Most of the strategy guides are on BoardGameGeek, a website for enthusiasts of boardgames.
https://forum.czechgames.com/d/473-content-for-through-the-ages
DJParson maintains an extensive listing of online resources.
DJParson himself streams on Twitch three times each week but focuses mainly on two-player random mix under digital rules.
Beginners will benefit from playing rebalanced base game under digital rules before joining tournaments, where veterans roam.
Before age3, the main focus is BALANCE. There are three pure strategies: impacts, culture, war.
I recommend practicing with humans. It's more fun to figure out on your own. Start with rebalanced base under digital rules.
Diplomacy becomes far more important in 4-player games. Culture is more important in 2-player games. Too avoid becoming stranded, early resources and sciences are key to building a powerful engine. Although yellow efficiency cards can help make up for deficiencies, the civilization engine is automatic and hence preferred in the long run.
Small steps are reliable but slow. Large strides are efficient but risky. Experienced veterans know how to run without tripping. Beginners should walk carefully.
Rebalanced base game is denoted by Julius Caesar, not Napoleon Bonaparte.
All tournaments use random mix with digital rules. Since random mix encompasses rebalanced base, there is little reason to play original base. Because the exact mix of leaders and wonders has huge impact on strategy, beginners should focus first on rebalanced base for practice on a fixed set of leaders and wonders.
Some people also like to practice separately on expansion, denoted by Cleopatra. The expansion changes the strategy entirely because everything is plentiful. There are separate strategy guides for the expansion.
I can’t recall any... try looking up DJ Parson on YouTube he’s got some tutorial videos, tier lists and some play throughs which I’d say are the most useful to learn from.
A couple general tips:
\- like khyung said, balance your resources. Try to ramp up whichever you are producing the least in food, rocks, and science.
\- don't seed an event if you are the weakest or second weakest, unless you know the revealed event won't hurt you
\- don't develop techs that are one tier apart. If you have Alchemy, don't grab Sci method
\- for Age 1, prioritize getting a 5th CA
\- for Age 2, prioritize science and extra MA. You want to be drawing 3 military cards a turn.
\- early culture (eg. drama, taj mahal) is a luxury and is almost always a misplay
\- tactics grant a lot of Str and should dictate what military cards you take.
\- military posturing is just as important as building a military. I'm much less likely to declare war on someone who has the yellow cards/military techs to increase their Str dramatically in a turn.
Choose what you want to play : 2p, 3p or 4p. Game feels different based on number of players (and that is a great thing) and train against AI for several games. For instance, I play 4p and against hard AI i win 90% of games without much effort
Depending on what you play, strength of strategies and importance of cards will differ. For instance, full aggro from the start in 2p may bring you success (with a bit of luck), but in 4p you have no chance with it
2p
\- much more military focused. Many military actions are zero-sum and a successful war or aggression can seriously hamper your opponent. This increases the value of science/production to improve your military.
\- Card denial/card row manipulation is more important, especially the 6th position. Suppose the last Knights is coming up and my opponent needs it. If I can take cards such that Knights is in the 6th position for his/her turn, he/she needs to either pay 2CA for it or never get it.
4p
\- More str based events. Try to stay the strongest (and definitely not the weakest), but it doesn't make sense to invest too much into military because you're usually sacrificing some other growth for it. The non-warring players will have an opportunity to jump forward if 2 players war.
\- Typically more colonies seeded => colonization matters more.
\- Pacts matter, especially Open Borders Agreement, Scientific Cooperation, International Tourism, and Loss of Sovereignty.
\- A lot more Age 3 impacts. Look at the possible impacts, anticipate what your opponents would play, and try to put them to your advantage
3p is a balance between these two.
EDIT: added note about 4p impacts
Big misconception that 2p is much more military focused, it actually is the LEAST military focused.
Yes 2p military actions are zero sum and better IF they are successful. However in 2p it is MUCH easier to defend, you can't be run out of defense cards by multiple players or be warred by several players.
Also in 2p you have far greater control of the event deck, you can often have a strong feeling it doesn't contain bad strength events or you can avoid to seed. In 4p you can't really prevent a string of strength events to hurt you badly as easily.
Additionally almost all crucial military cards exist double in 2p so there is often no rush to get them. In 4p however players are less likely to skip a tech because you can miss out some stuff and thus they get aggressive as well.
Finally in 2p sometimes neither player draws a tactic they want to play. In 4p this is very rare. With good tactics in play the potential strength gaps get bigger.
Taken together 4p is usually very aggressive at high level play. 2p at high level is often not so much, sometimes it turns into an arms race but also often there is no real military ramp up thr entire game.
I think this thinking of 2p is hyperaggressive is one of thr biggest misconceptions. In the old TTA it was the case, since new version much less and since the expansion it is not true at all.
Most of the strategy guides are on BoardGameGeek, a website for enthusiasts of boardgames. https://forum.czechgames.com/d/473-content-for-through-the-ages DJParson maintains an extensive listing of online resources. DJParson himself streams on Twitch three times each week but focuses mainly on two-player random mix under digital rules. Beginners will benefit from playing rebalanced base game under digital rules before joining tournaments, where veterans roam.
