Hmm.
Two different analyses. Both of which make more sense than what I did.
Cartel was a bad pick. I ended up selling it. That's my brain stupidly not adjusting to preludes with no colonies when I typically play that way. Lame excuse, I know.
Io Research compared to Donation: What is the valuation? I'm not disagreeing; I'm just curious how I should value each component of that prelude (one I usually avoid, but in this case none of my preludes were all that good, so I had to pick the least bad).
Titanium Production: 10 MC? (Using Titanium Mine as a guide, though I don't get the building tag that Titanium Mine would provide)
Random card: 4 MC? 5? With a terrible hand, I suppose we can value a random card higher than usual?
Science tag: 3 MC? maybe 4? I am not holding any cards that require science tags, btu that could change.
Jovian tag: Unsure ?????? I'm mining guild against Ecoline. Am I likely to do anything with a Jovian tag? I have no idea how to value the Jovian tag on this prelude (Hence my question marks.)
Because I had PSC and my opponent only kept one card, I didn't mind playing power plant right away even though I didn't need the energy yet. Delayed Heat, right? And I figured I would be playing it at some point anyway. I figured the upside was worth the unlikely occurrence of my opponent stumbling into Energy tapping.
With the titanium Production and one Jovian tag, and with Ecoline likely raising Oxygen early, isn't Methane From Titan a solid pick? Especially with Biofuels?
As played, my opponent randomly drew asteroid as his first card and zapped my plants. By the time I had 5 plants, the draft has Virus and Giant ice - I was not passing Giant ice. I think protected Habitats was in that draft too - I didn't buy it, because I expected to get virused immediately, which surprisingly did not happen.
I ended up never converting a single greenery.
Maybe I should have kept Urbanized Area.
I really never found a plan at any point during the game, but I can see there ways I could have made better choices, which might have put me in a position to contend. I ended up losing by 16 and was never in a position to contend for the win.
That starting hand made me want to return to my abstract strategy games and/or thematic games that aren't so reliant on random card draws.
But, my opponent only kept one card, so it's not as though I was up against a monster hand either.
