The Tao of Gaming

I always like those in old Bridge Worlds. So, here we go. Answer in the comments.

Problem 1a:

You are Earth's Lost Colony. [3 Players, the opponents are Epsilon Eridini and Old Earth]. Your opening hand is:

1. Alien Tech. Institute
2. Alien Rosetta Stone World
3. Destroyed World
4. Drop Ships
5. Galactic Engineers
6. Spice World

What do you discard and what's your first turn plan?

Problem 1b: As above, but instead of Drop ships you have New Economy.

I've uploaded my spreadsheet of card names/effects. Let me know if you see any errors. (For some reason a card or two doesn't like the sort fuction. I've never seen that before.

To recap our problem:

You are Earth's Lost Colony. [3 Players, the opponents are Epsilon Eridini and Old Earth]. Your opening hand is:

1. Alien Tech. Institute 2. Alien Rosetta Stone World 3. Destroyed World 4. Drop Ships 5. Galactic Engineers 6. Spice World

What do you discard and what's your first turn plan?

Since many respondents feared commitment (by giving multiple answers) I'm simplifying:

• Several respondents (and some of the voices in Frunk's head) advocated T1 Produce, T2 trade. The Spice World is the lynch-pin to this ... a settle on either turn gives you a four card trade. What to keep besides that varied.
• Tom also produces, but pitches Destroyed World and Galactic Engineers, just to keep the Alien possibility open. (But they are 'probably money.')
• Several others advocated the Explore +1/+1 (I call that the "Greedy explore"). This lets you possibly play a develop (if called, either Drop Ships if you get a suitable military target, or any development). Again, discards varied. Several people split.
• One of the Many Faces of Frunk tries to consume/trade.

Surprisingly (to me), nobody advocates Settle. I think that's mainly the advantage of Earth's Lost Colony showing ... produce is, at worst, gaining you a card a turn unless someone settles for you.

I personally thought that it was obvious to pitch the Alien cards ... you can have an excess of riches. To play both of them would require way too many cards, and the sources aren't obvious. I do think that pitching the Tech Institute (and Galactic Engineers or Drop Ships) is reasonable. The Rosetta Stone provides a discount and produces on a windfall, which may be enough to get a reasonable alien world out and go for a diversified economy (or just a huge trade world). I had really put this out there to see what choice people would make on T1 role.

Incidentally, during the game itself, I settled. I assure you producing or exploring was better. (Because there was an explore on T1, I could drop destroyed world and then Spice World on the next settle, assuming I got no reasonable development, which I didn't). Still, the other planets that came out were better.

There's a lot of tension around the first settle, as Frunk's temptation on Consume/Trade shows ... until the production worlds show up, some players have extra options. So I think that those players should be reluctant to Settle, barring an amazingly good play.

Anyway, I'll be on the lookout for more interesting problems.

You are New Sparta in a four player game (everyone but Epsilon Eridani, if you care). Your opening hand is:

• New Vinland (2 Cost Novelty Production, Consume a good for 2 cards).
• Radioactive World (2 Cost Rare Windfall).
• Spice World (2 Cost Novelty Production, Trade a novelty for $2 extra)
• Rebel Miners (2 Military Rare Production)
• Free Trade Association (The 6-dev for novelties)
• Mining League (The 6-dev for rares).

What do you discard and what do you play on your first turn?

Here's the original post, you have Sparta and Mining League (ML), Free Trade Association (FTA), and 4 worlds to choose from (Rebel Miners, Radioactive World, New Vinland, Spice World).

Peoples discards and actions.

• Alex & Jeff G agree — Spice World and Radioactive World; Explore +1.
• MattS & Lou agree — Spice World and Radioactive World; Explore +5.
• Chris — Spice World & Radioactive World; Settle.
• MattC — FTA and Spice World; Explore +1.
• Kester & Frunk agree — FTA and Spice World; Settle.
• Wei-Hwa — FTA & Spice World; Settle 45%, Exp +1 30%, Exp +5 25%.
• Phil & Joe agree-- ML and Radioactive World; Explore +1.

If I can count, then five people pitch Spice World and Radioactive World, although disagree on how to proceed. Four people pitch FTA and Spice World (and disagree). Two people pitch the mining league and go novelty. Explore +1 gets the nod from 5.3 panelists, Settle gets 3.45, and Explore +5 2.25.

Brian at the Table — I went with Alex and Jeff. My hand can go for either six, so I keep them and the best world for each; call the greedy explore and await further developments. I may get a reasonable military world, investment credits /expedition force (and the cash to buy it) or hit the jackpot — a small novelty/rare military world that makes my decision.

Brian with hindsight — The problem with keeping both is that you (by necessity) pitch your only windfall. It's tempting to settle early because AC will probably consume ... and that hurts Old Earth and ELC (who would consume any windfall). But to do that, I really need a windfall and a nonwindfall, which means I'm leaning towards Wei-Hwa's play. That gives up on the T1 develop ... but how many developments could I realistically want to play? Investment Credits, New Military Tactics, Expedition Force ... any more? [Actually, there is one intriguing other answer ... Diversified Economy. Now you use your sixes to help pay for that ASAP ... you can produce/consume with just Rebel Miners, then add New Vinland and you are off to the races].

