Agricola strategy summary primary relied on Tacticus, Schwza, Hala and Legend

strategy form posts

2 player = blocking

3 player = low food

4 player = fireplace, food count on fish/tp/rsf for a little while, Stone is the most scarce
resource in the game, Reed is also rare

5 player = low food, cooking hearth, cattle early

Majors
fireplace maybe if early sheep, fireplace rather than cooking hearth except maybe in 5
player
well The earlier you can buy it the better as food is more valuable early on.
basketmaker's workshop
maybe joinery unless wood low

1 = fireplace (cooking heath is good for 5 player cattle) unless you have net fisherman,
landing net, fish trap or stone carver
2 = 1 room, family growth
3 = well
4 = breeding, consider cattle in 5 player

When room is built also make 2 stables so you can start breading

The biggest mistake that new players make is not rushing to get a 3rd room.

0. 3s/2 animals
1. 6w
2. rsf
3. 2r
4. 3w/4c/occ/4 food from acc space
5. sp/2w/3 food from acc space
6. DL/1r/field/g

But way too often I see someone pass up 4w in round ~8 to do something mediocre, like
play water carrier or something. Even getting 3w becomes pretty difficult in round ~10 -
it is usually taken in the first 3-4 actions of a round, so if you have the chance to get 4w,
jump on it
Taking a vegetable early is actually a pretty bad example of just "filling a gap." If you
play smart, that veg can become a maxed category without too much effort.

A better example, and a far worse move, would be taking a single sheep or pig early in
the game.

One common mistake that new-ish players make is having too many food engines early.

I consider early sowing only a strategy for very specific hands. Otherwise you can do
great with sowing only once (2g and 2v) in the whole game, and you get 4p for v and 3p
for g. So, unless your cards really ask for it or your feeding necessities depend on it, sow
only on the late game and (if possible) in round 14

I almost never try to build 2 rooms at once. But if I don't have a room ready in round 5
and fg comes out in round 5, it is worth it to try and build 2 at once.

If I build only one room, as I do usually, and fg comes out early, I normally try to build
another one later. But if I already have my room built and fg comes out late, I tend to
play with only 3 peeps and I try harder to get fg without room (sp in round 12). Even if I
have the necessary wood, from round 9-10 on there is better use if I build fences and try
to get some animals breeding than fight for another room. Breeding animals will
normally mean less struggle for food in the coming rounds, so it's in a way similar to
having more peeps.

Building a room in 4 is ok and building in 6 is ok, but I see a lot of new players building
a room in round 9-10, which is not ok.
In most games, if you want to build the first room, you have to do it in round 4. That's
still good and you should usually jump on the opportunity. Some games though, you
have an even better option - build the first room in round 5. If FG is in round 5, it's not a
big difference - you will FG in round 5 either way and not have to use an SP. If FG is in
round 6 though, building in round 5 means that you don't have to use an SP in order to
guarantee FG in round 6.

In fact, a Round 4 build can be a mistake in some situations: If no one else can build in
Round 4, it's probably better to just grab SP and make sure you can build first in Round
5.

I end up half of my games in clay. I only go to stone if I have a stone based strategy or if
it simply stares me in the face or I have a very big house (which is not my style).

If fg is round 7 and the person after you builds the first room and holds sp until round 7,
you will very likely lose, so you should prevent that.

Look for something else to do in the end besides renovation. Round 14 plow/sow is
awesome and FG is pretty strong too.
The lesson is that there are limits on each of the scoring segments. Scoring comes from 5
significant categories: Fields/Planting, Pastures/Animals, Majors/hand cards, Renovation,
and Family Members.

Family members are both the most important and least interesting category: you should
always try to max it as soon as possible, so there's little to think about.

The good Majors are better deals than renovation in terms of pure resource-to-point
conversions.

Renovation is useful early to build clay rooms or activate cards (I recommend 1 wood
and 1 clay room for a standard game, to save wood for fences), but other than that it's just
a resources > points transfer. If you have the resources, or can get them easily, great.

The other three categories are where the tricky balance is. If you ignore any of them for
too long, you'll get locked out, and will probably lose. Plow/Sow or Fences can fill in
some categories really quickly in Round 14, and they are always there if you grab SP.
The Well probably won't be.

