Game: Age of Steam Expansion - Jamaica / Puerto Rico

Thread: Re: Age of Steam Jamaica session report

dedefortin — 2008-10-09T18:16:40+00:00

Ingo's geek list is a good reference for 2 players map:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/31554/item/660275#item...

Thread: Re: Age of Steam Jamaica session report

deltarn — 2008-10-07T14:05:57+00:00

dedefortin wrote:
There is so many good 2 players map available that we'll try another one next time.

Can you please give references for some good 2 pl. maps. Thanks

I Own Jamaica/PR and Barbados/St Lucia.

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duartec — 2008-09-21T11:21:40+00:00

Starting the game

Thread: Re: Jamaica - Turn Order Question

d0gb0t — 2008-09-07T13:30:51+00:00

MonkeyMagic wrote:

My question is;
Turn 1: Player A declines paying $5 to go first, Player B takes up the opportunity and becomes Fist Player for that turn.
Turn 2: Who now has the first opportunity to pay to be First Player?
- Player B since Player A had the opportunity last turn.
- Player A since ultimately Player B was First Player last turn.

Answer 1 is correct (Player B). Player A must decide if he want to pay for the advantage on the last turn and now Player B must decide if he want to pay...

Thread: Jamaica - Turn Order Question

MonkeyMagic — 2008-09-07T13:08:37+00:00

The rules for the Jamaica map state;

Turn order alternates, with the player going first paying $5. If the player who is to go first does not want to (or cannot) pay the $5, the other player has the option to pay $5 to go first. If the other player declines, the original player goes first for free.

My question is;
Turn 1: Player A declines paying $5 to go first, Player B takes up the opportunity and becomes Fist Player for that turn.
Turn 2: Who now has the first opportunity to pay to be First Player?
- Player B since Player A had the opportunity last turn.
- Player A since ultimately Player B was First Player last turn.

Thread: Re: AoS Puerto Rico – a move-by-move pictorial account

fubar awol — 2008-08-13T15:11:39+00:00

This is part of aeries of AoS Games reported in this format. Others can be found here:

AoS-Berlin Wall
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2818913

AoS-China
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2744677

AoS-Northern California
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/339918

AoS-St. Lucia
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2549797

AoS-Scandinavia
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2551749

Thread: Re: AoS Puerto Rico – a move-by-move pictorial account

d0gb0t — 2008-08-05T21:25:30+00:00

Hi,

another great report! Thanks for doing this. And i hope, many others will follow...

Thread: AoS Puerto Rico – a move-by-move pictorial account

fubar awol — 2008-08-05T14:39:03+00:00

This is the second in a move-by-move series of AoS games. The goal is to present the results of a AoS session so that the reader can absorb every detail quickly and easily - as if they had watch the entire game first-hand.

AoS Puerto Rico

Differences from Basic AoS

The Puerto Rico map has a few major twists over vanilla Age of Steam.

1. There are only 2 types of goods in the goody bag: Guns (black) and Cows (red). There is no goods production. Each town on the map is seeded with 2 cubes from a pool of 22 cubes that are mixed in a ratio based on the desired difficulty level: between 5 – 10 black cubes with the remainder red.

2. There are only two roles to choose from: Engineer and Locomotive. Each costs $5 to select at the beginning of your turn. Choosing a role is optional.

3. Scoring: red cubes are scored normally by delivering them to San Juan. Black cubes score no points for delivery, however, any black cubes on the map at the end of the game score -10 points each!

4. The game length is 10 turns.

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The map and the table together describe all the action. Most of it should be obvious, but here are a few comments on reading it:

1st column: The player’s color
2nd column: N/A for AoS Puerto Rico
3rd column: shares at turn start + shares issued this turn
4th column: N/A for AoS Puerto Rico
5th column: The first letter of the name of the Role selected by each player. On the first turn, no role was used.
6th column: The first number is cash available after issuing shares, second number is how much the player spent on the bid, the third number is how much the player spent building track. The sum is what the player had left after building but before paying expenses.
7th column: The goods the player moved. Interpreting: “L, R-SJ(2)”, or in words: for his first Goods Move I increased my “L” Locomotive by 1, then moved a “R” Red cube (marked on map) to San Juan earning an income of “(2)”. Entries go: “cube”-“city” “(income earned)”. Goods that shipped this turn are highlighted on the map, so it should be obvious which goods went where and who moved them, even though light vs. dark cities are not designated. The highlighted goods on the map will be deleted before the next turn begins.
8th column: The first number is the player’s income level at the end of this turn (before income reduction), the second number is the number of shares issued so far and the third number is the player’s Locomotive level. The sum is the player’s net income – with negative numbers shown in parentheses.
Last column: The cash the player has available at the end of the turn.

