TTR Guide
From Tickipedia
The following was written by psteinx, and appeared in the TTR-English forum.
Rationale
TTR has developed a bit of a clique-ish feeling. Those who post most frequently in the forums, and in the game itself, tend to be the best players, and I think newer players may be intimidated. Therefore, and also as a favor to DoW and the TTR community for many hours of fun, I am creating a series of posts introducing key aspects of the game and strategy. All others, please feel free to add on your own thoughts in each thread, as appropriate. Also, feel free to translate and repost any of my comments from this or the linked threads (others can give their own permissions):
Contents |
[edit] TTR Overall Introduction, Gameplay, Etiquette
[edit] Introduction
TTR (Ticket To Ride) is an outstanding board game created by Alan Moon and published by DoW (Days of Wonder). There is also an on-line version of the game, that you can play for free at www.daysofwonder.com. As a free player, there are a few limitations on your play (discussed below), or you can register/pay in a few ways to remove some/all limits. This discussion is focused on the on-line versions, but should largely apply to the board games as well.
[edit] Gameplay
The summary below does not include every nuance, and some of these rules are changed a bit for maps other than the two primary maps (US and Europe). Still, they will give you a quick introduction to the primary rules.
The goal is to score more points than your opponents. In a typical game, the winner will score somewhere between 90 and 180 points.
- Points*
Points are scored in 3 ways: 1) Laying routes. Routes are the lines connecting cities. Longer routes award more points. There is a table printed on each map showing the exact points awarded. 2) Connecting destination cities. This awards you the number of points shown on the destination card. If you do NOT connect your destination cities by the end of the game, you LOSE that many points (instead of gaining). So, for a 10 point destination card, you will either get -10 or +10, depending on whether you make the full connection. 3) Longest route. The player with the longest continuously connected route gets a +10 bonus. In some of the variants (USA Mega, USA Big Cities, USA 1910), this bonus is removed, replaced, or supplemented by other bonuses.
- Gameplay*
The game starts with each player shown 3-4 destination route cards. Choose at least 2 and begin. Then, each turn you may either: 1) Draw color cards (that you use to build your routes) 2) Play color cards (to claim a route) 3) Draw additional destination tickets.
You also start the game with 45 'trains' - this is the maximum number of color cards you can play during the game. When you play a 6-long route, you use up 6 trains. When one player is down to 2 or less trains, then the final round begins - each player gets only 1 turn after that.
-Drawing color cards- You may draw 2 color cards per turn, UNLESS you draw a face-up loco. If you draw a face-up loco, that is your only draw for the turn. If you have already drawn one card, you may not use your 2nd draw for a face up loco (locomotive - the multi colored card). Drawing from the 5 face up cards allows you more control of the cards you receive. Drawing from the face down pile gives you the chance of drawing 'free' locos. If you draw a card from the face down pile and it is a loco, you may still draw another card - only drawing the face-up loco (i.e. a guaranteed loco) limits you to 1 card drawn.
-Playing color cards- To claim a route between two cities, click and drag the appropriate color cards from your pile at the bottom of the screen, on top of the route in question.
If the route shows 6 red rectangles (say, Miami-New Orleans), then you need to play 6 red cards to claim it. Locos act as wild-cards and are played automatically. If you have 5 reds and 3 locos, then drag a red on top of the Miami-New Orleans route. The game will automatically claim it using 5 reds and 1 loco.
Gray routes can be claimed using any color, but NOT a mix of colors. To claim the 3 grays between Los Angeles and Phoenix, drag a red to use 3 reds, a blue to use 3 blues, etc. Again, missing colors will be filled in with locos, if available.
If another player has claimed a route, you cannot claim it (it's taken).
When you see 2 parallel routes between cities (Los Angeles-San Francisco), you can claim the route with either of the two colors (green or pink for that one). If you're in a game with 4 or 5 players, then BOTH sides of the route may be taken, by different players.
-Drawing additional destination tickets- You may use your turn to draw additional destination tickets. Click on the lower pile and you'll be shown 3 more tickets. You must keep at least 1, but can keep 2 or 3 as well. Be careful about taking too many, because you will face a penalty for uncompleted tickets.
That's pretty much it - the rules to the game are fairly simple, but the strategies can be quite complex. The US map uses the simplest rules (as outlined above). Other maps add a few extra rules.
