Thanks for setting up the challenge, I haven't played this in a while. That said, I think I will try the challenge again but differently.
I have played this quite a bit, and 70% of the games solo on iPad.
Blind Score [o]330. (158 Francs, 132 Buildings, 40 Ships) [/o]
Strategy [o] Basically my people don't eat much during the game-they just work. I always seem to revert to the heavy loan strategy since the iPad allows it. I had up to 10 loans at the beginning of round 5 then paid them off with one big steel/cattle shipment. I tend to start the first round with taking the Franc offer when it hits 3, then BUYING the Construction Firm(5+3=8) and maximize the 2 builds there throughout the game. It worked good this time cause there were no buildings for the town to build in Round 6, plus it gets me the hammer I need to get lots of clay and coal.(Side note: I always plan to BUY the Clay Mound) Mid game when the Marketplace looses it appeal, I start to sell off buildings if it works out for me to BUY a ship. Yeah, I know buildings only sell for half their value and ships are overpriced but it is still worth it overall. Sucky part is I didn't use any of the special buildings which I think add a lot of different flavour/theme to the game and that was probably the intention. I gotta start playing differently and implement the 2 franc interest instead of one. [/o]
I have played this quite a bit, and 70% of the games solo on iPad.
Blind Score [o]330. (158 Francs, 132 Buildings, 40 Ships) [/o]
Strategy [o] Basically my people don't eat much during the game-they just work. I always seem to revert to the heavy loan strategy since the iPad allows it. I had up to 10 loans at the beginning of round 5 then paid them off with one big steel/cattle shipment. I tend to start the first round with taking the Franc offer when it hits 3, then BUYING the Construction Firm(5+3=8) and maximize the 2 builds there throughout the game. It worked good this time cause there were no buildings for the town to build in Round 6, plus it gets me the hammer I need to get lots of clay and coal.(Side note: I always plan to BUY the Clay Mound) Mid game when the Marketplace looses it appeal, I start to sell off buildings if it works out for me to BUY a ship. Yeah, I know buildings only sell for half their value and ships are overpriced but it is still worth it overall. Sucky part is I didn't use any of the special buildings which I think add a lot of different flavour/theme to the game and that was probably the intention. I gotta start playing differently and implement the 2 franc interest instead of one. [/o]