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This session report is intended as a strategy guide of sorts for beginning to intermediate players, but it’s still a session report. It is long with lots of detail, so be warned, but I think it’s an interesting read.
My opponent is SimonDorfman, a 1550-1600ish player who I’ve played a few times (last year) on the Genie online server. I expect him to be competent to good, but probably not a big gambler with fancy naked plays.
The final tableau is at http://genie.game-host.org/game.htm?gid=104401 ; follow along if you like to see the cards, but try not to let future plays influence your current opinions.
All images are shamelessly borrowed from the Genie server; thanks to Tom Lehmann, Rio Grande Games, and the server administrator for making them available.
Two player advanced game, Gathering Storm, no goals
Me: Epsilon Eridani
Him: Damaged Alien Factory (DAF)
Picking phases:
I have smuggling lair, a 3 military windfall, a 4 military alien windfall, and diversified economy in hand after tossing two. Smuggling lair is a great card (not as great with Epsilon however) for its 2 card consume power and gives me more cards, so I want that out soon. I don’t like the other cards much as of yet, although the 3 military windfall couId pay off if I pick up 2 more military. I prefer to explore/develop or settle/trade with military homeworlds, but smuggling lair has insurance against being traded and I don’t have a useful development. Since I dislike explore +5 without a big hand or 2+ military:
I pick: explore +1/+1/settle.
My opponent has DAF, so he will very likely produce with a small chance of a settle/trade or other odd openings. +1/+1, to cover up for the produce, is the most common, with some chance of trade/produce. Trade/produce is uniquely beneficial for a producer without a windfall, since they get cards and the good back, but I’m less worried here since I have smuggling lair to benefit from a trade and a lot of players on Genie don’t seem to use the opening. This prediction does not change my choice.
I predict: Explore +1/+1/produce or trade/produce
He picks: Develop/produce
I assume he probably has a good early development, like the 1 costs, interstellar bank, or space marines. Anything more expensive is a big gamble with DAF, since you have essentially a 3 card hand on the first turn.
1st turn:
[1] Explore: I see Terraforming guild and two irrelevant expensive cards. Terraforming guild fits perfectly with my start and is generally a keeper, so I keep that with another irrelevant card.
[2] Develop: I skip this due to a lack of cheap developments. Simon plays Research Labs (+1 keep in explore, +1 card per alien good produced), a bizarre move since it’s a 4 cost. He probably had some other development in hand, but couldn’t pass up the chance to get an instant card back and have an explore power to leech off of me. I don’t know if I’d do that, but it’s awkward for me at this point since I’m shut out of explore (unless I know he’ll do it), and it’s probably a good play if he hated his hand.
[3] Settle: I settle smuggling lair; Simon skips it, unsurprisingly. I pick up a one-cost blue world.
[5] Produce: Simon discards his last card and gets another one in return. I know that he’s got just a random card now.
Me (0 chips, 6 cards):
Him (0 chips, 1 card):
Picking phases: I have six cards and my opponent has one, so I’m going to put as many cards out as I can. Unfortunately, I can only play one useful card, which will be terraforming guild to leech production/get future settle bonuses, so develop it is. It’s between explore +1/+1 or trade here for the 2nd phase, since I don’t want to help my opponent, but I still want another card.
Produce would be an option, but the risk/reward is worse than picking explore, and he’s not at all certain to produce himself. I do tend to not consider this enough in most games, but producing on your windfall when your opponent produces is a nice way to get cards..– if you trust your hand reading ability.
I pick: explore +1/+1/develop or develop/trade -> develop/trade
My opponent is probably going to explore +1/+1/trade since he has a good and essentially no hand. He may also suck it up, hope I explore, and trade/produce to set himself up for another 5 card trade next turn. While I’d normally explore to get the +1 look bonus (since I can’t settle or double develop safely), a small chance of feeding my opponent a free explore means that trading, even with smuggling lair, is the best overall.
Note that even though my opponent will have a 4 card hand after exploring, they are all just random cards, so I’m still probably going to do well by developing.
I predict: explore +1/+1/trade or trade/produce
He picks: explore +1/+1/trade
Fine with me.
2nd turn:
[1] Explore: I pick up public works and a 3 military genes windfall with +1 military. Public works is a great card that lets me play aggressively, and I will almost always keep it in the early game… so I did. Simon gets three random cards.
[2] Develop: Public works is a good reason to not develop terraforming guild yet, since I’ll get the bonus for developing it next turn. I can also keep my options open in case I pick up something else I like and maybe even spam develop for a while, so I develop public works. I always like having the option to push a develop strategy, particularly if I have military power. Simon plays deficit spending; an odd play, but he knows that I’ll be picking the phases and he may not get another chance to play it. He’s setting up for a pretty good trade strategy.
