Greetings,
I'm ready to start trying rated games, but my most recent friendly mode game was a bit of a train wreck. If anyone is willing to help with some analysis, I would be grateful.
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=914193810
Not a great opening hand, I don' think? And I loathe this map.
My own analysis:
Round 1: I used two turns to play Franchise Business. Maybe that's not a good use of two turns to play a mediocre (at best) sponsor, though I was trying to get my appeal and income up with pavilions and fill that top area.
Round 2: I spent all my money early and wasn't sure what to do. Maybe x-out Build and just play Farm cat and not be greedy trying to get the full 5 appeal? Should I be bothering with farm cat at all? By using sponsors for cash, I buried farm cat. I mean, I buried the sponsors card.
I was still trying to finish the top section.
Round 3: I x'ed out association just to get to animals? For the extra reputation? No, then I x'ed out cards. ok, I was trying to get my build card such that I could build the large aquarium. Was this too convoluted? Should I have just taken the sea animals project at the third slot and moved on?
Round 4: I'm trying to do too many things. A lot of "okay" sponsors, not great. Trying to set up projects. Dealing with the annoyance of not having enclosures because of this map's terrible project bonuses. Perhaps a Build upgrade was needed.
Also, opponent always had so many x tokens I Was always worried he would break if I tried to set something up that would require multiple turns.
then when I drew cards, I had even more options and was really getting myself mixed up, and then the break happened and I had to make some tough discard choices. Around or slightly after move 311.
I wanted to do Asia zoo -> Komodo Dragon -> Siberian Tiger. But this is a lot of actions and I do not have the large enclosure yet. Hydrologist is worth 6 points and probably 14 dollars so I want to play that. Spokesperson is helpful, I guess, but I have no guarantee of being able to get the 7th science icon. And playing Spokesperson after playing 5 science is a bit silly. I want to play the dingo so I can release it with Savannah, but I also want to target the Australia project. I want the rabbit because it's 6 appeal for 7 dollars and sets up a 3rd petting zoo animal for 9 appeal if I find one. So basically I want to keep 7 cards but can only keep 5.
Round 5: Ugh. Needing two expensive and time consuming build actions to set up the Asia animals is brutal. Also, I just covered 5 water adjacent spaces before playing hydrologist. What am I doing !??
Move 381 is where I start to get lucky. The eagle appears. Now I am shifting to releasing the tiger so I can play the eagle at some point. Lucky break for me.
But my opponent is at 72 and I'm getting nervous. I don't have enough time.
And I leave the eagle in the display, my opponent could grab it. Opponent does the Europe release project and could draw or snap the eagle. Probably not a good idea to leave it since I have an available large enclosure.
Okay, now, I am 3 dollars short of playing the tiger so I can release it. Bad planning. I settle for Australia and take the 12 money. Even the non-break-period project reward for the map is terrible. I don't need a new scoring card.
Now I get to play the tiger and grab the eagle. At this point, I figure whoever triggers break loses? Was I right in thinking I want to go first after the break?
I think move 426 is the miracle draw. I'll be playing the eagle after freeing up the enclosure (I hope), but I have no enclosure to play a second animal. Down to the last 2 of my 4 random card draws I get a petting zoo animal and landscape gardener. That's incredibly lucky.
Now I'm thinking my opponent should break here? Maybe not. I have no worker so I cannot do a project. Now I do a build action ( ? ).
I think my though process was that I had no useful determination acting after the eagle, so I didn't want to play landscape gardener yet, saving it for my turn after the eagle and petting zoo animal?
Now the break. Round 6.
I think my plan here is clear: Do the Savannah project, and play the eagle and The guinea pig, then sponsors for landscape gardener. My opponent manages to squeeze in an extra 5 point play, seems like a good idea.
Not a great spot for me. My opponent's final turn could be big with money and a large enclosure. Luckily the second animal wasn't a big scoring one, only 6 points. Though not many animals will do much better in a size 2, I suppose.
Okay, so, that was a messy game. 38 turns, including NINE build, five cards, and 3 x-action. Which means even with all that, I still needed 21 of the "good" actions (sponsors, animals, association.)
Very inefficient.
Feedback appreciated!
