I’ve recently become addicted to this wonderful railroad-building computer game, which I surmise is based on a popular board game that I’ve never heard of before. I’ve seen this game discussed here on the SDMB a few times, so hopefully you guys can help me (other forums I’ve checked appear to be inactive, or filled with trolls and spammers, or both.)
In a nutshell…my online play sucks. I can beat the game in solo mode quite handily, but against human players is a different story entirely. Even though I routinely score much higher than in solo play (since the games don’t end as quickly) I haven’t been able to finish any higher than 3rd or 4th place, sometimes 2nd place if I get lucky. I’ve observed a few public games but haven’t really been able to discern any winning strategies, aside from building a long coast-to-coast line and then start drawing several destination tickets to find ones that are already completed or can easily be linked up with short spurs.
The pesky humans even seem to have a sixth sense about what I’m planning to do next – one player suddenly ended the game when I was just ONE TURN AWAY from connecting three big tickets to Los Angeles. (Cost me sixty points, that one did!)
So, my fellow Dopers…what are your winning strategies in online play?
Also, how are scores/rankings calculated? My “score” has been in the low 1200’s since I started playing, and hasn’t seem to change much at all no matter how well (or badly) I do.
For the US map, you can get lots of points just doing long routes (5 or 6 trains) and not worry a lot about tickets (this is pre 1910 expansion - not sure which is online)
Expert players probably have all the possible tickets memorized. They may even place trains that don’t directly help them, but deny others at choke points.
Typically you are better off collecting cards and then claim a series of routes rather than collect /claim, collect / claim, etc
Part of it is luck of course - getting Seattle - LA, Duluth - NoLa, Boston - Miami as your starting tickets sucks.
I did observe one crazy player who did nothing but draw blindly from the deck, and laid down big long trains in random places whenever he had 5-6 cards of the same color. He only came in second place, though.
As for blocking, most of the games I’ve played have been pretty civil. Occasionally, I’ll stumble into a game where every move I make is blocked by an opponent for no apparent reason except to be a giant dick. :mad: (One of them was even a bot!)
Thanks for the links…very informative and helpful!!!
Though I wouldn’t want to put down a 5 unless I needed that route for something related to routes. With 6 trains you get 15 points, with 5 I think you only get 10 (It’s been a while since i’ve played). That’s 5 more points for one train!
The BoardGameGeek articles lay out the general strategies fairly well.
Early on, draw from the deck, especially to try to stockpile locomotives.
Avoid playing routes too early. Amass cards. Lay down early routes only if they are long routes or routes you need, and you strongly suspect that other players are collecting the same color to lay the same route (because they are specifically taking face-up cards of a color).
The general game flow should be:
A. Amass cards mostly from the deck, taking face-up cards if necessary. Amassing hand sizes of 25-30 cards is not particularly unusual.
B… Lay down long/critical routes, using up about 1/2 of your supply.
C. Amass cards, drawing from the deck if you have few cards, taking face-up cards to supplement your hand if you already have many cards. Try to supplement your existing hand to minimize the number of leftover cards you have at game-end.
D. Lay down routes to use up your remaining supply.
The longer you can avoid giving your opponents information on what routes you’re trying to claim, what color cards you are collecting, and how many locomotives you have, the better. Collect face-up cards and lay routes only when necessary, when you are competing with others for a route or there is a risk of having leftover supply at game-end.
The only problem I see with 6-train routes is that they’re all way out in the boondocks. Something I’ve noticed that online players will do (especially in the 1910 Mega expansion, the one where you start with 3-5 destination tickets instead of 2-3) is once they have just a few trains left, they will start drawing lots and lots new tickets to hopefully find one that’s already connected. It’s a great high-scoring strategy if you have a lot of big cities hooked up, like LA-Chicago-NYC. But while the 6-train routes like Seattle-Toronto or LA-Miami will earn you tons of track points, don’t they seem pretty horrible for making future connections?