In addition, you've already pitched a nice card whichever way you go. If you are going novelty, you really really want spice world. (For rares, the first windfall is nice, and the ML will convert it later on). Yes, there are other worlds in deck, but not that many.

The intriguing play of Exploring +5 (while keeping both sixes) is tempting, but I think Lou's comment about keeping Consumer Markets or NGO ... how in the Wide Wide World of Sports are you going to pay for the Markets and Free Trade association with that slow a start? And if you grab the NGO, that means you are ditching both other sixes. I'm tempted by the Explore +5, but only for Runaway Robots, New Survivalists, etc (with the reasonable fallback of a <= 2 Military Gene/Alien World). Exploring +5 for Diversified Economy is tempting ... but if I were going to do that I'd be tempted to keep Radioactive World instead of FTA association (for engine development).

Clearly either of these plays could work out. Depends on the other roles selected and peeking at the top cards of the deck ...

So, how'd that work out, you ask? I got bupkis. I believe Bupkis is defined (by Webster) as Contact Specialist, Research Labs and some obscenely expensive world. To make matters worse, there was a develop and no settle. (AC traded, no produce).

I'd describe the following turns, but I figured I was pretty fair behind after turn two, so I tried a T3 consume (with no settle on T1 or T2). That did not end in glory, either. I did eventually drop the mining league, but without an engine built it didn't matter.

That doesn't prove anything, but my bad luck should be shared by all those who picked as I did, so I'm calling the correct answer — Pitch the Free Trade Association and Spice World and settle.

Ten points.

Nine Points for any other combination of cards and a point deduction for not settling. So everyone gets at least an 8.

Two robots, two soldiers, and two goods specialists walk into a bar...

You are Old Earth in a four player game (no Epsilon Eridani). You get:

• Mining Robots
• Terraforming Robots
• Expedition Force
• New Military Tactics
• Free Trade Association
• Pan Galactic League

As usual, discard and play to turn 1.

I realize I never answered #3... perhaps later.

You are New Sparta in a 3 player game (against Alpha Centauri and Epsilon Eridani, if you care). The deck hits you over the head with:

• Alien Tech. Institute (Alien 6-dev)
• Lost Alien Warship (Defense 5 Windfall, +2 Military)
• Deserted Alien Colony (5 Cost Alien Windfall)
• Replicant Robots (-2 Cost for worlds)
• Blaster Gem Mines (3 Cost Rare Windfall, +1 Military)
• Spice World (Novelty Production, +2 to trade a novelty).

What do you keep? What do you play on Turn 1?

Update: Fixed the card errors above.

To recap:

You are Old Earth in a four player game (no Epsilon Eridani). You get:

• Mining Robots (MR)
• Terraforming Robots (TR)
• Expedition Force (EF)
• New Military Tactics (NMT)
• Free Trade Association (FTA)
• Pan Galactic League (PGL)

And the options:

• Frunk -- MR & FTA, Develop and build EF (Explore+1 if group doesn't often explore).
• Kester -- FTA & PGL, Explore +5
• Tucker -- MR & TR, Develop EF.
• Matt -- TR & PGL, Explore+1.
• Alexfrog, Lou & Phil -- MR & TR, Explore+5
• Joe & Luthrin -- MR & FTA, Explore+1
• Anthony & Jeff -- MR & TR, Explore +1
• Wei-Hwa -- FTA & PGL, Develop

Brian at the table -- You know, it's been several weeks. Fortunately I remember. MR & PGL, Explore +1.

Almost everyone pitches mining robots. I can see the point behind pitching both sixes, the mining robots could become good really quickly (you get radioactive world or destroyed world and can turn it into a production world). In fact, given the speed issue, I think that Terraforming Robots may be better as the first card to pitch.

As for the sixes, which one to keep is a matter of taste, and 'none' could be right.

The 'consensus' pick (MR & FTA) splits between +1, +5 or Develop. In fact, there is no real consensus. The +1s try to get a worlds and stay greedy (as I like in 4 player games). The +5s bank on practically locking up a good world.

The develops delay the explore for one turn, and make sure that if someone else explores and a settle hits, they can drop NMT if they got a conquerable world. This argument can't be dismissed lightly.

In summary, I don't think there is a consensus play.

Results at the table -- The Explore + 1 resulted in crap, just FYI.

Brian after reflection -- Actually, I'm leaning towards the early develop, to drop EF or NMT. (I haven't decided). I'm also leaning towards pitching the FTA & PGL. They are both long-term speculative plays you can't afford. You need something good to happen, but both of those require something great. Even if I keep them, they should have money. (To be fair, TR is almost certainly money as well and MR will be unless you get a cheap rare windfall).

No scores given, since I can't decide.

