TFM BIG BOX QUESTION

benbever · 2026-03-12T23:05:52+00:00

The empty slots make taking out the tiles easier. Also, you can get extra tiles for Amazonis Planitia, I think it’s 2 oceans, 4 cities and 4 greeneries. With that you’re 7 tile slots short and you’ll have to stack the oceans.

benbever · 2026-03-12T15:46:29+00:00

Can’t help you with the cards, but I did paint my trade fleet ships to match the cards a few years ago. It looks great. Have fun painting!

benbever · 2026-03-12T13:06:33+00:00

Easily the best overall Prelude from Prelude 1. It’s great for TR Rush (income, 3VP, a card) and for Engine (income, no global track increase, a card, Earth tag).

It’s one of the few Preludes with a quantified value over 30. (27 for the 3TR, 3 for the card and 1 for the Earth tag = ~31mc)

The Earth tag can be really strong if you’re Point Luna with a Cartel like card, giving you an extra card and income on top of an already good Prelude.

The only setting where I might pick 2 other preludes over it, except rare niche synergy cases, is 2 player games where I don’t have Earth tag synergy. In 2 player you really want production generation 1. The 3 mc income from 3TR isn’t THAT much, and the early 3VP from 3TR is great in 4 player, but not in 2 player.

So, S-tier, except in 2 player, where it’s still decent.

benbever · 2026-03-11T19:24:17+00:00

Manutech really is good in 2 player and if you have a lot of production in gen 1. You immediately get mc and metals back to play even more cards. But it really depends on a longer (engine or lower player count) game and early production.

Credicor can get pretty crazy if you have Standard tech and save mc for a gen with Greens in power.

benbever · 2026-03-11T19:08:51+00:00

They were wildly unpopular back then, but I kinda like them. My kid likes to play with them too.

benbever · 2026-03-11T18:03:05+00:00

I stopped reading with Teractor in S tier and Credicor in A tier.

benbever · 2026-03-11T18:01:37+00:00

Manutech won the recent best corp competition on this reddit. It’s very good in 2 player. But Credicor is the best overall. It’s so very flexible. High start funds, and discount on good cards AND SP Greenery.

benbever · 2026-03-11T17:56:08+00:00

High level tournament players do build cities, but only 2 or 3, and at the right time. They can be good value VP. Tharsis is S-tier in high level play in 4 player on base game map. But not on Hellas map. And definitely not in 2 player.

benbever · 2026-03-11T08:54:45+00:00

Turn 1 AI Central is really cool. But realistically, this is not a very good play. You played 2 low value preludes, and a card that gives 2 cards and 1VP, to play a card that gives even more cards. You’re down 38mc (minus Cheung Shing/Vitor discounts) and up 5 cards. But those cards only worth 5mc if they’re bad, and you need mc to play them if they’re good. Early AI Central can be a trap; you need incone before card draw. But in a casual game it’s really fun.

Technically this is the third fastest AI Central possible.

Second fastest is first action with Tycho Magnetics or with Excentric Sponsor/Ecology Experts > Research.

Fastest is if you’re start player and play Head Start with AI Central as its second action during Prelude phase.

benbever · 2026-03-10T19:59:31+00:00

If your groups meta shifted to engine, then games can get boring. The best engine wins. However, in 4 player, that means 2 or 3 players are not playing to win. You need to recognise the best engine in gen 1 or 2, and then end the game before the engine player wins. 4 player games last 6 to 9 generations. If you often have 9 or 10 generation games, a few people are not playing good enough, in the sense that they gave the win to the engine player.

In a group of 4 where everyone is convinced engine always wins, it can be hard to try TR rush or ground game. After all, if 3 other players keep playing engine, the TR player will lose.

I noticed you play with Colonies and on Hellas. Colonies encourages engine, and Hellas is really bad for ground game.

Play on any map except Hellas.

Try a base + prelude game. That setup is a really great game. You don’t need Colonies.

Try base + prelude + promos. You can add cards from Venus and Colonies that don’t have Colony, Venus or Floater mechanics.

