by Cornbreadx
Profession Choices:In my previous entry, I highlighted some strategic goals you should have in mind when you sit down to play this absolutely wonderful game. Now comes the meat of the game, making the proper choices in terms of professions and when to best make those choices in terms of combo with each other. I will break down each profession and when it’s best to play them to your strengths.
Navigator:
This is the least likely profession for me to personally take. The reason is that there are better alternatives to score you money or victory. Though you are granted free movement, you shouldn’t be moving all that much to begin with. Moving, in my opinion, is a waste of action pawns and money if you can’t score the action cheap. Take the navigator only when you half to move, and nothing better is available that would otherwise score you money or victory points. This is a terrible first turn choice, but not so bad mid or especially late game if you need to move.
Carpenter:
Easiest end game victory strategy and in my opinion, second best opening profession. With the affordability to build with only one money, this makes the carpenter invaluable. Often times you will be taking this profession anywhere from 2-4 times throughout the game if possible. What you need to keep in mind though is this – you don’t want to be moving before trying to construct a stall AND pay close attention to who has the Priest. I have seen, on multiple occasions, the player who has the Carpenter get locked out of an island due to either needing to move before being able to build and having the last stall position stolen, or a player with the priest swiping the last stall position on an island before the player with the Carpenter gets to build. Be sure if you are constructing a hut with the Carpenter, that you do it quickly UNLESS you can use it to block without screwing up your turn. Depending upon your position and what results are from the previous turn, you can often times end up with the carpenter AND have the ability to build a second stall on an island you are adjacent it to. To accomplish this, pay close attention to who has the Carpenter, and how you can obtain it immediately afterwards while blocking others from being able to build a stall where you want your second stall. Keep in mind that end game, this profession becomes moderately worthless. Sure you may have a stall on an island, but without enough turns to move tourists to that island, it’s pointless to waste money building if you can’t score with it.
Fisher:
Simply put, unless you are scoring a 2 or 3 tile for fish, this profession isn’t worth all that much. It’s good if you are going the fish route to victory, but otherwise, it’s a last ditch choice if nothing better is available. Though it does give you the victory for fishing, 1, 2, or 3, putting down a sand drawing gives you 3 alone. It’s only added benefit is if you plan on selling fish (or can sell fish) in a subsequent turn and be the first to sell before the market tanks. Selling fish can be good of course, if you are wrapping around the money track for victory or need money to do something better, like build! Remember also, fish tiles are worth a big fat ZERO at the end of the game. So collecting fish tiles is great if you plan to transpose them to money – otherwise, you could have wasted your power of choice on this if you never get them switched over to money at the maximum amount per fish (3). Better choice as a mid game or late game profession when choices become scarce and you want those extra VPs for fish tiles you plan to sell soon after.
Diver:
Second best bang for the buck, but probably the best opening profession in my opinion. No matter what, money is always good, and free money is even better – especially when end game victory is there for the taking! The Diver is good no matter what treasure tile you are taking. It’s like a “get out of Vanuatu jail free” card for sure!! Money is king, and the better you are sitting with money, the better you will do in this game. Obviously it’s much more powerful if you can take the 2 or 3 treasure card (4-6 victory + 2-3 money), but don’t balk at it when you only have the 1 card available. Remember that 1 treasure is still two victory and you immediately get the one money, potential for a second money in lieu of the victory. One money might set you up to build in a subsequent turn if you can nab the builder. Diver is a go to if you can take him. Other things can be much better depending upon what’s going on with the board, your turn order, and what your strategy is. I always tell people when I am playing, “turn two is the ultimate position for wrecking,” and it is. Diver first turn leaves me with the most options for turn 2. I have the money, I already have victory in my hand, and the board is open to me especially if I have good player position. It’s a great profession throughout the game.
Fish Market Guy:
The game is so tight, and if you follow my guideline on not moving much in the game, this profession becomes somewhat useless! To even activate him, you still have to have a stall on the board. That being said, if you don’t move very much and build effectively, you should never have to take this chump – ever! The only time this profession becomes an asset is if you are going the fish route for victory. Even then, there are still better choices to take in that instance like the navigator or the shipper. I think in all the games I have played, I have taken this profession a total of 2 times and only ended up benefiting from his power once. Though it doesn’t score immediate victory or money, it does make it easy if you are in a tight position with unfavorable tile position for you. Worst and most useless first turn profession – NEVER TAKE ON THE FIRST TURN! However, it could be an explosive last or next to last turn profession if you have stocked up a lot of fish tiles.
Shipper:
Best bang for the buck, second best opening profession tied with carpenter, but highly dependent on what is available to ship, what ships are out to allow for optimal cargo, and where your boat is relative to making it all happen. Unless you are some kind of noob, spending three money for 10 victory is a must do in just about any game. However… this power becomes much more enticing when you can do that and fill a ship to send out of the harbor. It’s possible, with proper timing and setup, that you can score 14 points from 3 money! That’s huge!! This is a profession that, if you are going to take it, you want to be profiting at a minimum, 4 victory points for white cargo, 6-8 victory for orange cargo, and 10-14 points for purple cargo. I wouldn’t advise taking it if you can’t accomplish any of those as per color available unless it is turn 7 or 8 and you are short on cash and want to maximize flip of money to victory before end game. Keep a close eye on what ships are filled with what cargo, where you are at on the board, and what cargo you can double up on! Most players will overlook this profession I assure you until they see you score big with it. Then it will be a mad rush to grab the shipper. If that’s the case, then maximize by using it once and letting others fight over it as you take other worthy professions that suite your strategy. This is a great profession no matter what turn and no matter what player position.
