Game: Puerto Rico Expansion

Thread: Re: Our Final 2 Player Variant Rules for PR

berzerkelian — 2008-10-10T11:00:18+00:00

waht kind of play time are you getting with this variant? obviously, with that my plays, your play time will probably be a bit quicker, but i'm still curious to know.

Thread: Re: No-buildings-barred

foxx — 2008-09-07T20:30:47+00:00

Normally we play with random buildings. I have a bag for each of the different cost buildings, and I place one building on each corresponding cost space of the building board. At the end of the builder phase, any empty spaces are filled in with another random building of that cost. I do make an exception for "big buildings" though. What gets put out at the start of the game is it. They don't get replaced.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2008-04-29T10:04:37+00:00

A session report played two-player with many of my own buildings.

I got in a two-player Puerto Rico game this afternoon with Rachel. When I travel, I dissect Puerto Rico and take everything I need in a ziplock sandwich bag.

Of course, we also play with our favorite specialized buildings:

- Assembly Line (instead of Small Market): All your production buildings can hold an additional colonist.

- Small Fashion District (instead of Construction Hut): Trade indigo at +2.

- Commodity Exporters (instead of Office): Ship indigo or sugar at +1 VP.

- Discretionary Hold (instead of Large Warehouse): a) Store up to 3 barrels. b) place barrels onto full ships for +1 VP; each full ship can hold only 1 extra barrel.

- Large Business (instead of Harbor): a) -1 cost to building. b) +1 VP during Captain phase (not per goods shipped).

- Large General Workhouse (instead of University) w/2 circles): produce any goods with the corresponding manned plantations.

- Private Boat (instead of Wharf): ship any four barrels.

- Cathedral (instead of Guild Hall): +1 VP / 3 red VPs (from buildings)

- Fairgrounds (instead of Residence): +0/1/2/3/5/7 VPs for 0/1/2/3/4/5/6 types of plantations.

In addition, you may move one of your colonists onto Hospice when you buy it.

A really broken building you discover within a play or two. The subtly powerful or underpowered ones can take several plays. We've played with these building hundreds of times now, so we put them through the ringer.

Recently we began to suspect that Commodity Exporters was overpowered for its price in a two-player game. This game cemented that suspicion.

Rachel took it early in the game (Indigo, Sugar, Commodity Exporters). I had more money and more control, I took an early Large General Workhouse and a Large Business. I nearly took Factory, but my cash situation was already good - I had monopolies on both Tobacco and Coffee for much of the game. So I let Rachel take it.

I don't think I made any mistakes, but neither did Rachel. She was still ahead a good 6 points in shipping near the end of the game, even with my blocking boats. And I wasn't that far ahead in building. Eventually I had enough to get a second big building that she couldn't, but I couldn't man it unless I let the game go another round.

In the last round, Rachel had to choose between letting me ship and gain around 6 points on her in shipping, or let me Mayor and gain my big building. She let me ship, and I ended up ahead two shipping points. But when the dust settled, she was two points ahead in building points. And she ended with goods and money where I didn't. So she won on the tie.

Another exciting Puerto Rico game. And I'm going to have to tweak Commodity Exporters.

Thread: Re: 2 player Variants: Library too powerful?

fernori — 2007-12-24T18:51:07+00:00

Yes. Do everything as stated in the official 2 player variant but use these changes where needed. We never had a problem with someone using too many forests and the randomness of the buildings are not in the points but what you choose. It always seems to even out when you use both the regular and expansion buildings. Try it and see what I mean.

Thread: Re: 2 player Variants: Library too powerful?

AllezTribe — 2007-12-15T21:32:59+00:00

Do you still remove 2 each goods, 3 each plantations, and 3 quarrys as in the Alea rules. I suppose some forests might also be removed to be consistent.

Also, when randomly selecting buildings, do you make no effort to maintain 4 1pt, 4 2pt, 4 3pt buildings?

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2007-10-16T22:02:25+00:00

I chose the following set of buildings:

- Assembly Line (1/1) - All production buildings may hold an additional colonist.
- Small Fashion District (2/1) - Trade Indigo at +2.
- Forest House (2/1) - May take Forest during Settler. Pay -1/2/3 for buildings when owning 1/3/5 forests.
- Storehouse (3/1) - Store any three barrels.
- Irrigation (4/2) - Produce one additional barrel during Craftsman.
- Trading House (5/2) - Trade directly to supply.
- Commodity Harbor (5/2) - Ship Indigo/Sugar for additional +1 VP.
- Beachfront (6/2) - May take Forest during Settler. You have Wharf with a size equal to the number of Forests you own.
- Specialty Factory (7/3) - +1 doubloon for all barrels of one type of good produced (may not choose corn)
- Large Business (8/3) - Pay 1 less for buildings. Earn +1 VP for first shipment.
- Library (8/3) - Double each privilege.
- Private Boat (9/3) - Wharf for 4 barrels of any type.
- Cathedral (10/4) - +1 VP / 3 VP from red building VPs.
- Fairgrounds (10/4) - +0/1/2/3/5/7 VP for 1/2/3/4/5/6 types of plantations
- Custom's House
- Fortress
- City Hall

This set is an interesting set that allows for a number of different strategies.