Fubar’s Turn 1 comment: Since there are an equal number of cubes of each color in the bag and my random draw yielded 7 black (of 22 cubes on board at start) this should be easy. Since it is my first game of AoS PR, that’s probably good.

I’ll state what I think is obvious: you need to deliver all the black cubes and as many red cubes as you can. In this session there are 7 black cubes and 10 turns which means 20 cube deliveries, up to 14 of which can be red. I’m going to go for an “economy” strategy to see how it works – spend as little as possible on roles, keep the routes short and not go for 6-value shipments. Hense, on my first turn, I head off in 3 directions with my first build.

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Fubar’s Turn 2 comment: Only the spur heading off to the NW will go very far and only needs to be 4 segments long to pick up the cubes I will be targeting.

At this point, I think the images and tables speak for themselves without comment so I’ll leave additional comment to the end of the article. Enjoy!

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Comments about the Puerto Rico Map

This is a cute little puzzle that I want to play again. Of course, it doesn’t have the tension level that one experiences in a game of AoS played against live opponents, but its fun in its own way.

The rules suggest playing the game with a set number of black cubes and then increasing that number as you gain experience (from: “Novicio” (5 gun cubes), to “Dios” (10 gun cubes). My random draw for this game placed me at the “Versado” level with 7 gun cubes.

Okay, I’m hooked – I’ll give it an “8”, but I’m pretty spun up on AoS right now. Replayability might be a concern for some, but for me, getting 10 plays out of any game is pretty good and I can see this going 10 easy. The other solitaire version of AoS is the Barbados map (also by Ted Alspach) and I am told that it plays quite differently. I own it (and have not played it yet) so after a play this one a few more times I’ll have to give it a try and post a comparison.

Thread: Puerto Rico: A Single-player Scenario for Age of Steam

da pyrate — 2008-05-20T01:52:17+00:00

Age of Steam – Puerto Rico

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One-player Scenario for Age of Steam
Designed by Ted Alspach
Published by Bezier Games (2007)

This is a review of the Puerto Rico game and not of Age of Steam. It assumes that those reading the review are familiar with the Age of Steam game. For those unfamiliar with it, you might like to look at Tom Vasel’s excellent review of the game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/30362.

In Puerto Rico your train network needs to secretly deliver weapons (black cubes) and the capital while publicly only delivering livestock (red cubes).

Game Components

The game is simply two pieces of thin, Legal-size board, back-printed. The Puerto Rico map is on one side of the board and the Jamaica map is on the other side. Both games have the rules printed around the edge of the map.

The maps are colourful and well printed but the board is quite thin. As Puerto Rico is for one player and the other game is for two players this is not really a problem. If it is a concern, placing the map under Perspex should fix the problem.

Puerto Rico has one city which accepts red and black cubes. There are eleven towns on the map.

The Rules of the Game

The changes to the standard Age of Steam rules are quite minimal and very easy to assimilate.

Only red and black cubes are used. Every town on the board starts with two cubes.

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During each turn you can select either the Engineer or Locomotive action by paying $5. If you do not choose one of those actions you pay nothing.

Only the red cubes (food) score income.

There is no goods growth.

At the end of the 10th turn you score as normal but reduce your income by $10 for each black cube still on the board.

Playing The Game

The game takes around the 20 minute mark to play. It feels fast and is quite interesting.

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Because there are 11 cities you need to set yourself up to use a 6-link route by the end of the game. As only the delivery of red cubes increase your income some serious thought has to be put into how to best manage the resources in the game. Ultimately you do want to get all of the black cubes to San Juan but the order in which you deliver is quite important.

During the set up you choose the level of difficulty for the game. There are several levels: Novicio, Estudiante, Versado, Maestro, Conquistador and Dios. With each increase in difficulty there is a larger number of black cubes and a smaller number of red cubes placed on the board. This is a nice feature as it allows you to build into the game the degree of ‘toughness’ that will make it sufficiently challenging for your taste.

