Strategies

[Carhou]

Seems that this game has a lot of strategy behind the sometimes frustrating luck of the exploring order. And it's possible to reach around 80% of victories for experienced players, which is not something that happens around luck games.

So I would like to discuss and collect here some strategies for the players around. Because also seems that there's no info in the web as far as I know, like with other more known games. And there's margin to improve here!

So I start, opening a bit the field, sharing some insights and some open questions, and see where it goes! I refer first to the map Avenia:

• Points priority. For me here trading routes is first sure. And doing them, it's easy and cheap to reach the towers, but going blind for towers is not interesting, many times there are better options. Objectives is a must, fighting for them should be priority in high level games, since it's a huge different of points (also, is the only interactive part of the game, that makes it not a solo game, and it makes sense to see the other player board). The others points, is just opportunistic for me, but not for a strategy.
• Investigate cards. For me in the first era, is very valuable to have a card with water. It's like very important to expand to other lands, and not have the limit of receiving the basic water explore card on the end of the turn.
• Villages: Of course, maximizing the chances of using the explorer cards after the explorers reset. The most chances we have to chose, the better, because being forced to waste explorers, is sad. Also, reaching as far as we can in the first two eras seems right to me. Far in distance, but also crossing different types of terrain. Also, the closer to the border of the map, the higher the points. So, villages close to the starting point, has no sense to me.
• Eras: Just counting, the basic explorers cards are 10 spaces, and the investigate cards have a mean of 5 spaces. That's 15 spaces for the first era, 20 for the second, 25 for the third, and 35 for the fourth. In the first eras, we can not plan or chose as we can really do in the last era, with all the cards in hand, and flexibility. So I do the main points in the last era, 35% of the spaces, where I can really take profit of all the explorers, and use them with efficiency.

What do you think? What you would add?
Enjoy the game!

[Jordofolis]

Love this game, discovered it here on BGA. It’s such a nice balance of being quick, clever, with a good dash of luck that forces problem solving.

Here are my strategy thoughts, building off some of what you’ve started with.

Trading routes: I agree that prioritizing these is a good general idea. The city placements and values do not change, so you can usually find reliable methods to connect in the higher numbers for many combinations of cards and the order they come out in. In later eras you can chain 12-20 point moves together that eclipse many of the other ways to get points.

Objectives: I actually don’t think they’re a huge priority. I see them as solid nice-to-haves, but you should be comfortable abandoning the first place bonus in favour of gaining good positions (e.g. a village close to a city or tower). I do think it’s advisable to try and score them—it’s 15 points minimum—but even if you miss all the 10 point bonuses, it’s at most a 15 point gap to close. A few routes or towers can take care of that easily.

Early water investigate cards: totally agree here. Although if you don’t find them, the game is often flexible enough to give you solutions. Use your 3-line water and adjacency to cross the gaps and focus on getting a village outside of the starting area if possible.

Picking investigate cards for the next era: when I first started playing I picked my investigate cards based on what it got me at the moment. I still consider that, but after a few humbling draws I also try to imagine what would happen if I got this card first or second in the coming era. Having a wasteful investigation card because it was drawn ‘too early’ is painful!

Develop Era 1 ‘opening moves’: Sorta like chess, if the basic cards all come out early, you should have a sense of the ways you like to play them, depending on each map. Don’t just build toward an objective—once you play enough you’ll have a sense of the nature of many investigate cards. Try to set up flexibility so most investigate cards will be useful. In later Eras of you’ll at least know some of what your powerful cards are, so it’s less guesswork there.

Quick map notes:

Avenia: I always keep that 4-city in the south in mind. If I can get an early village down there I’ll usually build my trade route dreams around it. Two towers within nice range of it too! That three grass realm right below the capital can be a critical staging point for making use of the 4-city.

Aghon: I have the least experience with this one. I like that the capital starts with all three terrains of 4-size each, really makes you commit in one direction in the beginning I think. That NW mountain zone is like purpose built for that mountain ‘surround’ investigation card.

Cnidaria: If you can get into the SE corner early, it’s usually a boon. That 5-city can deliver a few 20 point moves if you can swing it. Also, grabbing the 4-crystal before the others maximizes the cumulative crystal scoring.

Kazan: Some of the water + coins / cities / treasure cards work well with the corridors and compact ruins in this one. The western edge has one of those coveted 5-cities and awesome mountain coins too (the 2x coin mountain card can be a monster here). Getting a village to access a jumping off point to the eastern waterways is also a big deal.