Dominion Strategy Forum
Archive => Archive => Power Grid General Discussion => Topic started by: philosophyguy on June 05, 2013, 10:58:15 am
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This is a survey-type question rather than a strategy question. My group doesn't have a ton of experience with Power Grid, and so we're not sure if the way we're playing is typical or not.
Leaving aside endgame bidding in which winning a specific plant decides the game, how much are contested plants typically bid up? Is it unusual during a game to see a plant go for 10 more than its face price, or would you be shocked to see a game where plants aren't regularly bid up at least that much?
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A lot of it depends on the state of the game. Obviously, if there's only one 'good' plant and the rest of the market is crap, that plant will get bid up more than if there are multiple, approximately equal plants.
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Step 1: $0-25 above market price, median of the interesting case I think you want is $10
Step 2: $0-40, median $20-25
Step 3: $0-100, median $50-60
The interesting case is what I think you're referring to, where a plant is very beneficial for more than one player and you see a "bidding war", right?
In this case, I usually decide how many cities I need to not completely tank my board position that round (usually zero), generate a pessimistic estimate for the cost of those and the resources I would buy if I won this plant, and subtract that from my total money. I'm never afraid to pay what I need to to get a plant I want. Sometimes I'll add in a fudge factor based on what the odds are that another good plant will drop after this one is sold.
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It also depends on how much cash everyone has. If there has been a Step 2 stall and everyone is flush with cash, you can expect the good plants to be bid up higher.
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I generally look at each plant individually as it's being bid upon. Any plant I buy is going to put me negative by $X, but ideally will recoup those losses at a rate of $Y / turn (I tend to look at lowest value of Y - highest resource cost). I run that through my mind against what the rate of return on other plants available might be. At that point it's just a matter of how big I'm willing to let X get in comparison to my rate of return.
Of course, knowing what the minimum you must keep in hand for resources is a limiting factor, especially early. And then obviously knowing when and how to set yourself up to go last can drastically reduce what you (individually) overpay.
I don't know that I could give an average value though. Game state changes drastically from one play to another, and sometimes $0 is the right amount, while other times $75 is (highest I've upbid a plant was $145, since it was the last 6 on the table of a 5 player game, and my biggest opponent needed it to match my production output)
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On the maximum I've ever seen paid for a plant and it was a good move:
It's $133. It was clear this was the last turn of the game, and the 38 Plant was up for bid (3 Garbage -> 7 Cities). If I got this plant, I'd be able to power one more than anyone else could that turn, no matter what. I was in last so I could budget perfectly. When this plant got around to me, I figured out what I'd need and I immediately bid the rest ($133) on "That Plant;" it was a fight for second place from that point.
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here's a fantastic post on BGG about this, from a very experienced online player:
http://boardgamegeek.com/article/12411264#12411264
caveat: in case anyone doesn't know, the only maps available online are USA/germany/france/italy/baden-wurttemberg, and USA is by far the most widely-played
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That post amuses me a bit, as in the current forum PG happening, we bid the 32 up to 47... but I got the 20 at face value thanks to when it came out...
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the one that i think would be most interesting to discuss on this site would be the 21, given how down this blog is on the 4-caps. heck, i'm tempted to make a separate thread just for that one plant - it really highlights a lot of the main areas where my friend and i disagree with some of the conclusions of this blog.
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the one that i think would be most interesting to discuss on this site would be the 21, given how down this blog is on the 4-caps. heck, i'm tempted to make a separate thread just for that one plant - it really highlights a lot of the main areas where my friend and i disagree with some of the conclusions of this blog.
You should totally do this. I mean, I think the 4-capacity plants are pretty good for 5P and 6P games, but I play so few 6P games that it's hard to gauge that, and I already have some emotional issues with 5P games.