Think we can discuss strategy after this? Since I'm done and I can't really affect anyone anyway, I will just go.
I can't remember all I wanted to do at the start of the game. I know I wanted to use Braggart at the end but I hadn't really planned on getting both of the ovens. I know I wanted a Fireplace or a Hearth because they're just so dang useful and they're good for Braggart. After JR got the early Fireplace I decided to just go straight for a Hearth instead. It worked out pretty well for me; at least twice I took down a bunch of food by grabbing and immediately slaughtering 3 sheep or 2 boar or something.
I figured Axe and Clay Roof were a strong combination. I feel like I did not leverage it as well as I could have. I probably could have set up better to make my first Build Room action a double room, especially since the early single room wasn't even useful -- I was blocked from the early FG I was aiming for. And then I think it was a mistake for me to build a fifth room at the end; I just really wanted to do a double room action to get the most out of my Axe. I think it was a mistake because we were really close to having FG w/o room available, and it also made it that much more difficult for me to acquire the resources to renovate. If I had left it at just 4 rooms, I think I could have finagled my actions to secure the Well, at least one Oven, and probably the Joinery or something. I was definitely kicking myself when I was finding myself constantly 1 resource short for my plans.
I do wonder if I would have been better off setting up some different things. In particular, I only made use of Potato Dribber once in this game. However, I also had Land Agent to get me an early Vegetable. Might it have been good for me to set that up earlier? But if I did, I wouldn't have been able to get the Hearth and have early babies.
My other occupations really were terrible. I had Maid (1 food per round after I renovate to Clay), Plough Driver (when I have a Stone house, once per round pay 1 food to plow), Master Shepherd (get 3 sheep over next 3 rounds), Quarryman (convert any amount of Stone to 2 food each), Potter (once per Harvest convert 1 Clay to 2 food). Maid seemed OK except it completely conflicted with Axe. mjb would have loved this one, surely. Plough Driver seemed similarly bad; I was not going to renovate so early. I wanted to play Shepherd but there was never a good time -- I didn't have room to hold more animals and I was too busy doing other things to make room; if I could have just used it for food but every time I needed to I was able to just take animals immediately from the board, which was much better because I got them right away, I didn't have to pay food to get the occ out, and it meant I wasn't leaving the animals for others. Quarryman and Potter both seemed like a waste of good resources.
The last two Minor Improvements in my hand are Helpful Neighbours and Animal Pen. I really wanted Animal Pen -- one more MI for Braggart, worth 1VP on its own, and 2 food every round! But it requires 4 occupations, and that just wasn't going to happen. Land Agent seemed decent (and I played it so that I could get Clay Roof out) but I wanted to leave Braggart until late... other than that, I could have maybe justified Shepherd. There was no way I was going to have 4 out early enough for Animal Pen to be worth it. Helpful Neighbours wasn't useful for Braggart and for most of the game I actually needed the Wood/Clay in its cost more than the Stone/Reed it would grant me.
Maybe I should have tried to get Private Forest out early. I underestimated how hard it was to get sufficient wood for rooms and fences. And maybe I should have skipped the early Stable and just saved for Fences; the first Stable wasn't useful at all.
There are probably also a few places where I made a judgement error in what other people were going to do. Like, maybe I took a space with my first action that nobody would have taken and I would have been able to grab it late anyway. I could certainly have left Braggart until this last round (though I think by the time I played Braggard in the previous round, there were no useful action spaces left anyway).
ahoppy, sorry for making you last player so often! Possibly that contributed to your rather low score... what was your plan going in?
JR, why didn't you get your massive baking combo going earlier? Seems to me that Fireplace/Hearth was not all that useful for you and you should have aimed for a nice Oven.
mjb, I don't even understand what you did.
From what I can recall, Watno just did baking and fencing and it all worked.
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Topic: Agricola III (Read 38254 times)