Great Pyrenees

The Players

Passing will go down this list in odd generations, while passing will go up in even generations. Player in bold is current first player.

Generation 7

Research Phase

PIKE buys 3 cards for 9M€

HICK buys 2 cards for 6M€

BigBang buys 3 cards for 9M€

CH buys 2 cards for 6M€

GEGS buys 1 card for 3M€

Action Phase

PIKE spends 3 steel and 3M€ for Mining Rights at I8, gaining 1 titanium production, 2 titanium, and 2M€. He then spends 8 heat to raise the temperature to 6C, increasing his TR to 27.

HICK spends 7M€ for Solarnet, gaining 2 cards. He then spends 8 heat to raise the temperature to 8C, increasing his TR to 27.

BigBang spends 12M€ to play Industrial Microbes, increasing his energy and steel production by 1 each.

CH spends 1 steel and 10M€ to play Food Factory, reducing his plant production by 1 and increasing his megacredit production by 4.

GEGS spends 8M€ to fund the Scientist Award. He then spends 2 steel and 8M€ for Physics Complex. Because it has a science tag, he activates Mars University, discarding a card and drawing a new one.

PIKE spends 7M€ for a Titanium Mine, gaining 1 titanium production and 1 titanium. He then spends 13M€ on Tropical Resort, losing 2 heat production and gaining 3 megacredit production' and 3M€.

HICK spends 7M€ on a Neutralizer Factory, raising the Venus terraforming percentage to 12% and increasing his TR to 28. GEGS receives 2M€.

BigBang adds a resource to Dirigibles.

CH spends 13M€ for Tundra Farming, gaining 2 megacredit production, 1 plant production, 1 plant, and 1 resource on the Ecological Zone card.

GEGS spends 13M€ for Quantum Extractor, gaining 4 energy production and activating Mars University, discarding a card and drawing a new one.

PIKE spends 1 energy to gain a card from the Development Center. He then spends 3 titanium for Lagrange Observatory, drawing a card.

HICK spends 5 titanium and 1M€ for Imported Hydrogen, gaining 3 plants and placing an ocean at D5, gaining a further 2 plants, 2M€, and increasing his TR to 29.

BigBang spends 8M€ for Media Archives, gaining 15M€.

CH passes.

GEGS spends 14M€ on Fusion Power, gaining 3 energy production. The science tag activates Mars University, allowing him to discard a card and draw a new one.

PIKE uses Power Infrastructure to convert 3 energy to 3M€, then spends 6M€ on a Trans-Neptune Probe.

HICK spends 6M€ for Greenhouses, gaining 3 plants, then spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at A5, gaining 2 plants, increasing the oxygen percentage to 5%, and his TR to 30.

BigBang spends 2 floater resources from Extractor Balloons to raise the Venus terraforming percentage to 16%, increasing his TR to 36 and giving 2M€ to GEGS. He then spends 12M€ and 2 Dirigible resources to play Maxwell Base, gaining a resource on the Pets card and giving 2M€ to PIKE for Rover Construction.

GEGS passes.

PIKE uses Equatorial Magnetizer, reducing his power production by 1 and increasing his TR to 28. He then adds a resource to Extremophiles.

HICK passes.

BigBang spends 9M€ for Robot Workers to copy Industrial Microbes, gaining 1 steel and 1 energy production. He then uses Maxwell Base to add a resource to Dirigibles.

PIKE passes.

BigBang passes.

Production Phase

PIKE gains 29M€, 3 steel, 2 titanium, 2 plants, and 3 heat.

HICK converts 2 energy to heat and gains 34M€, 5 titanium, 2 energy, and 3 heat.

BigBang gains 35M€, 2 steel, 2 plants, 2 energy, and 1 heat.

CH moves 1 energy to heat and gains 32M€, 1 steel, 2 plants, and 1 energy.

GEGS gains 35M€ and 7 energy.

Solar Phase

The World Government increases the oxygen percentage of Mars to 6%.

Generation 8

Research Phase

HICK buys 2 cards for 6M€

BigBang buys 2 cards for 6M€

CH buys 2 cards for 6M€

GEGS buys 3 card for 9M€

PIKE buys 2 cards for 6M€

Action Phase

HICK spends 10 titanium and 6M€ for a Large Convoy, placing an ocean at G6 (gains 1 plant and increases his TR to 31), then gains 2 cards and 5 plants. He then spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at B6, gaining 1 plant and raising the oxygen level to 7% and his TR to 32.

BigBang spends 14M€ to fund the Venophile award, then adds a resource to Dirigibles.

