Board Game Arena - User contributions [en]

Tips railroadink

2022-08-26T10:48:20Z

Fufumdr: /* Meteor */

== General Strategy / Base Game ==

• Try and pick a starting point, then head in one direction with roads, and in the other direction with railroads, to maximize points for longest highway/railroad. While most of your points will come from connecting exits, having a route or even a bridge/special route run through the center is a good idea for additional points. 

• Remember you can let roads and railroads end on the side of the board, even when there is no exit. These do not count as a penalty. 

• Be smart about bridge use - this does not count as a connection between your road and railroad, but it does double dip in terms of points for longest road and railroad if placed well. When you do not have a good place, try to use it as a straight road/railroad along the edge as this mitigates the point loss to -1 instead of -2. 

• Don't forget to use your first special route by the end of the 5th round, as you only get 3 and can only use one per round. Ideally it should be one of the two railroad, two road junctions and be played early in the game to ensure your longest road and railroad are part of a single network. The best places for it are one of the center exits, one up from each exit in a corner, or in the actual center. Special routes should either be planned around explicitly or used in place of 3-way connectors that never come. Unless desperate in the last couple rounds, you should never throw a station in the middle of your road/railroad. Stations should be placed at "in-betweener" exits to ensure your longest road/railroad can continue connecting exits uninterrupted. Use 3-way pieces in tandem with stations to maintain one network. 

• On the last turn, prioritize using extra rolls to close off penalties rather than lengthen rail/roads or fill center tiles because number of penalties is the first tiebreaker after score

• A well-played game generally scores in the 60s: 36-45 from exits, 20-30 total between longest road and railroad, 3-9 for center, and negative 0-10 for broken ends. There is a lot of variation based on routes offered. High scoring rolls can get into the 70s or even low 80s. 

== Expansions ==

=== River ===

• Careful use of the river bridges is crucial 

• There's a constant struggle to determine whether it's worth the risk of hoping to hit the right river pieces to extend or if you should connect the edge now and not take the risk. Take calculated risks based on what your opponents have done. 

=== Lakes ===

• Lakes make it much easier to connect all exits due to piers. Keep in mind for every route you build that you will need to find a way to connect it to your lake via a pier, but in ~90% of games you should score all 45 points for exits if you played well 

• It is crucial that you have a single lake at the end of the game as this should amount to 15-20 points. If there are a lot of early pier rolls, focus on building your lake on a corner/half of the board and your longest road/railroad networks on the other side. But make sure you don't neglect going for a long road/railroad as these should also amount to 15-25 points collectively 

• In a game with less piers, focusing your lake in mostly the center of the board is safer 

• Unlike in the base game, building your longest road and railroad as separate networks is okay because they can be connected via piers on your lake. 

• Auto-filling tiles with water is crucial because (a) it lets you sprawl your lake wider for more connectivity and (b) it's free points toward lake size. Aim to fill 5+ tiles with water. Plan your lake with early positioning of 2 and 3-sided water tiles with other 1-sided waters to "cascade" water-fill in the last few rounds. 

• If well-planned, you should not rely on rolling 2/3 sided tiles to connect your lake. It's okay to have some penalties placing late piers that can't connect - this will simply offset one of your auto-filled tiles. Don't forget that open water sides do not count as a penalty. 

• Keep in mind that your lake does not have to be one solid mass of water - it can have islands. Placing two 3-side water tiles with their land-side touching surrounded by other water to later cascade auto-fill is a great strategy

=== Meteor ===

• Meteor is the least impactful expansion. There are a few key differences to keep in mind, but the overall game plan largely matches the base game 

• Key point #1: base your route connection (where road meets railroad) as far as possible from the meteor to minimize the possibility of interruption 

• Key point #2: later in the game build toward the early meteor hits - especially ones in the center. If two meteor strikes line up diagonally, then putting a 3-sided road/rail, bridge, or even special route adjacent to both of them is worth 4 points 

• Key point #3: you should almost never use a special route to prevent a meteor landing. Keep in mind that you can always place on top of meteor strikes. I.e. if a meteor lands on your road/railroad and it's not a special route, then you can just cover it up with that same piece once it rolls again or worst case use the special route you would have covered up preventing it. 

