Earth Board Game Strategy Guide

[@maxtardif4959]

Thanks for the great video and analysis of Earth, well appreciated :)

[@NoWondersTV]

The designer of Earth himself! Thank you for your wonderful game

[@jamessherman7797]

Thank you for your video tips, so that I can better learn how to play Earth. I really like how the game plays differently each time and I’ve already seen your advice to adapt quickly in play. We’re struggling a bit to understand some of the abilities but I guess we’ll get there.

[@NoWondersTV]

There's a bit of a learning curve, but it is a very fun game. Best of luck!

[@gaellequerellou5090]

Thank you Sam for this great video about Earth strategies Et encore merci Gwladys pour m'avoir fait découvrir ce super jeu😁 PS:Call me Alex when i write about the chat in the lives😆

[@NoWondersTV]

Merci Alex !

[@aetherllama8398]

Spot on, that's definitely the most important strategy. I have 2 things to add, curious what you think. In 2 player games, focus on building an engine with the same color ability, especially early in the game. If the opponent is doing the same thing, also build cards with their color, but cards with the 3rd color will rarely be activated. I say 3 colors because I'm excluding green, which is always good but fairly rare. Terrains can score a ton of points, so they can be worth building around just as much as the fauna goals.

[@NoWondersTV]

It's an interesting discussion! I think in a general sense I prefer diversifying all the colours, but it's very rare that you will have a choice in the matter due to limited card draw. Like how often will you find 4-5 cheap blue cards early? If I had all the cards in my hand I would prioritise planting green cards first. If my opponent has a Climate (or Island) card that only activates when they use it, I would also look to plant some of that colour early. I do like to have a bit of every colour so I will at least get something should my opponent use the "3rd colour". If I have a comparative advantage over red and blue then they might choose to use yellow anyway even if neither of us have any. Terrain cards are often amazing. The green/brown cards especially are cheap for what they do, and can act as 8th or 9th objectives for you. The soil discount terrain cards cost 2 soil and are worth either 5 or 9 points each! The big expensive 10+ soil cost terrain cards I find very difficult to play. In situations where neither player wants to end the game they are perfect. In regular games I mostly discard/compost them because playing one would ruin my tempo to finish my tableau and end the game.

[@aetherllama8398]

@@NoWondersTV You can have 4 same color abilities on turn 1 (5 if your Island and climate match). Draw 2 in your starting hand, plant, find 1 in the next 4.

[@NoWondersTV]

@@aetherllama8398 You can for sure. I guess the question would be: would you rather have your first 6 cards be all in 1 colour, or 2 of every colour? There are pros and cons for each. Having 6 blue cards makes it an extremely efficient action for you, but an action your opponent won't ever take. If I want to be planting in 80% of my turns then it can be hard to fully utilise the blue action. Having 2 of each colour corners your opponent into helping you out no matter what they do. Less efficiently of course, but that is the trade-off.

[@aetherllama8398]

@@NoWondersTV 80% seems high. If both players do that you would be at 12 cards in 5 rounds. How are you playing 12 cards with only 2 non planting actions, 1 of which taken by the opponent? If each player takes a non planting action, you would get 4 abilities if you have 2 of each, and 6 abilities if they are all the same. More likely you will have 4 of yours and 2 of theirs, also getting 6 abilities instead of 4. You activate 50% more abilities when you don't split them evenly.

[@NoWondersTV]

​@@aetherllama8398 Yeah, it's not usually possible for both players to plant that much. But if you can find yourself in the position where you have the initiative to plant you can often catch your opponent in a cycle where they have to take a different action, and you can plant. Then it is possible to plant 5 turns in a row and have your opponent not use your main action, which is where diversity helps. I have found myself in this position a lot, but this of course may change as people become more aware of optimal strategy and try to plant more themselves. 2 of my last 5 games have ended in 8 rounds where I planted in 7 of them, and 1 of my last 5 games ended in 7 rounds where I planted in 6. And here's a game against rank #1 where I planted in 7/8 rounds :) boardgamearena.com/table?table=358205735

[@blankname-pw3sk]

I only played twice just to learn the game. Do you find any group-think like, if two skilled players played with your "plant" strategy, is there any possibility for other strategy to shine, or still the (better) plant strategy player will dominate?

[@NoWondersTV]

From my experience, when two high level players meet, they will both try to plant as much as possible. Planting is really the basis for any strategy in Earth because you need to have cards in your tableau to form your engine. It's hard to build up a comparative advantage in any colour if you stop planting, because your opponent will just have more cards and more abilities to activate on your turn. But, of course, both players can't continuously plant as they will run out of soil eventually. A lot of Earth can come down to who is luckier with the card draws to a) continuously plant with low-cost cards and b) get the perfect cards to complete objectives first.

[@tpa3437]

I tried that with my girlfriend in a game where I planted every turn exept 2 I think. Game was over very fast, my girlfriend had like 4 empty spots :s. Had me thinking, what is even the point of high cost card?

[@NoWondersTV]

I tend to agree, there are some cards I would simply never play. I think a lot of the high-cost terrain cards do serve an important purpose though. When you have 15 cards and your opponent has 13 or less you don't have much incentive to plant. There can be multiple turns of blue or yellow actions in a row which will lead to a lot of soil building up. In 4 player games you also might find soil building up a bit more freely if you have a good red or blue engine.

[@dieformetal5021]

I alwayes run out of soil, :'( cannot plant every turn. What would u suggest?

[@NoWondersTV]

It's very rare you will have a game where you can plant every single turn, that's pretty normal. You will naturally run out of soil because you are planting a lot. 1. Pick the starting island that gives you the most soil / cards. 2. Prioritise cheap cards (a 0-cost card is often better than a 6-cost card that fits 2 goals). 3. Green abilities that give soil / sprouts are the best cards in the game early. 4. Convert sprouts to soil as much as you need, it's common to do it 5+ times per game. 5. When you do need to get soil look to use either the red or blue ability, whichever your opponent benefits least from. Even with all these tips sometimes your opponents just gets cheaper cards or more soil generation.

[@dieformetal5021]

Wow. Thank you very much for the tips

[@davidriberasalaet8318]

Great análisis please when you can do the arquitects of West kingdom Guide, i loss all the games i play 😂

[@NoWondersTV]

Haha, well I played my first game of it 5 days ago, so I also need to practice it still :)