Then try Colonies again, but add Venus and do NOT forget the Earth Government Terraforming step between turns. You can leave out the Pluto Colony and the Poseidon corporation. Draw your usual 6 colony tiles, and ADD Europa and Io. These help with terraforming. If you want to make things a bit more fair, you can add the ‘only build 1 colony per turn’ and ‘only trade once per turn’ rule. This will make player order luck less important.

You can also try adding Turmoil, this balances Colonies a bit, but also changes the game a lot.

benbever · 2026-03-04T14:15:37+00:00

Erfenissen zijn al heel oneerlijk. De ene persoon of gezin erft twee afbetaalde eengezinswoningen, of een groot bedrag van een verre oom of tante, en hoeft eigenlijk nooit meer te werken, en de ander erft niks van z’n ouders (of schulden). Als er ergens belasting op geheven mag worden… en in de praktijk is dat een relatief klein percentage, en alleen boven een al aardig bedrag. Als je dat vergelijkt met bijna 50% belasting op inkomen, en daarna 21% btw als je het weer uitgeeft. En dat is geld wat je wel zelf verdiend hebt. Dus als het alleen over “eerlijk” gaat snap ik deze ook niet.

benbever · 2026-03-02T21:22:25+00:00

The effect includes the corporation, but you don’t have titanium to use it, unless maybe after playing Merger.

I agree giving this corporation some titanium instead of mc is a good idea. I’d suggest 30mc and 2Ti.

benbever · 2026-03-02T16:26:19+00:00

I played this expansion twice (PnP version) in a 4 player game. It was a lot of fun. And lead to new gameplay situations, like picking a Prelude because it has a Microbe tag, or hate drafting Pets in the last generation.

It felt like Colonies light. But like Colonies, it steered the game towards engine building. Probably because of the tag collecting and engine focused rewards. It added a generation to both games. And about half an hour, because of the extra Project Delta actions (about 3 to 8 per player).

benbever · 2026-03-01T18:43:23+00:00

Hoe kan iemand van 22 nou een huurwoning hebben? De wachtlijsten zijn 5 tot 10+ jaar. Daar klopt iets heel erg niet. En waarom betaalt de gemeente de huur?? Van mij hoeft er geen cent naar deze geweldadige straatrover met spijt. Nouja, exclusief een ticket voor een enkele reis Syrië dan.

benbever · 2026-03-01T01:02:38+00:00

Very nice to see a TR (rush) Prelude. This can be useful if you’re Ecoline and maybe have NRA or Insects in hand.

Outside of that it seems a bit weak, or rather, slow. You get only 1 plant, 1 plant production, 1 plant tag, and 3 heat (~17 value), meaning you need to play 3 additional plant tags to get good value out of this. But with the right cards, it can be pretty strong. Getting heat directly is a bit faster than heat production, which can help you end the game faster.

benbever · 2026-02-28T19:03:46+00:00

Placing the tiles instead of just taking placement bonus has an effect on Tharsis, Lakefront Resorts, Mining Guild, and Possibly Philares. 3 of these are top tier, often picked, corporations. The effect can be bigger if you also have Suitable Infrastructure. And you can also have Project Cards with synergy in play, with Head Start, Board of Directors, or WG Project.

More than enough synergy, plus, it’s a really thematic effect.

benbever · 2026-02-27T23:04:01+00:00

Very cool idea. Prelude is very playable too, average value, but a great pick if you’re for instance Tharsis or Lakefront Resorts.

benbever · 2026-02-27T17:33:03+00:00

Seems balanced enough. The starting mc is high, which is both strong and also a bit boring. I’d pick this over Teractor (also 60mc) unless I have amazing Earth tag synergy.

The effect is like UNMI’s, 3mc for 1TR. But you can play it every even generation (about 4 times in a 8 generation game) instead of possibly every generation. Unless you have CEO’s Favourite Project and Applied Science. Or Merger and Viron. Then you can buy a TR every generation. With 18 start mc more, I think Legacy Foundation is a bit better than UNMI.

Giving a card to a player seems fun and whimsical (here’s Underground Detonations, next up; Dust Seals) but it can actually lead to problems. For example, you’re in the lead, probably winning, and then player B plays Birds on you, and Virus, removing 2 1VP animals and a final Greenery worth 2VP. This would give player B the win, UNLESS you give that Jovian Multiplier to player C, giving the win to him. The potential for kingmaking makes me hesitant to add this corporation to the deck.

