This is SUCH a helpful practical video. Having played Arcs three times so far, I can see exactly what you're saying about these tips. Some of them I already gathered and others I hadn't even considered. So thank you!
Honestly I could've made the video twice the length but I had to stop somewhere! I might revisit this in the future with a Part 2 or something to cover the things I left out here, we'll see!
19:47 Something else related to this that took me a few plays to internalize: you also don't need control to Build. You just need a Loyal piece already present in the system. So you have a city all by itself on a planet with another building slot, you can Build a second city there, or a starport there, no ships needed. (Of course, it's gonna be built in a damaged state if a Rival has control.)
Did my first game ever a few days ago. Really interesting. Very simple and hands down the most straightforward rule book Leder Games has put out. I really like how simple it is and yet the figuring out how to strategize your way through the mechanics is complex. The trick taking makes it harder to simply just do what you need to do. By the end of the game I realized I probably should just use my resources and copy more. Hoping to play it again soon.
Resources & Guild Cards are key to giving you flexibility. My first few games I kinda just ignored the guild cards and was always shocked at how the other players were able to do these crazy things with them while I was stuck trying to work around my bad hands.
I like and agree with your take on raiding. There was a discussion in the Woodland Warriors where someone was arguing that games would necessarily devolve into just raiding back and forth and they were trying to say that raiding was op. And I really think it's far more situational than that. Like everything in this crazy weird awesome game.
I've found raids have become less frequent in my group as we've played more, so I'm curious to see how different tables will react to the Raiding. It seems to be the most "controversial" design choice currently
I would think that there shouldn't be constant raids because it’s such a risky move. Yes, the rewards are massive but with a higher probability of ruining your own fleet it’s wiser to minimize the number of raid dice you choose.
I do not have this game, and will not have it until at least next year ( waiting for my language translation to be able to play with friends) but I love your video. It really help me understand the depth of this game.
Played my first game last night and I understood the framework pretty well, but I had no idea what to actually do on my turn. This strategy guide really helped me focus my play, can't wait to implement some of these strategies in my next game!
Great video. Are you still considering revisiting this now that a few months had passed? Would be interested to hear what you have learned and how the meta has evolved.
@@ComputerPerson6000 I haven’t quite settled on what I want to do next. Whether that be an “Intermediate Strategy Guide” video for the base game or strategy guides for the plotlines in the campaign game…
Something me and my players could use a hand on. We play the campaign and one of our players LOVES playing the steward. How do you deal with the Steward's dealmakers ability? It feels like he always has pick of the litter with court cards and we can't compete.
I have only played once, but I think I want to start counting total pips in a chapter for both me and everyone together and see what the average is. In the game I played I did better in chapters where I seized even though I was doing nothing last round. If I knew those averages I could have a sense of the tempo and how I was doing relative to the other players. I could also make a better calculation on when to seize
That would be an interesting exercise. I wonder if the amount of pips vary too much due to the way the cards are played that it would be hard to get an average.
I’ve played 6 games now, 4 with three people and 2 with 5. I would say 7 actions are pretty average with 3 people and 5 actions are the low end. With four it would span up a single action. That hasn’t really informed me when to seize. It has more to do with my hand at the beginning of the chapter. If I have a lot of high cards I don’t need to seize. If I have a bunch of low cards, I should seize early and throw a spanner in whatever the others want to do. Like if someone is clearly going to win warlord I would seize and declare empath just to deny them points. Or if I could snag a choice card I would seize and do that. You aren’t going to get a lot of actions with a low value hand so missing an action at the end of the round isn’t much of a loss, you mostly want to sabotage and set up for the next chapter. Hopefully you have some resource tokens to shore up a bad hand.
I have a question. If I have a city and one ship in the sector, and my rival has 6 ships in that sector. If I was to do a battle in that sector and rolled an intercept, would I take 6 hits and lose my ship and my city?
Thank you for making this guide! Now I just have to convince my group to get it haha. We have one player that I swear prefers no player interaction AT ALL so it will be a hard sell.
Obviously it can sometimes depend on your hand. But there's always seizing as an option. Or, if an ambition was declared by someone else in a previous turn, it doesn't take a much effort to declare it again yourself. And of course, careful card counting will help you get initiative back consistently!
Is it generally worth it to influence cards someone else has started to influence before you? Like if someone has placed two agents on a card, is it efficient, power point wise, to place three agents on that card to possibly capture the opponent's agents?
@@Uberskull I would say yes, if and only if you know you will be able to immediately secure before that person can respond. Otherwise that other player will respond by putting agents back on it and then one of y’all is gonna get screwed over trying to secure it first.
