by boomtron
We had a 5 player game last night, using the suggested starting Factions, including the Giants.As new players we all thought that getting some more dwellings on the board would be a good thing, especially since the scoring card encouraged it with points. So, the Nomads, Witches, Mermaids and Halflings all got a dwelling down, onto a space that only needed one spade, making the cost not prohibitive.
The Giants start with 3 workers, and get 3 more during the initial turn income, for a total of 6. They are forced to use 2 spades at all times when transforming the terrain. The Giants player decided to build a dwelling as well, but it cost him 7 workers! 6 for the spades, and 1 more for the dwelling. (Luckily he had one more worker from the bonus card he chose.) This proved to be a really slow start for the Giants, and set him way back.
After the game, we chatted, and realized that he probably should have upgraded to a trade house, and then to a temple or stronghold. With 7 workers, he even could have gone all the way to the stronghold, then used the stronghold action to build a dwelling. That would have been a much better opening. Another possibility would be to go to a temple to get priest income to get the worker/spade exchange rate down.
My question is this: Are the Giants forced to upgrade on the first turn? It just seems cost prohibitive to build any dwellings outright.
Also, I guess this is a warning to new players with the Giants, not to spend all your workers on a dwelling.