Planning : how to do it well

[0rsk1]

Hi,
I'm merely a casual player at the game. I'd like to hear how you plan your next moves related to what symbols can can come. How much value you give to blue card -symbols? How much you think ahead what symbols are available on next move? In the end game you see red triangle and red square are only ones, you can maximize points based on this. But how early good players start to think this?.

So many questions and probably at least 10 times as many answers. I'd just want to hear how people play this. For me answer is easy : intuition (it's sometimes correct!).

[JohnnyCyclops]

I'm not sure of the answer, but if I'm well beaten then after the game I examine the opponent's winning board and unpick the areas they went. An Aerna game just now, beaten by a 500+ ELO - for the first three lines they ignored the 'home' zone of those lines and built up stations in the middle. Only the fourth and final line (green) did they build up on an outside zone but did so in the purple zone. This left their lines snaking across the outer eight zones and sometimes getting into the corners. I've always aimed to get 5 or 6 stations in each lines' home zone.

Examining winning boards/lines can be useful.

I look ahead on the red pieces, usually in the final few possible moves, but that sometimes trips me up. Say with just red triangle and square left, so I've got a route plotted, but then they come out square-triangle which doesn't work for me.