Hi Sam :) I'm so happy to be in your vidéo (in the first place ...). I remembrement triste game and you played Well, I was happy to do my Best on this game with the disavantage of this first draft and to hear you say you agreed withmy choice (after I played worst and leave you a very strong card unfortunately). Thanks fir rhe vidéo and your advice, you're the Best ! (For the moment you can see m'y friend flowohow Who is very strong too and à créative player). See ya sam
I do think I was lucky in our game, even with your Giant Dam start 😊 Flo is very strong indeed! We played once and I am sure he made no mistakes during the match. He won 🥲
This is probably one of the best videos I have seen on It's a Wonderful World. A great thanks to the author of this video. If I had the opportunity to shake his hand, I would 😀. And now I can explain why.. The opening round is essential and this video is nearly as good as your strategy guide on the game. I was a bit surprised by the Transmutation but the setup was nearly perfect to do it and 122 points in the end is a proof that it can work even if it is a very expensive card like you said. You went straight to the point in everything you said. Thank to the editor as well for the subtitles. It helps French people like me 😁. Perfect video truly 😉
I really like your videos a lot. You can clearly hear that you have an amazing understanding of the things you are talking about. I myself am a competitive baordgamer and tried building my channel into the boardgame startegy direction years ago but have not managed to find the time to do it. I learn so much from you videos. Keep it up!! There are not enough people talking about boardgame startegy in youtube.
Thanks! Great tips, appreciate it a lot! So many videos focus on game review, hardly anyone ever provides useful strategy guidance. Would have liked to seen at least one green build tho
Thank you! I’ve been meaning to make a follow up video to this on some less conventional openings. Green builds will get some love, I have been enjoying them more lately.
Just wanted to say thank you again for all of your guides and game replays! i had never even heard of this game before finding your channel, and in less than 3 weeks since my first game i've reached 500 Elo on BGA! Just from the base game alone, this might have reached my personal S-tier of board games alongside Power Grid & Castles of Burgundy - eager to see if BGA adds the expansion down the line.
Congratulations! The C&A expansion really is much better to play, I hope they do add it. Given how popular the base game has been so far I think they will
Didnt know the game but became intrigued by it and your explanations. First four games were all losses though. Whats the best setup to start learning? Two player games or more?
There’s definitely a learning curve! Player count shouldn’t matter too much, even solo games can give you a good idea of how long you have to build things. You can even play with the variable empires so you have a clear direction to focus on as you get used to the cards.
Very good and instructive video. just some additional questions: A card like Harbor Zone, when is it the best to build it ? (round 2 to use in round 3 and 4?) And a card like propaganda center ? Also, when do you include some green with yellow/blue. Whe n doing blue strategy, card like Museum (3 yellow that give 2x blue card points looks pretty good but need discard of 3 cards for yellow cube... or start some yellow production which contreproductive) Also, what do you change when you are playing in 4 players instead of 2 ? PS: I think you should do a guide passing throught all the cards, their potential strength and use, will be amazing. I dont know the number of different cards in the game.. maybe it is too much.. I will look at it. And for your last world... I kind of agree but in a recente game where I was more yellow strategy, I was stuck with nothing interesting for my strategy during round 3 and 4 (mainly blue cards or production cards), I felt a little stuck
I'll make a card tier list video next week, I like the idea! Harbor Zone is a good first yellow card to build. Ideally you have it completed before round 2 production, but that's not always possible. It's still fine built in rd 3 or rd 4. The 2 Financiers it gives makes it an amazing scoring card as well as giving some of the best production in the game. Propaganda Center is flexible too. Because it's so cheap it can be a good first yellow card to build. But you don't really need to build it until later because it scales with the amount of other yellow cards you've built. If you have 1 Propaganda Center early try to get the 2nd one, and try to get University which combos really well with both. Add green as early as is reasonable. Try to do it naturally. In blue builds Airborne Laboratory is a great card for this, as well as the blue cards that produce green. In yellow builds you'll usually have enough white production to build a Research Center, but Secret Laboratory and University are great cards too. If I don't have any green production by rd 3 (and my opponent isn't too far ahead) I'll look to add some with reasonably high priority. Museum, Polar Base, Solar Cannon, Giant Tower, Lunar Base. They're all good cards in a blue build that require yellow. You really want to get some yellow production from your blue cards, though. Like you said, going out of your way to build a Financial Center or something doesn't work most of the time. Discarding some yellow or using Krystallium is okay too, just not too much. In 4 player games the Financier and General multipliers are worth so much less. Cards like World Congress become a lot better. You are going to see more yellow cards, but get less Financiers. It's common to get stuck with either build. Yesterday I had a blue build where I got my first (?!) blue card in round 4. Sometimes you can just lose because of card draw, and that will happen with yellow or blue.