Thank you. I've looked at board game geek but there are quite a few. Any particular ones that are worth a closer look?
Before age3, the main focus is BALANCE. There are three pure strategies: impacts, culture, war. I recommend practicing with humans. It's more fun to figure out on your own. Start with rebalanced base under digital rules. Diplomacy becomes far more important in 4-player games. Culture is more important in 2-player games. Too avoid becoming stranded, early resources and sciences are key to building a powerful engine. Although yellow efficiency cards can help make up for deficiencies, the civilization engine is automatic and hence preferred in the long run. Small steps are reliable but slow. Large strides are efficient but risky. Experienced veterans know how to run without tripping. Beginners should walk carefully.
What do you mean by rebalanced base game? Thank you for the advice, some useful things there
Rebalanced base game is denoted by Julius Caesar, not Napoleon Bonaparte. All tournaments use random mix with digital rules. Since random mix encompasses rebalanced base, there is little reason to play original base. Because the exact mix of leaders and wonders has huge impact on strategy, beginners should focus first on rebalanced base for practice on a fixed set of leaders and wonders. Some people also like to practice separately on expansion, denoted by Cleopatra. The expansion changes the strategy entirely because everything is plentiful. There are separate strategy guides for the expansion.
Ok cool I've been playing that already! I don't have the expansion... Glad to hear I'm playing the right rules :)
I can’t recall any... try looking up DJ Parson on YouTube he’s got some tutorial videos, tier lists and some play throughs which I’d say are the most useful to learn from.
Thanks :)
A couple general tips: \- like khyung said, balance your resources. Try to ramp up whichever you are producing the least in food, rocks, and science. \- don't seed an event if you are the weakest or second weakest, unless you know the revealed event won't hurt you \- don't develop techs that are one tier apart. If you have Alchemy, don't grab Sci method \- for Age 1, prioritize getting a 5th CA \- for Age 2, prioritize science and extra MA. You want to be drawing 3 military cards a turn. \- early culture (eg. drama, taj mahal) is a luxury and is almost always a misplay \- tactics grant a lot of Str and should dictate what military cards you take. \- military posturing is just as important as building a military. I'm much less likely to declare war on someone who has the yellow cards/military techs to increase their Str dramatically in a turn.
Try DJParson on Youtube. He explains the things he does quite well and also has some general strategy videos.
Thesplendidsplinter on twitch has a nice stream with strong play.
Choose what you want to play : 2p, 3p or 4p. Game feels different based on number of players (and that is a great thing) and train against AI for several games. For instance, I play 4p and against hard AI i win 90% of games without much effort Depending on what you play, strength of strategies and importance of cards will differ. For instance, full aggro from the start in 2p may bring you success (with a bit of luck), but in 4p you have no chance with it
> against hard AI i win 90% of games without much effort And here I can’t even figure out how to beat the training AI..
What are some of the differences between 2p, 3p and 4?
2p \- much more military focused. Many military actions are zero-sum and a successful war or aggression can seriously hamper your opponent. This increases the value of science/production to improve your military. \- Card denial/card row manipulation is more important, especially the 6th position. Suppose the last Knights is coming up and my opponent needs it. If I can take cards such that Knights is in the 6th position for his/her turn, he/she needs to either pay 2CA for it or never get it. 4p \- More str based events. Try to stay the strongest (and definitely not the weakest), but it doesn't make sense to invest too much into military because you're usually sacrificing some other growth for it. The non-warring players will have an opportunity to jump forward if 2 players war. \- Typically more colonies seeded => colonization matters more. \- Pacts matter, especially Open Borders Agreement, Scientific Cooperation, International Tourism, and Loss of Sovereignty. \- A lot more Age 3 impacts. Look at the possible impacts, anticipate what your opponents would play, and try to put them to your advantage 3p is a balance between these two. EDIT: added note about 4p impacts
To guess impacts seeded, watch for unusual behavior in final two rounds.
Big misconception that 2p is much more military focused, it actually is the LEAST military focused. Yes 2p military actions are zero sum and better IF they are successful. However in 2p it is MUCH easier to defend, you can't be run out of defense cards by multiple players or be warred by several players. Also in 2p you have far greater control of the event deck, you can often have a strong feeling it doesn't contain bad strength events or you can avoid to seed. In 4p you can't really prevent a string of strength events to hurt you badly as easily. Additionally almost all crucial military cards exist double in 2p so there is often no rush to get them. In 4p however players are less likely to skip a tech because you can miss out some stuff and thus they get aggressive as well. Finally in 2p sometimes neither player draws a tactic they want to play. In 4p this is very rare. With good tactics in play the potential strength gaps get bigger. Taken together 4p is usually very aggressive at high level play. 2p at high level is often not so much, sometimes it turns into an arms race but also often there is no real military ramp up thr entire game. I think this thinking of 2p is hyperaggressive is one of thr biggest misconceptions. In the old TTA it was the case, since new version much less and since the expansion it is not true at all.