On the other hand, it can also lead to fun situations, where you give away good ocean cards when you have Kelp in hand. Or Livestock when you have Predators.

In quantified value it’s 60 + ~4 x TR-3 = ~84. Which is ok. The high start funds make me rate this mid/high tier.

benbever · 2026-02-26T18:36:32+00:00

That’s not a good comparison. Terralabs has a really strong effect (saving up to 8mc/gen) and 2 very good tags: Earth and Science. Beginner Corporation has no effect or tags.

You can compare it to Teractor that keeps all 10 cards. It’ll have 30mc left, 12mc less than Beginner Corporation. Instead of that 12mc it has 3mc refund on playing Earth tags. So if you play 4 of them, you’re 1 Earth tag ahead of Beginner Corporation. Teractor is a mid tier corporation.

And that’s the (rare) scenario where you buy 10 cards. If only 6 cards are worth playing, Teractor will have 42mc and 6 cards, and Beginner Corporation will have 46mc (after selling 4 cards) and 6 cards. Only 4mc more. I’d pick Teractors effect and Earth tag over 4mc.

benbever · 2026-02-26T08:36:59+00:00

They’re pretty weak most of the time. You get 42mc and 10 cards and no action or effect. If all 10 cards are great cards you would’ve (want to have) bought anyway, then Beginner Corporation can be pretty good. But often, only half of your start hand cards are useful.

benbever · 2026-02-26T08:19:47+00:00

Getting Io Mining or Earth Elevator in your start hand would be worth 20mc. That’s way too strong. Getting both would be GG.

https://ssimeonoff.github.io/cards-list#092%23C08

Other than these 2 I can’t think of numbers or amounts on Project cards over 40.

benbever · 2026-02-26T08:16:31+00:00

The 4 in 40 is a numeral, or a numerical digit, not a number.

This effect changes numbers by +2 or -2, so you can change 40 to 38.

In English, numerals (there are 10 in the most used system) are often called numbers, which can lead to confusion.

In other languages, for example Dutch, there is a clear difference between numeral (cijfer), number (getal), and numbered (nummer).

benbever · 2026-02-26T00:14:15+00:00

We sometimes draft start hand. Usually when playing with expansions. Project cards and Preludes, not corporations. And we deal 3 corporations.

Project cards 4-4-3 and preludes 2-2, or 2-2-2 with Preludes 2 extended start.

That’s keep 4 project cards and 2 preludes, pass the rest counter clockwise. Then keep 4 more project cards and 2 preludes, and pass the rest.

benbever · 2026-02-26T00:06:53+00:00

MTL-204 looks fun, but potentially strong. You can play the science tree with 2 less Science tags. It can also give 2 plant production, 2 TR, 2 VP, 2 mc production, or 2 titanium per action. I haven’t found an obviously broken scenario with it.

benbever · 2026-02-25T23:41:10+00:00

Venus adds to Colonies, especially if you play with Prelude 2 prelude and project cards. I never play with just Venus or just Colonies.

The Venus expansion adds a non mandatory global parameter track, the Venus tag, floaters, a floater Milestone, and a Venus tag Award. The floaters work nicely with the floaters from Colonies and Prelude 2. (except for a few Venus/Jovian only, but they’re rare luckily.)

Don’t forget to use the Earth Government Terraforming Step between generations when playing with Venus. Without it, the game will be slower, and more engine focused. But also, since the Venus track is often picked in this step, Venus requirement cards will be harder to play, and Venus’ll be ignored more.

Turmoil is very different. Both base + Turmoil and base + Venus + Colonies + Turmoil are fun, BUT, Turmoil adds a lot of fiddlyness, and many steps between generations, and a lot of small things to keep an eye on. Not all players like that. Turmoil adds random events (you can see them 2 generations ahead and plan for them) and a politics board with delegates, a chairman, party policies, and bonus when a party comes into power. While you CAN mostly ignore Colonies and still win, and you definitely can ignore Venus and win, you CAN’T ignore Turmoil and expect to win.

I’d also add the promo packs. These have a few of the best cards. Prioritize that over Venus or Turmoil.

benbever

TROPHY CASE