@@NoWondersTV Looking forward for the next video then :) Now I'm better to choose my cards but still less efficient in mid game. Hard to know when to stop taking production cards and focus mainly on scoring cards. HS: Did you play the 2 player version of the game serie: Wonderful Kingdom ?
@@flolem05 One of the hardest skills in the game for sure. It takes a lot of games of experience to know when you're producing enough or when need to produce more. I haven't played It's a Wonderful Kingdom, but I want to!
Do you ever play with 3+ players? Apart from less emphasis on specialists and more emphasis on card-color synergy, are there other factors? Is it simply more of a crapshoot with what you get (esp. with getting a leftover card at the end of a draft round)?
I have dabbled with some arena games this season (which are 3p) and most of my real-life games are 4p+. Win rate drops dramatically with more players for the reason that you said: you can't play around the draft that well and have to hope you get the cards/colours you want. I think you need to put a slightly higher emphasis on getting scoring cards earlier. As you won't have those specialist multipliers to rely on, the ratio of scoring cards to production cards is much lower than in a 2p game. And because you don't have to worry too much about specialists I find it more useful to build a bit of every colour production. Flexibility is more key when you can't predict the draft.
Can this software play the Corruption and Ascension expansion? The C&A expansion gives you more early white production options (Lawless Zones and Occult Districts) as well as completely bonkers cards (Krystallium Power Plant, which is broken with an Occult District).
At the moment there's only the base game on Board Game Arena. I have plenty of experience playing the expansion on Game Park and in real life. The C&A cards certainly make openings a lot easier! Robot Factory is another one of my favourites for the early black and green production.
What are your thoughts for starting rounds where there really isn't many good production cards? I personally like the two blue cards that cost 4 and give crystallium+points, center of the earth, and giant tower as they're are relatively easy goals to go for and aren't bad sidequests if you need to pivot a bit later in the game. Maybe going for green isn't bad either as it's flexible. Great video by the way!
Thanks! First priority is still to aim for some sort of production, thankfully with the amount of white cards it's very rare to get an opening hand with nothing. If there's no yellow or black production then starting with something like a Research Center can work. I would usually transition that into a Financier build with Yellow production later. Center of the Earth and Ancient Astronauts can be nice extra points with a Yellow build. Giant Tower and Time Travel (15pt Green card) can be nice extra points with a Blue build. I would still draft them with low priority in the first round until you get your production sorted. If there's literally no production, sure go ahead
In my opinion, Magnetic Train is the best starting card for financier path, Giant Dam for general path, and Neuroscience for science path. Amazing video !!!
I agree with your assessment. Neuroscience is pretty cool but I draft it with a low priority. Science builds are too awkward, so I pretend they don't exist for the most part.
Also, down the line i think you could do a potential followup video on openings without these obvious top-tier cards. Meaning, cases where you might find yourself building a Military Base or Mega-Drill, or try for an early Underground City when it's the only good source of white production. These situations aren't too common vs. less experienced players, but higher up the ranks you're much more likely to be stuck without a Recycling Plant...
Is there anything in particular to work on when you both end up going the same build? Should you be looking to pivot to the other if it seems you will be losing, or is it best to stick to what you already have and hope for the best?
These are the toughest types of games and a large part of why I like the game at a 2 player count so much. When you're both going for the same build production becomes more important, because when you out-produce your opponent in Yellow it's +1 Financier for you, and -1 Financier for them. It's very hard to do it all. If they're ahead in Yellow, try to get ahead in White. If they focus all their energy on production, take all their point scoring cards away. These games are usually pretty scrappy and low scoring, you'd be surprised how often you can win even if you're behind. From round 2 onwards I would very rarely (never?) pivot. You probably have a better chance of winning sticking with your build even if you are a bit behind than "wasting" the cards from your opening round.
This was very helpful! When you denied the opponent's first pick my mind was opened.