I'm ready to start trying rated games, but my most recent friendly mode game was a bit of a train wreck. If anyone is willing to help with some analysis, I would be grateful.
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=914193810
Not a great opening hand, I don' think? And I loathe this map.
My own analysis:
Round 1: I used two turns to play Franchise Business. Maybe that's not a good use of two turns to play a mediocre (at best) sponsor, though I was trying to get my appeal and income up with pavilions and fill that top area.
Round 2: I spent all my money early and wasn't sure what to do. Maybe x-out Build and just play Farm cat and not be greedy trying to get the full 5 appeal? Should I be bothering with farm cat at all? By using sponsors for cash, I buried farm cat. I mean, I buried the sponsors card.
I was still trying to finish the top section.
Round 3: I x'ed out association just to get to animals? For the extra reputation? No, then I x'ed out cards. ok, I was trying to get my build card such that I could build the large aquarium. Was this too convoluted? Should I have just taken the sea animals project at the third slot and moved on?
Round 4: I'm trying to do too many things. A lot of "okay" sponsors, not great. Trying to set up projects. Dealing with the annoyance of not having enclosures because of this map's terrible project bonuses. Perhaps a Build upgrade was needed.
Also, opponent always had so many x tokens I Was always worried he would break if I tried to set something up that would require multiple turns.
then when I drew cards, I had even more options and was really getting myself mixed up, and then the break happened and I had to make some tough discard choices. Around or slightly after move 311.
I wanted to do Asia zoo -> Komodo Dragon -> Siberian Tiger. But this is a lot of actions and I do not have the large enclosure yet. Hydrologist is worth 6 points and probably 14 dollars so I want to play that. Spokesperson is helpful, I guess, but I have no guarantee of being able to get the 7th science icon. And playing Spokesperson after playing 5 science is a bit silly. I want to play the dingo so I can release it with Savannah, but I also want to target the Australia project. I want the rabbit because it's 6 appeal for 7 dollars and sets up a 3rd petting zoo animal for 9 appeal if I find one. So basically I want to keep 7 cards but can only keep 5.
Round 5: Ugh. Needing two expensive and time consuming build actions to set up the Asia animals is brutal. Also, I just covered 5 water adjacent spaces before playing hydrologist. What am I doing !??
Move 381 is where I start to get lucky. The eagle appears. Now I am shifting to releasing the tiger so I can play the eagle at some point. Lucky break for me.
But my opponent is at 72 and I'm getting nervous. I don't have enough time.
And I leave the eagle in the display, my opponent could grab it. Opponent does the Europe release project and could draw or snap the eagle. Probably not a good idea to leave it since I have an available large enclosure.
Okay, now, I am 3 dollars short of playing the tiger so I can release it. Bad planning. I settle for Australia and take the 12 money. Even the non-break-period project reward for the map is terrible. I don't need a new scoring card.
Now I get to play the tiger and grab the eagle. At this point, I figure whoever triggers break loses? Was I right in thinking I want to go first after the break?
I think move 426 is the miracle draw. I'll be playing the eagle after freeing up the enclosure (I hope), but I have no enclosure to play a second animal. Down to the last 2 of my 4 random card draws I get a petting zoo animal and landscape gardener. That's incredibly lucky.
Now I'm thinking my opponent should break here? Maybe not. I have no worker so I cannot do a project. Now I do a build action ( ? ).
I think my though process was that I had no useful determination acting after the eagle, so I didn't want to play landscape gardener yet, saving it for my turn after the eagle and petting zoo animal?
Now the break. Round 6.
I think my plan here is clear: Do the Savannah project, and play the eagle and The guinea pig, then sponsors for landscape gardener. My opponent manages to squeeze in an extra 5 point play, seems like a good idea.
Not a great spot for me. My opponent's final turn could be big with money and a large enclosure. Luckily the second animal wasn't a big scoring one, only 6 points. Though not many animals will do much better in a size 2, I suppose.
Okay, so, that was a messy game. 38 turns, including NINE build, five cards, and 3 x-action. Which means even with all that, I still needed 21 of the "good" actions (sponsors, animals, association.)
Very inefficient.
Feedback appreciated!