CH spends 3M€ to play Sulphur Eating Bacteria, then adds a resource to the card.

GEGS spends 18M€ on Lake Marineris, placing oceans at H6 and I6 and gaining 2 plants and 4M€ and raising his TR to 31. He then spends 8M€ for Permafrost Extraction, placing an ocean at H4, gaining 2 plants, and raising his TR to 32.

PIKE spends 4M€ and 3 steel on an Urbanized Area at B4, losing 1 energy production and gaining 2 megacredit production, 2M€, 2M€ additional from Rover Construction, and 1 plant. He then spends 16M€ on Eos Chasma National Park, gaining 2 megacredit production, 2M€, and 3 plants.

HICK spends 25M€ for the City standard project, placing a city at H5, gaining 1 megacredit production, 6M€, and 2 plants. PIKE gains 2M€ for Rover Construction. BigBang gains 1 resource on the Pets card.

BigBang uses Maxwell Base to add a resource to Dirigibles.

CH spends 13M€ for Farming, gaining 2 megacredit production, 2 plant production, and 2 plants and adding a resource to Ecological Zone. He then sells a card for 1M€.

GEGS spends 6 energy to place a resource on the Physics Complex.

PIKE spends 8 plants for a greenery tile at B5 gaining 2 plants, increasing the oxygen level to 8% and his TR to 29. He then spends 5M€ and 2 titanium for Solar Wind Power, increasing his energy production by 1, gaining 1 energy and 2 titanium.

HICK spends 9M€ for a Soil Factory, reducing his energy production by 1 and increasing his plant production by 1.

BigBang spends 2 resources from Dirigibles and 2M€ to play Corroder Suits, gaining 2 megacredit production and adding a resource to Dirigibles.

CH spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at C6, gaining 2 plants, increasing the oxygen level to 9%, and his TR to 22.

GEGS spends 5M€ for a Mineral Deposit, gaining 5 steel, then spends 4 steel for a Rad-Chem Factory, losing 1 energy production and increasing his TR to 34.

PIKE spends 8M€ for Mass Converter, increasing his energy production by 6 and gaining 6 energy. He then uses Power Infrastructure to convert 10 energy to 10M€.

HICK passes.

BigBang spends 2 steel and 9M€ for Martian Rails, then spends 1 energy to use Martian Rails to gain 5M€.

CH spends 3M€ for Media Group.

GEGS sells 2 cards for 2M€, then uses Business Network to draw a card, but decides not to keep it.

PIKE spends 2 titanium and 1M€ for Water To Venus, increasing Venus terraforming to 18%, his TR to 30, and giving GEGS 2M€. He then uses Equatorial Magnetizers, reducing his energy production by 1 and increasing his TR to 31.

BigBang uses 2 Dirigible resources and 11M€ to play Sulphur Exports, increasing Venus terraforming to 20%, his TR to 37, increasing megacredit production by 5, and giving GEGS 2M€.

CH passes.

GEGS passes.

PIKE adds a resource to Extremophiles and sells to cards for 2M€.

BigBang spends 2 resources on Extractor Balloons to raise Venus terraforming to 22%, increasing his TR to 38 and giving GEGS 2M€.

PIKE passes.

BigBang passes.

Production Phase

HICK moves 2 energy to heat, and gains 37M€, 5 titanium, 1 plant, 1 energy, and 3 heat.

BigBang moves 1 energy to heat, and gains 44M€, 2 steel, 2 plants, 2 energy, and 1 heat.

CH moves 1 energy to heat, and gains 35M€, 1 steel, 4 plants, and 1 energy.

GEGS moves 1 energy to heat, and gains 40M€ and 6 energy.

PIKE gains 36M€, 3 steel, 2 titanium, 2 plants, and 8 energy.

Solar Phase

The World Government increases Mars oxygen to 10%.

Generation 9

Research Phase

BigBang buys 2 cards for 6M€

CH buys 1 card for 3M€

GEGS buys 1 card for 3M€

PIKE buys 0 cards for 0M€

HICK buys 2 cards for 6M€

Action Phase

BigBang spends 23M€ for the Greenery standard project, placing the tile at F4, gaining 1 plant and 2M€ and increasing the oxygen level to 11% and his TR to 39 and a 4M€ rebate. He then spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at D3, increasing the oxygen level to 12% and his TR to 40.

CH spends 20M€ to fund the Banker Award.

GEGS spends 6M€ for Standard Technology, and its science tag activates Mars University, allowing him to discard a card and draw a new one. He then spends 25M€ on the City standard project, placing it at E6 and gaining 1 plant, 4M€, a 3M€ rebate, and 1 megacredit production. PIKE gains 2M€ from Rover Construction. BigBang gains a resource on the Pets cards.