[edit] Etiquette
The following suggestions should help you fit in quickly with the on-line community
1) Change your default name (i.e. Player12571) to something better. Click on My Account, then Profile to change it.
2) Entering games. As a non-paying player, you cannot start games - that is the primary restriction on those who haven't paid. Wait for an open game and join. If you're unfamiliar with TTR, you'll probably lose at first, but hopefully catch on quickly. I think 4 player games are easier for newcomers than 2 player games. Ask questions - most folks are friendly. However, other players may not always respond - they may not be talkative, or they may not speak English well (the on-line TTR community comes from many nations, with particularly heavy contingents from Germany, France, and the U.S.).
You will not be able to join all games immediately. You start with a 'karma' of 3. Some games are limited to those with a karma of 5. Look for open games, and play them to completion. Your karma goes up when you finish games normally, and down if you quit in the middle of a game. It's ok to lose, just finish your games.
Some of the better players prefer to play against other good players and not against newcomers. These games are often marked as 1400+, 1500+, top 300, etc. 1400+ refers to your rating (which you can only see when you have paid, not as a guest), and top 300 refers to your ranking, within the overall community of TTR players (also visible only to paid players). Please avoid these games until your skill improves.
3) Blocking. Good players can often guess what cities you are trying to connect by the way you play your routes. They may then intentionally block you by taking routes that interfere with yours, or prevent you from reaching your destination altogether. This is a part of the game, and is generally considered normal play, at least for better players. Don't take it personally. If it really bothers you, stick to 4 player games (which generally have less blocking).
[edit] USA Map, 2 Players
[edit] Introduction
The US map is the mostly commonly played map in TTR. To be considered a really good TTR player, you must know how to play this map well, in 2 player mode.
This guide assumes you are familiar with the rules and the basic flow of the game. Play at least 10 games or so before trying to digest this.
Also, you can learn a lot by watching good players play. TTR has an excellent 'Observe' function. Try observing some 2 player games by players with a 1600+ overall rating. Many tops don't really want to PLAY someone who is just learning the game, but they often leave their games open so that beginners can freely WATCH.
[edit] Strategy Introduction
There are 3 ways to score points on this map: destination tickets, route points (i.e. 15 points for playing a 6 long route) and the 10 point bonus for having the longest continuous route. Beginners generally overvalue destination tickets and undervalue route points and the longest bonus.
Most of the time, when 2 good players play, the winner will be the one who earned the Longest Bonus, and who played multiple 6 long routes along the way. While good destination tickets can be helpful, they are not usually essential.
IN PARTICULAR, beginning players frequently draw additional destination tickets as they play. Experts do so only rarely - generally only when they are in desperate straits. The advantage of extra points from making the destination tickets is generally outweighed by the cost of one turn to draw for destination tickets, and additional turns spent trying to make that connection, often via short routes that earn few points.
[edit] Speed
Before we get into strategy specifics, be aware of this. The most important resource you have available to you in TTR is not your destination tickets, color cards, trains, or anything else - it is your turns. You only have a limited number of turns to play before the game is over. If you waste turns, your opponent will play out quickly and you will usually lose.
Remember that the game ends one turn after either player is left with 2 or less trains. Players start with 45, so the game ends one turn after a player has played at least 43 trains total. Good players will not accumulate excess, unuseable color cards. You start with 4, and can draw 2 per turn. Good players will almost always play out with the minimum number of draws (20 draws X 2 = 40 + the original 4 = 44), and will play long routes, usually allowing them to lay down those 43-44 cards on 10-11 routes. So they play out in about 20 + (10 or 11) = 30-31 turns. That is the ticking clock you are competing against. Moreover, you will need to draw your own color cards - probably 20 times as well. So realistically, you only have about 10-11 turns to do all your key placements in the game. Don't waste them.
[edit] Route Points
When I first played, I barely noticed the route points. More points are earned for longer routes, but those routes also burn up more color cards, so it's a wash, right? WRONG.
Turns to Length Points Draw & Play Points/Turn 1 1 1.5 0.67 2 2 2.0 1.00 3 4 2.5 1.60 4 7 3.0 2.33 5 10 3.5 2.86 6 15 4.0 3.75
The chart shows how many turns it takes to draw the necessary cards (assuming 2 per turn) and play them.
Short routes are very unproductive. You need to concentrate on playing 6s to win. You will of course need SOME shorter routes to connect your destination cities, but focus your attention on the long routes.
