Dan's track (black) were much more profitable than Mike's (green)
October 21st, 2004 |
For the second week in a row, only Dan showed up. Karla made it through two games, but then was fed up and took off to clean the fish tank.
| Vom Kap bis Kairo |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 8 | 1 | |
| Mike | 7 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Karla | 7 | 2 (Tie) | |
Notes: Dan did was he always does, and beat Karla and me. The lead changed hands a lot, especially near the end. Karla started off by being stuck behind some big mountains early, but eventually got some easy tracks (when she also saved a ton of $$$) and made a nice charge at the end. Dan outbid me in the last auction for a vital piece of track, and it prevented me from winning. Had I gotten the better track, I think I would have won.
| Colossal Arena |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 18 | 1 | |
| Mike | 14 | 2 | |
| Karla | 7 | 3 | |
Notes: Okay, I didn't freak out this time. I still played poorly. I was the backer for the Daimon and the Titan. Karla lost a lot of points for putting chips on the Cyclops and the Gorgon, two monsters that made it to the third and fourth rounds but got knocked off.
At one point I made a move that could have made it difficult for Dan to have the Wyrm survive, but instead I killed off the Gorgon. This was a dumb move, as Karla was way behind and Dan looked to be in great shape.
I played pretty well, except that right after I used my power as the Daimon's backer to place a chip on the Troll, Dan had the Troll killed. Dan and I both had our secret bets survive - Dan had the Titan and I had the Daimon - but Karla's secret bet on the Cyclops didn't make it. Dan made the bulk of his gold on the Titan and the Wyrm. I tried to kill the Wyrm a couple times, but Dan, who went after me, kept saving him, and Karla always seemed to try to slow down my bets rather than Dan. So, when I would re-save my monster, Dan usually ended up with the opportunity to end a round.
| Empire Builder |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | $253 Million | 1 | |
| Mike | $167 Million | 2 | |
Notes: Dan and I had played this cool game once before, but only to $150 Million. Tonight we played to $250 million, but gave ourselves faster trains (12 and 16 speed rather than 9 and 12 speed). Everything else was by the book.
Dan started in the midwest and east, and I started in Mexico. I got a little rambunctious, though, and would over-expand. The name of the game in Empire Builder is efficiency - try to perform at least two things per trip - and I was brutal. I always seemed to have to build a little too much new track to complete my shipments, and rarely was I able to complete two shipments while going to a certain city.
Dan didn't have many problems, and when he forgot to do something I was gracious enough to let him go back to a city or take a good or deliver it. He was more efficient, and he also didn't make the mistake of going too far to one edge of the map, whereas I had gone way too far south. By having so much track so far south at the beginning, I really made expansions into the USA really expensive.
When Dan won the game, he asked me if I was almost about to win it. I wasn't. I was going to make a $33 Million delivery to Mexico City, but I was still going to have to go all the way up to LA - not exactly nearby - to deliver another $40 million. You'll notice that those two shipments, had I completed them, still would have left me $10 million short. Yech.
Dan's track (black) were much more profitable than Mike's (green)