Tips & Strategies (7)

Add your own Tips, Strategies, & House Rules! Vote for tips that you think are useful.

Tips & Strategies (7)

Filter by: Order by:
Gamer Avatar
10
Critic - Level 5
Professional Advisor
Expert Reviewer
Marquis / Marchioness
21 of 22 gamers found this helpful
“The "Maple" Shove - Hurt Your Opponents By Helping Them!”

There is a catch-up mechanic in Age of Steam. A player with a score between 10 and 19 will be moved back 2 on the score track at the end of the turn. 20 – 29 moves back 4, 30 – 39 moves back 6, and so on.

This means that when approaching a multiple of 10, you need to be careful not to take too many points. Ending your turn at 19 will result in your score going back to 17, while ending at 20 leaves you on 16.

While you generally want to avoid this situation yourself, you can be on the lookout for opportunities to force your opponents into this situation. Due to the prevalence of this maneuver being performed by a number of Canadians in our Age of Steam games, this action has come to be referred to as the “Maple Shove”.

When delivering, if you use another player’s track, they gain a point for each link you use. You can often set up a delivery to give you enough points to get to 19/29/39… while giving a point to an opponent to “shove” them to a multiple of 10. In general, your opponents aren’t expecting opponents to give them points, so they set their turn up to end on 19/29/39… leaving themselves open to the “Maple Shove”.

As many Age of Steam games end with only a few points separating the top finishers, every point you can save while pushing your opponent back may be the difference at the end of the game.

Gamer Avatar
10
Critic - Level 5
Professional Advisor
Expert Reviewer
Marquis / Marchioness
19 of 20 gamers found this helpful
“Urbanization - You Can Help Yourself While Hurting Opponents”

Urbanization is often a role taken by one of the people earliest in turn order. It can add another city to your network, become a spawning ground for additional cubes, and help reduce track building needs. For these reasons, Urbanization is often viewed from the standpoint of how it can help you.

While this is certainly true, Urbanization can also be used as a weapon, especially late in the game to not only help out your network, but poison an opponent’s.

When you take Urbanization, you get to choose the color of the city (from the available selection). As games move on, players will start building longer routes capable of giving big points. Maximizing points often includes going through towns, which can’t be delivered to, but give points for passing through them. If an opponent has long deliveries set up that go through a town, Urbanizing that town to the color of the cube that will be passing through it will limit the points for that player’s delivery.

Additionaly, Urbanizing a town late in the game can decrease points for end of game track building bonus. All of the track within the hex (entering/exiting) the town will count towards points at the end of the game. Urbanizing that tile will eliminate all track in that hex.

When selecting that Urbanization action, keep in the mind both the benefits to you, and how you may impact your opponents. Along with this, keep an eye out for places where opponents can do the same to you. If a single Urbanization can greatly impact your end-game deliveries, you may have to work to take that action yourself, or be sure there are no Urbanization cities of the color that will hurt you left for an opponent to choose.

Gamer Avatar
10
Critic - Level 5
Professional Advisor
Expert Reviewer
Marquis / Marchioness
17 of 18 gamers found this helpful
“Late in the game - do you really need that locomotive upgrade?”

Bigger locomotives give more flexibility, and the option of making the longest deliveries. It’s generally advantageous to increase your locomotive size to plan for the future.

A trap I see a number of players fall into is spending a delivery action to upgrade their train late in the game when it isn’t necessary, costing them points. Usually the place to watch for this is the final 2 turns (last 4 possible delivery actions).

Imagine you have a locomotive size of 5 going into the last two turns, and are not able to get the Locomotive Role. You have a cross-linked network and a number of cube options (this doesn’t happen often, so take a second to enjoy it!) You see that you have the opportunity to deliver cubes for either 5 or 6, but with a locomotive of 5, you’ll need to upgrade to get those 6 moves.

This is where you need to ask yourself, does it really make sense to upgrade to a 6 locomotive? Sure, you can grab a few more points, but this is at the cost of a delivery as you must use that delivery action to upgrade your train.

One upgrade and 3 moves of 6 links are 18 points, while 4 moves of 5 links are 20 points. Or, perhaps you can get 3 moves of 5 and 1 smaller move of 3 – which are still the same 18 points (this ignores the extra income needed to pay for the larger train at the end of the second to last round).

This is compounded the closer to the end of the game you upgrade your train. If you set your sights on a 6 move in the last turn, but need to upgrade your locomotive to do it, make sure there is no other way to get more points. Can that move of 6 be shortened by taking a different route, perhaps giving you 4 points for the same cube? Then, a small 3 point move with your last action will still net more points. Even a 5 link delivery and a small 2 are worth more points. Additionally, moving the cube for less on your first move action will ensure it can’t be moved by someone else while you wait for your turn to come around again.

There can be a feeling of pride and prestige to moving a cube the maximum length. Before going for this late in a game, make sure there are not less impressive options that could net you more points.

Gamer Avatar
10
Critic - Level 5
Professional Advisor
Expert Reviewer
Marquis / Marchioness
23 of 25 gamers found this helpful
“3rd Ed. (FRED) Rulebook Problem - Top 2 Bidders Pay Full Price”

For those that are learning the rules to Age of Steam from the rulebook included in the 3rd Edition (FRED) – which has the plastic trains – there is an omission from the rulebook that can change the game a good deal.