[4] Trade: We get our cards. Simon deficit spends for one chip. I pick up investment credits (-1 develop), space marines (+2 military), and a 1 cost blue world.
Me (0 chips, 9 cards):
Him (1 chip, 5 cards):
Picking phases: I’d like to develop to get bonuses and expand my tableau (both are very important against this trade strategy with an explore leech). Double develop looks great; I can use investment credits and then follow up with terraforming guild if Simon produces, or play space marines if I get a settle.
I pick: develop/develop
Simon has 5 cards, and at least one of them should be useful. He’s probably setting up a produce, with settle/produce or explore +5/produce the best options. There’s still a chance of trade/produce (although I look like I won’t settle), or it’s less likely that he could settle/trade some windfall, for cards and another world for production.
I predict: settle/produce
He picks: settle/trade
A bit of a surprise, but it favors me. Perhaps the deficit spending foreshadowed this.
3rd turn:
[2] Develop (first): I play investment credits. He plays nothing. I draw deficit spending.
[2] Develop (second): I play space marines, so I can play my 3 military windfall. I pick up an irrelevant card. He plays nothing– I’m glad to see that.
[3] Settle: I play Pirate world, the 3 military blue world that trades for 5, knowing full well that it will get eaten by a world of my choice for 2 cards or 1 card and a point. I don’t worry about contriving some situation to trade the good, I just take the free card(s) and points from settling it. It’s more important to fill up the board so I don’t get traded to death anyway..– and I’ve actually spent no cards from my hand as cash so far.
He plays Toy Shop, which is certainly a card that would justify his play. I would wince in other situations, but he doesn’t really have the cards to start 2xing, although I’m still not pleased. Produce/trade for 4 cards and 4 points per cycle is very likely to start.
[4] Trade: He trades and deficit spends for 2 chips. I almost consume for two cards, but I’ve filled up half the board at this point and end up taking a point and a card, assuming that the point will matter more. 1 card > 1 point early, but 1 point > 1 card in the mid to late game, mostly.
Me (1 chip, 9 cards):
Him (3 chips, 5 cards):
Picking phases: I still want to finish the game quickly and get terraforming guild out and I’ve got a big advantage from developing, so I double develop. I could settle a one cost blue world for a production leech, but I don’t want to feed my opponent a settle yet, and developing gives a bigger relative advantage. Other options are not nearly as good since I need to fill my tableau.
I pick: develop/develop
Simon still should be producing with very high likelihood (95%+ I bet), and has the same hand size of 5 as before. It’s a tossup between explore or settle for his last phase… but neither choice will change my decision at this point.
I predict: explore/produce or settle/produce
He picks: explore +1/+1/produce
I would have preferred a settle, but I’m still doing fine. (My memory is slightly fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure about the +1/+1 part.)
4th turn:
[1] Explore: I pick up Improved Logistics (jackpot!) and Galactic Imperium, a 6 cost with +rebel military and points for military worlds (2 for rebel, 1 for other). There’s no card left in the deck that would make me pass up Improved Logistics here, but I don’t need deck memorization to make the right choice. Simon grabs his three cards.
[2] Develop (first): I play terraforming guild to leech off his produce, score points, and set up for a settle binge. Simon plays interstellar bank, which looks like a mistake when I know my hand but lets him keep up with my develop strategy in most cases. In a pinch, it’s still a point. I pick up galactic trendsetters (one good -> 2 points).
[2] Develop (second): I play improved logistics to possibly end the game next turn, despite the fact that the only two worlds I can play are blue production worlds worth 1 point. He plays investment credits, which is fine if I develop at least once more. I now have no relative advantage from developing and am forced to settle to get ahead… but playing aggressively earlier means that I still have a good chance to win. I pick up the other public works.
[5] Produce: I produce on pirate world due to terraforming guild, and he produces on two alien worlds for a net +1 card.
Me (1 chip):
Him (3 chips):
Picking phases: I can trade pirate world for five cards and develop or settle to fill up my tableau besides. However, I have five cards in hand, and even though I can’t play the military windfall and only have two blue worlds to play, I have a good shot of picking up some cards that would let me end the game just through double settling. I always want to have the opportunity to close out the game when I may be ahead, time is against me (since I’m not the producer), and I can always not fill up the board if the cards don’t work out.