• Other than that focus on the usual things. Maintain continuous road and railroad segments as long as possible. There are 6 instead of 7 rounds so building through the center is likely a tad worse than in the base game. 

=== Lava ===

• Building a volcano in the corner with a road/rail volcano piece on each side is a fantastic option: +5 points for a closed volcano using only 3 pieces while also contributing toward connected routes. However you should almost always join them with a special route rather than a bridge because hoping to join up your road/railroads later is very risky.

Tips railroadink

2022-08-26T10:48:08Z

Fufumdr: /* General Strategy / Base Game */ Reworded "converters" to "stations"

== General Strategy / Base Game ==

• Try and pick a starting point, then head in one direction with roads, and in the other direction with railroads, to maximize points for longest highway/railroad. While most of your points will come from connecting exits, having a route or even a bridge/special route run through the center is a good idea for additional points. 

• Remember you can let roads and railroads end on the side of the board, even when there is no exit. These do not count as a penalty. 

• Be smart about bridge use - this does not count as a connection between your road and railroad, but it does double dip in terms of points for longest road and railroad if placed well. When you do not have a good place, try to use it as a straight road/railroad along the edge as this mitigates the point loss to -1 instead of -2. 

• Don't forget to use your first special route by the end of the 5th round, as you only get 3 and can only use one per round. Ideally it should be one of the two railroad, two road junctions and be played early in the game to ensure your longest road and railroad are part of a single network. The best places for it are one of the center exits, one up from each exit in a corner, or in the actual center. Special routes should either be planned around explicitly or used in place of 3-way connectors that never come. Unless desperate in the last couple rounds, you should never throw a station in the middle of your road/railroad. Stations should be placed at "in-betweener" exits to ensure your longest road/railroad can continue connecting exits uninterrupted. Use 3-way pieces in tandem with stations to maintain one network. 

• On the last turn, prioritize using extra rolls to close off penalties rather than lengthen rail/roads or fill center tiles because number of penalties is the first tiebreaker after score

• A well-played game generally scores in the 60s: 36-45 from exits, 20-30 total between longest road and railroad, 3-9 for center, and negative 0-10 for broken ends. There is a lot of variation based on routes offered. High scoring rolls can get into the 70s or even low 80s. 

== Expansions ==

=== River ===

• Careful use of the river bridges is crucial 

• There's a constant struggle to determine whether it's worth the risk of hoping to hit the right river pieces to extend or if you should connect the edge now and not take the risk. Take calculated risks based on what your opponents have done. 

=== Lakes ===

• Lakes make it much easier to connect all exits due to piers. Keep in mind for every route you build that you will need to find a way to connect it to your lake via a pier, but in ~90% of games you should score all 45 points for exits if you played well 

• It is crucial that you have a single lake at the end of the game as this should amount to 15-20 points. If there are a lot of early pier rolls, focus on building your lake on a corner/half of the board and your longest road/railroad networks on the other side. But make sure you don't neglect going for a long road/railroad as these should also amount to 15-25 points collectively 

• In a game with less piers, focusing your lake in mostly the center of the board is safer 

• Unlike in the base game, building your longest road and railroad as separate networks is okay because they can be connected via piers on your lake. 

• Auto-filling tiles with water is crucial because (a) it lets you sprawl your lake wider for more connectivity and (b) it's free points toward lake size. Aim to fill 5+ tiles with water. Plan your lake with early positioning of 2 and 3-sided water tiles with other 1-sided waters to "cascade" water-fill in the last few rounds. 

• If well-planned, you should not rely on rolling 2/3 sided tiles to connect your lake. It's okay to have some penalties placing late piers that can't connect - this will simply offset one of your auto-filled tiles. Don't forget that open water sides do not count as a penalty. 