Along those lines, is it wise to hook up cities that you don’t have tickets for yet? Sometimes if I have something like Seattle-NYC, I’ll continue on to Vancouver or Boston with the hope of drawing tickets for it later. It rarely seems to pay off, though.
This is the part I don’t quite get. Are you saying it’s better to draw from the deck even if there are face up colors that I need? Usually I’ll only draw from the deck if none of the available cards are immediately useful, or if I really need a color that isn’t showing. Sometimes I’ll pick up a matching pair from the face up cards even if I don’t need them right away, in case I need them later or to use them for grey connections (red cards seem especially suited for this purpose.) More often than not, drawing from the deck seems to earn me a bunch of crappy cards I can’t immediately use…on the other hand, drawing four locomotives in a row is always nice.
It does seem like my game has improved by not placing any routes early. But man, doesn’t it get tense when someone connects NYC-Boston or Seattle-Vancouver early and I have to bite my tongue to NOT respond in kind!
Drawing from the deck is always the better decision in the early part of the game, well into the latter stages. Tipping off what colors you need should be avoided, and you want to get those locomotives. There aren’t that many hands where you’ll be drawing cards you don’t need.
Van-Sea should be secured if someone else plays there and you need it. That’s a 7-train penalty if you don’t (AND if Van-Cal + Sea-Cal is available). I also secure Hou-NO or Nash-Atl if I need it - it’s a long way around if you miss them.
I think this is why I prefer the the Europe map to the US one. The potential for being utterly screwed on the first turn is pretty much non-existent on the Europe map.
But how can anyone tell exactly which routes you’re drawing cards for, if you haven’t played any trains yet? True, if someone plays Seattle/Portland and starts drawing a bunch of greens & purples it’s pretty obvious what they’re doing – but if I draw a pair reds here, a pair of blues there, thinking long term about what I’ll need as well as possible backup routes, how does that telegraph anything?
I do agree that locos are tricky to get if you don’t draw from the deck, though.
If I’ve learned anything playing online it’s to avoid the Deep South completely because EVERYONE builds routes there. Occasionally, I’ll troll players by playing Nash/ATL on the first turn even though I don’t need it, just to sit back & laugh as everyone desperately connects the southern cities while I slowly plan my route through Canada.
You should take face up cards if you need them, but be clear on what you strategically need. Some examples:
You have two reds in hand, two reds are face up, and you want to secure Dallas-El Paso soon. Take the two face-up reds, and claim the route soon after.
You have two reds in hand, two reds are face up, and you want to secure Helena-Omaha soon. If you have seen others collecting red cards face-up, take the two reds; red cards are being contested, whether it be for the route you want or for some other route. If you have not seen others take red cards, draw two off the deck. Wait until you have a third red in hand, then claim the two face-up reds if they are still available.
You have one red in hand, two reds are face up, and it’s the first round. Draw two off the deck.
You have zero red in hand, two reds are face up, and it’s the near the beginning of the game. Take two off the top. After drawing random for a few rounds, you’ll have a matching pair anyway.
Think of the game in two halves. In the first half, initially draw off the deck often. Once you’ve accumulated a fair number of cards, look at what colors you have the most of. Select face up cards to fill out your hand for the longer routes, and use the less-accumulated colors for the short grey routes. Lay down multiple routes. Repeat for the second half, taking into account that you may need to take more face up cards if the routes you want are hotly contested.
It telegraphs that you are collecting, or threatening to collect (if given the opportunity), a lot of red and blue. I’ll adjust my strategy by trying to avoid collecting red and blue. If I draw random and happen to get a lot of one of these colors, I’ll lay down my red/blue route earlier. Otherwise, I’ll won’t bother trying to collect much red/blue and will just use these colors for the short grey routes. If I see you’re all over the map (you take two red face up, then two blue face up, then two orange face up), I don’t have to worry as much about you taking some of the longer critical routes I may want because, on average, you’ll have a little bit of everything rather than a lot of one color.
