Really like Expeditions and your strategy suggestions are spot on. It was a surprise to me when I first got it, how interesting the puzzle would be. I like the solo game as well. It’s easy to setup and play and allows you to practice various strategies. For the expansion I would like to see two things: A standard way people can put to use the map tokens (perhaps a turn in spot?). And I think players who are 3rd to 5th in starting order should get some minor benefit. That said, really like the game.
I couldn't agree more about the map tokens. In Scythe we have amazing narrative encounter cards. Maybe this game could have something like that either for the map tokens or to describe what you're vanquishing? Thanks for watching.
Yeah I probably spend too much time on these things. The biggest time sink is probably playing the game ~30 times and writing the script. You can be sure I don't do this with games I don't like playing.
Cards first, workers second. I think it's a good idea to spend at least the first 5 turns, maybe up to 8 or even 10, depending on the situation, in the southern row. The center row gather actions are fairly weak because you can always choose just 1, and I don't think rushing map tokens is worth it. In that time you will build up some power, guile, cards and workers. Move to the 2nd row when you have a good chance to be able to Vanquish with your companion.
It's definitely workable. I've played (and seen others play) both ways, and players who explored seemed to have a higher win rate, but that's somewhat anecdotal. In certain situations (say if I'm playing Olga/Changa), I might prefer your approach.
This video helped me enjoy the game a lot. I think I was trying to play the game in a way that didn't make sense and your video help remove that frustration! Thank you!
@@SpiderForgeGAMESI was really focused on Quests and I keep losing and wasn't having fun. After shifting my attention to other things, now I do better, have more fun and I do questing organically! All your videos are top notch!
I can agree with most points, but calling meteorites faster then quests is a hottake. Like south quests are open an easy to solve or if you get a chance to get the same location for quest twice you can solce rest solve (or quests on rest location). Also to score high with meteorites you need preparation, sure some like "per orange corruption" are easier but cards like "per color card" are more difficult to score consistent. And you need to meld each and every meteorite with at least 2 to get the same points as 3 quests. I wrote a thread on bgg about the scoring potential of the 3 types, with minimum, normal maximum and absolute maximum (with specific high value cards). Also a question: hiw fast do you win normally? I play mostly solo so it's hard to compare with multiplayer but end the game with 23 -28 turns.
Since you are mostly a solo player, I'll try to answer your timing question in reference to solo. When I was preparing the video I played the solo mode about 10 times on all but the highest difficulty and I never lost. I didn't play the highest difficulty, so I won't say I'd win, but on the second highest difficulty I felt that the game was getting so short that it lost relevance to multiplayer games, which is my primary interest. The solo mode is good, and I used it to test ideas developed over 20+ games at other player counts including several games at each player count. My win rate is significantly higher in solo mode than it is against opponents. As I say in the video, this is beginner strategy. I'm certain that a beginner that follows the approach outlined will have a decent win rate against all but the best players, and that's my goal. In that regard, I developed an approach that didn't require particularly good card draws or any special tactical genius. These considerations guide some of my advice. You can meld 3 meteorites in 2 turns. You can't solve 3 quests in 3 turns. All the same, one should opportunistically solve 2-3 quests late in the game. The point is to sneak them in between meld turns or upgrade turns. Those quest turns actually provide the power and guile that enables you to keep vanquishing. I almost never score the quest glory category because I end the game before that happens. I definitely see people scoring 20+ points on meteorites on a regular basis. The key is that your first meteorite must score 3(occasionally 4) points 4 times. You're right, of course, you don't meld meteorites at random, and you don't score them in the fist half of the game. In scoring the cards goal, you have enough time to build up 2 decent meteorite scoring opportunities. I regularly see people scoring very little on their last two meteorites, but that's fine if the first two (which re-score each time you meld) are decent.
There is a card that lets you rescue another card and activate its ability. I had two same number quests and used this to solve both on the same turn. Don’t put your quests hopes on it but it can be done.
They didn't pay me anything, if that's what you mean. If anyone ever wants to pay me, I don't promise to tell them no, but I'll disclose it. Realistically, my channel isn't big enough for that sort of deal.