In the first game, I was second position with no corn showing. I chose the Forest strategy. Rachel took Irrigation and was shipping up an early storm. Nadine also had Irrigation, but it didn't help her as she kept having to dump barrels. Yeah, I was slowly building my way towards cash, but I produced only 2 goods for most of the game.

Commodity Harbor helped make up he difference. Add Large Business to that, and I earned significant shipping points even from only 2 or 3 barrels. I ended up with one big building to Nadine's 2 and Rachel's 1. Nadine had more building points, and Rachel more shipping points, but I ended up winning by 6 points, anyway.

In the second game, I went first. This time I tried Small Fashion District and Library. Nadine and Rachel both went for Irrigation again. Nadine also did well with Assembly Line and Specialty Factory. Rachel did quite well with Private Boat. Again, I had no VPs for some time. Nevertheless, I won again by another reasonable margin.

So, two victories for me. Yay.

Image

Urtur — 2007-09-21T21:24:02+00:00

Polish edition - small buildings.

Image

Urtur — 2007-09-21T21:23:30+00:00

Polish edition - big buildings.

Thread: Re: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

Ponton — 2007-08-29T00:00:07+00:00

Let us compare the library in 2-player games to the forest house/hacienda combo in case of logical consequence: the library may be used once a round only in two-player games, so why the hell shall the forest house be used more than once a round? Let the forest house+hacienda owner decide whether he takes his hacienda bonus as a forest or the plantation he usually would get from settler, but not both. In this case this combo is not over-powered and broken. And it is a logical consequence derived from another existing rule.

Thread: Re: No-buildings-barred

Ponton — 2007-08-28T23:52:14+00:00

dbergan wrote:
the union hall (the two things mentioned as being potentially broken)...

Definitely beatable (in 2-player Puerto Rico at least). I don't remember my strategy, but I've beaten my wife by far although she used Union Hall very effectively.

Thread: Re: No-buildings-barred

dbergan — 2007-07-17T05:15:58+00:00

coolpapa wrote:
I think (although I haven't tried either) that the more prudent way to do this is to play with exactly one of each violet building. (The production buildings stay the same.)

That would be interesting, but maybe a little too chaotic of a game. I mean, if you're preparing for a factory strategy and there's only 1 factory, someone else can snag it and leave you in the dust. If the forest house is really that powerful with hacienda, just take out the forest house (it looks pretty lame on its own anyway).

Thread: Re: No-buildings-barred

coolpapa — 2007-07-13T00:37:34+00:00

I think (although I haven't tried either) that the more prudent way to do this is to play with exactly one of each violet building. (The production buildings stay the same.) Then, someone is welcome to take the forest house, but it's very easy (and not too painful) for one person to take the hacienda and stop the nonsense before it starts. And I'm not convinced how unbeatable the Union Hall is. Just make the guy who's stocking up on corn or whatever load them all the time.

Thread: No-buildings-barred

dbergan — 2007-07-12T22:49:24+00:00

Hi,

Has anyone every bothered to play with all the buildings from the original and the expansion? Sure they don't all fit on the building card, but who cares?

Seems like one of the sticking points to the expansion is that people don't like the draft part... so don't draft. Anyone can buy anything, no reason that playing with that Aqueduct has to knock out the small market.

My expansion pack is coming in the mail, so I haven't actually played this way... but my first reaction upon reading the section about the draft was "That's stupid, we'll just play with all the buildings." I don't really see any downside to it.

Obviously this means the hacienda + forest house combo is in the game, and the union hall (the two things mentioned as being potentially broken)... so to remedy that, just remove/reprice forest house and union hall. My guess, though, is that neither is so broken as to be considered unbeatable.

Kind regards,
David

Thread: Re: Puerto Rico Expansion?

Salt-Man Z — 2007-07-04T14:51:43+00:00

On the other hand, there's certainly no harm in buying it now, as long as you don't plan on actually using it until your group has the base game down.

Thread: Re: Puerto Rico Expansion?

mmoberly — 2007-07-03T17:14:07+00:00

Agreed - the expansion is easy to add when you want it, and you will get many miles out of the base game before you ever consider what it would be like with the expansion buildings.

The expansion set is not for newbies. It's a headache to introduce and will not help the game along if you don't already grasp the strategy required to do well with the base game. Don't worry about it for now.

Thread: Re: Puerto Rico Expansion?

dcclark — 2007-07-03T13:17:59+00:00

The expansion is unbalanced, but fun. The base Puerto Rico game is high-strategy and intense, but when you use the expansion it's more fun and "gosh, what broken thing can I do with this?"

So, don't worry too much about getting it right away. In addition, it only cost me $5 (Canadian) at my FLGS, so you could probably pick it up whenever you want.

Thread: Puerto Rico Expansion?

