Is 4 player chaotic?

[Chidsuey]

I love this game, and I have played it a ton recently. I'm possibly starting to get the hang of 2/3 player, but everytime I play 4 with some friends of mine, I'm a day late and a dollar short. I'm one or two turns behind at the end and I just can't work out why. Whether I try to rush a Tier 4, or get some early military control, or rush a secondary achievement, I rarely win while one of my buddies frequently gets two tier 4 techs.

To be more accurate, I feel like there's some aspect to the game I'm still missing to excel at it. Is it 4 player just more chaotic in some way, or is it something I just don't see? Do y'all have any insight? Thanks!

[gamingfun001]

I'm okay with 3 or 4 player. It is different of course, like most games at different player counts. But I find the scaling is good. The extra achievement trigger extends the game a little more to account for the extra player. I personally get about the same scores in 3 and 4 player games. I do feel , though, that the end game trigger could be one more achievement. I find there is plenty left to do when the game ends.

[The__Nick]

I love this game, and I have played it a ton recently. I'm possibly starting to get the hang of 2/3 player, but everytime I play 4 with some friends of mine, I'm a day late and a dollar short. I'm one or two turns behind at the end and I just can't work out why. Whether I try to rush a Tier 4, or get some early military control, or rush a secondary achievement, I rarely win while one of my buddies frequently gets two tier 4 techs.

To be more accurate, I feel like there's some aspect to the game I'm still missing to excel at it. Is it 4 player just more chaotic in some way, or is it something I just don't see? Do y'all have any insight? Thanks!

You SHOULD rarely win in a four player game.

Assuming your friends aren't manipulating the game, cheating to ice you out, or just abjectly terrible idiots who you are farming for wins, then (all things being equal) you have a 25% of winning.

[rudymeow]

The more player there are the less control a single player have, it is pretty common for worker placement/blockage type of game.
You might able to win most of the 2 player games, win more than average 3 player games, for a 4 player game you will be very close to 1/4 win rate unless you are way better than others.

[Jättepotatis]

4 player is also a bit harder to track what is happening on BGA turn based games since you have to read so much logs, compared to just seeing what other ppl do when playing live. I feel like lower player counts are just better since you also loose much of the social interaction when playing on bga…

[KarstenEngelmann]

I have found that 4 player pushes the 'tech for win' strategy even more.

With two, you go for a LOT of colonies.

With three, you focus on tech, and a few colonies.

Almost impossible to get colonies with four players.