As all cubes are placed on the board during set up there is some small luck factor involved. For example, it is probably better to have black cubes close to San Juan and the red cubes further away so as to allow you to maximise your income increases.

Some Final Thoughts, Man!

I am impressed with Ted’s other solitaire scenario, Barbados. I am even more impressed with Ted, as a designer, after having played Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a totally different game from Barbados with different victory conditions. You have to process the data in a different way.

I think that Puerto Rico is a more calculating game than Barbados, simply because all of the information is on the board in front of you at the very start of the game and it is up to you to make of it what you will.

In Barbados there is a random element due to goods production and goods growth.

Puerto Rico is a fine game and worth playing. It doesn’t take long.

“Dead Men Tell No Tales!”

Thread: Beating the Dios

saminurmela — 2008-05-02T19:13:51+00:00

I spent my day off today playing the recently acquired AoS:Puerto Rico solo expansion (thanks to JKLM Games in UK). After several plays - and a couple of bankruptcies - at lower levels I finally took the Dios challenge.

First attempt ended with one undelivered gun (as the black cubes are called on this map), so the score was a low 9 points, (17 income-15 shares-10 penalty)*3+33 tracks. I was surprised to stay in business at all, as my first attempt at the second highest Conquistador level had bankrupted spectacularly.

The second time I tried to ship more black cubes early on, but still had to make double black deliveries on turn 8 and 10, hitting my income. This time I got rid of all the guns, but now the income and shares equalled themselves out:
(15 income-15 shares)*3+33 tracks = 33 points.
Each turn except the first saw two deliveries, most being one black and one red (shipping a red every turn seems quite important to keep the income reduction at bay). The only cubes left on board were one red in Mayaguez and two in Cabo Rojo, which remained unconnected.

Money required extremely accurate control throughout the game, most turns ending with 0 or 1 coin in hand. Also it is very easy to hit the 15 share limit... just don't let it happen too early.

I find it interesting that almost all of my dozen games on different levels have ended with a 4 link engine. The penalty of skipping a delivery makes it tough to get a free upgrade when fighting the time limit, and paying for the Locomotive action almost always requires taking an extra share, so the engine level usually stays low. Of course, this means the scores stay low too.

In next playings I'll have to try to find different ways to get the engine links up and share count down (this will probably improve my multiplayer AoS skills too - no mean feat for a 30 minutes puzzle game).

Thread: Re: Puerto Rico: How to approach it?

snoozefest — 2008-02-18T12:21:54+00:00

You know, I played this a bunch of times when I got it, then haven't tried again. Gotta go back for more!

Anyway, I think balanced is better: if you wait till the end to deliver black, you'll suffer greater income reductions. Also, I think it's important to use the $5 loco bump if possible, just to save up actions to use for making deliveries.

Check out my Dios session report: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/262755. The pictures were taken with my Treo in poor lighting; they're not great, but enough to see where the cubes are (I hope).

Thread: Puerto Rico: How to approach it?

Verkisto — 2008-02-17T22:30:28+00:00

I played a couple of games of Puerto Rico this evening, and went bankrupt in the first one, as I was trying to balance livestock and guns on each turn. I wound up having to take too many shares to cover my expenses, which raised my expenses on the next turn ... well, I'm sure you veterans have either seen or experienced this. It wasn't pretty.

In the second game, I spent the first half of the game setting up my network, much like I would in a normal game of Age of Steam, working on building up my income. After that, I started delivering the guns to San Juan, but at that point, I lost income on every turn. I waited until the last 4 turns of the game to do nothing but deliver the guns (I played at the level where I had 8 guns to deliver), and it worked out fairly well. I delivered all the guns to prevent getting hit on the -10 income for each, but I still had negative points after subtracting the shares from my income. In the end, the bulk of my points came from track.

Which is better, a balanced approach, or an all-out assault like I tried? I'd like to try the game on the Dios level (I was two steps back from that one), but I'm interested in others' thoughts before I attempt it.

