by mdp4828
StormKnight wrote:
I think you should try it over the board...play a 4 player game and never skip spots...don't tell the others what you are doing...I bet you don't win or even come close.
This, of course, would be a good outcome. Marshall's assertion is that the points from the spaces are so well balanced that never skipping will be just as good. :)
I don't have to try it. It was done against me during my second game at BGG.con. The player who skipped exactly 1 spot the entire game ran away with it and killed us. I strategically skipped spots to be the first to complete the large panorama (the most points efficient of the panoramas) to get souvenirs (another efficient points engine if you get a full set), and to utilize my character ability which was tied to encounters. I got creamed.
The winning player didn't miss any meals either. Won the temple, and won her share of 3-point bonuses (though not for the large panorama. I got that one by god).
The second place player did miss a meal, but was still able to beat me by skipping fewer spots.
You definitely won't run out of money by never skipping spots, instead you be the moneyingest player of them all! Farms are often skipped precisely because they give you zero points. Therefore, if you're not a spot skipper you get a crack at farms for free! Then you get more spots to spend that money on!
You'll also get your share of 3 point bonuses by not skipping spots simply because you're going to have more hot baths and possibly encounters and souvenirs.
There's nothing worse than when I skipped a couple of spots to get an encounter (because I got a special bonus from my character) and had to watch the eventual winner stop at a farm then at a temple chucking in 3 coins and easily beating my for the endgame temple points. I didn't have the money to stop at the temple (because I didn't want to stop at farms), I could have stopped at the farm but then I would have lost temple AND the encounter spots and had to either go to the inn, or stop a panorama that I wasn't collecting (because I wasn't stopping at every panorama spot.... unlike some players).
Skipping spots is punished brutally in the game. Of course, not skipping spots sucks too if everyone else isn't skipping spots, because whatever random spot is available next on your turn probably isn't the one you wished you had available. So, that's kind of why the game sucks overall unless you're the player not skipping spots and others are, in which case you're having a fantastic time sweeping up farms, hot springs, panoramas, every damn thing.