When bidding for turn order, the two final people in the bidding auciton pay their full bid.

The rules are written such that that the person that gets second will only pay half of their bid. The line stating they pay their full bid was omitted.

While it may not sound like a big change, it can have a major impact on how people bid, which is itself a major part of the game. When both top players pay their full bid, the auction becomes more interesting (and intense for those bidding). Often, both people are bidding for the same role, making winning the bid even more important, and losing an even great blow.

If you have this edition, make a note to add this rule to your rulebook!

Gamer Avatar
10
Critic - Level 5
Professional Advisor
Expert Reviewer
Marquis / Marchioness
21 of 24 gamers found this helpful
“Turn Order Pass - Don't Automatically Use it on Your Opening Bid”

Turn Order Pass is often left to the person that goes last in a round, but can be pay dividends on the following turn, allowing someone low on funds to jump ahead in turn order.

In many of the games I’ve played, the player with the Turn Order Pass will automatically use it the first time the bid comes around to them. This is not required, you are allowed to bid, and later use your Turn Order Pass (though bidding does risk not getting to use the power at all).

If people are dropping out quickly, or the bid is low, you can often gain one or more positions by making a low bid, and then passing in the second round when the bidding starts increasing. It’s not uncommon to gain one or two extra spots in turn order this way, for a very reasonable cost.

Keep an eye out for those times when you can surprise everyone and bid the first time around the table with your Turn Order Pass, and maximize its benefit!

Gamer Avatar
10
Critic - Level 5
Professional Advisor
Expert Reviewer
Marquis / Marchioness
16 of 18 gamers found this helpful
“Short term gains - long term planning”

Age of Steam is a tight, interactive game, with a lot of competition for spots on the board, and cubes. As player counts go up, the number of total rounds decreases to balance out the scarcity of material to deliver throughout a game. To be competitive, you need access to cubes that can be delivered throughout the game. Unfortunately, even the most efficient route builds early in the game will be devoid of cubes in the mid to late game as you deliver everything nearby.

Success in Age of Steam requires constantly looking to the future and anticipating where your future deliveries are going to come from, while still delivering one or two cubes each turn.

It is easy in Age of Steam to get caught in the trap of focusing only on your starting area. You can optimize each track placement and even block out the best paths to make opponents work to get to your cubes. This may get you deliveries of 3-4 points, but most games are won by the players that can setup 5-6 point deliveries in the last few turns.

Not only do you need to be watching for paths to longer deliveries, but you need to steadily increase your locomotive size. After a game or two it becomes apparent why so often the Locomotive Role is generally one of the first two roles taken in a turn, it saves a precious delivery action which would have been taken to upgrade that player’s train.

As your turns go on, look for opportunities to diversify your route (get different colors of cities). At times, there are even benefits to crosslinking your network, which can allow for the same general route to allow cubes of different colors to follow the same links in a different order for the same number of points. As opponents will often build around and through other player’s networks, it can often help to use one of their tracks to get a cube of a certain color past a matching city to allow you to deliver it deeper into your route.

You’ll also want to keep an eye on cubes that are on a city of a matching color. These will generally be harder to deliver, as they can’t return to their starting city. These will tend to require a more complex network, meaning they will sit undelivered for a number of turns, possibly allowing time to build towards a matching city. It’s also important to ensure that you don’t get completely boxed in by opponents who are looking to expand for the long term while you’re content to make 2-3 link deliveries while taking few shares and not increasing your network.

Every turn, you need to consider not only what build/deliver strategy will give the greatest gains for this specific turn, but what gives you flexibility and opportunities for the future. Always have a general idea of where your deliveries for the next two turns will likely come from. If you regularly find yourself without long moves in the late game, focus on building up your network earlier. It may look like you’re behind early, but multiple 5-6 link deliveries can close that gap quickly.

Gamer Avatar
10
Critic - Level 5
Professional Advisor
Expert Reviewer
Marquis / Marchioness
19 of 22 gamers found this helpful
“Moving Cubes You're Not Touching”

One rule in Age of Steam that differs from its cousin Railroad Tycoon is when delivering a cube in Age of Steam, you do not need to have the first movement be along your track.

While giving points to opponents for moving over their track is not generally desirable, pulling cubes over an opponent’s link to start the delivery can work very well in the mid to late game.

As players plan their deliveries for the next few turns, they will tend to watch for players that have links connected to the same cubes as themselves. Often, players will overlook possible moves by an opponent that doesn’t connect directly to a city with cubes. Not only can you get a decent mid-sized move (often 3 or 4 points) by pulling a cube along another player’s route to get to yours, you’re stealing a cube they were counting on. The 1 or 2 points you give them is made up for by the 4-6 points they were likely going to earn from that cube by delivering it themselves.

Especially with larger player counts, every cube becomes important due to scarcity. If you have the choice to move a cube that is solely in your own route, or grab a cube that requires a move along another player’s route, you’ll often be better stealing the opponent’s cube, and moving yours later. Of course, you need to be on the lookout for opponents trying the same to you. Before believing your cubes are safe, look one or two cities away to make sure another player won’t be grabbing your well designed future moves.

Add your own Tip, Strategy, or House Rule

You must be to add a comment.

× Visit Your Profile