• Keep in mind that your lake does not have to be one solid mass of water - it can have islands. Placing two 3-side water tiles with their land-side touching surrounded by other water to later cascade auto-fill is a great strategy

=== Meteor ===

• Meteor is the least impactful expansion. There are a few key differences to keep in mind, but the overall game plan largely matches the base game 

• Key point #1: base your route connection (where road meets railroad) as far as possible from the meteor to minimize the possibility of interruptionM 

• Key point #2: later in the game build toward the early meteor hits - especially ones in the center. If two meteor strikes line up diagonally, then putting a 3-sided road/rail, bridge, or even special route adjacent to both of them is worth 4 points 

• Key point #3: you should almost never use a special route to prevent a meteor landing. Keep in mind that you can always place on top of meteor strikes. I.e. if a meteor lands on your road/railroad and it's not a special route, then you can just cover it up with that same piece once it rolls again or worst case use the special route you would have covered up preventing it. 

• Other than that focus on the usual things. Maintain continuous road and railroad segments as long as possible. There are 6 instead of 7 rounds so building through the center is likely a tad worse than in the base game. 

=== Lava ===

• Building a volcano in the corner with a road/rail volcano piece on each side is a fantastic option: +5 points for a closed volcano using only 3 pieces while also contributing toward connected routes. However you should almost always join them with a special route rather than a bridge because hoping to join up your road/railroads later is very risky.

Tips carcassonne

2019-10-10T17:02:37Z

Fufumdr: Added some basic contents. Hey, this is CARCASSONNE ! How could this page be so empty ?

----

[Base game]

The biggest part of the game revolves around challenging your opponent's cities (or roads) and preventing him to steal yours.

Since the base game has a pretty restricted set of tiles, '''blocking enemy meeples is quite easy'''.

A city with only one meeple is vulnerable to an opponent's takeover, but one with several meeples is vulnerable to blocking tiles. If your city becomes impossible to complete, your meeples will be imprisoned here, which is a big handicap.

For those reasons, avoid building giant cities, and prefer several small ones instead, so that they are not too interesting to attack for your opponent.

Also, try to avoid using too much meeples at once (e.g. building 3 different cities if you could focus on one and finish it first).

In fact, you should try to '''always keep at least 1 meeple''' in your hand until the last few tiles.

----

[Traders & Builders]

Make sure to use the builder as early and often as you can. Only avoid using it if your opponent will likely be able to trap it.

Focus on building cities as much as you can. Roads are already quite weak in the base game, but with extensions, and the "resources" on cities, they are even weaker.

For the same reason, it's not always worth putting a meeple on a cloister : will you really be able to get it back ? Is the risk worth '''only 7 or 8''' points ?

'''Don't waste the big meeple''' on fields (except in the very end, of course). He's particularly precious, both for attacking and defending cities.
 Also, try to avoid having him trapped, of course. It's much more inconvenient than losing a regular one, really.

Tips kingdomino

2019-10-10T16:33:00Z

Fufumdr: Typos & details

Kingdomino rewards people for focusing on a few sets of tiles with multiple crowns, as opposed to multiple sets of tiles with few crowns, so aim to stock up!

Each turn, there are three primary things I think about:
*'''1. Will this move score me points or benefit me down the line?'''
Taking a tile with a crown is usually more beneficial than taking a tile without a crown. If you don't have the option of getting a crown, can you find a tile color that matches your cluster so when a crown does appear, it'll be more beneficial to you?

*'''2. What position will this move put me in for the next turn?'''
A big part of the ebb and flow of the game is choosing a tile for next round. If you choose the very top tile, you get to pick first next round. This can be a useful strategy if there are no crowns/no useful tiles on the board. Alternatively, when the last round comes, if you picked last, you may be stuck with a tile that you cannot play (and forfeit points potentially). For these reasons, it's important to be mindful of the risk/reward ratio when selecting a tile towards the bottom.

*'''3. What can/will my opponents do if I take this tile?'''
This is something to think about especially if one or more players are focusing on a certain color. While taking a mine tile might not be the most optimal strategy for yourself, it might sometimes be better to take one and stop an opponent from getting all six.
This aspect is very important in 2 player games.

