we're in just as much debt as you, ma'am. these aqueducts or whatever aren't building themselves
the only two certainties of a tax board are debt and taxes. well, i mean, people don't always buy tax. it seems kinda situational actually. the big scenario i imagine playing out with tax is, bottom of the ninth, the wharf-and-treasure-cards guy has two provinces left to add to her armada. my fairgrounds are worth 8 points but i don't actually have any of them yet. i can produce like 20 dollars each turn but that's not really gonna cut it, the game's over too fast. so, just tax province ten times and thus, enough time is bought. although, perhaps the reason that i was so far behind, in spite of there being a wharf and presumably some sort of village, is that i decided to do fairgrounds on a tax board. i mean, both she and i knew i was gonna do it regardless but still. i end up taking something like 20 debt to get all those different uniques and that's a bummer.
so, it seems like the bottom half is a bummer in general for engines (or, even more in general, for folks who want to buy a bunch of different cards) whereas the top half is neato for them. it is also incidentally good for the second player. it also makes opening two of a certain $3 more appealing (silver/silver ofc, but also stewards, swindlers, even masquerades and the like in situations where you'd usually rather not) and it likes spammy engine components like hunting party and maybe border village or something. ostensibly that sort of thing would get countered by the top half of tax, but you can always just buy a different thing and some portion of that tax will go to waste (you pay for 2 debt but the opponent only takes one for the alternative she picked up).
-do you agree with my assessments of the two things that tax does?
-what's the most satisfying use of the top half that you have executed/can think of?
-how often does it go on province? is there some reason that it would happen more or less than embargo?