I pick: Double settle
Simon is going to consume 2x or trade his nice goods, and probably produce. He’s in trouble if I can end the game, but I’m unlikely to have four playable worlds in hand and he’ll be in good position if he gets another turn. Trading is +3 cards, +4 points while consuming is +6 points, -2 cards, but he could settle to make consume much better. I honestly don’t care much at this point, and I won’t like either option, so my choice is set. Note that I’m not particularly ahead at this point.
I predict: trade/produce or consume 2x/produce
He picks: consume 2x/produce
He picks the best counter to my double settle. Counting up the score becomes very important on the second to last or last turns, although it’s mostly unnecessary to calculate before then. If he consumes both of his goods, he could pick up 8 points + the value of any settle – I must keep that in mind even if I can quadruple settle. Better to wait a turn and very likely lose than lose by 1 point for sure.
5th turn:
[3] Settle (first): I play secluded world and draw two, picking up a 2 military genes windfall and a 1 military grey world with a 1 point, 1 card consume power. That’s a gamble that paid off. I play the genes windfall, since that’s the best free card I have, and pick up a 1 military blue windfall, which was unnecessary but nice to have. He plays a 2 cost, 1 point genes windfall, which is worth 1 + 2 points for him this turn.
At this point, I stop and calculate the scores. He’ll get 2 + 4 + 2 = 8 points this turn, so the score I have to beat is 20. I have 21 points, so closing out the game is a no-brainer.
With bad draws from the first settle, I would have skipped the second settle and gone for the third settle, since I’d get one more card that way and could still get to eleven with the right draw. Letting the game drag out another turn is not insurmountable, since he consume 2xed and will only get 4-6 points next turn… less than the typical value of two windfalls for me.
[3] Settle (second): I play my blue windfall, draw nothing useful, and play the one military grey world to get the extra point from the consume power (3 goods, 2 powers on board before settle 2). Simon plays nothing; we both know the game is over at this point.
[4] Consume: Even when you know you’ve won or lost, maximize your score anyway. There’s always a slim chance that you miscalculated (in real life at least). So I consume 3 goods for 3 points, and Simon gets 8 more points, managing to use all three powers from research labs in a single game, which is quite rare.
[5] Produce: I produce on my blue windfall, which gives +1 card on produce, and Simon produces for a net +1 card.
Ending: I win, 28-20. Simon is courteous enough to congratulate me on the win, and I point out that I got lucky with Improved Logistics… which is true, but aggressive play earlier put me in a position to get lucky and win. Rftg is an odd game in that both new players and expert players might complain about luck, but only the experts are complaining for the right reasons; it’s a game of risk management, and people should be good enough to take advantage of luck before they complain about its role – which is secondary to skill except between similarly skilled opponents.
This game isn’t meant to be an example of me being awesome, by the way. It’s just a random sample game that I use to illustrate the concept of playing against a producer, and how much thinking a player might do in one game (although a lot of it is normally automatic to me).
So what’s the point (aka strategy)?
1. Avoid settling non-production worlds midgame against a producer.
I settled on the first turn and the last turn, and not at all in between. I may occasionally sneak in a 2nd or 3rd turn settle for a production leech or second settle/trade, or a double settle on the second to last turn, but that’s pretty much it. I would have played this game the same way even if I had three military windfalls in my hand the whole time that I could play.
2. Developing aggressively against a producer is often beneficial.
Developing is almost always better for expanding your tableau, even if you don’t have discounts. My "military" speed strategies are almost always military/develop hybrids, although I prefer the labels "speed" and "value" to the usual military or develop labels.
3. Be flexible and do what’s relatively best at the time.
I twice planned to play Terraforming Guild and kept putting it off to play more useful cards, and I played a windfall that could be traded for five cards and let it be eaten for 1 card and 1 point. Don’t "save it for trading" when you can get a quick benefit, unless you’re confident that trading will be superior and that you’ll get to do it.
4. Try to predict your opponent’s action each turn based on their tableau and hand size.
Even without perfect accuracy, it’s useful to try and guess every phase. Many players seem to stop at predicting produce, trade, or settle, but every phase can help make a decision and tip those close decisions one way or another. Don't miss the best play just because you found a good play. It’s also something to do when you’re waiting for your opponent.
5. End the game when you will probably win
This point is obvious, but sometimes forgotten in the heat of battle. Even if you can get 14 points on the next turn, end it now if you will win for sure. The same applies when you will probably win, unless you are very confident that the next turn will favor you. However, be willing to skip the phase you picked, if using it would ensure defeat.
6. Double develop or double settle instead of develop/settling
Even when your opponent can benefit from one phase, they usually can’t benefit from the second copy of the same phase. Develop/settle, on the other hand, lets your opponent pick their most useful phase and even makes it easier for them to manage both. This move is even better when your opponent is low on cards, and should be nearly automatic in many situations.
