I recently got the game on the iPad and was LOVING it until I played my first online game against a real player. Needless to say, he slaughtered me by taking on a bunch of loans in the early game and focusing only on coal/coke shipping. Now, I am still a noob, but there are two things I dislike about this strategy: 1) it seems unthematic, and 2) it is sad when a boring, repetitive strategy offers so many advantages over more varied play. I prefer the struggle of balancing food with achieving your other goals, avoiding loans as much as possible, and playing with various combinations of buildings and effects.
Now, I know there are other strategies available, and will be happy to figure them out for myself. My question is whether there is a simple, balanced house rule that makes this strategy a little less dominant. I have looked through the Strategy and Variant forums and haven't found anything yet that people seemed happy with.
I would like to purchase a physical copy of the game, which I would mostly play solo or with my spouse, who definitely would not mind playing with any house rules in play--she would probably prefer that to spamming certain buildings over and over. I was thinking something along the lines of there being a limit to how many loans you can take while you still have buildings to sell--maybe you can only have a number of loans equal to the current round, then you have to start selling buildings before you can take more. Another idea is that even after paying off loans, they have a small but permanent negative effect on your final score. Finally, some sort of limit to shipping line -- maybe a maximum number of boats you can use to ship in a single action. Have you tried anything along these lines with success?
Now, I know there are other strategies available, and will be happy to figure them out for myself. My question is whether there is a simple, balanced house rule that makes this strategy a little less dominant. I have looked through the Strategy and Variant forums and haven't found anything yet that people seemed happy with.
I would like to purchase a physical copy of the game, which I would mostly play solo or with my spouse, who definitely would not mind playing with any house rules in play--she would probably prefer that to spamming certain buildings over and over. I was thinking something along the lines of there being a limit to how many loans you can take while you still have buildings to sell--maybe you can only have a number of loans equal to the current round, then you have to start selling buildings before you can take more. Another idea is that even after paying off loans, they have a small but permanent negative effect on your final score. Finally, some sort of limit to shipping line -- maybe a maximum number of boats you can use to ship in a single action. Have you tried anything along these lines with success?