== Tips for duel games ==
Speaking of 1v1 games, and if you aim to be competitive, some aspects become more important :

* • Be sure to have a decent knowledge of the '''[http://evilpotatoe.free.fr/Kingdomino_tiles_8x6_With_Frequency.png the tiles pool]'''.
Some minimum things are : Half of the tiles have fields, 4 of the sawmills tiles have a field as 2nd square, and 4 of the fishermen's huts have a forest as 2nd terrain.

It is therefore important to try having your fields as "hub" among most of your terrains, your forests next to your fields and your lakes in contact with your forests.

* • Know the '''"price"''' (''currency is choice priority for next turn'') and the '''yield''' of the terrains.
Values (read: cost) of dominoes go, from the highest to the lowest, in that order : mines > swamps > pastures > lakes > forests > fields -- but most expensive terrains are not necessarly the best (''in fact, it's the opposite'').

While fields only have 5 crowns and mines have 10, all the other do have 6, but the number of squares between them drastically reduces, as costs goes up.

''There is 22 squares of forest for 18 of lakes, and 14 pastures for '''only''' 10 swamps.''

In other words, the more expensive terrains are, the less potential they have. Mines are a bit particular, but only a bit.

* • Don't focus '''only''' on a few kinds of tiles
** ○ Say you're filling your kingdom with forests, think of what will happen if your opponent manages to takes 3 (or more !) of the sawmills.
** ○ Another issue could be many crowns you expect to get, showing up at together the same time. If you focused on forests & windmills, a turn with 4 of the wind/sawmills at once will probably cost you a lot.
** ○ In case you play duels with only 5x5 kingdoms, it is even '''more''' important to exploit the crowns you get correctly, since you never know which tiles will be drawn, and which ones won't.
** ○ Anyway, do your best to avoid wasting what you get.

         If you aim for forests/lakes but get several unwanted swamps or pastures, try to keep those tiles usable (i.e. avoid closing them in a place where you won't be able to put more, if any come).

         This will make a big difference if you end-up getting some other tiles of that kind, and more importantly, will force your opponent to reconsider his strategy.

         ''I won't care giving you those two crown on a pasture if your 7-pastures domain is closed already, but will probably act differently if it still has room to welcome more crowns.''

* • Your goal is not to score as many points as you can, but to score '''more than your opponent'''.
If you can take a forest for 18 points, but doing so leaves a windmill worth 16 points to your opponent, you're only scoring +2 points over him, and let him the next priority. Taking the only-9-points windmill and leaving him with a 4 points forest would probably be a better option.

* • Remain as '''flexible''' as possible.
You should always try to plan and forsee as far as you can, but thing is : a lot of unpredictable things will happen.

You can't decide things like "I'll take all the mines", which means you have to prepare yourself for situations where things don't turn out the way you expected them to.

Personally, I try to keep "holes" in my build for as long as I can, so that I can use some of the squares for different kind of crowns. e.g. either for a windmill or sawmill, or a mine/swamp/pasture, etc.

Also, keeping places to put any domino (and remain "harmony-safe") in the last turns is a good habit. Crownless dominoes 13 to 18 are perfect for that.

* • Impede your opponent !
Leave him the dominoes he wouldn't want when you can. If he wasted his fields, allowing him to get one more windmill won't harm you too much. If he only has one or two empty spots next to his pastures or swamps and a lot of crowns are still available on it, leaving him with all those tiles will force him to waste some (and maybe this will be double crowns). Be ruthless !

* • Remember victory isn't before last turn
Counting points too early without taking in account the remaining dominoes/crowns can be a costly mistake. What matters is to '''end-up''' with more points than your opponent. Not to 'lead' during most of the game.

This means you have to do your best to maximize the efficiency of all your dominoes (''and/or deny the opponent's best picks''), '''including the last ones'''.
If several crowns are to come on one terrain type in the last turn(s), weight their importance. Do you or your opponent '''need''' them ?

Try to plan this : a good last turn can make the difference.