Thread: Re: Age of Steam Jamaica session report

Steve Cox — 2008-02-12T18:14:51+00:00

I think you may be missing something that isn’t obvious until you play with the $5 rule.
This is that it isn’t just the first player who must make sure he has $5 in hand, but the second player as well. If the first player sees that the second player does not have $5, he can pass at the turn order stage, forcing the second player to pass as well, whereupon the first player can go first for free.
It would therefore appear that the second player in the first round (call him Player B) is at a double disadvantage: he gets second choice of job in the first round, but must still take an extra share, giving him no advantage over the first player in the first round (call him Player A) when it comes to expenses and subtracting VPs at the end of the game for shares issued.
In response to this, Player B should give serious consideration to not taking an extra share in the first round. Remember that he issues shares second. Player A will likely issue two extra shares – one to pay for going first in the first round, and one to make sure that the second player does not get to go first for free in the second round. If he does this, Player B will immediately be $10 and 2VPs up on him if he doesn’t issue extra shares. And the fact that he doesn’t have $5 to pay to go first in the second round does not mean that Player A can go first again for free – he must still pay $5, otherwise Player B goes first for free. And having paid his $5, Player A must then decide whether to issue another share to ensure he goes first in the third round, before he knows whether Player B is planning to issue an extra share himself.
Is Urbanisation really so much better than the other jobs that this steady drain on Player As treasury is worth while?

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d0gb0t — 2008-01-17T21:51:21+00:00

the end of the jamaica round

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d0gb0t — 2008-01-17T21:50:24+00:00

Montego Bay at the beginning of the game

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d0gb0t — 2008-01-17T21:48:49+00:00

Port Royal at the beginning of the game (the wrong yellow cube was changed a second after this photo)

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rockusultimus — 2008-01-11T04:44:23+00:00

First go in Puerto Rico - Level: Versado. Score: 79

Thread: Black Cubes and End of Game Scoring

snoozefest — 2008-01-10T13:17:30+00:00

So, we already know that each undelivered black cube is worth -10 income, or -30 VP. But which is it, specifically? Do you go bankrupt and lose the game if your
[ (final income) - (10 x number of black cubes left) ]
is negative?

This question was originally posted by Koert over in the "Target scores for Puerto Rico?" thread.

Thread: Re: Target scores for Puerto Rico?

cparrott — 2008-01-10T03:28:47+00:00

Koert wrote:
By the way: do you still go bancrupt if the income is reduced below 0 when the remaining black cubes are substracted at the end of the game?
Good question. I would say yes since the rule says to reduce your income by 10 per black cube at the end of the game. Otherwise I think Ted would have written it as -30 vp per cube at game end.

Thread: Re: Target scores for Puerto Rico?

cparrott — 2008-01-10T02:25:40+00:00

First time try today:

Versado (15 red/ 7 black)
20 income, 1 black cube left, 23 links, 6 shares, 6 locomotive.

(20-10-6)x3+23 = 35

I agree with snoozefest, shipping black cubes sooner is better. I waited until late to ship the black and wound up with 8 pts of income reduction at the end. Better to ship early if possible, while in the low income reduction bands.

2nd play Versado

17 income, 0 black cubes left, 31 links, 11 shares, 6 locomotive.

(17-11)x3+31 = 49

Though a better score, this had a harder cube mix. 3 black cubes appeared in the 3 western cities. More money borrowed to upgrade locomotive faster and build through the north mountains and run a line down the west coast.

Thread: Re: Age of Steam Jamaica session report

darky — 2007-12-31T05:01:31+00:00

There is absolutely nothing to count or make tension in the game.
As Pierre said, you automatically take an extra share at the previous turn to make sure you have the 5$.
My feeling is that the replayability of this map is nearly zero because you always have to play the same manner. Urbanisation is the only worthy action (this is precisely the opposite idea of the game's mechanics).

Thread: Age of Steam Puerto Rico session report

dedefortin — 2007-12-30T05:05:45+00:00

I was very anxious to try the Puerto Rico map since it was annonce many months ago. Playing solo at Age of Steam seems very original and after a first reading of the rules, I liked them very much. They are very simple as we usually like them in the new scenarios.