Pyroadept — 2007-07-03T13:02:14+00:00

Hi,
I'm planning on buying Puerto Rico; is the expansion pack that good that I should buy it straight away as well?
(The reason I ask is because I'm buying online and the site that will save me €20 on the game itself doesn't stock the expansion pack)>

Thread: Re: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

Ateo — 2007-05-08T15:02:17+00:00

I don't know if I would label anything other than hacienda/forest haus as a broken combination, but I do know that I really dislike playing with the expansion buildings. Some people like variety; I simply like balance. And that is provided very well with the original buildings. I won't play any game that involves the expansion.

Thread: Re: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

CortexBomb — 2007-05-08T14:40:06+00:00

FWIW: Forest House and Haci is actually illegal. Originally it wasn't, but when the hard print edition of the expansion was released, that combination was specifically outlawed.

The only other building that I think is absolutely broken is the Union Hall. If you get it with a Warehouse you'll mangle people. If you have it by itself it can swing games, easily. I would not play with it again.

As I've said before (in my review), I think the best way to use this expansion is to simply mix and match buildings until you find a set that you like. The drafting rules seem like a decent idea, but they slow the setup time down, and generally aren't worth the hassle. I like this set because it allows certain slots to actually be very good (i.e.: Church at 5, great early game tension on whether you should purchase this), and inject needed variety into the game.

Thread: Re: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

TedW — 2007-05-02T23:46:47+00:00

Dorque wrote:
TedW wrote:
P.S. This is also why I tend to resist the temptation of reading strategy articles. Takes a lot of the fun out of learning the game and the tricks for yourself.....

My lost twin! Yes! That is the whole point of playing games. Strategy guide reading people suck the fun out of games and ultimately cheat themselves out of the whole experience.

That's just my opinion, of course. It's correct, but still an opinion.

I have a brother????

Thread: Re: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

Dorque — 2007-05-02T23:42:31+00:00

TedW wrote:
P.S. This is also why I tend to resist the temptation of reading strategy articles. Takes a lot of the fun out of learning the game and the tricks for yourself.....

My lost twin! Yes! That is the whole point of playing games. Strategy guide reading people suck the fun out of games and ultimately cheat themselves out of the whole experience.

That's just my opinion, of course. It's correct, but still an opinion.

Thread: Re: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

meowsqueak — 2007-05-02T23:32:10+00:00

Just buy it

Thread: Re: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

TedW — 2007-05-02T23:19:17+00:00

P.S. This is also why I tend to resist the temptation of reading strategy articles. Takes a lot of the fun out of learning the game and the tricks for yourself.....

Thread: Re: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

TedW — 2007-05-02T23:17:53+00:00

Well, it ain't really broke unless someone knows about it and exploits the break, right?

So, say the forest house and hacienda are deadly together. It is quite possible that no one in your group would have figured that out. If that is the case, who cares if it is broken; it is flawless to you.

Of course, now you asked the question and let the cat out of the bag (spoiling the game for the rest of us.... )

Now that you have discovered a break (at least you think you have) you could play various strategies to see if it is truly a break (which would be fun) or just outlaw the break. That still leaves you a guhjillion other combos of buildings to play with.

I wish I had 5 bucks every time someone thought they came up with an unbeatable strategy in PR.

I say spend the three bucks and buy the expansion.....

Thread: Re: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

BAYLEYAW — 2007-05-02T22:02:38+00:00

Office AND trading house should not appear in the same game, they both make for easier trading and probably overdo it in combination.
There are a number of suggestions for using the expansion..
A limited number of expansion buildings only in the game.
Allow players to pick a building to include in the game in turns until all spaces complete.
Random draw of buildings from sack until all spaces complete.

Personally I like the expansions as the possible combinations allowed make for a new angle on each game. The standard trusted tactics are all warped slightly helps keep the game fresher.

Thread: Re: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

Eric Brosius — 2007-05-02T21:32:45+00:00

The most commonly mentioned "broken" pair is Forest House and Hacienda. The volume provided by the Hacienda makes the Forest House work. If you don't get the Hacidenda, most people think the Forest House isn't worth buying.

This can lead (e.g., in a 4-player game,) to two people buying Haciendas and the other two being faced with the unappetizing choice of buying Forest Houses that aren't worth much or allowing opponents to get a valuable combination.

Thread: Pre Purchase Question: Breaks Game?

Anarchosyn — 2007-05-02T18:20:03+00:00

Ok, let me get this straight - you have to be mindful to not include some of these buildings in a game with certain base game building, right? Can somebody give me an example of why this is so? Is it an issue of obsolescence or one of breaking the game (i.e. through gratuitous exploitation of certain combinations)?

Just curious.

Thread: Re: Our Final 2 Player Variant Rules for PR

aristid — 2007-04-26T08:48:40+00:00

will give this a try.
thank you.

Thread: Our Final 2 Player Variant Rules for PR

fernori — 2007-04-20T19:34:49+00:00

Here are the following rules that my gaming group has finalized for a two player mode. We play elimination tournaments to a final two for a championship round. This has been play-tested over 100 times.