[edit] Longest
The player with the longest continuous route gets a +10 bonus at the end. Initially, this seems relatively minor. You typically end a game with 90-130 points, so 10 points is not that big a deal, right?
Wrong.
Assuming you keep two destination tickets, you will likely earn roughly 18-34 points off those tickets (assuming you complete them). So the swing between a player with good/lucky tickets and one without is perhaps 16 points or so.
But if the player with weaker tickets gets +10 for longest, that almost closes the gap. The remaining points come from route points. And typically, the player who earns longest will have the most route points (and vice-versa, of course).
Usually, when good players play, longest is earned by playing several of the northern 6-long routes, connecting them up properly, and then tying them in to your destination tickets. By playing more 6s than your opponents, you will finish faster, probably earn the longest bonus, and probably have a significantly larger number of route points, outstripping any (normal-sized) tickets point deficit.
But can't your opponent beat out your longest bonus and route points by having 3 (instead of 2) good destination tickets, or drawing additional destination tickets?
Rarely. Generally, completing additional destination tickets requires playing more short routes (2s, 3s, and 4s), drawing more tickets (costing you a turn for the draw), and giving up longest. For a typical destination ticket (8-12 points or so), the extra points you earn will not make up for these other factors.
It *IS* possible to lose longest and still win, if you have long initial destination tickets (say, LA-NY, LA-Seattle) - your route may not allow you to conveniently keep a long continuous route, but you can still grab some 6s and complete long destination tickets. But it is rare for any normal combination of east coast tickets to beat a well played player playing in the center or the west, completing longest and piling up route points.
[edit] Drawing tickets
So, when should you go beyond two tickets (either keeping 3 initially, or drawing more later)?
For initial tickets, I keep 3 perhaps 15-20% of the time. Usually, I do this when the 3rd ticket requires no more than 2 additional route placements, and ideally, those route placements are good ones I'd like to make anyways (6s or 5s). For instance, given Tor-Mia, Mon-NO, Mon-Atl, it makes sense to keep all 3. You can connect the 3 locations at the bottom with the 5 blues and 6 reds, and at the top, you will need to go to Mon regardless, and going through Tor is about as fast as going through NY.
On the other hand, given Tor-Mia, Mon-NO, and NY-Dal, I would drop the third ticket. NY-Dal will likely require one additional play to NY, that you would not have made for connecting to Tor and Mon. And in the South, you probably have to make two additional plays (Hou-NO, Hou-Dal). All 3 of these extra routes are short ones (2, 2, and 1). If you DID keep NY-Dal, you'd spend 2.5 turns drawing those extra 5 colors you'd use for the routes, and 3 turns playing them, for a total of 5.5 turns earning 5 route points and 11 destination points - 5.5 turns for 16 points. You could spend that time more profitably drawing for and playing an extra 6 route (4 turns for 15 points). Moreover, in making those short connections for NY-Dal, you'd slow yourself down and significantly hurt your chances to get the longest route bonus. The only way it would make sense keeping NY-Dal would be if you planned on drawing for additional destination tickets - the connections to NY, Hou and Dal would be helpful. But you'd need to get pretty lucky with your ticket drawing to beat out a player playing fast and grabbing 6s and longest.
In general, I do not recommend drawing additional tickets early in the game. This makes it obvious to your opponent that you will not be competing for longest (which, in turn, allows your opponent to optimize his/her play a bit), and furthermore, you don't know what colors you will draw, how many locos you will have, and where your opponent is playing.
Play your route, trying to grab 6s, leave open the possibility of competing for longest, and interfere with/block your opponent.
Towards the end of the game, you face a decision point. When there are about 4 turns left, evaluate whether you can still compete for longest. If so, it's best to keep on playing. If not, evaluate whether you can win without longest. Add up your current route points and those you are likely to achieve, along with your destination points, and compare to your opponent's likely total. There may be some doubt about your opponent's score - you don't know what his/her destination tickets are. When in doubt, assume your opponent has low destination tickets, and try to finish without drawing additional destination tickets. But if it is clear that you are beaten (or very likely so), then it is better to draw additional destination tickets with 3-4 turns left than with 1 turn left (more time to complete additional routes).
You will need to repeat this calculation each additional turn until the game is over.
