Help me want to play this game more

[alexwjb]

The implementation is absolutely fantastic, the developers have done an amazing job. I'm happy to pay a modest amount to support people doing something that brings a lot of value to my free time!

[Duxa_]

Card memorization is only important when playing with base set of cards, once playing with all cards that goes out the window because there are so many cards (~1000). Like chess has optimal moves (like starting moves), Agricola has optimal moves as well. Majority of the game is figuring out the most optimal move. Chess is static start, Agricola's cards make it a dynamic never the same game every time.

Another thing to realize, you wont be good at everything in Agricola (for scoring), dont think about all of the scoring categories as things you have to get, think about them as way to score, and score in as many as you can.

[Gagneto]

I'm gonna do a bit of a bump in this thread because I'm facing the same... problem? well it's not really a problem and more of a "how the fuck do I improve" kind of situation and I felt a similar energy from this post and didn't wanna duplicate, I've watched a lot of videos and streams and have been playing quite a bit (I'm at almost 30 games), I know that doesn't compare to someone on triple or maybe even quadruple digits in this platform but I feel like I'm struggling, all my opponents in almost every game score more than me, I've been scoring high 30s and low 40s avg (with some lower scores here and there) but I can't see the way forward to improving because I don't understand how my opponents always outscore me.

When I grow first or second I can't snowball like my opponents do to me in games where they grow first and if I grow third or fourth... it's just game over, my biggest struggle I think is on the second growth that I'm never able to secure and end up always doing last (sometimes after some opponents get to 5/5), somehow they not only find the time and resources to grow again, but also to outfarm me as well, I think it's unreasonable to ask for ppl to look at my games 1 by 1, but does anyone have some general advice on those specific topics?

[alexwjb]

I'm gonna do a bit of a bump in this thread because I'm facing the same... problem? well it's not really a problem and more of a "how the fuck do I improve" kind of situation and I felt a similar energy from this post and didn't wanna duplicate, I've watched a lot of videos and streams and have been playing quite a bit (I'm at almost 30 games), I know that doesn't compare to someone on triple or maybe even quadruple digits in this platform but I feel like I'm struggling, all my opponents in almost every game score more than me, I've been scoring high 30s and low 40s avg (with some lower scores here and there) but I can't see the way forward to improving because I don't understand how my opponents always outscore me.

When I grow first or second I can't snowball like my opponents do to me in games where they grow first and if I grow third or fourth... it's just game over, my biggest struggle I think is on the second growth that I'm never able to secure and end up always doing last (sometimes after some opponents get to 5/5), somehow they not only find the time and resources to grow again, but also to outfarm me as well, I think it's unreasonable to ask for ppl to look at my games 1 by 1, but does anyone have some general advice on those specific topics?

I had a look at your last game (https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=483670278) to see if I could give any tips. Disclaimer: I am not the strongest Agricola player around, though I have been on a good streak recently. Other might disagree with my views!

Two general tips from the game:

- When drafting, have a sense of what kind of strategy you are going for (eg Big House), then draft to help that strategy.
- Use the cards in their strongest way. Forest Reviewer needs to come out asap, but you only played it in round 4 rather than round 2 when you first had the chance.


Draft
First pack: Forest Reviewer and Carpenter's Parlor are excellent. Very strong cards that combo well together. No issues here.

They immediately suggest that you will have a big house game, where you will build to (at least) 5 rooms. In big house games, you normally want help with:
- Food (lots of people to feed)
- Access to family growth actions (need to fill up those rooms)

So I'd now be on the lookout for things that help with those points (as well as other cards that are just very strong in general).

Second pack: Your next occ pack was weak and you picked Scythe Worker, which was fine. On the minors, you picked Earth Oven. Earth Oven is a fine card, but only offers very slight help with the points I made above (a better food rate for pigs). That pack also had Kettle, which can be a strong feeding engine and combos well with Scythe Worker. It also had Cubbyhole, which is a bit harder to play but could also have worked with your opening picks. So in this pack, I think you could have chosen better.

Third pack: Building Tycoon is fine, though it means you'll need more food so it's even more important to find food help. On the minors, again I don't like your choice. Mantelpiece is good for early reno games, but your game should be based around building a big wooden house and only renoing later. This card doesn't help your main strategy. Tumbrel would be better as a card that helps with food and works with the Scythe Worker. Ox Goad also worth considering as it will allow you to plow and get food in the same action later, and you don't have any plow help yet.

Fourth pack: This is the biggest mistake in the draft. For Big House games, Little Stick Knitter is one of the best cards you could find. It gives you much easier access to family growth (making it very likely you grow first), while also helping with food (once you build a fireplace/hearth). You must take it here. Housemaster is an ok-ish card but definitely the wrong pick. In the minors, Game Trade is very average. Clay Supply is strongly worth considering since it will help you get a Fireplace/Hearth, and also is an excellent minor that you can play in round 1, given that you are going 4th. Flail for immediate food help also worth considering, perhaps Newly-Plowed Field too.

