Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Welcome back, shiang! One of the people who first showed me the ropes of 2P Power Grid, and one of the best shit-talkers in this game of ours. ;)
Shiang & jbode are about the only big 2P heads who like Baden, so i relish any opportunity to play this map with them! This one was a painful lesson for me on the value of 04...
As I wrote on my blog, 04 is only worth $4-5 in most 2P games. You lose all the turn-order advantage from larger games and make the next turn or two trickier to manage. However, Baden's turn-order rules mean that your starting plant only affects your build order and the resource you use on the first turn; 04's moneymaking advantage over 03 becomes a much bigger deal on this map!
The turn-order issue also makes 05 worth more money than on other maps, as seen here. Shiang landing 04 + 05 put me in a really rough spot since 03 doesn't make very good money on its own, so i had to buy something that would hurt me in the turn order. Ended up with 08, which led to me staying at the top of the turn order for a long time after that. Was never able to recover from that, even with all the cheap green plants in the world.
Lesson here is: 03 ain't nearly as strong on Baden. The turn-order rules also mean that building first doesn't guarantee you'll also build first on turn 2, the way it does on other maps. That's another significant nerf for 03; in fact, on Baden configs without a really powerful first city, Shiang prefers 05 over 03!
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
Welcome back, shiang! One of the people who first showed me the ropes of 2P Power Grid, and one of the best shit-talkers in this game of ours. ;)
Shiang & jbode are about the only big 2P heads who like Baden, so i relish any opportunity to play this map with them! This one was a painful lesson for me on the value of 04...
As I wrote on my blog, 04 is only worth $4-5 in most 2P games. You lose all the turn-order advantage from larger games and make the next turn or two trickier to manage. However, Baden's turn-order rules mean that your starting plant only affects your build order and the resource you use on the first turn; 04's moneymaking advantage over 03 becomes a much bigger deal on this map!
The turn-order issue also makes 05 worth more money than on other maps, as seen here. Shiang landing 04 + 05 put me in a really rough spot since 03 doesn't make very good money on its own, so i had to buy something that would hurt me in the turn order. Ended up with 08, which led to me staying at the top of the turn order for a long time after that. Was never able to recover from that, even with all the cheap green plants in the world.
Lesson here is: 03 ain't nearly as strong on Baden. The turn-order rules also mean that building first doesn't guarantee you'll also build first on turn 2, the way it does on other maps. That's another significant nerf for 03; in fact, on Baden configs without a really powerful first city, Shiang prefers 05 over 03!
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
