Board Game Arena

Ticket to Ride is dumb as a two player game. It is not built that way, because it becomes very limited that way.

realnameless1 wrote: ↑09 March 2023, 04:47 Ticket to Ride is dumb as a two player game. It is not built that way, because it becomes very limited that way.

Mention of two-player in another thread here prompted me to give two-player arena a try. Two-player games are quick!

They have more value than I initially gave them credit for. I've played 150 games (winning 99). It strikes me as a bit more formulaic than 3 or 4 player, but not hopelessly limited.

thg0724 wrote: ↑09 March 2023, 21:41Mention of two-player in another thread here prompted me to give two-player arena a try. Two-player games are quick!

They have more value than I initially gave them credit for. I've played 150 games (winning 99). It strikes me as a bit more formulaic than 3 or 4 player, but not hopelessly limited.

Well I give you credit for at least reexamining your position. Too few do. For those that are willing to. But now that you've discovered the "formula" to succeed at two player, and with opportunity to deviate from it so "limited," I presume I'll see you at the top of the leaderboard soon!

Anyone else notice a change in collective strategy in the elite ranks lately? Out of the last 10 games I played, easily half of them end up being a race to get all the long routes and win by getting rid of trains, rather than actually building routes.

I’ve actually enjoyed the two player variant up until now but I think I’m done too. I don’t begrudge the wins, it’s just really boring to play that way, and actually collecting routes in a more natural game play flow just results in constant losing. oh well!

If you compare playing TTR on USA as poker,
2-player games resemble standard poker while 4-5 player games are more like texas hold'em.

Of course, there are 'specialists' who win quite all the time on 1v1.
But I prefer 4-player mode...

If I really need a challenge on TTR, I choose 5 player mode... where you really need to be focused from the early stages of the game.

MadManMark wrote: ↑12 March 2023, 17:40

thg0724 wrote: ↑09 March 2023, 21:41Mention of two-player in another thread here prompted me to give two-player arena a try. Two-player games are quick!

They have more value than I initially gave them credit for. I've played 150 games (winning 99). It strikes me as a bit more formulaic than 3 or 4 player, but not hopelessly limited.

Well I give you credit for at least reexamining your position. Too few do. For those that are willing to. But now that you've discovered the "formula" to succeed at two player, and with opportunity to deviate from it so "limited," I presume I'll see you at the top of the leaderboard soon!

Since the post that included my first 150 game results, I've had winning streaks of 13 and 14 and just barely cracked the top 100. Most of the games are similar, any time I see someone building a few short east coast routes, I'm quite confident I will win. When I am forced into keeping tickets that involve east coast trips and I face someone competent, I tend to lose. Also sometimes someone beats me at the "formula".

There is a certain amount of luck, but I also don't claim to have solved the game. I freely admit that there are players, lots of them, who are better than I am.

AamStarRunner wrote: ↑13 March 2023, 01:02 Anyone else notice a change in collective strategy in the elite ranks lately? Out of the last 10 games I played, easily half of them end up being a race to get all the long routes and win by getting rid of trains, rather than actually building routes.

I’ve actually enjoyed the two player variant up until now but I think I’m done too. I don’t begrudge the wins, it’s just really boring to play that way, and actually collecting routes in a more natural game play flow just results in constant losing. oh well!

I don't think that's a collective change. It often seems to be the way the good players win. Not ignoring tickets, but by picking tickets that allow for completion while getting big routes and ending the game quickly.

I don't enjoy 2 player TTR Arena with the USA board.

Played it a couple of times and won't again while it is two player.
Don't find it as much fun especially against more experienced BGA players.

I own most of the TTR board sets and play them with family.
The big boards are more suited to multiplayer games, not 2 players.
There are better boards for 2 player games than the large boards.

2P and 4P take slightly different skills.

2P is less luck. We used to do tournaments on the old DoW Java Applet, and the sweet spot was Best of 7 where the better player would usually win.
Best of 5 was a little too random and Best of 9 the better player would probably almost always win. In multi player we did like 21 games, and it was still too random to really see who was best. Multi player also takes a lot longer.

I think it takes a little too long to get to Elite if games are not 2P. Most games that would be fine 4P are 2P in Arena or alternate between 2P and more players (Race for the Galaxy, Azul, Castles of Burgundy, Stone Age, Dice Forge, Kingdom Builder, etc). So I could see this for TTR, 2P one season and 4P the next.

realnameless1 wrote: ↑09 March 2023, 04:47 Ticket to Ride is dumb as a two player game. It is not built that way, because it becomes very limited that way.

Thanks for your precious in-depth view on the topic