May as well knock this out, too. To recap:

You are New Sparta in a 3 player game (against Alpha Centauri and Epsilon Eridani, if you care). The deck hits you over the head with:

• Alien Tech. Institute (Alien 6-dev)
• Lost Alien Warship (Defense 5 Windfall, +2 Military)
• Deserted Alien Colony (5 Cost Alien Windfall)
• Replicant Robots (-2 Cost for worlds)
• Blaster Gem Mines (3 Cost Rare Windfall, +1 Military)
• Spice World (Novelty Production, +2 to trade a novelty).

The panel selected:

• ZZdroman -- RR & BGM, Exp+5
• Alexfrog, Huber, Lou -- RR & BGM, Exp+1
• Frunk -- DAC & SW, Exp+1
• Linnaeus, Rubbo -- ATI & DAC, Exp+1
• Tom Lehmann, Jeff -- RR & SW, Exp+1
• Phil -- RR & SW, Exp+1

OK, apart from ZZdroman, everyone explored + 1. I see one strong argument for exploring +5. New Military Tactics. If you get that, it's off to the races. Keeping DAC for a 2nd turn play is interesting, and one I overlooked.

Brian at the table. As usual, I took a different road. I pitched the Blaster Gem Mines and Deserted Alien Colony, saving SPICE WORLD as my expected first play. At the table, the deck hits new sparta over the head with the explore, given you Avian Uplift Race and Alien Rosetta Stone world. There was a T1 Settle, so I dropped the Avian World, sold it next turn ... on my last turn I played the 6 cost alien production world for free (thanks to Robots, ATI, and Rosetta Stone)... a brutal game for the opponents.

But, was I right? In retrospect, keeping the DAC would have given me a better backup plan (but pretty much anyone will be off to the races with that explore. I can see pitching RR, but keeping them gives options, especially when you've got a very good non-military play (Spice World). If there's a Develop and Settle (which is unlikely, but not impossible), you could drop SW on T1 (at the cost of your hand). More realistically, you can develop on T2, which lets you get SW for free and keep one other card to develop (two if there's another explore).

You are the Doomed World, vs Ancient Race, Earths Lost Colony, and Epsilon Eridini (not a bad place to live).

Your opening hand:

• Galactic Resort (3 Cost Novelty Windfall, Consume for VP+card)
• Genetics Lab (+1 Trade Genes, produce on Gene Windfall)
• Investment Credits (-1 to developments)
• Space MERCENARIES (+1 Mil, Discard up to 2 cards for +1 mil each)
• REBEL Miners (2 Def Rare production)
• REBEL Warrior Race (3 Def Gene Windfall, +1 Military)

Well, a number of responses to Problem #5.

• Frunk & Phil pitched the Genetics Lab and Investment Credits and (after the obligatory waffle) Developed (the mercenaries).

• Lou & Joe chucked Galactic Resort and Rebel Miners, and Explore +1'd.

• Hermit tossed Galactic Resort and Investment Credits and Explored +5'd (looking for military or a great destination).

• Kester relinquished Rebel Warrior Race and Genetics Lab and settled.

• David discarded investment credits and genetics lab, and settles, presumably for the galactic resort. [To me, this seems odd. If you are going to do this you may as well keep the investment credits and chuck the rebel miners. That way, if there's no develop T1, or a develop without explore, you get to drop the credits].

• Jeff & Buddha discarded credits and the resort and explore'd +1.

Brian at the table — This was one of the hardest choices I've seen in ages. I probably spent minutes on this. But I eventually (after writing the hand down) reached the same decision as Frunk/Phil. So, how'd that work out? — Ancient Race traded (of course), and the other two players settled. So you can drop Space Mercenaries and Rebel Warrior Race (leaving you an empty hand, but a good trade next turn) or escape the Doomed world for the Galactic Resort, and have RWR, Rebel Miners + 1 Card & 1 VP.

I went for the Rebel Warrior Race, which is a questionable call. If there had been an explore, this option would be great .. you could settle the RWR and keep Galactic Resort or Rebel Miners ... but there was no explore (as expected).

How would exploring work out? — Tough to say, but there are a number of really good cards you could stumble on. Fleeing to Galactic Resort and consuming it would leave you with your other 3 cards + three more, so even if you hit nothing good now, there are still plenty of decent options (Drop Ships, Several of the sixes, lots of worlds). Exploring also gives the other players (particularly Ancient Race) a shot at a better world.

I'm not sure I like pitching the Galactic Resort and exploring ... now you may miss out on the opening settle (which would be unlucky, but not the strangest thing ever). More likely you'll have the choice of paying for a mediocre world and breaking up your hand anyway, or using the doomed world's power on something worse the resort. I think that exploring should cater to a bad draw.

The other issue with exploring is that your hand really wants to see those mercs on the board, and you didn't get lucky.

In short — I don't like any of the answers. (Perhaps Frunk/Phil would have gone 1b — Mercenaries + flee to the resort].

Grades: I'm giving the Brian/Frunk/Phil option a solid B. I exploring +1 gets an A-. Settling is a B-. Not keeping the Galactic Resort drops you a letter grade, in my book.