost your loop greatly). Carefully consider where you place them to enable your fast loop (see previous point) or deny your opponents theirs.

These are some basic strategy tips - If you want in depth guides or playthroughs I would recommend looking up UpUrPlay on YouTube!

[RayKnapp]

Quick tips:

- Always deliver to Kansas 1st delivery, no exceptions. In 1st edition first two deliveries goes to Kansas. It will kickstart your economy and heavily reduce pressure in future deliveries.

Isn't this a lot of negative victory points? Is it worth it? Can you overcome the deficit?

[Posti]

Quick tips:

- Always deliver to Kansas 1st delivery, no exceptions. In 1st edition first two deliveries goes to Kansas. It will kickstart your economy and heavily reduce pressure in future deliveries.

Isn't this a lot of negative victory points? Is it worth it? Can you overcome the deficit?

Not only is it worth it, I'd say it is essential. You don't have the money to take powerful actions otherwise.

[ProtestTheHero]

Learn to read the board.
- Are the buildings arranged in a way wherein you will have money before the big purchases?
- What buildings are available for construction? Are there combos to be exploited here? Are there combos with the station master tokens?
-How many players are there and what upgrades do I need to prioritize?

What worked in the previous game might be a terrible strategy for the next so reading the board at the start of the game is the most important skill, imho. GOOD LUCK.

[Urziel]

1. Take a look at the buildings before you will place your cowboy. Whatever is on B spot is a building you will be using most often in the game (at least until you improve your move/ setup move chain). If this is a tipi / action building this game will be super rich. If this is a employee you are free to pick up you strategy based on different factors. If the building is crap and / or you don't like going with this strategy consider checking if there is a lot of swamps on the board and / or in KC. If NO you actually can build cow market building or something useful in the swamp and profit. This is so called southern strategy. It's great if you can secure both spots and use 3a/3b and then the cow market or some other decent building tile.
2. Which building high level building is available? If cert / move 5 then your step to build it should be build level 1 building, improve to level 5, and then level 9. In the best case both improvements will be done using actions from builder bonus.
If the other one - then consider building 4 worker building -> 8 worker building
3. If game includes move 3 draw cards building (4b) then its vital to place it at the final spot of the safe mountain track - you will be able to reach KC in one go from there, but this building really favors you going with some cowboys. It's entirely possible
4. double bonus action / move is a great jack of all trades building - consider placing it at the very end of the track. 4b -> 3b -> KC is fantastic for tailoring your hand.
5. Figure out how will you secure your Chicago delivery ASAP.

• 1. 3 cert + standard set of cows (7 pts)

• 1 cert + 3 pointer + 3 x 2 pointers

• 2 cert + 3 pointer + 1 jersey + 2 x 2 pointers

• Shenanigans with perm certificates + some temp certificates.

It's VERY handy te get at least one 3 pts cow (even if it's yellow - color is irrelevant the difference is only 2 points in the worst case), as it opens more options for the delivery 10 delivery and take move. Even if you think there is a better option take move. You will thank me later.
There is one exception from this... if you already have 10a in place you, then consider going with more cert slots, as 10a offers mobility and increases delivery value. Still 19 out of 20 you should go with + move