Fix some blog post text

content/post/2024-tapestry-strategy-notes/index.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 title: "Tapestry Strategy Notes"
 subtitle: ""
-summary: "In this post I expand on my own thoughts and experience with different strategies in the game of Tapestry. The goal is go over the highest-scoring mechanisms and how to use synergies betwee the different Advancement Tracks to score as many Victory Points as possible."
+summary: "In this post I expand on my own thoughts and experience with different strategies in the game of Tapestry. The goal is go over the highest-scoring mechanisms and how to use synergies between the different Advancement Tracks to score as many Victory Points as possible."
 tags: []
 categories: []
 date: 2024-05-04
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ In this post I expand on my own thoughts and experience with different strategie
 
 The following strategy notes are based entirely on my own experience and observations of the game. I do not play competitively and all but one of my games were two-player games against my partner with and without the expansion. I played only one five-player game without any expansions.
 
+### Notes
+
+- I capitalise words that refer to gameplay items and actions, such as: Track, Advance, Tapestry Card, etc.
+- I refer to spaces on individual Tracks using their name from the game board and a letter-number where the letter refers to the Track (E-xploration, T-echnology, S-cience, M-ilitary, A-rts) and the number refers to the space on that Track. E.g., M7 refers to the seventh space on the Military Track so Tanks.
+
 ## Basic strategy tips
 
 I won't go much into basic strategy tips for beginners. Instead I will refer you to ["TAPESTRY Strategy Guide Tips for Beginners" by Lord of the Board](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Kkt6AG4CI). Below, I summarise a few main points that helped me in my first few games.
@@ -50,12 +55,12 @@ The Capital City has the highest-scoring potential in the game. A Capital City m
 To achieve this high-scoring potential you need:
 
 1.  A well filled-out Capital City. Achieve this by:
-    - Get as many Landmarks as possible. You can get them by racing to new Tiers on the Advancement Tracks before your opponents, Upgrading certain Technologies, and through Landmark Cards (if you have the **Plans and Ploys** expansion).
-    - Play to gain as many Income Buildings as possible to fill in the small gaps on your Capital City Map between Impassable Terrain and the Landmarks.
-    - Do some forward planning of your Capital City based on the Landmarks you expect to get and where you would place them.
+    - Getting as many Landmarks as possible. You can get them by racing to new Tiers on the Advancement Tracks before your opponents, Upgrading certain Technologies, and through Landmark Cards (if you have the **Plans and Ploys** expansion).
+    - Playing to gain as many Income Buildings as possible to fill in the small gaps on your Capital City Map between Impassable Terrain and the Landmarks.
+    - Doing some forward planning of your Capital City based on the Landmarks you expect to get and where you would place them.
 2.  Two, but ideally three, exposed Capital City scoring icons on your House Income Track. Achieve this by a combination of one or more of:
     - Advancing on the Science Track. Tier I alone is enough to unlock the second Capital City scoring icon.
-    - Advancing on the Technology Track. Upon reaching Glass choose to gain a House.
+    - Advancing on the Technology Track. Upon reaching Glass (T5) choose to gain a House.
     - Inventing and Upgrading Air Conditioning, Paper, and/or The Nail.
     - Exploring a Territory Tile that provides a House as the Benefit.
     - Advancing on the Arts Track and picking Houses as the Income Building.
@@ -69,7 +74,7 @@ Furthermore:
 
 The number of players will affect your Capital City strategy in Tapestry because the number of Landmarks does not scale with the number of players. There will be the same number of Landmarks to obtain by all players in a two-player game as there will be in a five-player game. Therefore, in games with more players, each player will on average obtain fewer landmarks than in a games with fewer players. Landmark Cards introduced in the **Plans and Ploys** expansion change this slightly because their number depends on the number of players, but they only add one Landmark per player.
 