If you go the cooking way, try to build at least 2 stables (if fences are not a good option)
to get your animals breeding.

If you don't plan to cook more than one or two cattle/boars/veggies, there is no need for a
CH. Sheep can be cooked just as well on a fp and most of the cooked meat is sheep.

If you feed with baking, don't forget CH can bake very well if you have sufficient
amounts of grain. And you will not be stuck to baking, as it happens if you only have an
oven.

Don't take SP unless you really need it (even less if you don?t have a good/usable/cheap
minor to play with it).

Taking SP in round 1 is a good thing, if you have a good card for the early game. You
will have 2 good moves in round 2.

If the player that seems to be more powerful sits at your right, take more SP. If he sits at
your left, take less SP.

Don't build room before another player can do it. Try to remember the other cards in the
draft though, to avoid unpleasant surprises. Same for mid-game building.

Don't necessarily grow on your first opportunity you have to do so, if delaying fg for you
also delays it for others. I don't say you should delay (although there are several
advantages), just that fg-ing is not a must play. Assess the situation case by case.
If you have cards that give bonus points when you use them (like Tavern or Clay
deposit), use them for points as early as possible. You may risk to end the game without
grain or without boars, but you will have a 2p move each round, including for all your
peeps in round 14. If you do everything else before you may find yourself in round 14
taking 2p off Tavern then watching out the window.

Don't take cards that require you to have food before you have a nice food engine (unless
you know you will have one soon). I have seen bad played Educator, Animal Breeder and
(lots of times) Piece worker.

If you and another player are the only one with 3 peeps, don't rush to fg in round 13 with
your first peep. You can do it for the same result (and save 2f on feeding) the next round.
You will lose an action overall, but the last move of a game is often useless. But losing
your first move in round 13 is huge.

You can easily max veggies if you take 1 in Round 11 and sow twice. I think that's
something that people are slow to realize though.

If you have max grain/veg and no animals, that scores 5 points. If you have 1 of each,
that also scores 5 points. I find, personally, that maxing grain and veggies is much easier,
and more profitable. If I have the chance, I can grab the animals in Round 14.

Game Play Pre First Harvest

1. RSF is the best spot on the board. Stone is the most scarce resource in the game, Reed
is also rare, and food early in the game is sparse. When in doubt take RSF.
2. It is extremely helpful to be the first person to build -- as this often leads to first FG.
However, never build in rd 3 and if you can be the first to build in rd 5 instead of rd 4 that
is better. Also if you cannot be the first to build it is helpful if the person b4 you is the
first to build.
3. It is better to play Plowman and Fence Deliveryman in Rd 4 b/c you don't have to pay
for them until rd 8.
4. Don't FENCE at this point in the game. Barring unusual circumstances it is almost
always a bad choice.
5. First FP is valuable (and the longer it is that you are the only one who can cook
animals the better -- this is a recipe for winning).

Take starting player when you need it and it will give you a valuable action the next
round or result in a minor that improves your actions. Don't waste it on sp + nothing
unless it is critical that you have the first move (as in Fg or last three rounds).

The most common mistake I see before the first harvest is playing an occ instead of
taking rsf (or 2r). In general, if I am going 2nd, I will take rsf. The exception is if I have
a strong occ that needs to be played early - berry picker, resource seller.
Priority of spots in the first 4 turns, and for the most part - later in the game too (3s,
animals 2/3+ have basically must-grab value and should be assumed taken at those
accumulations)
1. 6w
2. rsf
3. 2r
4. 3w/4c/occ/4+ food from acc space
5. sp/2w/3+ food from acc
6. DL/1r/field/g

Early - 4f - making sure you are fed in round 4 can lead to some forced plays

Early - Getting those occs out that must be played (lady in waiting, hut builder, fence D)

Have a realistic plan for your first 8 actions, even if it is a bit ambitious. I often map out
what i can reasonably expect to get in stage 1. The actions are relatively scripted, so you
can plan a little better before the game begins. Obviously some drafted cards can make
certain spots appealing (Apple Picker, for example) as late actions.

Round 1, Action 1: Occ1, RSF, Occ2, 3W - This is locked in stone, not in this particular
order, although 3W is generally last
Round 1, Action 2: 2W, 2C, SP, other - 2C > 2W if sheep or mami is the round 1 card,
2w generally better otherwise. In the draft, it's generally good to take at least one minors
that's acceptable to play with 3W and 0 occs, because you almost have to take sp with the
8th action.