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Something I’ve noticed that online players will do (especially in the 1910 Mega expansion, the one where you start with 3-5 destination tickets instead of 2-3) is once they have just a few trains left, they will start drawing lots and lots new tickets to hopefully find one that’s already connected.
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The counter strategy is to try to end the game by laying down routes before the opponent can complete the new destination ticket. If he happens to draw a destination ticket for a route that he has already completed, well, luck was on his side. While you want to lay down routes only when necessary, you do need to keep pace with the lead route-layer. Ideally, you’d like to control the pace of the game by having the fewest number of trains remaining in your supply, but this often is in conflict with trying to keep your intentions ambiguous.
So card-counting is important? I don’t often pay attention to what the other players are doing (as far as drawing cards goes, that is) – is that a mistake?
I’m still puzzled by the “draw random cards early” strategy, though. I did experiment in one game by always drawing randomly, even if there were some face up cards that I needed, and it wound up a complete mess. I did amass quite a few locos, though – in fact I ended up using five locos on a six-color route that I was in danger of losing – but I still got my butt handed to me, even worse than usual.
Also, I’m still baffled by how the online score system works? My “score” seems to fluctuate randomly no matter how well or badly I do, in fact I recently won three games in a row and it didn’t move at all…?
Yes, it’s a mistake if you do not pay attention to what others are collecting and doing. It sounds like you do at least some of this though, if you are noticing larger issues like your 6-train route being in jeopardy.
You don’t draw random always; as you found out, you’ll wind up with a mess. You draw random initially (say, for 8-10 turns). What you receive during these draws guides your strategy. If you amass a lot of a certain color, you take face-up cards to supplement this color to lay down longer routes. Use the colors you didn’t collect much of to lay the shorter routes. Factor in what others are collecting in your decisions. For example, if you have four red after drawing random for awhile, but others are also collecting red, you could try to race others in taking reds. But if there are certain other colors players are ignoring, it may be a better strategy to be happy with your four reds and use them for two short grey routes, or one of the 4-card red routes; then, take the colors others aren’t. All the while, you are hoping to amass locomotives in your random draws.
In the early game, you do not plan your route strategy and then try to pick up cards to fulfill that strategy. You take a bunch of random cards, and allow those initial draws to guide your route laying strategy. Then, you supplement your initial random hand with face-up cards to execute your strategy. Keep your strategy as fluid and flexible as possible. The more hotly-contested the routes and colors you need, the sooner you have to switch from pure random draws to a draw strategy that includes face-up cards.
Thanks for the advice. After a bunch of games this weekend I’m starting to get a handle on the face-up/face-down strategy. Still don’t possess the brain power yet to keep track of what everyone else is drawing, but after watching close how others react to my draws it’s obvious they are definitely paying attention. So now I always keep in mind that whenever I draw cards or place down trains, the more skilled players probably know exactly what my plan is.
Always have a backup plan, yes.
BTW, I won my first game this morning! Against some high-ranked players, no less. Probably got lucky, but I did start with a very strong opening hand that I was able to connect without getting blocked.
I might be playing wrong. I was under the impression that when you draw tickets you have to keep at least one of them. I don’t see how drawing lots and lots of new tickets would be helpful, especially if you only have a few trains left and the game could end very soon without connecting these new tickets. I’ve never tried to do this myself, so I don’t really know.
It’s a lot more effective in the Mega Cities expansion, which has a lot more varied routes and you draw 4 cards but only must pick one. It’s great if you draw a huge coast-to-coast route that’s already connected, but you can really go down in flames with a bad draw. All the experienced players do it, though I suspect they have a much better idea of the risk vs. reward than noobs like myself…
Revealing which color you’re drawing obviously telegraphs some information – however, the usefulness of that information varies with circumstances. Sometimes it’s obvious (the Seattle/Portland - green/purple example), sometimes it’s only a hint (but even that can be damaging – revealing that you’re going for a certain route color can cause an opponent to step up his plans to claim a route of that color, and if you’re unlucky it’ll be the one you need). The risk is less if you’re going for a grey route and just need a bunch of cards all the same color without caring which color.