PIKE spends 23M€ to place a greenery tile at H7, gaining 1 plant and 4M€ and increasing the oxygen level to 13% and his TR to 32. He then spends 23M€ to place a second greenery tile at C4, gaining 1 plant and 2M€ and increasing the oxygen level to 14% and his TR to 33. All three Mars global parameters are at maximum, so this is the last generation.

HICK spends 7M€ to play Venus Magnetizer, then uses Venus Magnetizer to reduce his energy production by 1, increase the Venus terraforming rating to 24%, and his own TR to 33. GEGS gains 2M€.

BigBang spends 11M€ for Advanced Ecosystems.

CH sells a card for 1M€, then spends 11M€ on Breathing Filters.

GEGS spends 11M€ for Grass, gaining 1 plant production and 3 plants, then spends 8 plants for a greenery tile at D6, gaining 1 plant and 2M€.

PIKE spends 1 energy to draw a card using Development Center.

HICK spends 17M€ on Io Sulphur Research, drawing 3 cards, gaining a resource on Olympus Conference, and increasing his megacredit production by 1. Discards were reshuffled after the first card draw.

BigBang uses Maxwell Base to add a floater resource to Extractor Balloons, then spends 2 resources from Extractor Balloons to increase Venus terraforming to 26% and his TR to 41. GEGS gains 2M€.

CH spends a resource from Sulphur-Eating Bacteria to gain 3M€.

GEGS spends 6 energy to add a resource to Physics Complex. He then uses Business Network to draw a card, which he buys for 3M€.

PIKE uses Power Infrastructure to convert 7 energy to 7M€, then sells 5 cards for 5M€.

HICK spends 8M€ for GHG Producing Bacteria, gaining 1 plant from Viral Enhancers, and activating Olympus Conference with the science tag, drawing a new card. He then spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at G5, gaining 2 plants and 6M€.

BigBang adds a resource to Dirigibles.

CH spends 5M€ for Wave Power, gaining 1 energy production.

GEGS sells 6 cards for 6M€, then spends 1 titanium and 19M€ for Interstellar Colony Ship.

PIKE spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at I7 gaining 4M€, then spends 25M€ to place a city at C3, gaining 1 megacredit income and 1M€ plus 2M€ for Rover Construction. BigBang gains a pet.

HICK spends 6M€ for Rad Suits, gaining 1 megacredit production.

BigBang uses Martian Rails to spend 1 energy to gain 7M€.

CH sells 11 cards for 11M€, then spends 2 steel and 19M€ to play Capital at G7, losing 2 energy production and gaining 5 megacredit production and 2M€. PIKE gains 2M€ from Rover Construction and BigBang gains 1 pet.

GEGS passes.

PIKE uses Equatorial Magnetizers, losing 1 energy production and increasing his TR to 34. He then adds a resource to Extremophiles.

HICK sells 8 cards for 8M€, then spends 5 titanium and 5M€ for Ganymede Colony, gaining 1 megacredit production. PIKE gains 2M€ and BigBang gains a pet.

BigBang sells 3 cards for 3M€, then spends 2 steel and 17M€ for Lunar Metropolis, gaining 3 megacredit production, a 4M€ rebate, and a pet. PIKE gains 2M€.

CH spends 8 plants to place a greenery tile at G8, gaining 1 card.

PIKE passes.

HICK passes.

BigBang spends 2 steel and 2M€ for Windmills, gaining 1 energy production.

CH sells 1 card for 1M€.

BigBang passes.

CH passes.

Production Phase

Solar Phase

The end game conditions have been met.

No players have enough plants to place a greenery tile.

Victory Points

Awards

Scientist: Science tags. GEGS has 7, PIKE has 6, HICK has 5, CH has 2, and BigBang has 1. GEGS gains 5 and PIKE gains 2.

Venophile: Venus tags. BigBang has 5, HICK has 3, GEGS, PIKE, and CH all have 1. BigBang gains 5 and HICK gains 2.

Banker: Megacredit production. CH has 18, BigBang has 9, HICK has 8, GEGS has 7, and PIKE has 6. CH gains 5 and BigBang gains 2.

Milestones

Planner goes to GEGS. Hoverlord goes to BigBang. Builder goes to HICK.

BigBang wins. Congratulations to Dave Hooton on his victory!

