Chris Potter
United States
Tacoma
Washington
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Has anyone been able to use a housing strategy successfully? It seems so attractive at first. But you have to build ASAP in the first chapter, then hope like hell that no card comes along and ruins your plans later on. I've frequently seen people lose a house, or not be able to collect house rent for a whole chapter, due to cards.
I don't want to be one of those people that completely rule out a certain strategy but it just seems to difficult to use well.
If anyone does build houses, which two items do you usually build for?
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Jack
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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I've used it somewhat successfully in one of my early games, but I think to really use it well, you have to come out firing and then use the rondel to capitalize on points for houses.
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Lloyd B
United Kingdom
Sidcup
Kent
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You can also take extra resources as personal income, use the Privilege to build twice and then use Rent to have 2 houses producing in the first chapter.
Since (I find) you tend to get at least one stone/wood of the first few personal incomes, this is relatively easy to set up.
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Jack
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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Especially if the first player takes piety with the rondel. If you are going 2nd, then building a house will get you a point if you move it 1 space.
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Chris Potter
United States
Tacoma
Washington
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Isn't piety behind the starting location of the rondel? Anyway, it still seems like a rough strategy. If you build on the resource spaces, then it takes two incomes to even recoup those expenses. I appreciate the responses, though I think I'm still on the fence about these.
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Jack
United States
Cumberland
Rhode Island
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Wow, I think we messed up the last game we played then. Yikes.
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Matt Smith
United States
Orion
Michigan
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Houses aren't a winning strategy by themselves, they just provide options to get what you need if the other sources aren't working/available. I usually grab grain/piety with one house, and VPs/medical knowledge with the other. If a lot of building projects are coming out, I'll grab wood/stone instead.
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Ugur Dönmez
Netherlands
Hoofddorp
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I was actually planning to start a thread asking this very question!
Of the people I regularly play this with, nobody ever builds houses anymore. Last time I tried I got severely punished for my efforts. I was wondering if it is groupthink and if there is a way to make them work.
I think the problem is that first of all they require a big investment: building two houses costs two actions, two money and two building materials, and so far you have nothing to show for it. If I put those building materials into a building, I save one action, two money and am up 6 points!
Once you made that investment, it might be viable if you can spend the rest of the game 'harvesting' from your houses twice per era, but if one or more of the events that target house owners comes up, you're hosed! Especially the one where you lose a house is harsh, whereas people who didn't bother in the first place only lose two points IIRC.
I still really like the game, I just think it's a bit of a shame if one aspect of turns out a bit useless.
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