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How do people pick exactly the 41 random cards they need to complete 12 plus tickets?
Posted: 09 August 2025, 19:30
by AndyHudson00459
Have had many games where people are only picking random cards all the way through, and only enough to use all 45 pieces without having cards left, and somehow have completed 8 or more journeys... in once case 12...
How is such a thing possible?
Re: How do people pick exactly the 41 random cards they need to complete 12 plus tickets?
Posted: 09 August 2025, 19:42
by Ceaseless
A better question is how their opponent didn't wipe the floor with someone picking 8-12 tickets. What exactly was the other player doing?
Re: How do people pick exactly the 41 random cards they need to complete 12 plus tickets?
Posted: 09 August 2025, 20:32
by AndyHudson00459
You didn't read my comment....the person picking 8,,10, 12 is completing all those.. hence my question.... how are they doing jt with just 45 tickets....
Re: How do people pick exactly the 41 random cards they need to complete 12 plus tickets?
Posted: 09 August 2025, 21:56
by Ceaseless
AndyHudson00459 wrote: ↑09 August 2025, 20:32
You didn't read my comment....the person picking 8,,10, 12 is completing all those.. hence my question.... how are they doing jt with just 45 tickets....
The answer is usually "their opponent let them". Checking the replay should be easy enough for any given game too.
Re: How do people pick exactly the 41 random cards they need to complete 12 plus tickets?
Posted: 10 August 2025, 00:53
by ExaltedAngel
About the random cards they probably just are good at optimizing the cards they have been given by choosing the route based on available cards rather than choosing cards based on wanted route. It's also very likely that they claim a lot of short (bad) routes which makes easy to do so. Also, by drawing from the deck, they'll have a lot more locos in average which makes the job easier.
For the 8-12 destination tickets, opponent just let them.
Re: How do people pick exactly the 41 random cards they need to complete 12 plus tickets?
Posted: 14 August 2025, 15:35
by an_OK_boomer
I think you mean how is it possible to complete so many routes with so few cars? The answer is with 8-12 routes many of them will overlap.
And everyone else is right too: impossible if your opponent is paying attention!
Re: How do people pick exactly the 41 random cards they need to complete 12 plus tickets?
Posted: 27 August 2025, 15:07
by Earthboundia
AndyHudson00459 wrote: ↑09 August 2025, 19:30
Have had many games where people are only picking random cards all the way through, and only enough to use all 45 pieces without having cards left, and somehow have completed 8 or more journeys... in once case 12...
How is such a thing possible?
I haven't seen your game replay, but at a guess, they kept drawing cards at random until they amassed about 40-50 resource cards then continually placed routes until they finished the game first with everyone else having about 10-15 trains left. If the answer is yes, it's simple, they have been playing TTR so long, that they have found the meta and you never stood a chance. If you want a more casual game in the future just put an ELO limit.
As to your original question of how they did it. If I knew I'd be a 700 ELO player now, if I had to hazard a guess though, I would say knowing all of the possible ticket cards is a huge part of the game and makes it easy to know what your opponents have based on their routes (this is especially true in the Europe map).
Re: How do people pick exactly the 41 random cards they need to complete 12 plus tickets?
Posted: 27 August 2025, 15:58
by euklid314
A further aspect that distinguishes top players from beginners:
A beginner looks at his destination cards, looks at the shortest connection, plans the route and then collects the colors needed for this path (often drawing from the open pile to get the correct colors).
A master rather collects 30 random color cards (from face down deck to improve chance for locos) and only when they know which colors they have available (and which routes are blocked by then) they decide their route. If you have 45 trains to place you can do huge detours - you do not have to connect you cities efficiently.
The planning phase begins *after* you have 30-45 color cards collected!
Re: How do people pick exactly the 41 random cards they need to complete 12 plus tickets?
Posted: 28 August 2025, 01:19
by Cournot
Earthboundia wrote: ↑27 August 2025, 15:07
AndyHudson00459 wrote: ↑09 August 2025, 19:30
Have had many games where people are only picking random cards all the way through, and only enough to use all 45 pieces without having cards left, and somehow have completed 8 or more journeys... in once case 12...
How is such a thing possible?
I haven't seen your game replay, but at a guess, they kept drawing cards at random until they amassed about 40-50 resource cards then continually placed routes until they finished the game first with everyone else having about 10-15 trains left. If the answer is yes, it's simple, they have been playing TTR so long, that they have found the meta and you never stood a chance. If you want a more casual game in the future just put an ELO limit.
As to your original question of how they did it. If I knew I'd be a 700 ELO player now, if I had to hazard a guess though, I would say knowing all of the possible ticket cards is a huge part of the game and makes it easy to know what your opponents have based on their routes (this is especially true in the Europe map).
That's called hand management.
Europe is more difficult to master, but USA, you just need to know the tickets (30 is not that much come on) and to know how to pair tickets well to have enough ''cars points'' and get the longuest in the meantime. If you're bored, you can block your opp
With enough games under your belt, you learn how to optimize the game to its limit. (which is around 800 ELO)
Re: How do people pick exactly the 41 random cards they need to complete 12 plus tickets?
Posted: 08 September 2025, 12:25
by Schachus
Cournot wrote: ↑28 August 2025, 01:19
That's called hand management.
Europe is more difficult to master, but USA, you just need to know the tickets (30 is not that much come on) and to know how to pair tickets well to have enough ''cars points'' and get the longuest in the meantime. If you're bored, you can block your opp
With enough games under your belt, you learn how to optimize the game to its limit. (which is around 800 ELO)
Congrats on being #1! Are you on this discord?
https://discord.gg/36tbUgjT