by Zepheus
kvenosdel wrote:
The key to winning this game is to follow your opponents roles and then lead a role they can't follow. You will accomplish a lot more this way. Once everyone in your group gets a feel for this you will see more varied games. Also, don't be afraid to try out new strategies even if your opponents aren't. Planet flipping is only one of the paths you can take, and usually warfare is better at it. Try some resource production or mass researching next time.
Oftentimes, you can reasonably predict how long a game will take (ie how many turns) and plan for this. For example, if both of your opponents are leading Colonize a lot, perhaps use the Survey role to find planets with colonization symbols on them. Then you can easily follow the role without needing as many cards. When I use Colonize or Warfare, I generally use the role to amass many colonies or grab a lot of ships, and then the action to Settle/Attack a planet. In this way, you can follow the other players roles, then use your Colonize/Warfare action to get your planet flipped and avoid depleting the.
With your knowledge of approximate game length, you can choose an appropriate strategy. If the game is going to be short, perhaps choose a Survey-heavy route and go for Prestige planets. For mid-length games, go for resource-producing planets, such as Utopian and Produce/Trade. For long games, Research is probably going to be the best bet.