A. 3-5-7 number ships (use a 4 space ship with an extra colony chit)
B. 3 space trading post (again use extra colony chit to block space)
C. All small violet buildings 12 from regular set and 12 from expansion set are placed in a bag and 12 are drawn and placed in spaces on board in order by cost value. Forest/Hacienda & Trading Post/Office & Factory/Specialized Factory cannot be combined on same board only one can be used from each combo if picked. The seven large buildings are shuffled and the first 5 dealt are used. If you don't have the expansion set place all 24 small violet buildings in bag and draw 12. Some may double and some may not even come into play.
D. Library cost the same but can only be used once per round.
E. Starting player gets an indigo plantation and 2nd player gets a corn.
F. Turns are taken as usual with the Governor drawing three and the second drawing two per round. The left over two have 1 coin added after each round.
G. 70 V.P. Points.
H. 40 colonists with extra two on ship = 42 total.

Play and winning is as the rules state.

ENJOY!

Thread: Re: 2 player Variants: Library too powerful?

fernori — 2007-04-20T19:32:01+00:00

Thread: Re: 2 player Variants: Library too powerful?

1ArmBandit — 2007-04-02T18:37:17+00:00

I played with the library only used once per round as suggested below and it worked great. I also really like the three ships and random draw buildings. Good stuff!

Thread: Re: 2 player Variants: Library too powerful?

fernori — 2007-03-30T15:48:52+00:00

nickmcelveen wrote:

We raised the library cost to 10 coins because in a 2 player game it is a powerful building. At 10 coins w/3 VP it provides a better balance to the game.

How about treating the Library the way it is treated in San Juan, ie, in a 2 player game, you can only use the Library's power once per round.

I like this idea. Most tiles are played once per round so to balance this effect for the Library, it should be used once per round. Then the price of 8 coin could be as usual. I will introduce this in our next PR event.

Thread: Re: Does this expansion breath new life for game veterans?

TermiGator — 2007-03-29T16:11:18+00:00

In my game round about 1/3 of the PR games is with expansion.
I like both equally good.

Thread: Re: Aqueduct sequence

TermiGator — 2007-03-29T15:29:45+00:00

As I don't know about any PREx-Errata we play:

1) Yes, you get both

2) You get Aqueduct-extras same time as other goods.

If there is an official errata with different rules please inform me!

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2007-03-26T16:59:46+00:00

I play-tested three of the buildings from my eighth expansion to the game. The new buildings we tried were:

* Poorhouse (2/1/Builder): +1 GP if you have 0 or 1 GP after building
* Commodity Exporters (5/2/Captain): +1 VP when shipping indigo or sugar
* Mercantile District (5/2/Trader): +1 VP per trade

These replaced Hacienda, Office, and Large Market. Rachel noted that this would slant the game to a high victory point earning game.

The results were pretty positive. I initially thought that Commodity Exporters was going to prove to be under-priced, but even in a two-player game with three ships and potentially two wharves, Rachel managed to block the ships I needed so that I was only able to take advantage of one bonus point per Captain phase.

Meanwhile, she took Poorhouse and also only managed to successfully use it about two or three times. It creates an incentive to waste money on bigger buildings than you need. Bigger buildings are better in general, anyway, but sometimes not what you need.

All in all, they served well. Although no one took Mercantile District, these two choices look like my best buildings yet for those difficult to fill five-cost slots, something I have not been too successful with until now.

Neither of us got coffee going. I was concentrating on Indigo and Sugar, but both of us had corn and tobacco, as well, Rachel more successfully. Once again, she also had a masterful Hospice working. In fact, she plays it so well, I'm starting to reconsider playing Hospice in regular games, as I feel it is more powerful and not as debilitating cash-wise as most people believe.

Rachel won 45 to 42. She ended the game without filling her big building, in order to prevent me from buying another one of my own in the next round. But she was ahead ten points in shipping.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2007-03-26T16:44:20+00:00

Rachel and I played as shabbat went out. We played with:

* Assembly Line 1/1 - All your production buildings have additional circle.
* Poorhouse 2/1 - +1 GP if you have 0 or 1 GP after building.
* Small Fashion District 2/1 - +2 GP for trading indigo.
* Small Warehouse 3/1 - Store all barrels of one good.
* Irrigation 4/2 - +1 barrel of one good you produced.
* Commodity Exporters 5/2 - +1 VP when shipping indigo or sugar.
* Large Market 5/2 - +2 GP for trade.
* Discretionary Hold 6/2 - 1. Store 3 barrels of any combination of goods. 2. Place 1 barrel on each full ship for +1 VP.
* Factory 7/3 - +0/1/2/3/5 GP for producing 1/2/3/4/5 goods.
* Large General Workhouse (2 circles) 8/3 - Produce any barrels with matching plantations.
* Large Business 8/3 - 1. -1 GP cost for each building. 2. +1 VP if you ship, once per Captain phase.
* Wharf 9/3 - Load once onto your own ship of infinite capacity.
* Metalworkers 10/4 - +2 GP/quarry.
* Reserves 10/4 - +2 VP/good on your board.
* Fortress 10/4 - +1 VP/3 colonists.
* City Hall 10/4 - +1 VP/indigo building.
* Custom's House 10/4 - +1 VP/4 shipping points.

