Charterstone Chronicle, Game 3

So, after a rather disastrous game 2, game 3 went pretty well for me. Dani and I both continue to be hamstrung by the comparative worthlessness of the grain and lumber markets, but we both made strides this game in critical areas. However, until we have other personas equivalent in value for us as the "1 VP for using a building with your resource as a cost" has been for everyone else, we're both in trouble.

So first off, as a result of my missed coinflip last game, I knew exactly where my minions were. I turned out to get the Chefs, perhaps the second best minion in the game at present with their ability to pull back influence (especially good for me since I am so dependent on my granary). Critically, this ability isn't found elsewhere in the game outside of Richie, who I finally relinquished this game.

This game revealed perils, which I am curious to see how they play. As far as I can tell, there are no negative effects associated with them, and they merely offer incentive to spread out and use a variety of buildings to get the requisite perils for those 4 VP conversion buildings. That feels like a pretty good rate, so I started leveling up my "start with a free peril" glory track on my box at the end of this game.

The big reveal though was charter buildings that offer more efficient/rewarding exchange rates than the ones in the commons. Amanda revealed the fairground, which seems solid but ended up being a trap for her this game with the "Fewest Objectives" guidepost. The real coup was Dani unlocking the Constructor, suddenly giving everyone access to a very favorable 2 influence + 3 coins rate to build, at the cost of one VP. That's frankly kinda amazing. She's going to want to get a minion on that building as soon as possible next game to capitalize on other people surely using it.

For my part, having access to that building allowed me to easily cram out two high value buildings this game: the restaurant and the junkyard, which I purchased from the market. I have high expectations for these two buildings, as I predict people will really want chefs next game, and the junkyard is just super useful as the only way outside a couple treasures to control the all important advancement deck.

I was coasting into the end of the game with 30 VP, about ~10 behind the leaders, but not too bad considering how poorly I set myself up for this game. Then a number of great things happened. First, because I tied for the objective (everyone did but Amanda), I got a free glory. Dani won the guidepost in a tie break with Megan, and elected to be absurdly generous considering her only 10 points of constructed buildings, and allowed everyone to count them in their final scores. My building push this game had taken me from 7 to 21 points, up there with the leaders (and only a few below Megan), so while this ended up being basically an extra 2 glory for everyone, it was timely for me. This shuffling of the scores gave Caralee the last push she needed to squeak out a win by 1 point over Megan, getting to bubble in a trophy for the second week in a row. Much to her own chagrin as it were, as now she is two capacity behind everyone else.

I had drafted a robot during the game, and was able to keep one and a chef at the end of the game, along with a charterstone unlock, a guest, a wheat, and a coin. Not bad all things considered. The next objective is the highest point value of constructed buildings. Considering I have a unique 8 point building, I just might be able to make a push for it next game. In contrast to only being able to bubble in 2 stars last game, this time I was able to fill out 6 to finish up my "free resource" glory track and start the aforementioned peril track.

So, plan for next game. First off, I need to be better about managing my influence and cramming out easy cloud port uses at the end of the game. I was not able to this time and I regret it. I will be grabbing a second chef as early as possible and trying to leverage my restaurateur persona to actually generate a respectable number of VPs. My first move is also super obvious. I place my robot on the junkyard to grab one free advancement card, then discard, draw, and grab another one. I'm thinking an additional 2 guests (if they are up) right off the bat so I can grab a grand total of 18 VPs over the course of the game.  We'll see what's available anyway.

I'm pretty happy with my chefs. They don't compare to robots, but they're niche and offer a critical ability. At present, I would rank the four minions thusly:

1. Robots
2. Chefs
3. Golems
4. Ghosts

Yeah, Megan got a little screwed by ghosts - they just aren't that great. We still have yet to see a game where people fill out the reputation track. The problem remains that there just are better influence to VP conversion rates and you don't generally lack for opportunities to place them on the track. The wood and grain markets would be so much better if Dani and I had exclusive access to them, but at present, anyone can compete. And on top of all this, friendly ties disincentivize too much competition over it. At any rate, we'll see how the ability to pull back influence changes how people interact with the reputation track.