Tips greatwesterntrail

Most Great Western Trail strategies revolve around some level of specialization into one of the three worker paths. While many strategies can lead to victory, some of the highest point totals can be reached from maximizing one of the three worker paths. The methods and goals of each are described below:

Cowboy Strategy

Method

Hire cowboy workers and focus on purchasing the best cows. You will stop at the cattle market frequently.

Goals

With good cows, your deliveries to Kansas City will net you plenty of points and cash to use on new cows.

Engineer Strategy

Method

Hire engineers and push your train as far down the line as possible, stopping to upgrade stations and collect station master bonuses as allowed.

Goals

Station upgrades are where you'll receive most of your points even potentially "ringing the bell" (placing a disk in the last station space) multiple times before the game ends. You will need to skip some stations and station master upgrades to avoid damaging your cash and worker supply too heavily, too early.

Builder Strategy

Method

Hire builders and build buildings, earning points from the buildings themselves while using the powerful actions on your private buildings.

Goals

You will want to get the highest cost buildings built before another player can end the game. Place your buildings strategically, placing extra movement buildings before other buildings you know you want to visit each circuit and placing toll buildings on other popular routes.

Considerations

• Each of these three basic strategies (and there are plenty more) should probably not be followed exclusively--even if you are following a builder strategy, you may want to acquire some cowboys and improved cows to improve your deliveries.
• Consider how the neutral buildings are arranged. Is the worker market before or after your primary action building
• Consider what strategies the other players are utilizing. If you are trying to make as many trips to KC as possible, a building heavy player may slow down your trip around the circuit.