It was an unusual game in that every single building, with the exception of Large Business, Wharf, Coffee Roaster, and Metalworkers was bought. Yes, including all of the 4 to 6 cost buildings. I used Poorhouse twice or so, while Rachel made good use of Commodity Exporters.

I think I finally have some good replacements for Office.

Thread: Re: 2 player Variants: Library too powerful?

nickmcelveen — 2007-03-23T03:57:54+00:00

We raised the library cost to 10 coins because in a 2 player game it is a powerful building. At 10 coins w/3 VP it provides a better balance to the game.

How about treating the Library the way it is treated in San Juan, ie, in a 2 player game, you can only use the Library's power once per round.

Thread: 2 player Variants: Library too powerful?

fernori — 2007-03-03T01:14:41+00:00

I have played PR many times and with two players I set up the game as advised by the "offical alea variant" with the following exceptions:
A. 3-5-7 number ships (use a 4 space ship with an extra colony chit)
B. 3 space trading post (again use extra colony chit to block space)
C. All small violet buildings 12 from regular set and 12 from expansion set are placed in a bag and 12 are drawn and placed in spaces on board in order by cost value. Forest/Hacienda & Trading Post/Office & Factory/Specialized Factory cannot be combined on same board only one can be used from each combo if picked. The seven large buildings are shuffled and the first 5 dealt are used. If you don't have the expansion set place all 24 small violet buildings in bag and draw 12. Some may double and some may not even come into play.
D. Library cost 10 coins and still only 3 VP.
E. Starting player gets a sugar plantation and second player gets an indigo.
F. Turns are taken as usual with the Governor drawing three and the second drawing two per round. The left over two have 1 coin added after each round.

Play and winning is as the rules state.

We raised the library cost to 10 coins because in a 2 player game it is a powerful building. At 10 coins w/3 VP it provides a better balance to the game.

Thread: Re: For 2 Players?

fernori — 2007-03-03T01:07:13+00:00

I have played PR many times and with two players I set up the game as advised by the "offical alea variant" with the following exceptions:
A. 3-5-7 number ships (use a 4 space ship with an extra colony chit)
B. 3 space trading post (again use extra colony chit to block space)
C. All small violet buildings 12 from regular set and 12 from expansion set are placed in a bag and 12 are drawn and placed in spaces on board in order by cost value. Forest/Hacienda & Trading Post/Office & Factory/Specialized Factory cannot be combined on same board only one can be used from each combo if picked. The seven large buildings are shuffled and the first 5 dealt are used. If you don't have the expansion set place all 24 small violet buildings in bag and draw 12. Some may double and some may not even come into play.
D. Library cost 10 coins and still only 3 VP.
E. Starting player gets a sugar plantation and second player gets an indigo.
F. Turns are taken as usual with the Governor drawing three and the second drawing two per round. The left over two have 1 coin added after each round.

Play and winning is as the rules state. We have found that using these extra variants provide a greater balance to the game with two players.

Thread: Re: Nothing Special

manutd03 — 2007-02-23T04:29:22+00:00

Great description of all the new buildings.

However, I think they can alter your overall strategy quite a bit.

The first decision comes in picking the new buildings before you start the game. E.g: You might not have the option of buying the Large Warehouse because another player picks the new Small Wharf instead.

Aqueduct: Cool addition, but I don't know that I like replacing a more universally useful building (Small Market) with a more specialized one.

I've had great success by building both the Aqueduct and the Specialty Factory--you can produce a lot of either indigo or sugar, and then get a lot of doubloons each time you produce. Most helpful.

To tie this to my earlier example of picking the buildings, I like to pick the Aqueduct if only to keep my opponents from taking the Small Market. I could go on about the other buildings, but really it's more fun to see what they are capable of in a game.

Overall, I find that the expansion buildings can inject a little life into a game which can become stale after too many playings (this threshold is very high, though). I wouldn't get too excited over it, but for $5 it's a very good investment.

I agree 100%. I think the new buildings are a great addition to this already fantastic game.

Thread: Re: Nothing Special

Great Dane — 2007-02-12T12:40:42+00:00

BennyD wrote:
I bought the Puerto Rico Expansion for $5 at my local gaming store (Games of Berkeley for anyone who cares.) I was surprised at the small package it came in

The expansion was originally made as freebie for the German magazine spielbox.

Thread: Nothing Special

BennyD — 2007-02-12T09:24:17+00:00

I bought the Puerto Rico Expansion for $5 at my local gaming store (Games of Berkeley for anyone who cares.) I was surprised at the small package it came in, but now that I think about it, I'm not sure how much room I expected 20-odd new buildings to take up anyway.

What You Get: New buildings to replace just about every violet building in the core set along with instructions for implementing them into your existing game.

What I Thought: We didn't use the Union Hall or the Forest House after consulting previous reviews, so I can't comment on those buildings. But of the rest of the buildings, here's what I thought of them.

Aqueduct: Cool addition, but I don't know that I like replacing a more universally useful building (Small Market) with a more specialized one.

Black Market: Others in my group like this building, but I don't see a lot of value in trading a VP, potential VP (good) or a colonist for a gold discount. There are only a few instances that occur in the game, at most, where I would give up one of those three things to get a building earlier than I would normally.

