Top 5 Beginner Mistakes in Terraforming Mars

[@Ddboyz465]

Your videos are great. Maybe look into increasing your recording volume would be very helpful. Keep up the nice work

[@jaredgraymayne8031]

I just started playing the game and noticed a few of these items, but having you detail them really help me see what I'd been only just a bit aware of. The draft was the biggest one as I didn't understand the structure of the draw and how it interacted with the other players. Thank you very much.

[@marsexpert4276]

Thanks :) good luck in your games!

[@erawest4680]

A thought on the first tip you gave : The importance of cities is not to be undermined. Contrary to most of the cards, when you play with the board, it is not only a matter of how many points you get out of your decision but also how many points other players won't get out of your decision. Paying to put a city next to two trees will grant you 2 points + opportunities to place more trees but it will also instantly deny 2 points from an opponent. Now if you're playing with the based board and that Mayor objective is up for taking, playing cities ealy will also grant you the possibility to get 5 points and deny these same 5 points from another player thus creating an artificial gap of 10 points. It is also worth mentionning that strategically placing cities and being spread out over the board can also dissuade at least one opponent from playing the board and getting objectives/rewards. Thar being said the importance of the board also depends of the number of players which will determine the number of generations being played. If you play 4-5 players it may be worth to get mayor especially if you have cards helping you building cities and then focus on trees as fewer generations will be played.

[@marsexpert4276]

Of course cities also deny points, but a) cities are not free, so your opponent would need to pay for them. If you deny him a spot, he might play point cards that score just as well. And b) greeneries which I argue are a better investment most of the time also deny points through the oxygen that you get when placing them. That's why cities are great in a game where the oxygen moves up fast, but the heat lacks behind. The game goes on for longer, but greeneries lose in value dramatically, meaning that the alternative (placing cities) becomes better. And yes, cities are definitely better in higher player counts!

[@jeffreyculbert2093]

Cities are the least efficient mechanism of scoring points possible in the game. One of the most common and prolific blunders made by less experienced players is making a lot of cities early. Maybe the most common and most prolific (certainly in my opinion, hence why it’s one of the topics in my article series on fundamental basics for competitive play on BGG). Cities are for suckers. There is a time and a place to make them and that time and place is when they can score efficiently while securing excellent rebate adjacencies (great teleports when able to convert immediately after placing, bad basically any other time).

[@nogodfortomorrow]

Well done!! But there's for sure a sixth rule: DON'T BUY TOO MANY CARDS!! they give you the sense of an improved choice, but they will drain your money very quickly. Better choose and be more flexible, expecially in the Eataly game. 👀🤓😎

[@marsexpert4276]

Absolutely! I feel like really new players buy too many cards, resulting in not being able to play them all at the right time. Especially economy builder cards need to be played early to be worth it.

[@lordbebech]

After few games I find out all this strategies by myself. I think that is also worth to mention tip, especially in the last generation: count if the card is able at least to pay itself. Otherwise it's just waste of MC that you could use for something that would give you a points.

[@kimulvik4184]

I kind of disagree a little bit on your first point about cities. Getting down 3 cities in strategic position in the first generation, can severely limit where your opponents are able to put down greeneries. Due to the restriction that greeneries only can be placed next to tiles you own (if any), you may prevent your opponents from getting valuable placement bonuses, and they may eventually be forced to place their greeneries next to your cities. Additionally, you have already established places for greeneries of your own. However, this is only valid if you can get out the cities early!

[@marsexpert4276]

Getting down 3 cities is horrendously expensive though. Even if you want to establish yourself in the best areas of the map and prevent your opponet placing greeneries there, you can do that later. Establish a good economy first and then, when you have excess cash, place cities.

[@drmanhattan71]

just discovered your channel, really nice! good luck with your exams

[@peterleise7044]

Hey I`m Alios just wanted to tell u i really like ur videos about TM and it helped me alot to improve thank youspastfor the super nice videos :)

[@michaelkronenberg3712]

Thx for the content :)

[@BackgammonFinesse]

im kinda prefer at first stage learn by the text and whats your advice on that: any bgg forum thread? I will follow any advice. just want to learn.

[@marsexpert4276]

First of all, there's the TM subreddit where you can find two interesting series: 1. Starting hand of the week (www.reddit.com/r/TerraformingMarsGame/s/Py81Aae4Da) where the community discusses a starting setup and what they would pick. 2. Card of the day (www.reddit.com/r/TerraformingMarsGame/s/EV9sLkR7xo) where the community discusses the strength and usecases of single cards. Just keep in mind not to take everything as pure fact on the subreddit. Everyone can contribute no matter the skill level (but also don't take my word as fact, I'm not the best player in the World :D). And then, there's this series of articles on BGG, where someone dissected the cost of cards and got down to the specific costs of resources and points. It's really useful to judge the strength of cards. You can find it here: boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/72415/terraforming-mars-value-and-math-part-1-the-value I hope that helps!

[@pdv457]

My like just for mentioning steam draft order! I can never get it right

[@MrKato84]

What is a 1 plant worth? can't find a answer....

[@marsexpert4276]

If you want to calculate the implicated cost of something, you just take the most basic card that grants you that without any bonus effects or restrictions and there you have it. Then, you can still say "that feels too expensive", but the game clearly indicates that that is the price for it. For example heat prod: the most basic card that grants it is Micromills. It costs 3+3, so one heat prod should be worth 6MC. The community agreed that this is too high of a price for heat prod and therefore noone ever plays that card, but the game thinks it's fair. But anyways, there is no card that grants just one plant. So to calculate the indicated price of it is quite difficult...

[@Yakubix]

I have a question, can I play colonies and other expansions on the Steam version?

[@marsexpert4276]

The only expansions in the Steam version right now are Preludes and Hellas & Elysium. Another expansion will be released to the Steam version this spring tho.

[@denim6652]

Great video BUT the volume situation is absolute shite!

[@marsexpert4276]

Yeah, that was one of my first videos...I got a better mic and better recording software later down the line and now, the sound is loud and clear :D