As for "Why the others:"
1) As Mark noted, the others pay out for windfall worlds. The Free Trade Association and Mining League have
excellent consume powers, while the Pan Galactic League usually pays out as many, if not more, cards. All the others also pay out a bonus for one or two key developments.
2) Novelty Worlds are 9 production and 5 windfall. (64%) For other goods, the ratio falls. Rares are 46% production, Genes are 36%, Alien 25%. Overall, there are 21 cards that pay out for Merchant Guild ... that's a touch more than Free Trade Assocation.
3) Production Worlds cost almost half a card more (on average) than windfall worlds. Military Production Worlds defense averages one point higher. Production worlds cost more to get on the board -- they are slower. That's significant.
Which 6-Dev is good depends on the layout, but I personally find it easier to 'aim' for the Free Trade or Mining League (The Pan Galactic League or Alien Tech Institute take more planning/luck, since there are fewer matching cards, and those that do match are expensive ...)
Personally I consider Merchant League "OK." Sometimes excellent, it's frequently worth dropping in the endgame (for 6-ish points) unless you have a predominantly military or development strategy (there are only 4 production military worlds). However, SETI usually outscores it at 1 point per world (since there are 64 worlds and only 21 production worlds) and SETI has other scoring triggers (including 1 points for itself)
[Edit -- Cleaned up some sentences.]
Last edited on 2007-12-24 08:36:37 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)