initial hand advice

[dessp7]

Hola todos.

https://imgur.com/a/RTcJj5h

What do you think, is it worth skip two top preludes and take two with science tags to be able to play AI central on 1st gen? (also require SP energy).

Or better to take two other preludes, and hope to find cheaper energy and science tags later?

p.s. please, explain your thoughts.

Thanks

[FrankJones]

That is an interesting hand. And a good one with regard to the AI central discussion in the other thread.

You could take Inventrix, two iffy preludes (the science ones), And hit the ground running with a batch of 9 random cards, 4 science tags (after playing AI central and using it)...

And you would have one dollar, no money production, a sort of random 1 plant production, and You would be completely broke with minimal production and a bunch of random cards. While discarding several useful cards (possibly as many as 5) from your starting hand.

I think I roll the dice with Credicor, Io Research outpost, Metal Rich asteroid, put down Beam from a thorium asteroid Gen 1, Keep TFGany, earth office, tech demo, AI central and restricted area, and imported nitrogen and maybe Greenhouses?

Now you have +3 heat and energy production, one science tag and another one ready with restricted area, energy for AI central and Steel to pay for it, and 3 very strong end-game cards, as well as Earth office and tech demo.

[dessp7]

why not go with creditcor and keep 4 cards on the screenshot?
so it will be 57 - 4*3 = 45.
then playing SP energy 11 and restricted area 11, and AI central 21. so total will be 43.
and will end up with 2 free card each gen + 4 random card from preludes. and one random card for 2 from restricted area.

your suggestion good for engine, but I had some games, when literally no science tags where in draft, so AI central never played

[jaymc1130]

Sketchy TG is sketchy, but keeping it has upside and probably isn’t delaying anything super important. Frank’s line looks pretty appealing here. It’s a lot less commital and much more likely to be able to roll with the punches effectively. I’d be likely to open with RA on Titanium and plant, use the titanium to pay for Bfat, draw a card and move into Gen 2 with a pretty nice set up that’s well positioned to take advantage of any top deck it may find. AI looks like it’s reliably coming on by gen 3 the majority of times since you only need one tag and it’s coming online pretty efficiently. You’ve got some Econ even if it’s all stored in heat prod and has to transition into tr prod over the first couple gens.

[jaymc1130]

why not go with creditcor and keep 4 cards on the screenshot?
so it will be 57 - 4*3 = 45.
then playing SP energy 11 and restricted area 11, and AI central 21. so total will be 43.
and will end up with 2 free card each gen + 4 random card from preludes. and one random card for 2 from restricted area.

your suggestion good for engine, but I had some games, when literally no science tags where in draft, so AI central never played

You’ll get AIC on sooner with this, but it won’t be “effective” any sooner since you won’t have the economy to do anything with the cards and you’ll lack any degree of game control.

This makes the draw much more reliant on finding EC style global discounts early to get going and pigeonholes your effective game plans to some degree. Being a bit more flexible and efficient developing these powerful cards means you’ll probably still be online gen 3/4 the majority of the time and your position will be richer, meaning more cards will also be live outs, meaning the draws from RA and AIC will be more effective. You’ll also be representing a jov threat that helps complicate draft choices for the opponent.

[dessp7]

. I’d be likely to open with RA on Titanium and plant,

Why not on Ascraeus mons? for possible mining area draw and put?
Even without that titanium beam seems playable with metal reach asteroid prelude.

[jaymc1130]

. I’d be likely to open with RA on Titanium and plant,

Why not on Ascraeus mons? for possible mining area draw and put?
Even without that titanium beam seems playable with metal reach asteroid prelude.

You can play it that way if you want, if you spike the area it’s pretty good. In situations like this over 1000s of games my data says it’s more reliable and adds a bit more to expected win percentage to take the ti and use it to pay for Bfat. Getting fully online as cheap as possible works out more consistently than playing to a single out and drawing one single extra card.

[FrankJones]

why not go with creditcor and keep 4 cards on the screenshot?
so it will be 57 - 4*3 = 45.
then playing SP energy 11 and restricted area 11, and AI central 21. so total will be 43.
and will end up with 2 free card each gen + 4 random card from preludes. and one random card for 2 from restricted area.

your suggestion good for engine, but I had some games, when literally no science tags where in draft, so AI central never played

It's a tough sell for me. You'd be paying 11 for 1 energy production. You're credicor with a 4 MC discounted card that gives you THREE energy AND three heat.

And with Earth office, I hate giving up the space event. I know that's an early investment for an end-game card, but, again, you're credicor. When you eventually play that earth-space event, it is discounted at minimum 7 MC. Holding TFGany means holding a 5-point (or more) card that wil be discounted at least 4 MC.

As Jay noted, you make your opponent's draft choices tougher when you have an implied jovian threat. (Maybe your opponent does not even notice it, sine you are only showing a Jovian prelude that in theory you are only playing so you can play Beam (which in itself does not imply a Jovian threat).

Making yourself stone cold broke with minimal production just to get gen 1 AI central guarantees nothing. I once played a gen 1 AI central in solo mode - and FAILED. (And keep in mind, I won my last 23 solo games, much to the disbelief of anyone I tell that fact to, even though I can prove it with my game history here.)

Your line is not unviable, but to me it carries a lot of risk, and a lot of reliance on early random card draws, leaves you broke, and lacking crucial energy and heat production. It's a 2p game. Gen 3 or gen 4 AI central is fine; by then you'll be in a better spot to use the cards.

You could even hold off on generation with restricted area; maybe you spike Mining area in the gen draft, or some other card (Flooding)? that changes where you want your restricted area.

[jaymc1130]

It’s not that tough for me. I get a better corp in Credicor (a busted corp) and my gameplan is highly flexible. I can pivot into hard rush and abuse Credicor SP greenery with heat control to win on tempo if the first 2-3 gens of draft offer me that. I can pivot into hard scaling and play toward AI if the first gens worth of drafts offer me that. I can stay on mid range with RA as my only draw piece for a while and just make non commital developing plays until I have more information about what role I’m supposed to be this game.

There’s a lot going for this line because we don’t overcommit to science in an inefficient fashion, if we commit to it at all it’s going to be a very efficient commitment, and likely in timely fashion since any cheap science tag does the trick. If we spike Arctic Algae and Ice asteroid in the first drafts we might not even BOTHER with AIC at all but it’ll be a nice insurance policy if it’s needed.

[FrankJones]

Exactly. AI central might end up becoming a non-necessity. This is a strong starting hand with the luxury of flexibility to see where things stand after the second gen draft.

And, I'm not a big fan of taking 2 speculative preludes when there is a solid one with usable resources on it.