-In a game with fewer players there is less competition for Landmarks making it easier for one or more players to fill their Capital City with them. In a two-player game it is even likely that both players fully (or almost fully) fill their Capital City. Therefore, any player with an exposed House Income Track and will be getting a lot of VPs. Usually enough to win the game. This is not so much the case in many-player games, because it is much harder for the players to collect enough Landmarks to score so highly.
+In a game with fewer players there is less competition for Landmarks making it easier for one or more players to fill their Capital City with them. In a two-player game it is even likely that both players fully (or almost fully) fill their Capital City. Therefore, any player with an exposed House Income Track will be getting a lot of VPs. Usually enough to win the game. This is not so much the case in many-player games, because it is much harder for the players to collect enough Landmarks to score so highly.
 
 Therefore, in few-player games, it is pretty much required that you make sure you score well on your Capital City regardless of your overall strategy. You will likely get plenty of Landmarks so make sure to do some forward planning on their positioning. Also, make sure to have at least two Capital City scoring icons exposed on your House Income Track. You can achieve this by Advancing on the first three spaces of the Science Track alone which should still leave you with enough resources to pursue other strategies. In many-player games you can still score well on your Capital City but due to increased competition for Landmarks, you will need to be much more conscious of the race for them.
 
@@ -82,10 +87,10 @@ Whilst this does not appear as high-scoring as the Capital City it does not requ
 To achieve this high-scoring potential you need:
 
 1.  As many Technology Cards as possible. Achieve this by:
-    - Advance on the Technology Track.
+    - Advancing on the Technology Track.
     - Exploring a Territory or Space Tile that allows you to Invent a Technology.
-    - Certain Tapestry Cards allow you to Invent Technologies.
-    - Certain Civilisations can also gain you more Technology Cards (e.g., Inventors).
+    - Playing certain Tapestry Cards that allow you to Invent Technologies.
+    - Playing the ability of certain Civilisations that gain you more Technology Cards (e.g., Inventors).
 2.  Two, but ideally three, exposed Technology Card scoring icons on your Market Income Track. Achieve this by a combination of one or more of:
     - Advancing on the Technology Track. Tier I alone is enough to unlock the second Technology scoring icon.
     - Inventing and Upgrading Concrete, Light Bulb, and/or The Nail.
@@ -96,8 +101,8 @@ To achieve this high-scoring potential you need:
 
 Do not underestimate VPs you can gain from icons that give you 1 VP for every space you have Advanced on a specific Advancement Track. When timed well it can give you 10+ VPs every time you gain such a Benefit. You can gain these by:
 
-- Advancing onto certain spaces: Space Shuttle, Computers, Nuclear Bomb.
-- Upgrading certain Technology Cards: Clocks, Siegecraft, Vaccines, Zeppelins. This is particularly powerful when combined with Nanotechnology which potentially allows you to gain this Benefit twice.
+- Advancing onto certain spaces: Space Shuttle (E10), Computers (T10), Nuclear Bomb (M10).
+- Upgrading certain Technology Cards: Clocks, Opera, Siegecraft, Vaccines, Zeppelins. This is particularly powerful when combined with Nanotechnology which potentially allows you to gain this Benefit twice.
 - Masterpiece Cards: Krav Maga, Mapmaking, Motion Picture, Stained Glass. This is also very powerful as Masterpiece Cards are activated at every Income Turn.
 
 ## Achievements
@@ -116,14 +121,14 @@ To win at Tapestry you will have to combine two or more Tracks to maximise your
 
 The Science Track has one of the strongest synergies with the other non-Arts Tracks. This comes from three aspects of the Science Track:
 
-- Physics followed by Quantum Physics allows you to Advance through the entirety of Tier III on one of these other Tracks for 5 resources instead of 9 while simultaneously advancing on the Science Track gaining all its other Benefits.
-- Academic Research and Neuroscience (for Military and Technology Tracks only) allows you to re-activate a good space on the other Track (e.g., Rubber to gain two additional Technology Cards).
+- Physics (S9) followed by Quantum Physics (S11) allows you to Advance through the entirety of Tier III on one of these other Tracks for 5 resources instead of 9 while simultaneously advancing on the Science Track gaining all its other Benefits.
+- Academic Research (S7) and Neuroscience (S10) (for Military and Technology Tracks only) allows you to re-activate a good space on the other Track (e.g., Rubber (T7) to gain two additional Technology Cards).
 - Advancing on the Science Track gains you Houses thus exposing the Capital City scoring icons on the House Income Track.
-- (Technology Track only) When you reach Computers on the Technology Track you score VPs for the number of spaces you have Advanced on the Science Track.
+- (Technology Track only) When you reach Computers (T10) on the Technology Track you score VPs for the number of spaces you have Advanced on the Science Track.
 
