My own best score is 52. A friend I play with a lot once scored 55pts. I routinely get all four colonies and two advancement tracks to the bottom row. That is not so difficult or exciting.
I recently taught a player named Mike (no, that is his real name, not a generic, "protect the innocent" name) to play. We definitely played correctly. There were three new players, so I had to pay attention to everyone's actions. Mike got all the colonies, completed his advancement board and scored a total of 66 pts (50+10+3(Mission)+3(most money). Before describing his technique, I will put this whinge out there: The other two newbies had no idea what they were doing. One of them could barely comprehend the rules. I was thoroughly distracted from my own game by having to constantly explain the ins and outs of bidding, Expedition Card usage and the like. Mike definitely benefited from weak competition.
Anyway, Mike's strategy centered on money and bidding. He advanced taxation early, sold some of his auction tiles and taxed a couple of times. Later in the game his money stack became so dominant that he was able to buy multiple tiles at several auctions. He played something like 14 Extra Actions plus one he got for finishing the last row, which he obviously could not use to complete his advancements. He bought a ton of plantations and only needed to harvest once or twice. Mike also got almost unspeakably lucky with the Expedition Cards. Every one he received was perfectly timed to allow him to use it to advance with the resources he already had. He did not get the Vice King and only used one card to pay ducats to advance as a free action. He went through several "ships only" and "spice only" advancement cards.
Anyway, all the really big high scores I have seen (50+) have been by players using a money based strategy. In particular, a player with lots of Ducats facing foes he knows to be cash poor can buy tiles very cheaply and end up with 2-3 per auction phase.
Needless to say, the Goa players in our club all told Mike that he should never, ever play Goa again so long as he lives. It could only be a disappointment.
I recently taught a player named Mike (no, that is his real name, not a generic, "protect the innocent" name) to play. We definitely played correctly. There were three new players, so I had to pay attention to everyone's actions. Mike got all the colonies, completed his advancement board and scored a total of 66 pts (50+10+3(Mission)+3(most money). Before describing his technique, I will put this whinge out there: The other two newbies had no idea what they were doing. One of them could barely comprehend the rules. I was thoroughly distracted from my own game by having to constantly explain the ins and outs of bidding, Expedition Card usage and the like. Mike definitely benefited from weak competition.
Anyway, Mike's strategy centered on money and bidding. He advanced taxation early, sold some of his auction tiles and taxed a couple of times. Later in the game his money stack became so dominant that he was able to buy multiple tiles at several auctions. He played something like 14 Extra Actions plus one he got for finishing the last row, which he obviously could not use to complete his advancements. He bought a ton of plantations and only needed to harvest once or twice. Mike also got almost unspeakably lucky with the Expedition Cards. Every one he received was perfectly timed to allow him to use it to advance with the resources he already had. He did not get the Vice King and only used one card to pay ducats to advance as a free action. He went through several "ships only" and "spice only" advancement cards.
Anyway, all the really big high scores I have seen (50+) have been by players using a money based strategy. In particular, a player with lots of Ducats facing foes he knows to be cash poor can buy tiles very cheaply and end up with 2-3 per auction phase.
Needless to say, the Goa players in our club all told Mike that he should never, ever play Goa again so long as he lives. It could only be a disappointment.