by verandi
Nice post! I've only played 6 times so I'm hardly an expert, but here's my two cents anyways on the couple things that didn't resonate with my experience so far:
Uncle G wrote:
:d10-3: So far shipping has been barely utilised, and I suspect will only be used once we get to grips with other strategies. At the moment I can see uses for connecting two or more towns together for end game scoring, and founding a new dwelling away from an existing town using the +1 shipping scroll, and then building a separate town which can later be joined back for end game scoring
Wow, this really surprises me, as to me shipping seems so obviously powerful in how it increases your possibilities for expansion. You do realize that buildings connected by shipping count as connected for the endgame area scoring, right?
Uncle G wrote:
:d10-4: Despite all the variety given by the different races, my biggest concern about strategy is that the best plan seems to be to complete two towns and then join them together. There are alternatives, such as focus on end of round bonuses, but so far the two towns strategy seems to be the best.
Strongly disagree. Several times I have seen a player win who didn't score endgame area points at all. In fact, the more I play the less important the end game scoring seems to me relative to all the ways one scores points during the game. I agree that placing your initial settlements more or less close to each other is wise in light of the possibility to connect them as you describe, but it only ends up being relevant if you are one of the players competing for endgame area scoring.
Uncle G wrote:
:d10-5: The +4 power favour is by far our favourite so far, so either it’s some way better than the others or we’re missing something.
This really perplexes me as well. Personally, I think the favor tiles that give you VP whenever you build a settlement/trading house are strongest, although ultimately I would say it's very situational. If you're lacking money then the one that gives you money is best, etc.