I decided to began at the Versado level and the black cubes were located on Laquillo, Humacoa, Cayey, Caguas, Arecibo, Utuado and Ponce. The Bayamon/Caguas towns seems very critical in this game but I began my build toward Luquillo and decided that I would return later to the town near San Juan. At the beginning pf the game I made a mix of delivery between red and blacks cubes so I would have a decent income so I wouldn't have to take too many shares. After my build in the east I went back to the vital Caguas/Bayamon towns via Humacao and Cayey so I would have a nice loop for the rest of the game. The goods of the towns I connected after (Arecibo, Utuado, Ponce) were shipped for high income and I was able to keep a low share strategy. I tried to skip the high cost mountains as often as I could. I didn't choose the locomotive action often since it costs you 1 share (5$) each time. I took it mainly in the end when there was enough money or when I had 2 big deliveries available. The engineer action seems worthwile on this map sicne you also have to pay an extra 5$ to take this action.

I really had an interesting time on this map. I would say that this is the best map from Ted Alspach. I can't compare it to a multi player map but I really liked the new ideas. The rules are simple and they work great. I'll try it again soon and try to improve my score. The only downside is the quality of the map. It's made on thin cardboard and there is no protection if there is any incident. I had to go to a shop to laminate it. I think it's a must do for any Age of Steam fan that want to keep his map.

Final score; Versado level: 58

Thread: Re: Age of Steam Jamaica session report

dedefortin — 2007-12-30T03:45:24+00:00

For me, we're still talking about the same thing. Whenever planning your turn and you know you have the initiative at the end of this turn you automatically take 1 additional share, no matter what you're gonna do in the actual turn.

I suppose it just depends on the type of game you prefer.

Thread: Re: Age of Steam Jamaica session report

texasjdl — 2007-12-29T23:17:31+00:00

But my point is that it's not just paying the $5; it's having the $5 that's important. The fact that you're taking extra shares or changing your builds and shipments to ensure that you have $5 left over at the start of the next turn (note that the rule is that you must have the money before taking shares) will force the game to be different than if you play without the rule.

Thread: Re: Age of Steam Jamaica session report

dedefortin — 2007-12-29T19:53:18+00:00

I understand your point but like you said it's so obvious that being first is primordial that each turn you will pay 5$. It's so obvious that each turn the first player will pay the 5$ that it's not adding anything to a game since it's always the same situation that happens on each turn. For us the 5$ fee for the first player isn't adding anything to the strategy, there is plenty of other rules that makes this game exciting.

Thread: Re: Target scores for Puerto Rico?

snoozefest — 2007-12-29T12:49:54+00:00

Koert wrote:
So, what are other scores for this and the other levels?

Here are the scores for all my games so far; I'll try to update this as I play more:

Maestro
35
54??? I lost track of my turns, I think.
(15-15) x 3 + 37 = 37
(26-20) x 3 + 36 = 54
25
17
50
47

Dios
28

Thread: Re: Age of Steam Jamaica session report

texasjdl — 2007-12-29T07:03:39+00:00

While you are welcome to play however you like, you've stated here and other places that the pay-to-be-first part of the game doesn't add anything to the game for you; I think you may be missing the point of it. (It's not clear whether you've actually played it the way Ted wrote it; if so, disregard the rest of this)

The pay-to-be-first rule adds a tension to the 2-player game that isn't there when you use the Austria turn order rules. By having to pay to keep first place, you have to more closely manage your shares and money, and often have to take an extra share on the previous turn to ensure that you get it. For both Jamaica and St. Lucia, going first is so vitally important that mismanagement of your money, leading to your opponent being able to take first place in the turn order, is a Colossally Bad Thing (TM). That's what makes the turn order rules so interesting on these maps. It makes the tension level rise closer to where a 3-or-more player game of AoS.

Given the Steam Brothers' reputed Age of Steam prowess, I am surprised you guys would play a less contentious game than the rules envision for these maps.

Thread: Age of Steam Jamaica session report

dedefortin — 2007-12-29T03:46:25+00:00

Jamaica was our choice today as this was the only 2 players map from Bezier games that we didn't try yet. We had some hesitation at first as the setup of this map was very tough. As the St-Lucia map it was obvious that the urbanization action would be critical. As in the Lucia map we used the 2 players turn order rules from Austria as we didn't see the usefulness of the 5$ fee for the the player who had the initiative. For us i didn't add anything to the game.

