Board Game Arena

Hi everyone! I'm about 200-300 in ELO in this game. How do I get stronger? What are some common mistakes in this level? It seems that just by playing more doesn't work. I may be making the same mistake over and over again in the game.

I'm no expert, but from what I've seen to advance you need to start playing the game as a whole, not as just your part.

What I mean by that is try to anticipate what the next player will do, and plan your move accordingly. Let's say that you don't have any goods. You might think that taking Craftsman is a good idea. But, if the next person doesn't have goods either, they might be tempted to take Craftsman if you don't. Will getting that one extra good really be worth giving them more options? If you took Mayor, would you be able to have enough people to produce that extra good on your own?

These are some of the things to think about.

Also, if you head over to BoardGameGeek, there's probably a strategy guide or two floating around.

Analyse your loses.

Play 2 player to help lower the probability of uncertainty and increase your ability to analyse the game.

The art of learning

Try to avoid taking the craftsman whenever possible. The problem that often occurs is when you craft that the next player may take captain or trader and when it is your turn in that phase, all spaces may be blocked and you cannot sell or ship, in worst case you have to destroy the bonus good from the craftsman phase. That does not mean that you should never craft, but it is very important to check how the other players will benefit and what the next players could do with their goods.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/14044/ ... -knowledge
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/14102/ ... dge-part-2

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/15371/ ... -condensed
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/14335/ ... l-principl
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/14480/ ... 2-openings

There are many other good strategy discussions, but those may be the best starting point.

Replay your own games, and try to understand why your opponents made the moves they did. Look for the spot where you made a mistake, and decide what you would do better next time in that situation.

Replay the games of other players who are better than you, and try to understand their thinking. I imagine what I would do in their place, and then when they do something different, I puzzle over why they did it. Try "modal logic" - he's an amazing player, who seems to concentrate on multiplayer rather than 2-player.

I'd ignore the advice about 2-player. The 2-player game is utterly different from 3-, 4-, & 5-player PR. It's really a totally different game.