Storehouse: None of us bought the Storehouse, but I can see it being beneficial for someone in conjunction with the Factory.

Guesthouse: MUCH better than the Hospice. Having this flexibility can be quite useful when you don't know what your opponents will be picking.

Trading Post: Not a whole lot different from the Office, and for a big trader, it won't net many more advantages. But, I could really flip a coin between the two.

Church: None of us bought this either, but I can see an early building strategy netting a lot of extra VP's with this.

Small Wharf: I don't know if I would like this being in the same game with a regular Wharf, but as an alternative to the regular Wharf, it's decent. The problem is that the regular Wharf has to be replaced by the Union Hall, which we won't be doing. So, ixnay on the allsmay orfway.

Lighthouse: Allows a shipper to get more doubloons. Good pick for a mixed strategy. I'm a big Factory fan, though, so I would prefer to use the Factory instead of this.

Specialty Factory: Pretty cool, but if I had to choose an 8-point building to replace the University with, it would be...

Library: Very cool building. Makes every decision of what to pick that much more critical. Often I found myself picking certain roles just to get the extra bonus, even if I wouldn't have without the Library.

Cloister: Interesting building that requires advanced preparation. I think I'd rather have this than the Residence, which doesn't reward long-term strategy as much as just taking the Hacienda or picking Settler a lot.

Statue: Cool building that allows builders to get some extra victory points on the last turn without having to hope someone picks the Mayor. I would replace the City Hall with this possibly.

Overall, I find that the expansion buildings can inject a little life into a game which can become stale after too many playings (this threshold is very high, though). I wouldn't get too excited over it, but for $5 it's a very good investment.

Thread: Re: Why is this the representative image?

laiernie — 2007-02-01T04:45:52+00:00

i tried to replace it, but no luck.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/19369

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laiernie — 2007-02-01T00:16:40+00:00

rio grande version

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laiernie — 2007-01-31T20:19:18+00:00

official non-homemade rio grande games version in english

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laiernie — 2007-01-31T18:47:29+00:00

rio grande version contents

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2006-12-03T22:13:24+00:00

Rachel and I did play two games of Puerto Rico, as I expected. I won both, the first 56 to 45, and the second 56 to 54.

Highlights:

- We played with Wildcat Strikers. I CANNOT stress enough how good this building is. It is: 1/1. At the beginning of any round, before any roles are chosen, you may throw out this building and declare one of the roles to be Prospector instead of its usual function for this round. The colonist is returned to the supply.

Wow, is it good. All of the functions you can think of can be done: gaining extra cash, preventing someone from manning their building, ensuring a better spot for trading or shipping, etc. But using it only once and using it wisely is critical!

- We played with Royal Market. It is: 8/3. You may take any combination of Doubloons or Victory Points for your trade. Market bonuses cannot be exchanged.

This is even stronger than my previous version. Rachel looked at it and thought it was WAY overpowered. So I invited her to use it, which she did in the first game. Only then did she realize how much you sacrifice for giving up your Doubloons. Especially as I so thoroughly blocked the Trading House so often.

It may have more use in a four or five player game where the big buildings actually run out. In a two player game, I may simply have to up its power to something like: gain 1 VP for each 2 Doubl you get from trading.

- We moved University to 7 cost and comes pre-loaded with a colonist, and it still didn't get bought.

- In the first game, Rachel got an early Hospice (onto which you may move a colonist when you first buy it), but I successfully blocked her from acquiring any useful plantations. In the second game I bought Wharf and then Hospice and acquired a series of corn plantations.

- Without Factory or Small Market, money was a little tighter than usual. That gave shipping a boost.

They were great games. Both were so unlike any other games that we had played before. Puerto Rico is really one of God's gift to gaming, through His prophet, Andreas Sayfarth.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2006-12-03T22:09:11+00:00

Rachel and I were able to play two games after shabbat.

I decided to mix things up a bit and play with a few buildings that we haven't often used. The buildings:

Assembly Line (1/1): All your production buildings have an optional additional circle.

Captain's Quarters (2/1): You may add a colonist into the Hold while shipping for an additional VP (the Hold on any ship can only contain one item).

Hacienda (2/1): standard.

Scavenger Yard (3/1): Receive 1 GP from the bank for each barrel you toss, other than corn barrels.

Guesthouse (4/2, 2 circles): expansion.

Developer (5/2): a) You have no quarry limitations. b) You may trade in a building in order to reduce the cost of another building by its value. Any colonists on the old building transfer to the new one. Excess colonists move to San Juan.

Office (5/2): standard.

Small Wharf (6/2): expansion.

Lighthouse (7/3): expansion, except that I don't give a bonus GP for taking Captain.

Large General Workhouse (8/3, 2 circles): Each circle produces any goods along with a filled matching plantation, like a production building of any type. You may decide which goods each time you produce.

Large Business (8/3): a) +1 VP once during the Captain phase if you ship at least once. b) -1 cost to any building.

Union Hall (9/3): expansion.

Fashion District (10/5): +2 VP/indigo plantation (up to +8).

