Seth Brown
United States
North Adams
Massachusetts
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I read a lot about Power Grid: Factory Manager before acquiring it, and the biggest complaint that I kept seeing was, "Why is Friedemann Friese trying to fool us with this Power Grid tie-in that isn't like Power Grid?"
COMPONENTS
Well, it sure looks like Power Grid. My box arrived earlier in the week, and it's another giant green box with the same guy on the cover. You open it up to punch out the pieces, and you've got a bunch of different numbered tiles with different amounts of energy they take to provide a benefit, that look a lot like the power plant cards from Power Grid.
image: balijan2
See? Totally in the Power Grid universe. Anyway, the components are simple but lovely. The tiles pictured above are quality, little wooden meeples in each color, personal factory boards, and a main board that's made up to look like a clipboard, even with two little rivet holes on the back. Thumbs up.
GAMEPLAY
Well, it sure doesn't play like Power Grid. There's no map, or connections to make. It distills and expands my favorite part of the game, which is upgrading your power plants. Basically, you have workers that you use to bid on turn order and run your factory. Your leftover workers are what actually let you play the game.
Each worker lets you pull the worst available tile from one of six categories into the buy pool. First player pulls all his tiles, then it goes clockwise. Only once all tiles are in the pool does anything get bought. Again, starting with the first playing buying up to one tile per worker.
This mechanic makes for some very tricky decisions. Being lower in the turn order gives you discounts, but that oft won't make up for picking later. Do you add some great tiles, knowing the first player will probably buy the best one, leaving you with merely good tiles? Or do you add a mix of mediocre tiles, none of which excite you, hoping not to open up more space for others?
OPTIMIZING IS FUN
I'll admit, I played this game 4 times within two days of getting it. (Yay snow day!) I'm sure that pace won't continue, but it's definitely a game where immediately after the final turn (and there are only five), you say, "I could have done better. I need to try again and be more optimal!"
Like the population and income in Vegas Showdown, you only get the lower of your production and storage, so you want to increase them both roughly equally. But often that takes people, which you want to save both for bidding on turn order and pulling/buying more tiles. And many tiles also consume energy, which has a fixed cost that rises each round.
Your average turn has you thinking, "Okay, my production and storage are even, so I could pull either, but my opponents need more storage, so if I pull production maybe some will stick around." And then, "So, do I buy the 3 production tile that takes an extra person and energy to run? Or the 2 production tile that operates cheaper?"
Power Grid Distilled?
And that's why, after 4 games, I've decided I *do* get my favorite Power Grid feeling from Factory Manager. Let me be clear: It plays NOTHING like Power Grid. The mechanics are all different, it's a much faster game with no map, no bidding on tiles, two more variables to balance, and rather than being a long game of building a network of plants to a certain capacity, it's a blazing fast 5-round optimization game where whoever has the most money wins.
That being said, my favorite part of Power Grid was always the plants. The map jockeying I can take or leave. But those decisions about whether to not run your third plant this turn because you want to save the resources, or whether to upgrade incrementally now or hold out for a big improvement, or whether to buy a higher capacity plant that will cost you more to operate instead of a lower production tile that needs nothing else to power it... those decisions are the fun part, for me. And those decisions are here, in spades, expanded to be pretty much the entire game.
Is It For You?
If you're like me, and your favorite part of Power Grid is just upgrading your plants, and wish you could do more of that and less worrying about a map, this game is all about that. More generally, if you enjoy economic games or income feedback loop games like St. Petersburg, Scepter of Zavandor, Phoenicia, etc., you'll likely really enjoy Factory Manager. The game goes quite fast.
Conversely, if you've been reading this review and thinking, "It sounds like a boring optimization exercise", then you're not wrong for you. This is a game about optimization, and if that sounds horrible to you, then you probably would be happier not playing.
Me, I think it's a neat little game, and I look forward to playing again.
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tom moughan
United States
Rochester
New York
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Good game and thanks for the review. -- For owning this over a year, I sadly have played it twice.
I will note to those interested in FM that the setup can be a little lengthy for a short game. How you choose to buy in the marketplace and what players "pull down to be purchased" are part of how you control the relative strengths of your opponents. What I enjoy about FM is that most of the strategies to pull ahead of other players are not obvious, even after a few plays.
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Larry Carter
United States
Dayton
Oregon
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Excellent review. I really enjoy Power Grid but I must admit that, like you, the power plants are the fun part. PG: FM was already on my wishlist, your review just moved it up a few slots in the buy order I think.
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J Chav
United States
West Valley City
Utah
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I've played this game 2-3 times now. I highly rank St. Petersburg and Power Grid. However I can't seem to enjoy Factory Manager... maybe it's the theme??? Anyways can't put my finger on it.
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Tripp Ritter
United States
Portland
Oregon
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This is my favorite kind of review. You do a great job of explaining how your gaming biases/interests will determine your likely enjoyment of the game. Too often reviews say how great or terrible a game is without exploring how different gamers might see the game in a different light.
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Finland
Resiinaraitti 2 as 30
20100 Turku
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Osirus wrote: It distills and expands my favorite part of the game, which is upgrading your power plants.
...
That being said, my favorite part of Power Grid was always the plants.
...
If you're like me, and your favorite part of Power Grid is just upgrading your plants
No, really, what is your favourite part?
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Seth Brown
United States
North Adams
Massachusetts
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kreikkaturkulainen wrote: Osirus wrote: It distills and expands my favorite part of the game, which is upgrading your power plants.
...
That being said, my favorite part of Power Grid was always the plants.
...
If you're like me, and your favorite part of Power Grid is just upgrading your plants No, really, what is your favourite part?
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