 This synergy can be further enhanced with the Arts Track. However, it is costly so it may be difficult to play out. The additional synergy results from the general benefits of the Arts Track outlined in a later section and:
 
-- Flash Mob and Infinite Spectrum Photography can be combined with Physics and Quantum Physics on the Science Track to Advance on three Tracks for the cost of one. This may be beneficial if racing for Landmarks or trying to maximise the Benefits of the three Tracks within the limited amount of resources available.
+- Flash Mob (A9) and Infinite Spectrum Photography (A11) can be combined with Physics (S9) and Quantum Physics (S11) on the Science Track to Advance on three Tracks for the cost of one. This may be beneficial if racing for Landmarks or trying to maximise the Benefits of the three Tracks within the limited amount of resources available.
 
 ### Exploration/Military
 
@@ -138,14 +143,14 @@ This combination benefits from:
 - It does not require you to race other players for Landmarks. While it does require you to race other players for the Achievements, not all players choose to race for them whereas everybody is always in the race for Landmarks.
 - You can still score well with your Capital City reducing other players' advantage as you can uncover the second Capital City scoring icon with only three spaces on the Science Track (4 resources). It is more expensive for others to compete for the Achievements (6 resources are required for two Explore and two Conquest Benefits).
 - You can support your strategy with some investment in Tier I of the Technology Track to Invent Technologies which will benefit you during your Income Turns. The first Technology Card costs only 1 resource.
-- With good management of resources, this synergy can be further enhanced with further Advancement on the Technology Track. These three Tracks all have a space on Tier IV which scores the Advancement on one of the other three Tracks. Furthermore, since the Military Track can gain all 5 Armories without any additional Benefits, the Technology Track's Glass space can get you the 5th Farm resulting in at least two uncovered final spaces on the Income Tracks.
+- With good management of resources, this synergy can be further enhanced with further Advancement on the Technology Track. These three Tracks all have a space on Tier IV which scores the Advancement on one of the other three Tracks. Furthermore, since the Military Track can gain all 5 Armories without any additional Benefits, the Technology Track's Glass (T5) space can get you the 5th Farm resulting in at least two uncovered final spaces on the Income Tracks.
 
 ### Technology/X and Arts/X synergies
 
 The Technology and Arts Tracks do not have any other evident synergies with the other Tracks. However, they can support any other Track (or pair of Tracks) quite well for the following reasons:
 
 - The Technology Track provides you with Technology Cards which can be Upgraded during your Income Turns or with Landmarks (if you have the **Arts and Architecture** expansion). Depending on which cards are drawn these Upgrades can be used to support your strategy with little investment. The first Technology Card is obtained from the first space at the cost of only 1 resource. You need to pay only 2 more resources to advance two more spaces for the second card.
-- Reaching Glass on the Technology Track gets you an Income Building from any of the three other Tracks opening up the possibility of uncovering the final space on that Income Track.
+- Reaching Glass (T5) on the Technology Track gets you an Income Building from any of the three other Tracks opening up the possibility of uncovering the final space on that Income Track.
 - The Arts Track provides you with Masterpiece Cards whose Benefit is activated with every Income Turn. These can also support your strategy. However, these cards are more costly - you need to Advance three spaces (3 resources) on the Arts Track for the first card.
 - The Arts Track also provides Inspiration Tiles which slightly increase your VP production during your Income Turns. Furthermore they create some small additional synergies between the following Tracks: Science/Military, Science/Exploration, Technology/Military, Technology/Exploration.
 - The Arts Track provides you with Income Buildings of any type giving you a lot of flexibility to support your other strategies. However, these Income Buildings are on average further along the Track than the corresponding Income Buildings on the other four Advancement Tracks.