Distillery (10/5): +2 VP/sugar plantation (up to +8).

City Hall (10/4): standard.

Fortress (10/4): standard.

Custom's House (10/4): standard.

The most interesting building here that we don't generally play with was Developer. I had always toyed with it being too weak, even with the addition of the quarry bonus. However, the ability to move the colonist over is a huge plus. I used it to end the first game with four large buildings, which was enough to beat Rachel who was shipping furiously. The final score was 69 to 60.

Nevertheless, I didn't take it in the second game. While nice, it restricts your play options, and I knew that Rachel, now having played against it once, would find the right counter-strategy.

The second game was somewhat marred in that Rachel didn't have a complete understanding of the building rules. She missed that the Small Wharf could ship any type of barrels, not only pairs of the same type. And she missed that you couldn't get GP for dumping corn on the Scavenger Yard. Even failing all that, she still beat me by two points.

Thread: Session Report

Shade_Jon — 2006-12-03T21:55:00+00:00

I played Puerto Rico with Rachel and Nadine. I swapped in a few buildings on low rotation. The building set was:

* Wildcat Strikers 1/1: At the beginning of any round, you can sacrifice this building and return the colonists on it to the supply in order to change one of the phases this round into Prospector instead of its usual function.
* Small Fashion District 2/1: Trade indigo at +2.
* Forest House 2/1: You may take a Forest during Settler. Pay 1 less per building if you have 1/3/5/7/... Forests. [This is slightly upped from the official version. The ability to block someone else's plantation pick is removed. And I never play with both this and Hacienda. Also, see Beachfront.]
* Small Warehouse
* Guest House
* Large Market
* Office
* Beachfront 6/3: You may take a Forest during Settler. You have a "wharf" with a capacity equal to the number of Forests that you own.
* Factory
* Large Business 8/3: Pay 1 less for any building. Earn 1 bonus VP if you ship anything during Captain (once per Captain, not once per shipment).
* Large General Workhouse 8/3 (2 circles): Each occupied location on LGW produces any type of good when matched with an occupied plantation of that type.
* Wharf
* Cathedral 10/4: +1 VP/3 red building VPs.
* Distillery 10/4: +2 VP/sugar plantation (max +8).
* Fortress
* Custom's House
* City Hall

After I described the new Forest House and Beachfront, Rachel jumped for it, even forgoing the standard Settler/Quarry opening to take a Forest House. Unfortunately, taking too many Forests can also severely hinder your resource production, which is what it did for Rachel, especially since Settler was only taken six times during the game.

The game was very strange, all along. Nobody produced coffee. Nadine had a monopoly on Tobacco. I took Factory and Wildcat Strikers. After using WS to prevent anyone from shipping one round, in order to ensure that I had a good position for the boats, I almost ended up buying it again, which can't happen during a normal game of PR.

I produced and shipped a lot of barrels. Both Rachel and Nadine build Large Businesses. Nadine ended with more shipping VP's because of that and the occasional locked Tobacco boat, but I had two big buildings to her one, and one of mine was Custom's House with a +8 bonus.

Thread: Aqueduct sequence

Almarek — 2006-11-27T04:40:47+00:00

1) If a player owns an occupied Aqueduct and both the large Indigo Plant and large Sugar Mill (and they are occupied), does the player get an extra barrel for both indigo AND sugar (as one set of rules says), or was this modified to EITHER indigo OR sugar (as I thought an errata said)? For a 1-doubloon building, the former seems very powerful...

2) When is the Aqueduct bonus barrel(s) taken? At the player's initial turn in sequence, or after everyone has had a turn around (like the Craftsman privilege)? If the latter, before or after the Craftsman's privilege?

Thanks!

Thread: Re: Does this expansion breath new life for game veterans?

guyincorporated — 2006-11-20T06:30:27+00:00

Great expansion.

You haven't lived until you've bought a big building for 2 doubloons.

Thread: Re: Library uses

4Corners — 2006-11-18T19:38:12+00:00

Just played a 4-player game last night, using the Library for only the second time in the game ever (played this game about 125 times, twice with the library). Decided to buy the Library (was able to get it quite early), and won 55-53-48-43 I believe. The Library, in conjunction with all of my quarries (4), made a huge difference. I was buying $4 buildings for free when I was builder, or $10 buildings for $4. It's a huge upgrade over the University, and can be a powerful building depending on the circumstances, timing, other players, etc.