Pierre started the game in the Montego region with red urbanization on Negril. As expected Martin couldn't ship any good since Pierre had blocked his new City of Negril. On turn 2 guess what, Martin choose the urbanization action and went on the other side of the map. We were both limited to smal deliveries of 1 income only and we were forced to back up on income track some times at the start of this game. The story was about the same on turn 3 and 4 as the urbanization action was choosen every time. At one point Pierre decided to stop taking any additional shares and he let Martin build in the expansive area in the middle of the map and he conceded that he would give Martin some income until the end of the game. For the last turns of this game there was no real decision to make except having the first move to make 1 more income than the opponent. Martin finally won the game over Pierre

We were not satisfied with the way the game went. We wanted to finish it as soon as possible as there was no excitement at all for most of the game. Replayability seems very low. There is so many good 2 players map available that we'll try another one next time. Age of Steam is our favorite game as there is always fun for all game long and tough decisions to make, this wasn't the case tonight.

Final score
Martin: 38
Pierre: 29

Thread: Re: Usefulness Engineer Action on Puerto Rico map?

snoozefest — 2007-12-29T02:44:46+00:00

I've played a bunch of Maestro games, and one Dios. At the Dios level, I never had enough cash to both afford Engineering and pay for building extra track! So I think I have to reverse myself: Engineer is better at lower levels, where you can generate lots of income/cash and thereby build all over the island by the end of the game.

Thread: Re: Solo Game

snoozefest — 2007-12-29T02:31:24+00:00

Hey! All of you thumb-up-erer-people! What kind of scores are you getting for this game?

Thread: Solo Game

snoozefest — 2007-12-23T20:20:20+00:00

Obsessive collector that I am, I ordered all the new Alspach maps. I finally received them all, and finally managed to try the solo maps out. I played Barbados a few times -- it was pretty good, I guess. Then I tried Puerto Rico -- also good, but I especially like being able to scale the difficulty. So I played a bunch of games at the Maestro level (8!), then finally decided to try the Dios level. And here it is...

Setup
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10 Black cubes! And they're spread all over, including way the heck over in the southwest corner. Spread is probably good, though (clumps of 2-black is not so good). I think having red/black in one town is better, since you can ship to earn a bit of income to pay for your expenses, and also ditch a black.

Turn 1
In all those Maestro games, I tried various track builds. Generally, it always seemed best to build into both towns adjacent to San Juan, and build westward to the cheap route through the mountains. Also, so many black cubes out I need to maximize value from the reds, so have to get links up and make long deliveries. Plus, don't want to waste a move turn upgrading my link level. So, I took 2 shares to buy the Loco action ($5), and built redundant tracks for 2-link deliveries.
(Note: delivered cubes shown on the turn track.)
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Turn 2
2 more shares, so I can afford to build and pay expenses. Build a bit further south to gain access to that black cube and a 3-link delivery. Couldn't afford to buy Loco, so wasted a move turn bumping engine level. Unfortunately, I couldn't meet my expenses and lost $1 income (and $1 cash), again ending the turn broke.
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Turn 3
I took 3 shares! Again, this was so I could afford to buy the Loco action. Also needed the cash to build out to the center of the mountain range and ship both of those for $3 each: end the turn with $1 in hand -- woo hoo!
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Turn 4
Still a bit on the edge in cash flow, I took 2 more shares to again by Loco: links up to 5 now. Had to build south to get to those 2 juicy reds for a much-needed income infusion -- ended with $6 in hand!
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Turn 5
I had to take another share so I could afford to build northwards, trying to get to the rest of the cubes. I delivered both of those cubes, earning some income AND getting rid of another black cube.
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Turn 6
Now, I can use my income buffer to pay expenses a few turns while I get rid of more black cubes. With the open terrain on the west coast, my cash in hand allows me to extend track a bit further without needing any more shares.
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Turn 7
Another turn to ship black -- no shares, minimal building (not much cash left - just built one little track segment!). Income reduction, however, brings me down to $15 -- need to ship some red next turn!
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Turn 8
Had to take a share so I could start building track towards the last few black cubes on the board. I decided to ship a red for $5 to avoid losing income (from not paying expenses) and to get a bit of cash. An alternative would have been to take the hit now, and ship for $6 when I finally connect to that last town in the southwest. I could spend the time to figure out if that would have been better, I suppose, but ... nah. Ended the turn with $2.
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Turn 9
Had to take another share so I could afford to connect to those 2 black cubes in the southeast. With 4 blacks left, I had to ship these 2 off to SJ. Only $2 left in hand.
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Turn 10
Last turn! Unfortunately, there are 2 black cubes left on the board, and one of them is a 6-link delivery for me! So I took my last share and bought Loco again, then shipped both black cubes. Unfortunately, I had to spend $2 to connect to that last town, which left me unable to pay expenses. So I lost $3 to pay expenses, then another $2 to income reduction.
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Final score: (13-15)x3 + 34 = 28

Well, at least I survived! Could I have done better?