Even though it is easier to complete additional destination tickets if you draw with 3-4 turns left rather than with 1, good players will generally wait until the very end to draw additional tickets. That's because good players are usually in contention for longest until the end, and won't draw for additional tickets until it's clear that they've lost longest, or that opponent has such strong destination tickets that they'll lose even WITH longest (this latter situation is particularly rare).
[edit] Blocking (and avoiding blocks)
As beginners improve to intermediate skill, and intermediate players improve to advanced skill, blocking becomes more important.
Beginners are sometimes reluctant to block - thinking that it's unsportsmanlike. In a home game, this may or may not be the case (depends on the dynamic of the players - blocking your 7 year old daughter may very well be unsportsmanlike). But among strong on-line TTR players, blocking is part of the game, and offense is rarely taken at blocking in 2 player games (in multi-player games, things are a bit more nuanced, as there can be a perception that players are ganging up on the blocking victim).
Blocking is simply defensive play - just as there is defensive play in other games and other sports.
In fact, among strong players, absolute blocks that prevent your opponent from reaching their destination are relatively rare. This is partly because good players also have counter-blocking strategies (defense against the blocking defense).
To play and defend against the blocking game, you must be familiar with the available tickets in the game (there are only 30 destination tickets), so that you can guess where your opponent might be heading, and know what guesses your opponent may make about your own route. For instance, there are only 2 destination tickets for Vancouver. Because Vancouver is not a very useful waypoint, a good player knows that if his/her opponent connects to Vancouver, the opponent very likely has either Van-Mon, or Van-Santa Fe. Those are both big tickets (20 and 13 points, respectively), and can be blocked (Van-Mon in particular).
Therefore, if you have Van-Mon, avoid connecting to Van until you are in a difficult to block position. With Van-Mon, it is useful to start with the key routes that connect those cities (6 grays and 6 whites). But before you make your final connections to Van on the left and Mon on the right, consider the game position. If your opponent has already played the 6 blacks, then it will likely be costly for them to also grab the 5 blacks to Mon. Therefore, in that situation, connect to Van first - your exposed side (Mon) is less vulnerable because those 5 blacks will be costly/difficult for your opponent to grab. If your opponent has not played blacks yet, then consider avoiding a direct connection to either Van or Mon. Instead, after playing the 6 grays and 6 whites, play the 6 yellows. With 6 whites AND 6 yellows, it is almost impossible for your opponent to block you out of Van. But grabbing those 3 6-long routes does not mean that you have Van-Mon for certain (there are many other instances where it would be useful to grab those 3), so your opponent is unlikely to make a shot-in-the-dark block of Mon.
In general, to avoid blocks, camouflage what your destination tickets are, and keep your options open, at least until you're in a position where you are essentially unblockable.
Avoid playing unconnected routes on opposite sides of the board. If you play 6 yellows (Seattle-Helena), then 2 greens on NY-Pittsburgh, your opponent will strongly suspect you have Seattle-NY, a big, blockable ticket.
It's ok to play close unconnected routes, especially when there are two or more good ways to connect them. It is common to play 6 orange as a first move, then 6 gray as a second move. There are 3 different ways to connect these routes, and even if there is 1 in particular that you plan to use, your opponent is unlikely to guess which and block effectively.
You may note that I have written quite a bit about defending against blocks, but relatively little about actually blocking. Blocking your opponent is often more useful as a threat than an actual action. A pure block - grabbing a route that you don't need for yourself and are unlikely to connect to, purely to try to block your opponent out of his/her destination city, is a difficult move to execute well. You need a near certainty of what their tickets are, and those tix need to be large ones (to justify the effort), and you need to be able to follow through as your opponent tries to work around the block.
It's more common, and more useful, to interfere with your opponent. This basically means grabbing routes that are LIKELY (but not certain) to be useful to your opponent, but that are also useful to you.
The routes that are most likely to be useful to both you and your opponents are generally the 6s - especially the oranges, blacks, and grays, and, to a lesser extent, the yellows, greens, and whites. Even if you don't need these to connect your destinations, they are worth a lot of route points, will help you earn longest, and MAY be routes that your opponent needs.
If you have all the colors to grab one of these routes without using locos, it's generally best to grab them early. The oranges are valuable enough to justify burning a loco or two on. And if you see your opponent start in a particular area, grab any routes in that area that you can use as quickly as possible. If your opponent starts with 6 black, consider grabbing 6 green if you can connect them to your final route, even if you don't really NEED the green (for instance, if your tickets are Den-EP, Dul-EP.
