by Laeidz87
ryudoowaru wrote:
I think the benefit to her really outweighs the indirect benefit to her opponents:
1) Most of the time, she can get her meal for free. This saves coins for other money-dependent pursuits, reduces the necessity to stop at the farm, etc.
2) That card is there regardless of when she arrives at the Inn. Which means it's not as crucial for her to position herself to arrive at the Inn early, in order to ensure that she'll be able to afford something.
3) Players will be less likely to try to price you out of eating for the day, even if you arrive at the Inn with < 3 coins, because chances are you're going to be able to eat for free anyway. (This has the side benefit of further draining their purses.)
4) Anyone who arrives at the Inn before Satsuki gets no benefit from her ability, since they have the same number of cards to choose from.
5) Arriving last at the Inn means you get first choice of stops at the next day.
So, it seems to me that the best way to minimize her effect on others, in addition to maximizing the benefit for yourself is to be the last player into the Inn. Yes, you're still taking a chance of not being able to eat, but it's severely diminished by the likelihood that you can eat for free (especially in the first couple of Inns, when it's even less likely you'll draw a repeat card). By letting everyone else go ahead of you, you're negating the "extra choice" that they'd have because of the extra card that you'd leave there. And you get to be the first one out of the Inn on the next day!
1) Most of the time, she can get her meal for free. This saves coins for other money-dependent pursuits, reduces the necessity to stop at the farm, etc.
2) That card is there regardless of when she arrives at the Inn. Which means it's not as crucial for her to position herself to arrive at the Inn early, in order to ensure that she'll be able to afford something.
3) Players will be less likely to try to price you out of eating for the day, even if you arrive at the Inn with < 3 coins, because chances are you're going to be able to eat for free anyway. (This has the side benefit of further draining their purses.)
4) Anyone who arrives at the Inn before Satsuki gets no benefit from her ability, since they have the same number of cards to choose from.
5) Arriving last at the Inn means you get first choice of stops at the next day.
So, it seems to me that the best way to minimize her effect on others, in addition to maximizing the benefit for yourself is to be the last player into the Inn. Yes, you're still taking a chance of not being able to eat, but it's severely diminished by the likelihood that you can eat for free (especially in the first couple of Inns, when it's even less likely you'll draw a repeat card). By letting everyone else go ahead of you, you're negating the "extra choice" that they'd have because of the extra card that you'd leave there. And you get to be the first one out of the Inn on the next day!
Good points. However, I'd like to point out that if Satsuki takes the free meal, her order of arriving at the inn makes no difference at all to the other players' meal availability.
Take a 4-player game as an example (suppose she gets a free meal and everyone else buys one). If she arrives at the inn first, the other players will then have 5, 4, and 3 meals to choose from. If she arrives at the inn last, the other players will have 5, 4, and 3 meals to choose from. If she arrives at the inn in the middle, the other players will have 5, 4, and 3 meals to choose from. 😂