Castles really bothers me. Everyone says it's a strategy on its own to go for them. How do you play Castles? What's the best optimal board for Castles? Engine player or Big Money for Castles? Couldn't the engine player just take Castles to deny the Castles player who is just going for them? Castles are expensive as all heck, so it's clear that it's not great for Big Money to get them? Castles is an engine card then? But Castles junk up the Engine, and it doesn't end the game when you go for them, and they're still expensive I don't know, Castles seems incredibly weak to me so far.
It would have been cool for the game to just end when the Castles cards are emptied, I think. It would have been interesting, and led to different decisions in game play. Naturally, you'd have to 'rebalance' Castles a tad, but it would make 'going for Castles' make a lot more sense, right? Castles would be worth more in the long long run, but if you can 'rush' Provinces, you could beat the Castles player, who has to buy all of those more expensive cards first, and empty that himself as well. Maybe Castle cards even have a clause that if you gained a Province, you cannot buy a Castles card. I think that would have been an interesting idea as well. But those are just some thoughts not related to my original question.