Thank you!! And congrats on being number 1
Hi Sam :) I'm so happy to be in your vidéo (in the first place ...). I remembrement triste game and you played Well, I was happy to do my Best on this game with the disavantage of this first draft and to hear you say you agreed withmy choice (after I played worst and leave you a very strong card unfortunately). Thanks fir rhe vidéo and your advice, you're the Best ! (For the moment you can see m'y friend flowohow Who is very strong too and à créative player). See ya sam
I do think I was lucky in our game, even with your Giant Dam start 😊
Flo is very strong indeed! We played once and I am sure he made no mistakes during the match. He won 🥲
This is probably one of the best videos I have seen on It's a Wonderful World. A great thanks to the author of this video. If I had the opportunity to shake his hand, I would 😀. And now I can explain why.. The opening round is essential and this video is nearly as good as your strategy guide on the game. I was a bit surprised by the Transmutation but the setup was nearly perfect to do it and 122 points in the end is a proof that it can work even if it is a very expensive card like you said. You went straight to the point in everything you said. Thank to the editor as well for the subtitles. It helps French people like me 😁. Perfect video truly 😉
😂 Merci Antoine
Who is this kikoolol in our comment section? 🤭
I really like your videos a lot. You can clearly hear that you have an amazing understanding of the things you are talking about. I myself am a competitive baordgamer and tried building my channel into the boardgame startegy direction years ago but have not managed to find the time to do it. I learn so much from you videos. Keep it up!! There are not enough people talking about boardgame startegy in youtube.
Thank you very much 😊
Thanks! Great tips, appreciate it a lot! So many videos focus on game review, hardly anyone ever provides useful strategy guidance.
Would have liked to seen at least one green build tho
Thank you! I’ve been meaning to make a follow up video to this on some less conventional openings. Green builds will get some love, I have been enjoying them more lately.
Just wanted to say thank you again for all of your guides and game replays! i had never even heard of this game before finding your channel, and in less than 3 weeks since my first game i've reached 500 Elo on BGA! Just from the base game alone, this might have reached my personal S-tier of board games alongside Power Grid & Castles of Burgundy - eager to see if BGA adds the expansion down the line.
Congratulations! The C&A expansion really is much better to play, I hope they do add it. Given how popular the base game has been so far I think they will
I love Transmutation start. ❤
Didnt know the game but became intrigued by it and your explanations. First four games were all losses though. Whats the best setup to start learning? Two player games or more?
There’s definitely a learning curve! Player count shouldn’t matter too much, even solo games can give you a good idea of how long you have to build things. You can even play with the variable empires so you have a clear direction to focus on as you get used to the cards.
Very good and instructive video.
just some additional questions:
A card like Harbor Zone, when is it the best to build it ? (round 2 to use in round 3 and 4?)
And a card like propaganda center ?
Also, when do you include some green with yellow/blue.
Whe n doing blue strategy, card like Museum (3 yellow that give 2x blue card points looks pretty good but need discard of 3 cards for yellow cube... or start some yellow production which contreproductive)
Also, what do you change when you are playing in 4 players instead of 2 ?
PS: I think you should do a guide passing throught all the cards, their potential strength and use, will be amazing.
I dont know the number of different cards in the game.. maybe it is too much.. I will look at it.
And for your last world... I kind of agree but in a recente game where I was more yellow strategy, I was stuck with nothing interesting for my strategy during round 3 and 4 (mainly blue cards or production cards), I felt a little stuck
I'll make a card tier list video next week, I like the idea!
Harbor Zone is a good first yellow card to build. Ideally you have it completed before round 2 production, but that's not always possible. It's still fine built in rd 3 or rd 4. The 2 Financiers it gives makes it an amazing scoring card as well as giving some of the best production in the game.
Propaganda Center is flexible too. Because it's so cheap it can be a good first yellow card to build. But you don't really need to build it until later because it scales with the amount of other yellow cards you've built. If you have 1 Propaganda Center early try to get the 2nd one, and try to get University which combos really well with both.
Add green as early as is reasonable. Try to do it naturally. In blue builds Airborne Laboratory is a great card for this, as well as the blue cards that produce green. In yellow builds you'll usually have enough white production to build a Research Center, but Secret Laboratory and University are great cards too. If I don't have any green production by rd 3 (and my opponent isn't too far ahead) I'll look to add some with reasonably high priority.
Museum, Polar Base, Solar Cannon, Giant Tower, Lunar Base. They're all good cards in a blue build that require yellow. You really want to get some yellow production from your blue cards, though. Like you said, going out of your way to build a Financial Center or something doesn't work most of the time. Discarding some yellow or using Krystallium is okay too, just not too much.
