Uploaded December 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
This is a highly linear map config that makes building last difficult. A good rule of thumb for USA is to never start in the aqua region - it's expensive as all hell and you corner yourself!
This game gave me an opportunity to build next to someone in the west coast, which i don't usually like. And as it turns out i was right not to like that play! Even getting both of the Denver/Cheyenne twins, your other builds are still too expensive to allow you to buy good plants & use them early on. In retrospect i should've built Minneapolis + Omaha instead and settled for 4 cities in Step 1 if needed.
This is also a good opportunity to discuss why the 08 is the preferred starting plant over 09 in 4ers. 09 seems tempting because you may be able to get decent turn order for turn 2, but it doesn't usually work out that way in practice. The players with the 03 & 04 normally build just 1 city, so you'll still get stuck in the top half of the turn order. Thus you're better off with 08 since it makes more money on turn 1 and lets you skip plants on turn 2. That puts you in a better position to fight for plants like 21 or 27 if they arrive early.
Me getting 08 also would've prevented daroj from getting the 25 at cost on turn 2, though i'd argue barmstrong should've passed on the 20 then. One thing i've learned is that 20 is awful to manage on turns 2-3, enough so that you're better off not buying it at all yet. Even a bit later, stalling at 5 cities running the 20 every turn is terrible too...would only like 20 there if i had another plant or two i could run instead.
As is, daroj getting the cheap East Coast with 25 at cost made him a massive favorite. We managed to chip away at his lead a little bit over the course of the game, but that early advantage allowed him to get away with paying for 26 and then buying the 31. i was never a threat to win due to my expensive early builds and lack of funds - even getting great values on my later plants wasn't enough. teokop was the closest competitor to daroj and probably would've won had the game lasted one more turn, but i bid him a bit too high on the 38 and he couldn't make it to 16 cities. That allowed daroj to barely reach 17 cities and win by being the only person to power 16! Teokop also paid a grip for the 27, though that turned out to be well worth it. 30 was not cheap either but still a fantastic value as well. He was stuck in an awkward spot where he needed to pay for 38 in order to match daroj on capacity, but got charged a little too much.
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
This is a highly linear map config that makes building last difficult. A good rule of thumb for USA is to never start in the aqua region - it's expensive as all hell and you corner yourself!
This game gave me an opportunity to build next to someone in the west coast, which i don't usually like. And as it turns out i was right not to like that play! Even getting both of the Denver/Cheyenne twins, your other builds are still too expensive to allow you to buy good plants & use them early on. In retrospect i should've built Minneapolis + Omaha instead and settled for 4 cities in Step 1 if needed.
This is also a good opportunity to discuss why the 08 is the preferred starting plant over 09 in 4ers. 09 seems tempting because you may be able to get decent turn order for turn 2, but it doesn't usually work out that way in practice. The players with the 03 & 04 normally build just 1 city, so you'll still get stuck in the top half of the turn order. Thus you're better off with 08 since it makes more money on turn 1 and lets you skip plants on turn 2. That puts you in a better position to fight for plants like 21 or 27 if they arrive early.
Me getting 08 also would've prevented daroj from getting the 25 at cost on turn 2, though i'd argue barmstrong should've passed on the 20 then. One thing i've learned is that 20 is awful to manage on turns 2-3, enough so that you're better off not buying it at all yet. Even a bit later, stalling at 5 cities running the 20 every turn is terrible too...would only like 20 there if i had another plant or two i could run instead.
As is, daroj getting the cheap East Coast with 25 at cost made him a massive favorite. We managed to chip away at his lead a little bit over the course of the game, but that early advantage allowed him to get away with paying for 26 and then buying the 31. i was never a threat to win due to my expensive early builds and lack of funds - even getting great values on my later plants wasn't enough. teokop was the closest competitor to daroj and probably would've won had the game lasted one more turn, but i bid him a bit too high on the 38 and he couldn't make it to 16 cities. That allowed daroj to barely reach 17 cities and win by being the only person to power 16! Teokop also paid a grip for the 27, though that turned out to be well worth it. 30 was not cheap either but still a fantastic value as well. He was stuck in an awkward spot where he needed to pay for 38 in order to match daroj on capacity, but got charged a little too much.
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
