Puerto Rico turn 1

Gautam didn’t want to hang out with me Monday night, and when he finally decided to come over he made me promise that I would make him go home at 1am. At 12:58 or so I came up with the idea to break down the first couple turns of a Puerto Rico game (3 players) decision by decision in an attempt to determine optimal strategy. In the name of science Gautam gave up on sleeping and we set up the board.

We took out 3 player cards and set them up in order, with the first two receiving indigo and the third getting corn. From this point on we analyzed each individual player’s turn, so rather than us actually playing the game and looking out solely for ourselves, we debated the best decision for each player every time it was their turn to make a decision. The process even motivated me to bust out my camera that I have had for two years but never used, so I will include pictures of the board before each person’s turn so it is easier to understand.

Alright so player one has to choose between the 6 professions (no prospector in 3 player game) but it is actually much simpler, as 3 of the professions are useless. The craftsman wouldn’t produce anything for player one, the trader would do absolutely nothing, and the captain would only provide one point. From my experience games tend to have around 15-20 turns in them, so choosing a profession for one point a turn seems pretty silly.

So the real choice is between Mayor, Builder, and Settler. Mayor would provide two colonists, but with only one open circle the benefit is pretty marginal (just an extra slave for future turns). The Builder would make any building $1 cheaper, which would definitely have positive benefits, such as a free small indigo plant or a cheaper hospice. But choosing the settler allows for a quarry which is a permanent price reduction of $1. So if player one is planning on buying multiple buildings throughout the game, the quarry will probably have an effective value of >$5. I think this is the most obvious move in the game, and anyone who doesn’t take a quarry with their first pick is setting themselves back pretty handily.

Player one thus chooses the Settler and takes a quarry. Player two now has to decide which crop to take: tobacco, indigo, or corn. Since player two already has an indigo, taking another one at this point of the game is pretty useless. The advantage of corn is that it only takes one slave to produce, but it has a value of $0. The advantage of tobacco is that it has a value of $3. So corn vs tobacco is basically a debate between going for money or for points. But in my opinion this isn’t much of a debate, as money is far more valuable at the beginning of the game. Money allows a player to buy buildings which are worth points in and of themselves, as well as providing benefits that enable more point growth. For example look at the harbor. Though it costs $8, the building itself is worth three points, and every time it is used it produces an extra point. So if purchased early enough a harbor can be worth 10 points or more. Points on the other hand always have the same value throughout the game, as once they are collected they offer no boon until the game ends. In this way the value of money compared to points changes every turn: at the end of the game money is worth ~0 points, while at the beginning it is reasonable to expect every dubloon to be worth 1.5-2 points. I haven’t played enough games or done specific calculations to make this conclusion more specific, but money is more important in the early game, and this is turn one. Player 2 should choose the tobacco plant.

Player three’s choice is now corn or indigo. Going into indigo at this point would be pretty foolish, as both players one and two already have an indigo plant. Plus it takes twice as many slaves to be productive, and its value is only $1 more. So player 3 chooses corn and hopes that next turn will be able to provide a cash crop. At the end of the phase four new tiles are pulled: indigo, corn, and coffee x2.

Player two’s turn! Player two is in pretty much the same boat as player one, with three useless options and two worth considering, Mayor and Builder. Mayor here again allows for 2 slaves, but with only two crops and no buildings the extra guy would be useless this turn. Builder on the other hand would allow player two to take $1 off any building purchased, and allow for player two to still collect a slave when another person chooses mayor.

Player two’s legitimate building options at this point are hacienda, construction hut, and small indigo plant. Hacienda would allow for crop growth, but player two already has chosen an expensive cash crop to produce and needs to save up to pay for the $5 cost of tobacco storage as soon as possible. If player two received a corn it would be valuable, but a cash crop would be pretty useless since he has already taken a tobacco plant. Construction hut would allow for more quarries and thus cheaper buildings, which would help in his quest for tobacco storage, but player two will be governor next turn and can just be Settler to get a quarry. Plus in a 3 player game there is no real risk of quarry depletion. The small indigo plant however would be free and allow for the production and sale of indigo. If player two chooses the indigo plant, it is very likely he will be the first player to produce indigo which will sell for at worst $1 and quite possibly as much as $3 (if there is at least $1 on the card and player two receives the trader bonus). So in my opinion the small indigo plant offers the highest reward.

Player 3, on the other hand, only has corn as a crop at this point, so must choose between hacienda and construction hut. The same arguments apply here as they did for player two, but one direct advantage of the hacienda needs to be raised. With a hacienda, player three can choose the settler card and get a quarry as well as a random crop. Whereas the construction hut would just allow for a quarry, and prevent the acquisition of a crop, which is something player three can’t afford as all he has is corn and he needs some sort of cash crop. The hacienda would also enable player three to select a corn with his choice and allow randomness to decide his cash crop: only drawing indigo would be a disaster, and there are fewer indigo tiles in the deck than any other at this point. Sugar and coffee would both be good, and corn and tobacco would be acceptable - corn allows for a huge shipping monopoly at the expense of a cash crop, and tobacco is marginal since player two will likely produce it as well and could fill the trading house. If I’m player three, I buy the hacienda and hope I don’t pull indigo with my next random.

Player One is in a spot where no building is a huge benefit. A small indigo plant would allow the production of indigo which sells for $1, but the plant would cost $1 to build since player one’s quarry isn’t active. So the indigo plant would have to sell 2 indigos to pay itself off, which isn’t particularly likely since player two has already committed to producing indigo. A hacienda isn’t vital, but still offers player one the benefit of choosing the settler card and getting a quarry and a crop. Not as huge as it is for player three and his corn farms, but still worth the investment this early in the game. Player one and three are now broke, and player two still has $2 to his name.

Player three still has three useless professions, and the Mayor. And unlike players one and two, choosing the Mayor here would actually benefit player three as he could activate his building and allow for the production of corn. So player three chooses Mayor, and puts one slave on the hacienda and one on a corn plant. Player three could put both on the corn plants, but the value of the hacienda in acquiring a cash crop is too high to leave it inactive. Player one has to choose between hacienda and quarry, but with no cash the only buildings the quarry would enable would be a small market or small indigo plant, which player one could acquire anyway if he chose the Builder. While the hacienda isn’t vital to him at this point, it still will probably have a greater benefit on the next turn, and player one can work on getting more guys during the next turn to get his quarry active. It’s irrelevant where player two puts his slave, as nothing will produce at this point (on some turns it is important to consider placing that useless slave on a building circle or a crop circle to influence the number of slaves to put on the boat, but that isn’t a consideration on turn one).

So that’s the end of turn one! I am too tired at this point to continue typing up the turn two analysis Gautam and I made, but it will come soon. And turn two is more exciting really as each player can choose between more than three roles.