Round 2: Occ1, RSF, Occ2, 3W, and 2R are the first 5 spots taken. This makes SP in
round 1 particularly good, as the SP will get 2 of these. I like drafting minors that are
good to play as SP in round 1.
Round 2, Action 2: Fireplace (if applicable), 2W spots, SP. Slim pickings in Round 2
actually, so its good to be able to take a profitable action with your second peep. I hate
taking 2w in round 2.

Round 3: Play starts to deviate in this round, as there are more than 4-5 spots to take with
your first action. Occ1, Occ2, 3W, 3W (sometimes), RSF, 4C are all quality spots,
depending on the cards. If you take 4C early in round 3, you better have a plan for it.
Using your first action as a non-room building grab means you will often not build an
early room. It's a quality grab if the person that took 2c didn't build fp - sometimes you
can use the 4c to steal first fp (in your case, generally the cooking hearth) if mami is the
round 4 card. The other spots that are acceptable in round 3 are both tp and fishing (if
you AND other players are likely to want 4f), SP (especially if 4W will be available that
you want) and sometimes 3c if you have plans for it.

Round 4: This is where the game starts to get interesting, imo. Basically, you can look at
everyones prospects for room building. If you are dedicated, you can almost always
commit your first 6 actions to building a room with your first peep in round 4. Through
the first 4 rounds, 8 reed will be taken (4 RSF and 2 2R grabs usually). There aren't a ton
of reed helpers (Thatcher/Clay Roof etc), but even one of them throw off this balance. If
there isn't one, then 2R becomes a fairly good grab. It's not my favorite thing to take (I
prefer trying for double RSF), but sometimes you have to build a room. If you are the
only one able to build a room, consider delaying your build until round 5. If nobody
builds a room in round 4, first room in Round 5 guarantees first FG, outside of FG
cheating shenanigans.

I feel like a good stage 1 sets you up for the rest of the game. Figure out your room
building strategy, and if you are going to pass on first room/first fg, have a very good
reason to do so (Clay rooms, for example)

Ideal layout (note in the final layout the pasture moved to the lower right and the stables
flipped to follow the fencing diagram)

If you have a plow go for 2x3, if not do 2x4.

Normally, you should try to leave a 2x4 space available for fencing if you occupy only
seven spaces with rooms and fields, then reduce it to 2x3 and 2x2 as you add more rooms
or fields.

This is the 2x4

15 fences +-+-+-+-+ (optimal pure fence layout)

11 points | |S|
12/4/4/+1 + +-+
. | |S|
. +-----+-+

Six spaces total, four pastures, animal maximization (not that that's a likelihood for most
games/players), leaving room for maxing out fields (5), along with a four-room hut.

This is the 2x3 that another thinks is optimal

15 fences +-+-+-+ (optimal fences with maximum animals or

less space;
10 points |S |S| any other arrangement of internal fences
also works)
8/8/8/+1 +-+-+-+
. |S |S|
. +-+-+-+

Note that fencing 6 is almost always worse than fencing 7 so you want to start with so
you can build on later

7 fences +-+
|S|
+-+
. |S|
. +-+

The best way to set yourself up for the optimal fence layouts is to
create a situation in which you can use either the optimal 2x3 or 2x4
fences. As long as you don't plan to build more than five rooms, you
can use the following layout:

HHHFF
Hf..P
Hf..P

Put your house in the five spots labeled H, and your first two plowed
fields in the two spots labeled F, using the f spots if you plow more
than two fields (and aren't plowing a third field in a house spot you
know you will never use). If you build fences early, enclose a 2x1
pasture or two 1x1 pastures in the spots labeled P.

If you haven't plowed the f fields, you are set to lay down the optimal
arrangement of 15 fences in a 2x4 area; if you have plowed them, you
are set to lay down the optimal arrangement of 15 fences in a 2x3
area. If you start with a 2x1 pasture, you can also make either optimal
arrangement of 14 fences by not subdividing the 2x1.

If you build early stables, you are likely to want them in the P spots
since those spots are your planned 1x1 pastures, which are the ones
that most need stables.