It seems pretty clear that the $5 loco action can be worthwhile. I skipped only one move; the other link upgrades were all with the loco action. I didn't get up to 6-links until the final turn, and didn't take advantage of it to earn any income -- should've figured out some way to ship reds for more money! But in a lower-level-difficulty game (with more red cubes out there) I suspect income can be substantially higher: next time I play at a lower level, I will try to skip only one (or none?) of my goods moves to bump links.

But what about the Engineer action? Cash has been so tight for me that it seems exceedingly unlikely that you'd have enough cash to both buy Engineer and actually use it! On the other hand, maybe if I'd used it I could have gotten out east? I'd thought about connecting it to my loop so I could ship those red cubes, but I just couldn't afford the build costs. I think, maybe, Engineer is more likely used in the easier games.

So what's your best score? What's typical? Anyone else playing this yet?

Thread: Re: Target scores for Puerto Rico?

snoozefest — 2007-12-21T10:30:06+00:00

I have confirmation from Ted that yes, the black cubes really are -30 VP!

And, back to topic: I just finished my 1st crack at this board last night (Maestro level). I first shipped only red cubes to become profitable. Then worked on shipping black cubes while income reduction chipped away at my income (occasionally shipping a long red delivery). I managed to ship all the black cubes but was left with only 15 income. 23 track + (15 income - 11 shares) x 3 = 35VP.

A better strategy (I think): ship black cubes sooner! I waited too long - better to stay in the $10-20 range while working on black cubes, then shift into getting income before game ends.

Thread: Re: Target scores for Puerto Rico?

scottredracecar — 2007-12-21T03:47:41+00:00

snoozefest wrote:
scottredracecar wrote:
I think you played a decent game, but your final score isn't calculated correctly (see below). Of course, it's really important to deliver all the black cubes, so try to do that next game.

Here's how I think it's scored:
Income: 26 x 3 = 78
Two black cubes: -20
Shares: -14 x 3 = -42
Track: 37
Victory Points: 53

The rules say that your score is reduced by 10 income/black cube. That should mean 30 VP, since the formula in the rules is 1/track + (income - shares) x 3. So in this case, it ought to be -60, not -20. On the other hand, even though it's not the official rule, some people score income as 1VP and each track as 1/3 VP ... Ted?

I think you're right based on how it is worded. The penalty seems really steep though. I guess I have been scoring the cubes as -10 to the final score, but I have mostly been playing the easy levels, so this hasn't been much of a concern.

Thread: Re: Usefulness Engineer Action on Puerto Rico map?

scottredracecar — 2007-12-21T03:41:07+00:00

I could see how on the harder difficulty levels, the Engineer might be useful to clean up the island at the very end. I've been scoring it with the black cubes as -10 each to the final score, but I think based on how it's worded, you are correct.

It's kind of cool how the game changes depending on what level you're playing on. I find the Novicio level just as challenging as the higher ones because I keep trying to get a perfect run of red cubes in the end (2-5 deliveries and 4-6 deliveries in the last three turns).

Thread: Re: Usefulness Engineer Action on Puerto Rico map?

snoozefest — 2007-12-20T23:55:20+00:00

I just played my first game, Maestro level. I used Engineer to make sure I could get to all the black cubes. With better planning, however, I may not have needed it.

Incidentally, how are you scoring black cubes: -10 VP or -30 VP? I used the latter, since the rules say 10 income (x 3 = 30VP), but that just seems REALLY expensive! I scored 35: 12 from income (shipped all black cubes; income at 15, shares = 11) and 23 from track.

