Mine is get the following technologies: -1 point for every good sold -3 points for every color of goods sold -The one that let's you grab goods from adjacent territories. -Place the same buildings -4 points for the building that let's you place another building (get at least 4 of those building) -4 points for the building that let's you sell for free (gets at least 3: of those) These last two are possible in some boards even if you don't have the place the same building into an area ability. Completely ignore animals, probably mines. You will probably get at least 2 first to complete tiles. Score your small areas early.
Thanks for the tips! I feel embarrassed to admit that I never really think about the board composition when I start the game. And I haven’t really had a good look at the differences between all the boards. Really need to do that! And the tips about the beginning are very smart.
I just played my first game with Board 8 and won by 17 points, almost exactly the average, lol. Now that I have finally gotten a chance to try Board 8, I will remove it from all future games since serious players don't respect it. I've gotten a lot better at the game by being laser focused on yellow tiles that offer brown building bonuses. In my experience so far, this is usually how the winner wins. So I consistently take yellow tiles away from my opponent if I see that it would benefit them. Or if I can't avoid letting them have it, I consistently take away the building that's associated with it in order to minimize their points. So far it has worked about 80% of the time. When I first played I spent way too much time getting animals. Now I almost completely ignore them unless I have the right combination of yellow tiles that actually make them really valuable. (Thanks to those tiles, I once won a game using 4 goat tiles.) On their own, they are a total waste of time. I don't sell a lot of goods, because mines and banks give enough money to consistently buy 1-2 tiles per phase, which is crucial. And I've won consistently without ever getting the brown bonus tile. Mines, castles, yellows and blues are where I put my energy. I'm really addicted to this game now and hoping to raise my BGA level really high.
