Race for the Galaxy - Introduction to Race & Strategy

[@WonderfulPlays]

My big question for this episode is : Have you played *Race for the galaxy* ? Next video for 7 Wonders drops on Sunday as usual. :)

[@dold_]

Race is my favorite non-TCG game. I love the fluidity of strategy, how every card has multiple abilities so they hook into each other in really interesting ways, how 6 cost devs work as cornerstones of strategies. All that stuff also makes it harder to make videos for, imo. The combination of massive card flow as well as deck knowledge makes live commentary pretty hard. It's probably a good candidate for commentating replays, so that way there is enough time to talk about key cards as they enter your tableau, as well as bringing up cards that you're hoping to find in future explores, or just taking the time to explain "strategic crossroads" you come across during the game, like how to decide which of 2 pretty good looking paths to take.

[@WonderfulPlays]

I agree it's a challenge, I'll definately try the replay route thanks for the suggestion.

[@Hieronymus-Pseudonymous]

IIRC, the first prototype of it was actually designed as a TCG!

[@Hieronymus-Pseudonymous]

I read a strategy article about the game years ago. If I remember correctly, it said there were 4 main strategic paths and that you should generally be trying to do 2 of them, with the named paths being Produce/Consume, Trade, Military, and rushing to 12 cards with cheap builds. It also said that as a general rule of thumb, once you can Consume-Produce 3 goods per turn, you should just keep doing that.

[@WonderfulPlays]

I think those all sound like good advice. Consume-Produce for 3 is my soft rule of thumb as well :)

[@zmollon]

The most hyped BGG game that I sold after 10 plays. Still gonna like and comment on this video though and watch it through.

[@WonderfulPlays]

I've seen some more hyped ones myself. I tried race and gave up, then tried again and now I think it's brilliant, you just have to really invest into it :)

[@Sidnv]

There is also a fourth strategy you didn't mention. Big consume trade engine + card flow + settle big worlds and use Merchant World or Deficit Spending to discard excess cards for points. With trade bonuses, this can outscale pretty fast, but it is probably the strategy most dependent on certain combos. Merchant World tends to be most important for this strategy. But in the end, the most reliable strategy in the base game is Produce + Consume x2 engines. In game 2, I think Star Nomad actually goes quite well with Empath world. The point of Star Nomad is to get a big settle trade in early, the +2 to trade is the stronger part of the world. But the other world is also fine, it has a nice consume power.

[@WonderfulPlays]

Thanks I haven't seen that executed quite yet. And you are totally right about Star Nomad. Next video is going to feature my currrent favorite expansion Alien Artifacts without Orb. What is your favorite combination?

[@Sidnv]

@@WonderfulPlays I've actually never played that expansion. Is it available on BGA? I usually use the app and haven't updated it in a while. My normal game mode is either Base + Gathering Storm + RvI always, sometimes with goals, sometimes with Brink of War depending on how much I like or hate prestige at the time. Prestige is a bit swingy, but I love the search feature. Probably Base + first two expansions is the best for strategic diversity. Military is strong, dev discounts are strong, consume x produce is strong. The third expansion then adds in prestige engines, which are really strong if you have the good ones. I think Military is the biggest buffed from the expansions though. It's very speculative to do hard military pushes in the base game. You can do soft military, where you get to 2 and use it for early card flow via windfall trades, and then pivot into consume engines. But with Improved Logistics and Terraforming Guild and the addition of more high point military worlds, the full in military rush can do quite well. You can end the game so unbelievable fast with good scoring worlds that engines can't keep up. One comment I'd make, I think you undervalue explore a little. Explore has 2 purposes. The first is it gives card flow before the build phases (develop + settle), so it's important to know when an opponent will call those and sometimes pre-emptively explore to not miss those. Missing multiple build phases, especially settles, can be death. The second is deep explore: it has a lot of value in pruning your strategy, since a lot of strategy is best built around key cards. This matters less in base game tbh, aside from Consumer Markets, Diversifier Economy and Galactic Federation, there aren't any really huge key cards, and generic consume engines do well, but it matters more as the deck gets more diluted. Looking forward to learning about Alien Artifacts. I think people generally don't seem to like Orb, but I'm still curious.

[@WonderfulPlays]

Yes it's available on BGA I really recommend it. I haven't dived into prestige too much yet.

[@Hieronymus-Pseudonymous]

8:37 Prioritize using up the goods on production worlds - otherwise, you can lose out on goods if the other player triggers Produce. Note that playing Mining Conglomerate first here would've let you consume the last good, too.

[@anonvideo738]

Ive only played it a couple of times with 4 players. The green of gene worlds and the brown of rare earths worlds is almost impossible to tell apart if youre colorblind and i have to guess from the planet name which one is which. Also winning with a 6 dev card that compliments your strategy can feel really rough. With more than 2 players its also harder to guess what another player is doing since its harder to keep track of what they are playing for. so often if you take a gamble and hope they play the phase you want you end up getting hurt.

[@WonderfulPlays]

I think 2 Player Advanced Variant (ironic name) is the way to go at the start, you have the most control and it's easier to form a coherent strategy. As for colorblindess with 2nd edition they introduced. They have dots around them to tell apart, there is a screenshot in this thread: boardgamegeek.com/thread/1969022/2018-designer-talk# There is a lot of randomness in this game for sure, from what I've seen to players can't get past 70% winrate when playing other top players, but that's the same in magic/hearthstone/7 wonders and other card games. I like the unique puzzle with each game.

[@Hieronymus-Pseudonymous]

8:31 No, it's just the site telling you that your time has run out.