Thread: Re: Target scores for Puerto Rico?

snoozefest — 2007-12-20T02:12:16+00:00

scottredracecar wrote:
I think you played a decent game, but your final score isn't calculated correctly (see below). Of course, it's really important to deliver all the black cubes, so try to do that next game.

Here's how I think it's scored:
Income: 26 x 3 = 78
Two black cubes: -20
Shares: -14 x 3 = -42
Track: 37
Victory Points: 53

The rules say that your score is reduced by 10 income/black cube. That should mean 30 VP, since the formula in the rules is 1/track + (income - shares) x 3. So in this case, it ought to be -60, not -20. On the other hand, even though it's not the official rule, some people score income as 1VP and each track as 1/3 VP ... Ted?

Thread: Re: Usefulness Engineer Action on Puerto Rico map?

scottredracecar — 2007-12-15T23:20:15+00:00

In a Novicio game I played today, I used the Engineer to get another few points. It came in the last turn when I already had the 6 locomotive and a lot of extra cash.

Thread: Usefulness Engineer Action on Puerto Rico map?

scottredracecar — 2007-12-13T22:19:00+00:00

Has anyone used the Engineer action on the PR map? I haven't ever even considered using it considering how tight money is. Usually, things are spaced such that one extra track section won't get me where I need to go and it's easy enough to plan two turns ahead to avoid the additional cost.

It must have some use, or Ted wouldn't have included it. Two options that strike me:
1. At the end of the game if you have a lot of cash and can build another track section, take the action for another point.
2. For players new to the map, the action might make it seem a little more forgiving, although this probably covers up a suboptimal play last turn.

Any ideas? I think there must be some room for improvement in my game. I'm going to try it out again tonight and see if I come up with anything.

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jcarvin — 2007-12-12T05:24:35+00:00

At the end of my second game. Versado level, score a lowly 28.

Thread: Re: Target scores for Puerto Rico?

scottredracecar — 2007-12-09T23:51:52+00:00

I think you played a decent game, but your final score isn't calculated correctly (see below). Of course, it's really important to deliver all the black cubes, so try to do that next game.

Here's how I think it's scored:
Income: 26 x 3 = 78
Two black cubes: -20
Shares: -14 x 3 = -42
Track: 37
Victory Points: 53

The more games I play, the better my scores get, but I think I'm kind of reaching a plateau and end up doing very similar things with each game.

At first, I was scoring in the low 70s on the novice level, but now I'm getting in the mid 80s on the second and third levels. I need to try the novice level again to see if I can beat 90.

Here are my scores so far:

Novicio
Bankrupt in Turn 10
73
72
70

Estudiante
86

Versado
83

Dios
Bankrupt in Turn 8

For comparison, on my best game so far, I got this final scoring:

Income: 26 x 3 = 78
No black cubes left: 0
Shares: -8 x 3 = -24
Track: 32
Victory Points: 86

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Malachi — 2007-12-08T04:59:52+00:00

End Game

Thread: Re: Target scores for Puerto Rico?

nabla — 2007-11-15T19:30:03+00:00

I scored two times up to 90 points at the first levelt
It seems that a very good first turn should be if there are two red cubes in the cities near san juan :
2 shares, build complex tracks on the cities near san juan and a simple straight line in direction of the east south for 12$, buy a locomotive and deliver 2 times with your 2 locomotives
If there are red cubes that can be reached for the second turn, do the same and use two shares, but another locomotive and deliver 2 times to reach 10 on the income track
Do not cross the montains untill you earn enought money, and then connect the left of the isle in the end of the game
more black cubes near san juan make the game even more difficult
Very interesting puzzle

Thread: Target scores for Puerto Rico?

Koert — 2007-11-04T21:59:05+00:00

I gave Puerto Rico a first try this evening and would like to know what a good target score would be.

I reached 13 points on the estudiante level, which seems like a rather poor result. I think I could have done better.

These are the stats:
- end income = 26
- 2 black cubes left = -20
- shares = -14
- track = 37
- points = 13

So, what are other scores for this and the other levels?

By the way: do you still go bancrupt if the income is reduced below 0 when the remaining black cubes are substracted at the end of the game?

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toulouse — 2007-07-27T06:05:57+00:00

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toulouse — 2007-07-27T06:03:55+00:00

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toulouse — 2007-07-27T06:03:06+00:00