In 4 player games the Financier and General multipliers are worth so much less. Cards like World Congress become a lot better. You are going to see more yellow cards, but get less Financiers.
It's common to get stuck with either build. Yesterday I had a blue build where I got my first (?!) blue card in round 4. Sometimes you can just lose because of card draw, and that will happen with yellow or blue.
@@NoWondersTV Looking forward for the next video then :)
Now I'm better to choose my cards but still less efficient in mid game. Hard to know when to stop taking production cards and focus mainly on scoring cards.
HS: Did you play the 2 player version of the game serie: Wonderful Kingdom ?
@@flolem05 One of the hardest skills in the game for sure. It takes a lot of games of experience to know when you're producing enough or when need to produce more.
I haven't played It's a Wonderful Kingdom, but I want to!
Do you ever play with 3+ players? Apart from less emphasis on specialists and more emphasis on card-color synergy, are there other factors? Is it simply more of a crapshoot with what you get (esp. with getting a leftover card at the end of a draft round)?
I have dabbled with some arena games this season (which are 3p) and most of my real-life games are 4p+. Win rate drops dramatically with more players for the reason that you said: you can't play around the draft that well and have to hope you get the cards/colours you want.
I think you need to put a slightly higher emphasis on getting scoring cards earlier. As you won't have those specialist multipliers to rely on, the ratio of scoring cards to production cards is much lower than in a 2p game.
And because you don't have to worry too much about specialists I find it more useful to build a bit of every colour production. Flexibility is more key when you can't predict the draft.
Can this software play the Corruption and Ascension expansion? The C&A expansion gives you more early white production options (Lawless Zones and Occult Districts) as well as completely bonkers cards (Krystallium Power Plant, which is broken with an Occult District).
At the moment there's only the base game on Board Game Arena. I have plenty of experience playing the expansion on Game Park and in real life. The C&A cards certainly make openings a lot easier! Robot Factory is another one of my favourites for the early black and green production.
What are your thoughts for starting rounds where there really isn't many good production cards? I personally like the two blue cards that cost 4 and give crystallium+points, center of the earth, and giant tower as they're are relatively easy goals to go for and aren't bad sidequests if you need to pivot a bit later in the game. Maybe going for green isn't bad either as it's flexible. Great video by the way!
Thanks! First priority is still to aim for some sort of production, thankfully with the amount of white cards it's very rare to get an opening hand with nothing. If there's no yellow or black production then starting with something like a Research Center can work. I would usually transition that into a Financier build with Yellow production later.
Center of the Earth and Ancient Astronauts can be nice extra points with a Yellow build. Giant Tower and Time Travel (15pt Green card) can be nice extra points with a Blue build. I would still draft them with low priority in the first round until you get your production sorted. If there's literally no production, sure go ahead
In my opinion, Magnetic Train is the best starting card for financier path, Giant Dam for general path, and Neuroscience for science path.
Amazing video !!!
I agree with your assessment. Neuroscience is pretty cool but I draft it with a low priority. Science builds are too awkward, so I pretend they don't exist for the most part.
really helpful, ty!
Also, down the line i think you could do a potential followup video on openings without these obvious top-tier cards. Meaning, cases where you might find yourself building a Military Base or Mega-Drill, or try for an early Underground City when it's the only good source of white production. These situations aren't too common vs. less experienced players, but higher up the ranks you're much more likely to be stuck without a Recycling Plant...
Love the idea
Is there anything in particular to work on when you both end up going the same build? Should you be looking to pivot to the other if it seems you will be losing, or is it best to stick to what you already have and hope for the best?
These are the toughest types of games and a large part of why I like the game at a 2 player count so much. When you're both going for the same build production becomes more important, because when you out-produce your opponent in Yellow it's +1 Financier for you, and -1 Financier for them. It's very hard to do it all. If they're ahead in Yellow, try to get ahead in White. If they focus all their energy on production, take all their point scoring cards away. These games are usually pretty scrappy and low scoring, you'd be surprised how often you can win even if you're behind.
From round 2 onwards I would very rarely (never?) pivot. You probably have a better chance of winning sticking with your build even if you are a bit behind than "wasting" the cards from your opening round.
@@NoWondersTV what about the game where the guy took nuclear plant? He seems pretty screwed so pivotting makes sense.
@@anonvideo738 if it’s the first card then sure, that makes sense
so sad that blue is bad in most situations
I think blue is slightly stronger overall, it just requires a more specific opening. I will usually go blue if I can!