Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
A rematch with one of the best 2P players on the oft-neglected Baden map! This one features the most expensive 2-3P config for this map, though the regions here are quite balanced in terms of costs.
Immediately learning from my defeat in the previous video, i opt to pay up for the 04. Remembering a tactic from my games with jbode, i then pass on plants after charging Shiang an arm and a leg for the 05. In my view this is the best play for 04 since your cheap coal means you still make solid money even without a 2nd plant, and it sets you up to get bottom for the next two auctions in a row!
09 is the obvious choice to pair with 04 on turn 3, and i'm a big fan of the 13 after that since you can stay at 2 cities with 09 + 13 and wait for a good plant. Shiang being stuck with 08 & and an expensive 05 was painful in comparison!
Shiang's biggest mistake in this game was not bidding 18 high enough. Would've gone over $25 for it, but he had a ton of coal stored and opted to give it up at $21 in favor of the 20. He compounded that by paying over $40 for the 25, an awful pairing with the 20 at that price. 20 + 25 can work when both are cheap and the opponent can't attack coal much, but this was not the time for it.
An interesting example of Baden-specific play came after the 25 auction. You would normally view 27 as strictly better than 15, but i already had some coal stored and would stay bottom in the turn order with 15.
Got lucky a couple times with duds coming after i bid for 4-capacity plants, though both of those plants were better for me than a 27 drop anyway. Step 3 is where things got real interesting...
With cheap oil, 32 was clearly the best plant at the start of Step 3. i bid for it, then as shiang bid i realized that i could buy 31 to deny him coal instead! In my excitement i didn't even notice that 50 had dropped for me, though, and that was likely a better purchase. It worked out in the end, though, as i forced Shiang to replace the 20. This also led Shiang to buy the 50 and give me 38 at cost, when that was the only plant in this game that would get me to 21 capacity. Wonder if things would've worked out this well had i taken 50 and gotten into a bidding war for 38...
If you'd like to learn more about Power Grid, please check my blog for strategy articles on each power plant as well as a guide to 2-player games:
maninmotiongoingnowhere.wordpress.com/power-grid-strategy-individual-plant-articles
If you want to step up your game even further and set up BSW or Tabletop Simulator games with us, come join our Power Grid Discord server:
discordapp.com/invite/pSq9qp9
A rematch with one of the best 2P players on the oft-neglected Baden map! This one features the most expensive 2-3P config for this map, though the regions here are quite balanced in terms of costs.
Immediately learning from my defeat in the previous video, i opt to pay up for the 04. Remembering a tactic from my games with jbode, i then pass on plants after charging Shiang an arm and a leg for the 05. In my view this is the best play for 04 since your cheap coal means you still make solid money even without a 2nd plant, and it sets you up to get bottom for the next two auctions in a row!
09 is the obvious choice to pair with 04 on turn 3, and i'm a big fan of the 13 after that since you can stay at 2 cities with 09 + 13 and wait for a good plant. Shiang being stuck with 08 & and an expensive 05 was painful in comparison!
Shiang's biggest mistake in this game was not bidding 18 high enough. Would've gone over $25 for it, but he had a ton of coal stored and opted to give it up at $21 in favor of the 20. He compounded that by paying over $40 for the 25, an awful pairing with the 20 at that price. 20 + 25 can work when both are cheap and the opponent can't attack coal much, but this was not the time for it.
An interesting example of Baden-specific play came after the 25 auction. You would normally view 27 as strictly better than 15, but i already had some coal stored and would stay bottom in the turn order with 15.
Got lucky a couple times with duds coming after i bid for 4-capacity plants, though both of those plants were better for me than a 27 drop anyway. Step 3 is where things got real interesting...
With cheap oil, 32 was clearly the best plant at the start of Step 3. i bid for it, then as shiang bid i realized that i could buy 31 to deny him coal instead! In my excitement i didn't even notice that 50 had dropped for me, though, and that was likely a better purchase. It worked out in the end, though, as i forced Shiang to replace the 20. This also led Shiang to buy the 50 and give me 38 at cost, when that was the only plant in this game that would get me to 21 capacity. Wonder if things would've worked out this well had i taken 50 and gotten into a bidding war for 38...
If you'd like to learn more about Power Grid, please check my blog for strategy articles on each power plant as well as a guide to 2-player games:
maninmotiongoingnowhere.wordpress.com/power-grid-strategy-individual-plant-articles
If you want to step up your game even further and set up BSW or Tabletop Simulator games with us, come join our Power Grid Discord server:
discordapp.com/invite/pSq9qp9