End of Game Statements

Kevin Wilson: Well, I suspect some of you figured it out but this was my first game, ever, of Terraforming Mars (TM). I’d never played before, live or pbem. As Chris will tell you, based on the number of questions he answered for me during the course of the game, I utilized my learning opportunity to the fullest.

First just some generic comments. I really liked the game. It played well pbem, a definite plus as finding players is tough. I’m glad Chris put the effort to get the game ready for pbem and will run the games. Thanks Chris. I can see how it could be a lot of fun ftf too. Lots of interaction. Maybe chances to “negotiate” or influence other’s play. Lots of talking/chatting probably too. The bookkeeping isn’t to bad, especially if the players help out with their orders. I may a couple of mistakes early that Chris had to fix but I think I got better later and minimized the number of times he had to correct something for me.

Being my first game, my objectives in the game were:

• learn the game mechanics and something of what to expect;

• learn some strategy to enhance my card selection;

• don’t expect not to finish in last unless I got a lucky break (or an opponent got an unlucky one).

I definitely succeeded on #1. I also made #3 but I suspect it may have had more to do with Christopher’s bad luck than anything I did. And I learned I still have a lot to learn on the #2. But, I can say I like the game. The cards create so many different ways the game can play out. They also likely should be more influential on strategy than they were for me. Largely due to not having played before and not knowing what might pop up. Based on a few comments tossed in here and there my impression is some of you have played quite a few games of TM. Perhaps you’d be willing to educate me a bit on strategy and provide some pointers.

My thoughts on my play (I’d appreciate your comments too):

• I kind of lucked into my choice of Manutech. I didn’t really understand the attractions of the two I had to choose from (Manutech or Helion) and took Manutech on a guess. But the production increase also including resources was useful later and I’m glad I had it. Using energy as M€ might have been attractive too though. And a few more M€ to start would have been helpful too.

• Choices, choices, choices. By focusing on the mechanics and learning the flow I failed to pay enough attention to VP opportunities beyond the cards until too late. The Milestones were all committed before I really thought about them. I’m not sure if I had a shot to play cards differently that might have gotten me to a point to grab one myself but I wasn’t even looking at that. I will need to pay more attention to that in the future. For the Awards, 2 were funded before I thought too much about them. I was looking at the Miner award for the last turn but before I had to make a choice, the last award was funded so that choice too was taken from me. I did start keeping images of the choices during the draft phases in later turns so I might be able to look back to see if I could have done things differently and had a shot at a Milestone or Award. I wish I had kept them from the start.

• Early I was more focused on getting the cards to play than building some wealth that might open more VP opportunities. I tended to spend my wallet each generation. Games like this require a balanced approach and I wasn’t balanced enough early. By the time I started to pay attention, many low-hanging-fruit options were beyond me.

• My initial card buys were ones that were cheaper, and demanded fewer tags to play. I didn’t focus much on complimentary cards until later. But by they I hadn’t pushed my TR up such that I had more income to play more so seemed always to be chasing other action.

• I didn’t really get a feel for coordinating card selection and multiple plays per generation until about generation 5. From then on I think I did a better job of selecting cards that allowed multiple plays planned down the turn. But, by then I wasn’t in a position to do too much about the VP situation but I did make some progress. It will be easier next time with a better feel of what’s possible and what to look for.

I was pretty sure Gen 9 was going to be the last. There were only 4 steps left on the oxygen track and I had the M€ and cards to grab up to 3 of them leaving only 1. Then when Dave grabbed the first 2 I didn’t think I’d even get a chance to take any let alone the last two. I had the cards, M€ and plants to play 3 green or 2 green and city so I had to work through several scenarios to pick which path gave me the best VP grab. I may still have hurt myself as I gave a couple of VP to Christopher too but since his TR was farther back I hoped that picking up my own would keep me ahead of him. And, after the fact, being new, I realized I made a simple mistake. I could have played my green tile as planned but the second should have been a city on the other side. I would have forgone the +1TR (and VP) but picked up 3 VP from the 3 green tiles there. Then, I could have later build a 4th green tile around that new city for 2 more VP. So, I got 6 but I could have been 7, maybe.

I think next time I’ll be indifferent to the map. Probably doesn’t change much but might be interesting. I probably ought to get a few standard map games under my belt to really have an opinion but I can go with the flow. I like and will focus more on Venus Next as well, if played. I didn’t usually go for cards focused on Venus, considering them a distraction to my learning. As a result, I perhaps missed some changes to bump up my TR through Venus faster. Some of the later plays I did pay attention to were pretty straight forward +TR plays. I should have paid more attention to them earlier. And by the next game, we might even have Prelude and Colonies available too.