That’s it for now. I doubt I’ll do another one of these for a while, since this took a while to write. Adding in goals would probably make this 20-30% longer, but I might do a goal game at some point. I hope it was useful.
See part 2 at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/503583/a-sample-game-of-... , and then read the (thrilling?) conclusion at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/517253/a-game-with-the-4...-
Edit 4: Okay, pictures are in! They get a bit intrusive later on, but it's better than before.
Edit 5: Inline pictures are here.
Edit 6: Added the VP chip count at the start of each turn, and corrected the 2nd turn to include Simon deficit spending for one chip.
Edit 7: Added hand size and changed the formatting to make this consistent with the other sessions.
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Rob Renaud
United States
New York
New York
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Nice, very well written. It might help to have a few check points with images (or at least, complete tableau descriptions/point totals) through the post so that readers can anchor onto the game state, it's sort of hard to see visualize it through all the text.
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rrenaud wrote: Nice, very well written. It might help to have a few check points with images (or at least, complete tableau descriptions/point totals) through the post so that readers can anchor onto the game state, it's sort of hard to see visualize it through all the text.
That's a good point, but I'm not sure how to link key images... is there a way to link to the genie images or something, and is it legal to do so? I could copy-paste the genie text-only cards, but it would probably make people outraged from trying to translate it.
I could list all the cards pretty easily, but I'm leery of listing scores since I might be off by a chip and I don't find scores particularly important before the final two turns, at least compared to a vague feel for how the game is going. I'll try to edit in some extra text for now.
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Rob Renaud
United States
New York
New York
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The genie images were copied from bgg. You can use [ ImageId= 353124] with no spaces. You can get them number when you view the image on genie. For example, from viewing some random game, I see that New Sparta has ID 353124.
Of course, it's not my permission to give, but I'd be exceptionally surprised if anyone at RGG objected to linking to images already hosted here, especially in return for a high quality strategy article.
Edit: use inline (as by poster below) to run images horizontal
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Ville Sarvijärvi
Finland
Tampere
Unspecified
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Quote: Picking phases: I have six cards and my opponent has one, so I’m going to put as many cards out as I can. Unfortunately, I can only play one useful card, which will be terraforming guild to leech production/get future settle bonuses, so develop it is. It’s between explore +1/+1 or trade here for the 2nd phase, since I don’t want to help my opponent, but I still want another card.
Produce would be an option, but the risk/reward is worse than picking explore, and he’s not at all certain to produce himself. I do tend to not consider this enough in most games, but producing on your windfall when your opponent produces is a nice way to get cards – if you trust your hand reading ability.
I think you shouldn't be even considering producing as you are planning to play Terraforming Guild this round.
Very nice article btw.! 
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Sebastian
Germany
Merzig
Saarland
Thank you for stopping at this OverText. Your cursor is now being scanned for the purpose of security. Please don't move for 3 seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thank you for your cooperation. You may proceed.
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rrenaud wrote: Edit: I wonder if its possible to get the images to display horizontally rather than vertically?
Yes, there is:
[ImageId = 451464inline] does the trick (withouth the blanks)
More Tricks of the Geek here.
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Andrew P
Australia
Melbourne
VIC
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Great article that goes into the minds of the players in a real game! I especially like how you walk through the relative advantages of different plays based on hand size, tableau, probable strategy, and phase prediction; it brings out the subtle interaction in the game.
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Archvile wrote: I think you shouldn't be even considering producing as you are planning to play Terraforming Guild this round.
Very nice article btw.! :thumbsup:
Thanks, and that's a good point. I added that part in later when I was trying to transform the session into more of a strategy guide, but it doesn't make sense here.
TermiGator - Thanks for the tip. I'll edit the images soon.
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Michael Sammut
Australia
Montmorency
Victoria
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Great writeup! Thorough and insightful... Thank you!
We played a dozen games last weekend ranging from 2-4 players. Your contemplation of your opponents plays is something we are only beginning to realise - we are still very self-focussed RftG players!
None of the rest of my group read the Geek, so I will have to enlighten them with your strategies - or perhaps keep them all to myself!! 
Any thoughts on Phase strategies for three(+) players?
We found, with 4 (albiet novice) players, that everyone got to play in almost every Phase, and which Phases NOT to play became the difficult choices...
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Serge
Canada
Vancouver
British Columbia
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UlyZed wrote: Regardless, thanks for the time spent, and I for one am interested in a more complete rundown of the trade/produce opening here.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/360038/first-turn-tradep...
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Serge
Canada
Vancouver
British Columbia
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UlyZed wrote: As an aside, I'd like to think there could be a universal format out there for RFTG game reports.
