Acknowledgement: noted with thanks. Clarification: What I meant was that it would be nice to have the manual also at the lobby. (Noob) Enquiries: is there any way to get rid of the beggars card once you get one? Also, is there a way to know the requirements for using a particular occupation card?
Invitation: my username is currymutton (surprisingly identical! ). A game with you would be my honour. Family game mode preferred.
To put one in play, the only requirement is to take the "occupation" action in town. To see how the card works once it is in play, just double-tap it to expand it and read the details (this works for every card in the game, even the town action locations, which are just disguised cards themselves).
Acknowledgement: Thank you, but even if I do occupation, some cards still do not get highlighted. Is it due to that some cards require the player to own something first, say clay oven?
Remember that to put new occupations in play beyond the first free one will also cost different amounts of food depending on the occupation action space you're using in town, but otherwise you shouldn't be restricted in that regard. If you're not able to use an occupation that is already in play, it is because you don't have whatever that card needs to activate; double-tap on it and read the text, and you'll see how it works and what it requires (if anything). If an occupation has an automatic effect, you also won't be able to do anything with it manually, naturally.
Helpful Answer: Some occupations have an additional food cost to play them, such as the Chief. Some occupations have a restriction on which rounds they can be played in. This is shown in the card text. See Ratcatcher and Hut Builder.
Musing: 1. So what is the best way to use the occupation cards? I see my online opponent takes one at the very first move. 2. What exactly does "Starter Player" do?
That's not a question you're going to get a particularly concrete response to, because the only real answer is to read the cards you have been dealt, see what they do, and make a plan to use them based on how they work. If you have an occupation that only works when you have a stone house, for example, you probably don't want to waste an action putting it into play while you still only have a wooden hut. If you have an occupation that only works with a town action that becomes active in one of the later stages of the game, don't use it on round one. The "starting player" gets to make the first move in a round, so has first choice of any resource or action on the board. The starting player doesn't cycle or change unless somebody actively uses the "Starting Player" action in town, so whoever has that role will always get to make the first move every round.
Im loving the boardgame and im loving the app. Agricola and Le Havre are masterpieces! This app is so polished. Well done Playdek! Played my first solo-series and got 59, 61, 65. Very well done Playdek! And now bring us the I and K Deck!
Status: First solo game breaking the 40 barrier. Need a lot to work on. Reflection: like Stone Age, more hands == more productivity, and your herd can help to keep them afloat. So expand family once it is available...
I haven't read the whole thread, but if someone could let me know a) If it supports iPad retina and b) How long a typical game lasts, that would be great
So, if I get this right, it really is a lot like a hybrid (never mind which really came first, just for purposes of understanding) of Stone Age and Le Havre. Juggling resources to keep your crew fed while creating structures and resources to expand your farm and earn vps. Everybody is using fairly communal resource pools and town services with the only real unique to each player bit being their own set of randomly dealt occupations and minor improvements. So in the end the trick is to make a well balanced farm playing up to your unique set of occupations and improvements while, by seeing what your opponents have setup, trying to make life difficult for the other farmers (Jim sure could use that fishing spot, so I guess I'll need to send one of my men to camp out at the spot). As already stated, while the end scoring is kind of complex, it seems to be mostly about having at least a bit of all crop and animal types, using all of your land, and upgrading your house to the highest level materials you can afford.
Minor improvements and occupations can also be drafted. This cuts down in the randomness and gives you more control over what type of farm you're creating. There is also a 10-3 option where you're dealt 10 of each and chose which 3 to discard.
Your summary is largely accurate, except for this part: You'll rarely want to waste an action just blocking somebody else for the sake of it. Because of the very strict round limit, it's almost always preferable to take an action that works directly in your best interest, rather than one that helps you out indirectly by inconveniencing somebody else while not really improving your own situation. To put the pressure in perspective, if you've played Eclipse you know how the game can end just as it feels like things are getting underway; somewhat ironically for a game about pastoral life, Agricola ratchets that up to eleven (or fourteen, as the case may be). The E deck currently available in the game primarily revolves around simple, self-contained improvements and occupations, whereas the upcoming I and K decks tend to have more cards that play off other cards, include more complex interactions, and involve other players directly (e.g. if another player performs Y action, you get Z resource). An example of a K (complex) deck card:
Which explains why it probably wasn't in the game on release as these cards are likely tougher to code and make decent AI around.
Coincidentally, Reed Hut is the only K deck minor improvement that hasn't been implemented yet in our play test build.
