2.6 KiB
Strategy
Some of these tips are simulated: computer players played the same maps with and without the idea, many times.
Where to put the castle
Your castle decides the shape of your whole realm. Simulated on 200 maps of the full game: after the castle, the same computer player finished every game.
| Castle placed … | Gold | Lands | Stars |
|---|---|---|---|
| where it claims the most cells | 65.0 | 8.91 | 1.89 |
| as close to the centre as possible | 58.5 | 8.78 | 1.65 |
| where it earns the most gold right now | 56.5 | 8.55 | 1.70 |
| as close to the edge as possible | 49.5 | 7.69 | 1.34 |
Look for open lines, not for the first gold. A castle whose four lines run long (no lakes, few mountains in the way) touches many lands at once, and every touched land is a place where farmers and knights can start.
Farmers at the edge
Farmers are free, but every farmer blocks the eight cells around it. Put them where their ring covers cells you would never use anyway: along land borders, next to lakes, against the board edge. Keep the open pasture inside a land for the next pieces.
Knights pay for themselves
A knight costs 10 and earns double: 10 on pasture, 14 in a land with a lake, 40 on a treasure. On lake pasture it is in profit the moment it lands; on a treasure it nets 30. Under Costly knights only treasures and lake pasture are worth it; under In the king's pay knights are your best piece almost everywhere.
Bishops open doors
Use a bishop when a land you want is not connected to your domain yet: its diagonals cross borders, and from its claim farmers can start in the new land. It is also the cheapest way into the moor for herbs.
Treasures first
Before every move, look at which cells the new claim would cover. A claimed treasure is lost. Take treasures before you claim around them.
The land star
Half of a land is enough. Count before you place: a farmer that brings a land from 4 of 9 to 5 of 9 is worth a whole land; a farmer deep inside a land you already rule only adds gold. In the last moves, check every land that is one cell short.
The endgame
Gold counts at the end. A knight or bishop placed in your last moves costs gold that may not come back, and can lose the gold star. When no remaining move earns gold, press End game and keep what you have.
Got a trick that works? Share it in the comments of the daily post (without spoiling the map for others).
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