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jorgkuck — 2006-10-29T19:06:59+00:00

Edition Spielbox (special issue): New buildings for Puerto Rico

Thread: Re: Forest House any good?

calyth — 2006-09-06T08:50:24+00:00

I had a game that I was dealt with Corn initially, and I just had to try a Forest house.
I immediately sprinted for a Library, doing anything I can to get the moneyas early as possible (which somehow I managed quite well in doing that), and I had 1 quarry, 4 forest, and a couple of low end produce.
What happened was that I had completely miscalculated. There was no Residence or Cloister, and I had gone for the low end produce, so even though I have a healthy discount, I didn't go far enough with the forest, and/or I can't raise enough cash through my produce. Also I had picked up the wrong factory (should've gone for the specialty factory). And one of my friends was producing 6 corn, had a specialty factory, and other bonuses that made him rake in the money.
What I could've done was to go for 2x tobacco/coffee + starter tile, the rest 9 spaces filled with forests, and shoot for the Cloister/Residence and go on a buying spree, and end the game before any of the produce-heavy players gets a chance to rake in the dough. It's possible to get a 5 doubloon discount (either by having 8 forest + 1 quarry, or 10 forest, but capped at 3 triplets at best), and just fill the city in with high VP buildings.
Guess I'll have to get a game going soon

Thread: How to Lose at Puerto Rico - Dinged by a Union Hall

paulhar — 2006-08-01T22:43:53+00:00

Here I was in a 3 player game against very tough competition; including a player that seemingly always wins when I'm in the game. At a fairly early stage in the game when it seems like we should still be collecting production buildings, both opponents buy a Union Hall (with the help of a black market, of course.) I was astounded that two such strong players would waste so much cash early on VP production. And it appeared that things were going exactly as planned; I had lots of production buildings and a Factory, had my share of the VP's and was collecting money at a pretty nice clip, and was ready to buy big buildings turn after turn, with my opponents graciously contributing to my coffers by crafting. And then it happened... somebody shipped and I see '**** gets 6 VP's for using the Union Hall, **** gets 8 VP's for using the Union Hall...' and I realized that while I was busy building, my oppnents were creating large stockpiles of goods which would turn into VP's even if they had to be dumped at the end of shipping! (One player used a warehouse with corn unable to ship for a while; the other an Aqueduct with 2 on the large indigo and 2 on the large sugar). My 'certain win' turned into a sorry 3rd place by 4 VP's.

Clearly I took the eye off the ball here. The Union Hall would not have been nearly as valuable had I shipped some of their goods away and made them go on boats (and with a small warehouse, some of them would have just gone away); and meanwhile, I would have earned several shipping points myself since I was producing more different goods than either opponent. There was always time to get the large builidngs later. For example, the guy who scored 8 had 6 indigo, 6 sugar, and 4 t'bakky. If I had shipped the turn before, he would have had 3, 3, and 2; which is only 3 points for the Union Hall, and he would have had to toss some of his goods in the bay.

This brings up some interesting points about a Union Hall:

(1) It's best with a warehouse so you can store up a lot of stuff and keep getting Union Hall credit for it (because your feckless opponents don't let you ship that good.) A storehouse just won't do the same job. Since only one of these is in the game, a Union Hall is a more valuable building when the warehouses (rather than storehouses) are in play. Obviously, make sure you get one.
(2) Having your warehouse and Union Hall, a small wharf seems like an awful building. Shipping your goods 2 for 1VP, when you can get the same 1VP for 2 goods next time with the Union Hall anyway, and paying 6 for a building that gives you that privelege, seems foolish.
(3) Storehouses are better in conjunction with a working aqueduct, which always produces 2 goods (thus a VP) and maybe 4 goods if the large indigo or sugar is fully manned. (also 4 goods just by having 1 sugar and indigo plant plus the large buildings for both; and 2VP for the Union Hall even if the goods are shipped immediately before a second craftsman phase.)
(4) When you have a Union Hall, craft, craft, craft! Eventually somebody ships and you get a ton of VP's.
(5) I once had a Union Hall and 6 corn plantations. Needless to say, this was not much fun for my opponents. This tells me: Union Hall owners should favor plantations over quarries, especially corn plantations and plantations that give them a second good of the same type. Settler/Corn should be a frequent play for a Union Hall owner. Come to think of it, the hacienda probably goes well with a Union Hall because it lets you get lots of plantations quickly to go with your large indigos and sugars. If you're a Union Hall owner, you probably aren't using a building strategy anyway and quarries are not too valuable to you. The Const. Hut is worthless with the U.H.
(6) If your opponent has a Union Hall and a warehouse, let his good ship UNLESS it can't be replenished if it doesn't. As long as it doesn't ship, he gets VP's, and then next craft he gets more of that good and gets even more VP's for the Union Hall.

Thread: Re: Why is this the representative image?

Spaztic — 2006-07-27T17:38:56+00:00

I'd go with the 2nd or the 5th myself. Maybe there needs to be several different photo albums (1 for the actual box/component shots, 1 for home-made box/component shots which would also include handpainted firgures and the like, 1 for game-play shots, and 1 for miscellaneous dribble (cats & kids doing unnatural things to the game, shots of just the box artwork, pyramids of meeples, close-up pictures taken at like 100x of 3 or 4 bits & pieces from the game on the game board, etc). Then set the permissions of the first as the only one representative pictures can be chosen out of.

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Mateui — 2006-07-14T18:05:55+00:00

Homemade English Illustrated Expansion Buildings based on San Juan

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thrasymachus — 2006-06-07T22:51:19+00:00

The english versions of the four new 3 vp buildings

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thrasymachus — 2006-06-07T22:50:58+00:00

The english versions of the four new 2 vp buildings

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thrasymachus — 2006-06-07T22:50:33+00:00

The english versions of the four new 1 vp buildings