Sometimes, after an interference play or two, your opponent will be forced to route around you in a way that reveals their likely tickets, and makes an outright block possible. Say your opponent plays 6 yellow. You play 6 orange. Your opponent plays 4 blue (Helena-Winn). You play 6 grays. Your opponent plays 4 black (Winn-Dul). Your opponent is obviously trying hard to cross from east to west. Consider shifting your focus away from completing your own tickets to further interference, and perhaps a total block - grab the 6 purples. If your opponent plays the 3 reds (to Dul-Chi), consider blocking Chi-Pitt. Then again, you may not need to gamble on the total block. Even with inferior destination tickets, you may win on the strength of more route points and the longest bonus.
[edit] USA Map, 3-5 Players
[edit] Introduction
While the rules for playing the USA map are almost the same in multi as in single player, the strategies are quite different.
While this guide discusses 3, 4 and 5 player games, note that there are significant differences in strategies, depending on the exact player count.
[edit] Rules
The only true rules difference in multi play is that, for 4 and 5 player games (but NOT for 2 and 3 player games), the second 'half' of each route is opened. i.e. When there is a double route between two cities (say, L.A. and San Francisco), each half may be played (though not by the same player). This has two main effects: i) More 'open' feel in general - it's harder to get boxed out of certain key cities. ii) Intentional blocking is more difficult.
[edit] Comparison to 2 Player USA
If you've played primarily 2 player USA, note the following general strategy differences:
i) Longest is less important. In 2 player, this +10 point bonus is hugely important - it's rather difficult to win the game without it. But the more players you have, the less critical a +10 point advantage for any one player becomes. Moreover, in 2 player, the one who gets longest usually also gets the most 6 routes, compounding the advantage. In multi, the opposite is often true. Because the northern 6 routes are usually grabbed by different players early on, it is difficult to string together several continuous 6s. Often, the player who gets longest ends up taking more short routes to connect in a continuous route, and has to forego 6s that don't fit into that route.
ii) Games last longer. In two player, it is common for a player to 'play out' and end the game in 9 or 10 moves, plus the number of color draws it takes to reach 44 cards. But that is done by grabbing perhaps 4 6s and a few 4s and 5s. The more players there are, the fewer 6s any one player is likely to get. With fewer 6s, and often a need to take slightly longer routes around congested areas, it is common for multi-player games to last a few turns longer.
Which means...
iii) Drawing tickets mid-game is more important. In 2 player, the best strategy is usually to try to complete your 2 starting tickets, grab 4 or so 6s, and grab longest. In a 4 player game, you're unlikely to get 4 6s (4 players competing for only 9 6s means most players will get 2 or so), and you only have a 1 in 4 chance of getting longest versus a 1 in 2 chance. So, with less chance of racking up points that way, you're oftten better off drawing for additional tickets. You will likely have more time to complete them, and your opponents are less likely to go out of their way blocking you (as they might in 2 player).
[edit] 3 versus 4 versus 5
In 3 player games, the open routes are the same as in 2 player (i.e. only one half of a double route can be played). This means you have 3 players playing ~44 cards each (~132 colors played total) into the same number of routes that are normally filled by 2 players (~88 colors played). The board gets more crowded, and key routes (into NY, LA, etc.) can go fast. Three player plays like a hybrid of 'true' multiplayer (4/5) and traditional 2 player. Longest is still quite important in 3 player, blocks happen, etc.
Four player games are the most common multis, and perhaps the most fun. Most of the descriptions in this guide are tailored to 4 player games.
Five player games may seem chaotic and slow, but I enjoy them. With good players, they move fast, and they're not as random as they might seem. The board fills up fast. Often, the best strategy is to complete a fairly basic pair of tickets, then grab as many 6s and 5s on the board as you can, even though they don't connect to your route. You'll get the points for those 6s and 5s, and interfere with the other players.
[edit] Drawing tickets
It's already been noted that drawing tickets mid-game can be a good strategy. But there's another facet to this - timing.
One can draw tickets immediately, or as the first set of draws through the deck winds down (when you have around 20 color cards), or later.
