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Tips & Strategies (4)

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4
Eminent Domain Fan
Went to GenCon 2011
BoardGaming.com Beta 1.0 Tester
40 of 40 gamers found this helpful
“Go West, Young Man!”

While the game feels like a typical Settlers game, a point of emphasis is that, unlike Settlers, there is NO scoring in Trails to Rails. You win if you deliver all your goods first. Period. And you can only deliver goods as fast as you develop new settlements (which free up more of your goods to be delivered). Don’t get stuck in the end game with goods trapped off the board because you have not built enough settlements. Being very aggressive in the western expansion of your territories will go far to alleviate any such problems (and benefits you in other ways as well). Don’t let your opponents make it too expensive for you to expand west by grabbing all the settlements within “two wheats” (what you pay to move your settler wagon) of your nearest town.

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10
Canada
Sentinels of the Multiverse fan
Plaid Hat Games fan
Platinum Supporter
56 of 57 gamers found this helpful
“Settlement Then Development”

Do not buy development cards early on, as they rarely help at this stage.
Keep them in mind for the mid-game when you have surplus resources. It is often wise to trade surplus cards with the bank for one you need just in case you roll a seven and have to give half back.

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3
Advanced Grader
BoardGaming.com Beta 1.0 Tester
Amateur Reviewer
40 of 41 gamers found this helpful
“Go to eastern (and perhaps southern) coastal cities, but near the end”

First off, I agree with Fez’s tip. Westward expansion is definitely where it is at. But, at the game advances and everyone is moving west, there are there are some typically some neglected cities on the east and southern coasts. I often use these as a quick settlement of two in the endgame to free up those last couple of goods and to pick up a few easy gold pieces. Most players will not have the infrastructure in place to capitalize on your new settlements. Don’t do this too soon though since of course those cities will produce fewer goods as a result of the number tokens moving.

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9
Gamer - Level 9
Lookout
Explorer - Level 6
Guardian Angel
41 of 44 gamers found this helpful
“Did I or didn't I?”

On your turn after rolling for and collecting resources, but before we do anything else- we ask that players set aside four gold from the rest, if any, of their money. Since you are only allowed to buy 2 resources per turn, this let’s them avoid the confusion of accidentally trying to overbuy resources during the turn. This also helps avoid the issue of people wanting to take back moves because they realize they misfigured something.

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