I'll keep it in mind. Maybe I can use a bigger pointer, or maybe I can use BGA's one

It's still ok if you pair it with some fast and good buildings. The last step of the cathedral is the most rewarding one, and it also combos well with some buildings, it's true. But the real strength of the cathedral is rushing the game, and you can do that even when not going all-in. I've actually had quite a few games where I played my buildings, understood that I needed to force the end of the game and took 1 or even 2 cathedral steps to wrap the game up. The three main strategies have a lot of nuances to them

@@UpUrPlay I see! Great, thanks for the tips.

In general committing to a low rep strat right at the start is always quite the risk. You should be able to do some assessments right from the first 5-6 moves. Pivoting is possible, but mostly from a short term strat to a longer one, and not the opposite. If you spend a lot of actions to hire multiple apprentices and to get coins to do so while the other three players keep getting resources and filling up the guildhall, you're bound to lose. Being able to tell when a game is going to last less Than 30 turns or 35+ is a very important skill to hone in architects

@@UpUrPlay Okay, that's what I thought. In the games I've played multiple players always go for cathedral, which makes for very short games. Assuming you are not able to beat them to the top, would you just try to build cheap buildings that require few apprentices, or is there another strategy that can compete with cathedral rushers?

@@chrislinneman4302 Going for big buildings with big returns can also work well, like the Palace, the Castle or the University. If the cathedral rushers ignore the black market, you can also get cheap gold and marble from there.

That's totally fair, not every game is for everyone! I wasn't impressed with Architects at first; what sold me on it was how fast a game could be. Thanks for the kind words ;)

@@UpUrPlay you are welcome. I played paladin 3 times, it felt just OK, and since I saw your video and Im also looking to pick another game to play on BGA, I learned the rules and watched your video, still didn't click for me :(. Ill be on the lookout for your future videos!

​@@UpUrPlay last question: I was trying to give it one more go, but it took like 20mins to find 2 other players to play. Is it the same case for you? If not what time do you play? Thanks

Now, in most cases I'm not a big fan of expansions. There are only a few of them that I like (Norwegian for A feast for Odin, The Leeghwater Project for Barrage are good examples), but in most cases I feel like they add something to an already good chore in a way that's not really organic. So I didn't own the expansions... till 3 days ago :) Since I'm playing the game quite a bit now, I wanted to get them and see what they can do for the game. I already have some first impressions - I like a lot of the new apprentices and buildings, while I'm not sure about tools - but it's gonna take some time. As of now, I'm not sure they'll take the game in a completely different direction, so I won't make any claim. But maybe building a bit of engine might be better with expansions - is that your implied question? :)

@@UpUrPlay Yes, that was it, thank you. I just wanted to know if the overall strategies are still viable with the expansions (I guess they actually are) or if they twist something (especially the Princess/Profiteer interactions). TY a lot

@@kitsune4635 hey there! It's boardgamearena, a popular website with a lot of board games implemented. Check it out, it's awesome!

Hi Doug! I actually refer to a solid logic structure made before recording. It's the first time I hear this kind of feedback, so I'd like to hear more from you. Would you prefer all of my videos to share a similar structure? I actively try not to do so, I find all the review videos that share a rigid structure a bit boring. Or do you think talking about random stuff during the video can be annoying?