Artist:
5 victory. It’s a straight forward choice if other things are not available. A go to profession if you can’t get anything better and there are spots to make sand drawings on islands that you are adjacent to and wish to stay adjacent to. Remember, I don’t move much in the game as I feel it’s wasting action pawns that would otherwise score me victory. So if you are not moving much, this is a limited use profession. If you are moving a lot, it may be more advantageous to take this and piggy off next turn with the guide to build up a stock pile of victory points early game.
Guide:
Probably my 3rd choice of profession in the game. Shipping tourists is not only fun, end game advantageous, but also scores you money – and who doesn’t like money!! The guide gives you that boost on islands that have sand drawings completed. Who doesn’t want 2-6 victory just for sending out white pawns to your islands that are already scoring you big in end game?? It’s more butter on your bread and as a Homer Simpson fan… I like butter! This is a profession that pairs well with the Artist and should be maximized with the Artist if possible. Two turn strategy to score 7-11 victory is pretty good in my book. This profession is best mid game to late game to take. Early game costs you the maximum amount of victory, though it’s not bad for first turn to get on the board quickly to have the option of using the beggar in a subsequent turn 2 or turn 3 if necessary.
Beggar:
This may sound crazy, but this is a great profession choice for second turn if you take the shipper first turn. It’s also a freebie choice if you have 1-3 victory to spare to ensure you double up stalls on an island. Could help you ship following turn as well or even ship that turn to send out a boat for 3-8 victory gain (minus the cost of money/victory needed to accomplish.) Probably the most underrated profession choice in the game, but could be the most valuable asset in the game at the same time! Never overlook the beggar if you are entering a crappy choice of professions. If this is the case, take the beggar and concentrate on setting up for the next turn to score huge! I often times play this way as it’s best to get what you want than to settle for crap and possibly get nothing that turn. So long as you have vps to spend, it’s a go to when in a crunch throughout the game. Can even work on first turn if you explore and turn in your treasure (though I would never recommend that) or ship first turn.
Priest:
Interestingly, I only see this profession work 30-40% of the time. It’s not any guarantee that his power will work – so this profession is more of a gambled assurance that you can use it. It requires meticulous placement of your action pawns to ensure that you MAY be able to use the power. Often times, I will take this if I am either mid position turn order as that’s the position that usually gets screwed the most. On rare occasion I will take this if I am in late position turn order, but there is usually something better that I can just focus on or out position my opponents to get anyways. A good profession to take when you want the reassurance, but remember that the reassurance is only good if you are fully blocked. I’ve seen it used well, but I have seen it wasted more often than not.
Profession Combos:
There are some combinations that are obvious to choose back-to-back-to-back if you can. Obviously taking the fisher and then taking the fish market guy are good if you are moving around the board a lot and need to sell fish to gain money or victory. However, there are combos that are great that one may not see the first few plays through. I will elaborate on a few I have found.
Carpenter/Beggar/Carpenter
Great way to get two or three stalls out in three subsequent turns. Sometimes you can fully take an island or even have two stalls on the opening island with this combo. If used right, it can really set you up for end game scoring like mad and usually, if the islands are placed in your favor, requires you to not have to move for the first 5 turns of the game.
Diver/Navigator/Diver
One of the rare moments I will take the navigator. If I am start player and IF I am placing the tile with 2 or 3 treasure down, this is a killer combo. Usually you can score 2 or 3 treasure (plus the money), then move for free, then score another 2 or 3 treasure (plus the money). In total, the gain is 8 – 12 victory (end game) + 4 to 6 money at absolutely no cost to you! That’s pretty big advantage and your opponents will be cursing you throughout the game after it happens.
Carpenter/Diver/Carpenter
Same as Carpenter/Beggar/Carpenter except with better victory outcome due to the diver and usually more money in your pocket afterwards
Carpenter/Artist/Guide
For obvious reasons – end game scoring, mid game scoring, followed by mid game scoring and 2-3 money if played at the right time. Not counting the end game from stalls, you are looking at a 7-9 vp gain + 2 money net gain.
Shipper/Beggar(or Diver)/Shipper
Can be big – and I mean big!! If you get the right draw of boats, you are between two islands with available purple or orange cargo, and you can pull it off… Could result is 20 vps!! Consider this – Island with purple and another adjacent island with orange. The right ship combo comes up that first shipper, you send off two purples. You may or may not fully load a ship – so what – still 10 vps. Next turn, diver to get 1-3 treasure tile, another 2-6 victory, and then ship again with orange – you will most likely send a ship off, resulting in a 8 vp turn. That’s well over 20 vps with the correct combo and in this game, 20 vps makes all the difference mid game! This is a hard combo to pull off since your opponents will want to score in on shipping (if they are paying attention) and you need to have the right combo of goods to ship and ships to place them on. However, don’t underscore using it to fill white cargo either. It’s still 10+ victory regardless of how you dissect it. Just be sure you have the bank roll to pull it off in subsequent turns.
There are other combos, but these are probably the better ones I have used or seen used. Obviously this is all dependent upon when you can take these professions, but with the right play in actions, which I will get to next, it makes these combos very likely to choose. I will explain how to pull some of them off with subjugation via table talk, deceit, and player order. Sometimes you can fool your opponents by the way you place action pawns and by convincing players to help you when they typically won't. The combos are limitless and I am sure there are even better ones that I have yet, in my infancy with the game, to explore fully. As I play more, I may add more that I find to keep this freshly updated.