Fifth pack: Master Builder / Bed in Grain Field both make perfect sense...

Sixth pack: ... but then your choices here go against them. You pick Fodder Chamber, a card which requires large amounts of stone. But with Master Builder and Housemaster, you already want to be spending stone on renovation or major improvements. You also have no animal help in the draft (Game Trade aside). So Fodder Chamber is an odd pick because it doesn't work with your other plans. Cow Patty as a free point with some other potnetial upside, or Feed Pellets for a free sheep, both seem better. Clutterer also doesn't make much sense as it's bad for tempo, but the occ pack was weak anyway.

Seventh pack: the occs are terrible so it doesn't matter which you pick. Steam Machine fine as the minor.

In summary: you have a good understanding of powerful cards, but need to make picks that build a more coherent strategy. In this draft I would have snapped up Little Stick, with plans to end in a 6 room stone house using Master Builder. Then do as much farming as you can with a big family.

Gameplay

Some thoughts on the early game (don't have time to go through the whole thing)

- You correctly chose the Forest Reviewer, but then you didn't play it in round 2 or round 3 when you had the chance. This was especially a big mistake in the second move of round 2. You took 4w first move instead of the one available occ space. This was a very good action, though I personally would have played Forest Reviewer anyway as it is so strong, and with the Parlor your main restriction is reed not wood. Luckily the occ space came back to you, and even better, both Forest and Grove were now occupied so you will get a reed for sure. But you didn't take it and instead took Start Player for the Parlor. I don't like this in many ways. (a) You were sitting immediately after the starting player, and you should generally try to time start player actions when you are sitting 3rd or last in turn order. (b) The Carpenter's Parlor has an element of surprise given that you picked it first in the draft, but you lose the surprise by playing it early. (c) Occ space is very contested in Draft 10, normally.

- You built your room when no one else could in R3. In that situation, it's much better to build the round after, as that blocks others and forces them into a queue for building.

- R4 was good (Forest Reviewer / Wood + r), but it happened too late.

- R5 - After playing Forest Reviewer the round before, you now don't open 3 wood which would guarantee you get the extra reed you need to build another room. Instead you played Scythe Worker which doesn't seem urgent or particularly important at this point.

[Game ends for me here as I run out of time for writing this post! Hope this was helpful.]

[Gagneto]

[Game ends for me here as I run out of time for writing this post! Hope this was helpful.]

ty very much for taking the time to analyze, even partially my last game, that one was a heated one for me cause I get blocked a lot on big house later on, some because of my own plays others because sometimes that's just how agricola is, I very much had big house in mind when I drafted *some* of those cards, but some of the picks were just "I don't see anything better here so whatever", since I never end up having time to play much of my cards anyway but I'll try to think harder on those picks, the round 2 is just... I get tempted by 4 wood because it's a general good move, but I can see how that ends up hurting my macro game plan, I might be putting micro tactics ahead of macro strategy

I played another game before reading this post and once again failed to do more than mid 30s, I got heavily blocked on majors though so I honestly just don't know, idc about ego but it's also hard to specifically be able to tell when you did poorly because of your bad actions vs ppl taking your stuff away, when I watch streamers they always state their actions like "this round I wanna do this this and this" (I do too) and they rarely seem to get blocked, but when I do it I can rarely execute on several rounds, idk it's hard to tell where things are going wrong and how to improve on that, but thanks for the tips anyway

[VictorTM]

I've played about 6 games now. I really like this game a lot and will continue to play it into foreseeable future, but at the same time there are some turn offs. Every single game I've finished, I get the feeling that I was just getting to a point of finishing my farm and then boom, the game is over. Is this going to change if I get better ... who knows. If the end always feels like I almost got there but not quite, eventually I'll give up on this one. Some need a satisfying feeling at the end and so far not so with Agricola.

[alexwjb]

I've played about 6 games now. I really like this game a lot and will continue to play it into foreseeable future, but at the same time there are some turn offs. Every single game I've finished, I get the feeling that I was just getting to a point of finishing my farm and then boom, the game is over. Is this going to change if I get better ... who knows. If the end always feels like I almost got there but not quite, eventually I'll give up on this one. Some need a satisfying feeling at the end and so far not so with Agricola.

In my opinion - yes, you do get very satisfying games, when your plans come off and you end up with the farm you wanted. It takes experience to know what kind of farm is realistic given what cards are in play, what order the action spaces are revealed, etc.

However, bear in mind you will never be able to maximise every scoring category in a single game (animals, crops, pastures, big stone house, family members, majors, lots of points for your own cards). If you want a game you will "complete" in that sense, then Agricola is not the right game for you.