If my starting tickets are poor (totaling less than 20 points and/or they don't fit well together), I like to draw early. Usually I draw colors once or twice - this gives me time to see if my opponents grab any key short routes (Atl-Nash, Hou-NO), so that when I choose tickets I can assess them in light of this (an Atl ticket is less attractive if Atl-Nash is already taken). But after a round or two, I draw. If I get, say, an LA ticket, I want to know early, so I can adjust my strategy accordingly (drawing blacks face up, or playing LA-Pho to be safe). I may add 2 or 3 short east coast tickets on top of a starting pair of east coast tickets (in this case, I can afford to burn colors on an unneeded 6, as my main set of tickets will be relatively easy to complete). But if I draw and keep a long ticket, I know I need to focus on completing that.
The second best time to draw tickets is after the deck has been exhausted. Usually all the color cards will be drawn, and the deck may be especially rich in locos after it is shuffled the first time. I wait until it's been through that loco-rich cycle, then draw tickets. Usually, by this time several 6s have been taken, so it becomes harder (but not impossible) to complete long tickets.
The last good time to draw tickets is after I have completed all my original tickets (or perhaps when I have one or two very simple, safe connections left). If my main route runs roughly from LA to NY, diagonally up and across the middle, then I can usually complete that route with plenty of time left, and there are a LOT of additional good tickets that can be drawn along this route.
[edit] Europe Map - 2 - 5 Players
[edit] Introduction
The Europe map is the second most common mostly commonly played (after USA) map in TTR, and the only map besides the USA map that you can start with nothing more than a standard web card (Other maps like Switzerland require you to be playing the CD-ROM version to start games).
This guide assumes the player is familiar with the US map.
Obviously, the Europe map has a different layout, with different tickets, which changes strategies significantly. But the Europe map also has a number of rules changes from the US map. Altogether, playing the Europe map is rather different from playing USA.
[edit] Rules Changes
i) Tunnels - Many routes, such as Stockholm-Petrograd, are marked with a slightly different car outline. These are tunnels. Play them as normal, but AFTER you play your cards, the game will draw three more color cards from the deck. For each of those cards that is either a loco or matches the color you played, you will have to pay one extra color or loco to complete the route (if you don't have enough colors/locos, or simply decline, then your original move claiming the route is reversed, and you lose your turn). Effectively, this means you usually have to pay one extra card or so to claim a tunnel route.
ii) Ferries - Some routes, such as London-Dieppe, are marked with a black rectangle inside. Every rectangle marked with a black rectangle MUST be filled with a loco. Thus, to claim London-Dieppe, you need at least one loco (plus a color card or a second loco). To claim London-Amsterdam, you need two locos.
iii) Stations - If you drag a color card on to a city, rather than a route (i.e. London, rather than London-Dieppe), you will be asked if you wish to play a station. A station allows you to connect your destination tickets along ONE route that touches that city, even though you don't own that route yourself. So, if you have the ticket Stockholm - Cadiz, and you have all the routes along the way EXCEPT for Paris-Pamplona (the gap in your route), you may play a station in EITHER Paris or Pamplona. However, for this to work, somebody must have played the Paris-Pamplona route. If that route is empty, a station won't help you connect those two cities. Playing a station costs you the turn it takes to play the station, as well as 1 color card and 4 points from your final score. You may build up to three stations in a game - the second and third station you build require two and three color cards, respectively, instead of one. The effect of stations is that it is difficult to block or be totally blocked from a destination ticket - one can usually use a station (albeit at some cost) to overcome a block.
iv) Tickets - In the US game, you draw 3 tickets initially, from the pool of 30 tickets, and can redraw from that same pool as the game goes along. In Europe, you draw 4 tickets initially, and 3 tickets on later draws. The main pool has about 37 tickets, with values ranging from about 5 to about 13. There is a separate pool of 6 long tickets, each with a value of 20 or 21. Your initial draw of 4 tickets will include 1 long ticket and 3 normal tickets. Thereafter, your draws will be from 3 normal tickets. Therefore, you will only get one chance (i.e. your initial draw) to draw a long ticket. The 6 long tickets are Edinburgh-Athina, Kobenhavn-Erzerum, Stockholm-Cadiz, Lisbon-Danzig, Brest-Petrograd, Palermo-Moskva. The first 3 are 21 points, the last 3 are 20 points.
v) Board Layout - While much of the board layout simply requires examination and practice to understand, a few points are worth calling out. Whereas the US map has 9 routes that are 6 long, and 7 that are 5 long, the Europe map has zero that are 5 long, only 2 that are 6 long, plus 1 that is 8 long. This places a premium on the 3 long routes - they are quite important for scoring points and achieving longest.