I'm thinking at this stage you want:
iii) Explanation of phase choices before the turn plays out
iv) turn playing out
v) Images of tableau
Seems like a lot of work (and if there's more that should be in there let me know) but RFTG seems to need exact information to be useful to assess decision-making.
Ideally what i think is needed is the full game state, at every decision point. Genie does a good job of listing this at any given moment, but there's no way to extract all full game states for an entire game. The full game state at any given moment consists of:
1) General: available goals, draw deck size, discard pile size, vp chips left, chosen actions.
2) For the active player: cards in hand images, explore phase images [if applicable].
3) For every player (including active): cards in hand, points, VP chips, goals acquired, tableau images.
4) Explanation of oppponent tendencies, the decision at hand, and choice taken.
5) Go to 1) for the next decision point.
I'm in the process of thinking up a way to make this automated/manageable, first with Genie, but it's daunting. A game of rftg is very complex so session reports like this could get out of hand. I think what would be better, to start anyway, is bite-sized chunks. I.e. posting the full game state above at one decision point. From there we can later work with the full game states of an entire game.
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UlyZed wrote: Thanks for the write-up.
I found it interesting you referred to your opponents play as 'odd' and 'bizarre' while complementing them as well!
Let me clarify that; an odd or bizarre play is one I do not expect or one that I would not typically make myself. I almost never play an early research labs, so despite playing hundreds of games, I can't give a great synopsis of how well the play turns out. The most I can do is figure out why they did it and when I would justify it.
There are early game plays that are wrong in absolute terms; explore +1/+1/settling new earth on the first turn as Old Earth, or playing mining robots without a brown world (in hand or on the board) or development discounts. These I would criticize harshly. Research labs, with alien production to benefit from settles and the explore power, falls into a grey area. The card's major weakness is against spamming develop phases, which I was able to do.
onyx wrote: Any thoughts on Phase strategies for three(+) players?
We found, with 4 (albiet novice) players, that everyone got to play in almost every Phase, and which Phases NOT to play became the difficult choices.
Lots of exploring works well against that, along with trading without a good on board (aka naked trading) when you expect a settle. Exploring means that you will see more cards and play better cards, and your phase choice can't really backfire. Trading without a good gives you lots of extra cards when it works, along with a windfall world to possibly produce on and get points for. It's not always the best play (having one production world is important in bigger games), but it's at least an option to consider. Also, it makes you look cool.
I eventually plan to put up a strategy article about reading hands, but I'm pretty busy as of late.
As far as scores for each turn go, I feel like they are nice but unnecessary as far as analysis goes in the early turns, and I don't like adding them since they aren't explicitly known in a face to face game. I do need to add in the VP chip count for each turn, and will do that shortly.
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ackmondual
United States
Virginia
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Every now and then when playing with Keldon's AI, the AI does some very awful moves, like calling II when I have 5 cards and mucho II powers while he has the same # of cards in hand but no II powers. I like to use the "debug cards" features to peek at the comp's hand, and it would explain why..... worlds like Empath World, Merchant World, etc. don't work at all with Merchant Guild. It really did have a crap hand.
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Rob Renaud
United States
New York
New York
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E+5 is generally a good call to make if you have a lot of cards that don't fit together and don't fit with your hand.
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Dave J McWeasely
United States
Louisville
Kentucky
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Stunna wrote:
1. Avoid settling non-production worlds midgame against a producer.
I settled on the first turn and the last turn, and not at all in between. I may occasionally sneak in a 2nd or 3rd turn settle for a production leech or second settle/trade, or a double settle on the second to last turn, but that’s pretty much it. I would have played this game the same way even if I had three military windfalls in my hand the whole time that I could play.
Notice that even a production leech-for-vp is a loser against a strong producer. Suppose you have Outlaw World for some consumption, and you're thinking of putting down Rebel Miners to feed it. You'll get 1 card and 1 vp per turn from this. Your opponent probably is holding ELC or Propserous World, which gets him 2vp per turn, plus possibly a card from his engine. In this case its probably a bad decision.
On the other hand, if you're hurting for cardflow, its nice to have something to trade if you run out of gas. Trading for 3 in the midgame is weak, but it probably beats Explore. The calculus changes if you're talking about creating a permanent trade good leech. I prefer Lost Alien Battle Fleet. ^_^
But beware, its now possible for the production player to expand their economy even faster. If they've got excess windfall production, they can put down Alien Toy Shop for a double-strength production improvement. Knowing the location of ATS does influence my decision to settle in RvI.
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Posted Tue Mar 9, 2010 5:49 am
