by CarlG
Update #5:
Played another 2p game with my wife. I used board 4 and Kelsey used board 6.
Here is the breakdown of our scores:
Carl 198 points
farms 9
knowledge tiles 40
shipping 24(12 goods)
towers 0
completion 15(three large)
subtotal: 88
Kelsey 172 points
farms 20
knowledge tiles 30
shipping 10(5 goods)
towers 12
completion 12(two large, one small)
subtotal: 84
This was a weird game in that the farms didn't really work for either of us. Fortunately it was a tacked on area for me whereas Kelsey was focussing on it but was ultimately frustrated in it. She was hoping to chain both sheep and cows, however at the end of the game she ended up with 3 sheep tiles in the 4 tile pasture, and 1 cow tile in the two tile pasture thus scoring no points for completing those regions. I completed only one 3 tile pasture region and picked up a trio of 3 animal tiles(of different animals) as I also had the animals knowledge tile.
You can see that our subtotals are fairly close but I think these numbers show the difference:
Carl: 26 total tiles, 12 areas completed(one five region), 1 tile in an unfinished area.
Kelsey: 27 tiles, 9 areas completed(one six region), 5 tiles in unfinished region.
My wife chained buildings well as she usually does(she used up all her building spaces) but she made some bad choices as she ended up wasting 5 tiles that didn't score her completion bonuses.
For myself, I only managed to chain once or twice but I had a good economy going as I built 3 mines as well as had the knowledge tile that gives you two silverlings when shipping goods. So while I chained less, I was competitive in tiles bought. Also, I ended the game with 9 coins so I could've even bought more(however at that point it was no longer worth it). Also, I only had one wasted tile when it comes to completion bonuses.
My focus this game was on shipping, mines, and knowledge tiles. I actually only played 6 buildings total in this game. I am noticing that I have been leaning fairly strongly to a shipping strategy these last couple plays, especially in a 2p game where animals are so unpredictable. I think the advantages are too strong to ignore. Here is the advantage to a shipping over animal strategy(in a 2p game):
Animals:
1) dependant on what comes up and in what order.
2) gives you nothing to help during game play; only gives out points.
3) If done right can net you a ton of points(50+).
4) only takes 12 total actions to get you those points.
5) There are only 2 knowledge tiles that can fall in line with this strategy and one is only worthwhile if you get it early and the other will likely only net you 8 points.
Shipping:
1) no dependance on what order things come out.
2) gives you turn order advantage alongside goods.
3) If done right can net you decent points (26ish).
4) takes more than 12 total actions to accomplish this.
5) all the actions over the 12 for taking and placing the ship tiles(shipping goods) net you income to help during game play.
6) There are only 2 knowledge tiles that score you points through shipping but they are not time dependant and one can be worth arounf 18, and the other around 12ish(if played well).
7) On top of these two point knowledge tiles there are many other knowledge tiles(extra silverling, extra worker, grab tiles from two adjacent depots) that can also flow into the shipping strategy
But this is the main one:
8) Because you have turn order advantage, you can more than likely get these beneficial knowledge tiles to increase your score. On the flip side you can deny someone focussing on an animal strategy decently easily. So when that 4 animal tile comes up you can give yourself those 4 points and limit the big pay out for your pastured focussed opponent. Also, you will have turn order advantage to snipe one of the animal knowledge tiles(the one that gives you points for different types of animals) that fits nicely with a shipping strategy where your focus is not on animals.
Shipping just gives you a whole lot more control on the game. It gives you the first crack at the best tiles, it puts you in a situation to mess with your opponents plans, you can find more synergies with more of the knowledge tiles, and you can net yourself more income along the way.
So I guess my main takeaway from this game is that the superiority of the shipping strategy has been made more clear to me. I am interested to see if my opinion of shipping will be the same with higher player counts. I am also interested to see if a shipping AND pastures strategy is a possibility. I am also curious how dynamics shift if multiple players focus on shipping(pastures with their crazy point multiplication seem to entice newer players).
One more update to go and then I will attempt a review!
Happy Gaming!
Shipping