Also, whereas on the US map, the long routes are relatively evenly distributed across the board (except on the east coast), on the Europe map, all 3 long routes are on the eastern side of the map. With only 3 long routes, there is a bit of a premium on medium routes (4 long) as well, and these also are primarily in the east. So, in general, it is easier and better to build good routes in the east, if your tickets allow you to do so.
[edit] Strategy
i) 2 Player - In my opinion, there is a somewhat greater luck factor in 2 player Europe versus 2 player USA. There is a clear hierarchy in the initial long tickets. The three best are Palermo-Moskva, and Kobenhavn-Erzerum and Brest-Petrograd (in that order). The other 3 long tickets (Edinburgh-Athina, Lisbon-Danzig and Stockholm-Cadiz) are mediocre. I used to think Edinburgh-Athina was particularly bad, but now I regard it as usually better than the other two. With Edinburgh-Athina, you can either go up through Italy or around the other way. I usually choose the latter route and try to get the 6-long tunnel, but that depends to some extent on what my other tickets are and how many locomotives I get.
Of course, you don't have to keep your long ticket - you could drop it and keep 2 or 3 of your shorter tickets instead. This is most attractive if your other tickets are in the East, or along the East-West spine from Central Europe to Russia. If you use this strategy, consider interfering with your opponent - grabbing 4s and longer routes that you think your opponent is likely to need, and forcing him/her to use stations. If you block your opponent's route (and force the use of a station), it will cost them a turn (to play the station), a color card (used for the station), 4 points (the "cost" of the station), and generally will allow you to get the longest route bonus (worth 10 points). It is quite viable to beat an opponent with superior tickets if you block them and force them to use a station or two.
Other notes:
- Avoid ticket fiending late in the game, as you will most likely get low value tickets that don't help much. If you think you must ticket fiend, it works best when you've got a western route connecting in various directions, and when you start ticket fiending relatively early.
- Learn the long tickets and consider blocking your opponent if you are moderately confident that he/she is playing one of them.
- To avoid being blocked yourself when playing a long ticket, start with the middle of the route and work out towards the ends. Many long tickets end at points that are easily blocked. But it's better to be blocked at the end than in the middle, as with the former, you still have a shot at the longest bonus.
- Try to grab at least one, and preferably two of the three long routes. Generally, they are played from top to bottom - the 8er first, then the middle 6er, then the lower 6er.
- If you are forced to play with only 2 short destination tickets, consider trying to grab all 3 of the long routes, then complete your short destination tickets and try to play out quickly while interfering with your opponent. If you grab the 3 long routes, you will have burned through 20 color cards (the best your opponent can do in 3 plays is 12), and earned 51 route points (the best your opponent can do with 3 plays is 21). With a 30 point lead in route points, and an 8 card advantage in playing out your color cards, you can often afford to give up longest and win, even with low value destination tickets.
- It is often best to grab the 6er tunnel first. With that in hand, you are likely to get at least two of the long routes (as your opponent is unlikely to play the 8er and the 6er ferry, as they are too far apart to connect. If you play the 8er first, and your opponent has been saving up a lot of one color, he/she will often "spend" those colors on the 6er tunnel. Plus, being in a central location, the 6er tunnel is easier to tie into various build paths than either of the other two long routes.
ii) Multi I have played relatively little multi Europe, so consider these strategy suggestions as rather tentative...
In 3 player, consider grabbing some of the key short routes quickly if you need them. In particular, Paris-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Berlin are key routes to grab early. Kiev-Bucaresti is also important.
In 4 player, blocking is pretty much a non-issue. There are a fair number of double routes and alternative routes, and since you also have stations, you shouldn't worry too much about being heavily blocked.
In both 3 and 4 player games, expect to use a station or two - when I say that blocking isn't so important, I'm going on the premise that although you may get blocked, you can get around blocks with stations.
I'm not sure I've every played a 5 player Europe game, but I'd think that the key routes on the map would go very quickly, forcing most players to use 2-3 stations each.
In 4 player (and probably 5 player), ticket fiending can be more attractive, especially if you initial ticket is western (Cadiz-Stockholm, Lisbon-Danzig, Brest-Petrograd, or perhaps Edinburgh-Athina), or if you dump your long ticket and keep a couple of shorter western tickets. Under these circumstance, it's fairly easy to connect a lot of tickets. If you do this, start drawing extra tickets relatively early, so you have more time to complete them.
