Uploaded December 2018 | Updated September 2026, 14 hours ago
Another Germany game - people just can't get enough of this map lately! Personally i feel it's the toughest BSW map to play well, and enjoy it a lot.
Here you can see the benefit of starting with 08 in 3P games, as it gets cheaper coal on the first 2 turns (compared to larger games). Combine that with me buying 15 and a dud following, and i was sitting pretty. Builds went well too, as going last on Germany is normally rough. Things changed after i gave up the 18 a bit earlier than normal due to fear of mastaba getting the 26 at cost - 16 dropped instead and i had to buy that next turn. Building to 7 cities was clearly the move for me since i could power 6 and remove two bad plants from the market.
Ended up getting the 25 for $43, then mastaba landed the 26 for a bit under $40. That's normally a great value for 26, but my 16 kept oil costs decently high. An important decision i made that many newer players would not: refusing to buy a 4-capacity plant at this point in the game. A plant like 21 or 24 would only provide marginal benefit over the 16, and we were close enough to Step 3 that such a plant would only last a couple turns before needing to be replaced. The Step 3 plant market was significantly weaker than usual in this game, so i badly wanted the bottom spot in the turn order.
Bottom ended up not mattering a whole lot, oddly enough, as mastaba let me have the 30 in the mid-$50s. With not many other decent 6s or 7s i was a little surprised at that, and in fact mastaba was forced to buy a 5-capacity plant afterward. The turn afterward was the same situation with me beating out mastaba for the 38 (actually cheaper than the 30, hah!). 38 was a huge target for me because it was the last 7-capacity plant in the game and i wouldn't be able to buy a plant and end the game that turn anyway...so i wanted to secure 18 capacity in case the game lasted one more turn.
The end was interesting because it turned out that mastaba could've ended the game with 16 capacity and won after i bought 38. My building above him may have led him to seek turn order and forget about that option, and the win was academic for me after that. A bit lucky, but very happy with how i played as well!
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
Another Germany game - people just can't get enough of this map lately! Personally i feel it's the toughest BSW map to play well, and enjoy it a lot.
Here you can see the benefit of starting with 08 in 3P games, as it gets cheaper coal on the first 2 turns (compared to larger games). Combine that with me buying 15 and a dud following, and i was sitting pretty. Builds went well too, as going last on Germany is normally rough. Things changed after i gave up the 18 a bit earlier than normal due to fear of mastaba getting the 26 at cost - 16 dropped instead and i had to buy that next turn. Building to 7 cities was clearly the move for me since i could power 6 and remove two bad plants from the market.
Ended up getting the 25 for $43, then mastaba landed the 26 for a bit under $40. That's normally a great value for 26, but my 16 kept oil costs decently high. An important decision i made that many newer players would not: refusing to buy a 4-capacity plant at this point in the game. A plant like 21 or 24 would only provide marginal benefit over the 16, and we were close enough to Step 3 that such a plant would only last a couple turns before needing to be replaced. The Step 3 plant market was significantly weaker than usual in this game, so i badly wanted the bottom spot in the turn order.
Bottom ended up not mattering a whole lot, oddly enough, as mastaba let me have the 30 in the mid-$50s. With not many other decent 6s or 7s i was a little surprised at that, and in fact mastaba was forced to buy a 5-capacity plant afterward. The turn afterward was the same situation with me beating out mastaba for the 38 (actually cheaper than the 30, hah!). 38 was a huge target for me because it was the last 7-capacity plant in the game and i wouldn't be able to buy a plant and end the game that turn anyway...so i wanted to secure 18 capacity in case the game lasted one more turn.
The end was interesting because it turned out that mastaba could've ended the game with 16 capacity and won after i bought 38. My building above him may have led him to seek turn order and forget about that option, and the win was academic for me after that. A bit lucky, but very happy with how i played as well!
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
