Uploaded December 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Another real interesting 4er, starting with mastaba buying 09 instead of 08! It's a play that makes some sense if 03/04/05 were the other plants bought...09 makes less money than 08 in the first two turns but has much more long-term use and lets you build just 1 city at the start.
mastaba got a solid value on the 13 given how bad some of the early plants were, then landed 18 at cost. Meanwhile i got the 28 for $29 and a dud came immediately afterward. My main mistake in this game was bidding just a little too much for the 20 when i really wanted 18 to pair with 28 & 10. 33 actually made it to the market during Step 1, and mastaba used his early money lead to win that auction and get even richer. With 20 + 28 i was not in a good position to use 33, another reason i would've been better off with 18!
Even with mastaba's dominant bankroll i still may have had a chance had i not made one more mistake: building to 16 cities when i could only power 9 effectively. Didn't fully take into account how rough the Step 3 market would be, as that would've let me to stay at 9. Turn order was crucial in this game since neither coal nor oil was completely safe for the players higher up; i could've taken a plant like 42 followed by a 7-capacity plant to finish at 18 and beat mastaba on capacity, had i played that game instead.
The last turn was interesting in the 38 vs. 36 dichotomy, but i think mastaba would've won regardless of how those auctions went for us. 18 was my only chance in retrospect...
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 real interesting 4er, starting with mastaba buying 09 instead of 08! It's a play that makes some sense if 03/04/05 were the other plants bought...09 makes less money than 08 in the first two turns but has much more long-term use and lets you build just 1 city at the start.
mastaba got a solid value on the 13 given how bad some of the early plants were, then landed 18 at cost. Meanwhile i got the 28 for $29 and a dud came immediately afterward. My main mistake in this game was bidding just a little too much for the 20 when i really wanted 18 to pair with 28 & 10. 33 actually made it to the market during Step 1, and mastaba used his early money lead to win that auction and get even richer. With 20 + 28 i was not in a good position to use 33, another reason i would've been better off with 18!
Even with mastaba's dominant bankroll i still may have had a chance had i not made one more mistake: building to 16 cities when i could only power 9 effectively. Didn't fully take into account how rough the Step 3 market would be, as that would've let me to stay at 9. Turn order was crucial in this game since neither coal nor oil was completely safe for the players higher up; i could've taken a plant like 42 followed by a 7-capacity plant to finish at 18 and beat mastaba on capacity, had i played that game instead.
The last turn was interesting in the 38 vs. 36 dichotomy, but i think mastaba would've won regardless of how those auctions went for us. 18 was my only chance in retrospect...
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