I think I’d like to check out the standard card draw version vs. the draft variant we did this time at some point, just to check out the difference in plays. The draft variant may be more interesting playing face-to-face than pbem as you see the guy next to you and can judge a bit better what’s maybe needed. Might be handy if there were some indication/reminder of the passing direction each round so I could possibly remember/think about to whom I’m passing cards. I guess I can do that myself in PBEM but I’d need to remember the passing order and to look at their mat and/or think about past passes. Since you only keep one card each round of the draft, may not make that much difference. My choices tended to be more for what I thought I could capitalize on than on what my opponent might gain. But, a time or two I really wished I could have kept 2 for consideration.

All of which lead to a couple of questions for the more experienced of you as I think about strategy and timing for future games.

1. Do you think the inclusion of Venus Next made the game faster or not?

2. Or what about the World Government option and game length? That seems to perhaps have shortened the game a bit.

3. Or, another way, how many generations do you normally expect a game to last without Venus Next? With Venus Next? With World Government? Without World Government?

4. We’re the final VP counts about what you’d expect or did including Venus make them higher? Did having the World Government taking away +TR opportunities, was the VP count lower?

5. If the VP were off from what you’ve seen in the past, was it cards, Venus or something else adding that variability? World Government perhaps.

Since I don’t have any experience before this game, I don’t know if the scoring went higher, if the game went faster or not. I’m just trying to get a feel for what’s likely to be the time and count needed to “be in the hunt” for future games.

Chris Geggus: Thanks Chris and well done Dave (I seem to be saying that too often nowadays). I love this game - definitely my fav game to try to grab whenever the opportunity arises. My card draw seemed to force me into a card heavy game. Great in certain circumstances, but I needed the game to go longer, 9 turns was too short for my plans. Plus I had very limited options on the map - partly the wrong cards and partly sharp play by my oppos. Definitely up for another asap.

Some sort of response to Kevin's honest comments. This is the first time I've played the Venus stuff and I would assume that it should make for a shorter game with the World Gov bit. Otherwise I tended to ignore it and just collect 2 cash every so often. 9 turns is probably the quickest game I've ever played. I usually plan for 11 turns, maybe 10. I must also say that drafting is a must. Rely on drawing 4 cards each turn and it can be hell on earth. A lot of cards in this game become unplayable or do not become viable for eons, so a bad card draw and you're toast.

My strategy is to batch my cards to create a full turn ie. I play 1 for x, then another and then do somethng with remaing cash etc. I'm sure we all do a variation of that and it looks great when I have it written down. Then I see another great card or two in the draft and that's it - brain scramble! In the last game I held the Immigrant Ship (giving +5 to ME production) from the beginning. My plan was to get it out early and the cash would flow, but like all things, other options became more necessary and I ended up dumping it at the end of the game. Best laid plans etc.

VPs are variable. With so many cards in play and out of play scoring can be very varied. I played one game where one player put down 8 cities himself and another where a guy played 12 greenery tiles. Suddenly big scores can rack up. I lost this game as my board presence was pitiful, but I had reasonable points from awards and cards etc. The actual points scored from resources was poor by all of us except those damn dogs. What a nice little earner if out early and at least one player is developing cities. Few bacteria on show here.

All I'll say here Kevin, is make sure you take a different corporation next time you play and the whole game will probably play differently for you. That, again, is what makes this game so much fun in my simple eyes.

Thanks to all you guys here. A game is made so much better by friendly and effective opponents.

David Hood: Kevin, I did not get to read your whole thing about TM until just now. I'd say for a first game you sure did pick up the theory of the game pretty quick. One if the great things about the game is how no two plays are the same - sometimes it makes sense to play on the map, sometimes not. It totally depends on cards, corporation and opponent moves.

I don't like the Venus expansion very much, so I can't say whether this was shorter than usual. I don't think it was though. The game is simply quicker with more players.

Dave Hooton: Thanks to Chris for running this game. This was the first game I've done a Venus strategy. I didn't start with this strategy, but I got passed Extractor Balloons on Generation 2 and its three floaters gave me a head start to the Hoverlord milestone. Having Dirigibles (and then Maxwell Base) got me there even more quickly and allowed me to quickly turn those floaters into TR increases.

Playing with the expansion did not really change the length of the game, since the effort to pump up the Venus Terraforming scale very nearly balanced out the acceleration effect of the World Government. Game length can vary greatly. I saw one that lasted almost 14 generations due to players concentrating on corporate development cards rather than immediate TR increases.

I had seen the Planner milestone pursued only once before, so it was interesting to see a race for it. I'm looking forward to the next.