What do You mean by you can use psionic to take down an agent on a card and use a relic to take the card by using secure... how does psionic takes down an agent
@@dimitrivanpaepegem3107 if the lead card was either a Mobilization or Administration, you can use a Psionic to take an influence action (placing an agent on a card), then you can use a relic to immediately secure that card (provided you have the most agents). This all happens in your prelude before your turn starts.
When you say 3+ do you mean "three or more" or "more than three"? It should mean "three or more" but from the way you were talking about it I got confused on which you meant.
This is SUCH a helpful practical video. Having played Arcs three times so far, I can see exactly what you're saying about these tips. Some of them I already gathered and others I hadn't even considered. So thank you!
Honestly I could've made the video twice the length but I had to stop somewhere! I might revisit this in the future with a Part 2 or something to cover the things I left out here, we'll see!
Preamble ends at 3:16
19:47 Something else related to this that took me a few plays to internalize: you also don't need control to Build. You just need a Loyal piece already present in the system. So you have a city all by itself on a planet with another building slot, you can Build a second city there, or a starport there, no ships needed. (Of course, it's gonna be built in a damaged state if a Rival has control.)
Did my first game ever a few days ago. Really interesting. Very simple and hands down the most straightforward rule book Leder Games has put out. I really like how simple it is and yet the figuring out how to strategize your way through the mechanics is complex. The trick taking makes it harder to simply just do what you need to do. By the end of the game I realized I probably should just use my resources and copy more. Hoping to play it again soon.
Resources & Guild Cards are key to giving you flexibility. My first few games I kinda just ignored the guild cards and was always shocked at how the other players were able to do these crazy things with them while I was stuck trying to work around my bad hands.
I like and agree with your take on raiding. There was a discussion in the Woodland Warriors where someone was arguing that games would necessarily devolve into just raiding back and forth and they were trying to say that raiding was op. And I really think it's far more situational than that. Like everything in this crazy weird awesome game.
I've found raids have become less frequent in my group as we've played more, so I'm curious to see how different tables will react to the Raiding. It seems to be the most "controversial" design choice currently
I would think that there shouldn't be constant raids because it’s such a risky move. Yes, the rewards are massive but with a higher probability of ruining your own fleet it’s wiser to minimize the number of raid dice you choose.
Thanks: A very good guide, it clearly shows how many possibilities this game offers right from the start of getting to know it.
This is such a good strategy / tip guide, the suggestions are meaningful and well thought through, many thanks.
Dude this video blew up, excited for more arcs content! Maybe a guide on different leaders
You can check out snoopymate25's channel for guides on each leader! He beat me to it 😂
@@115-Gaming he only did the base game leaders, you can do the Leaders and Lore leaders
I do not have this game, and will not have it until at least next year ( waiting for my language translation to be able to play with friends) but I love your video. It really help me understand the depth of this game.
Played my first game last night and I understood the framework pretty well, but I had no idea what to actually do on my turn. This strategy guide really helped me focus my play, can't wait to implement some of these strategies in my next game!
@@AlexBradyMusic I love to hear it! I hope this video helps you dominate in Game 2! 😎
Great video. Are you still considering revisiting this now that a few months had passed? Would be interested to hear what you have learned and how the meta has evolved.
@@ComputerPerson6000 I haven’t quite settled on what I want to do next. Whether that be an “Intermediate Strategy Guide” video for the base game or strategy guides for the plotlines in the campaign game…
M first game I ended up having 3 points. I totally was lost. This video is needed haha
This is a really well made video! Would be great if you set up chapters so I could skip back to/forwards to different parts :)
Something me and my players could use a hand on.
We play the campaign and one of our players LOVES playing the steward. How do you deal with the Steward's dealmakers ability? It feels like he always has pick of the litter with court cards and we can't compete.
~ 26:08 -- Doesn't Administration have the most pips, with an extra one for their 5?
Thank you, this was amazingly useful.
I have only played once, but I think I want to start counting total pips in a chapter for both me and everyone together and see what the average is. In the game I played I did better in chapters where I seized even though I was doing nothing last round. If I knew those averages I could have a sense of the tempo and how I was doing relative to the other players. I could also make a better calculation on when to seize
That would be an interesting exercise. I wonder if the amount of pips vary too much due to the way the cards are played that it would be hard to get an average.
@@115-Gaming I’ll post again when I have an opinion
I’ve played 6 games now, 4 with three people and 2 with 5. I would say 7 actions are pretty average with 3 people and 5 actions are the low end. With four it would span up a single action. That hasn’t really informed me when to seize. It has more to do with my hand at the beginning of the chapter. If I have a lot of high cards I don’t need to seize. If I have a bunch of low cards, I should seize early and throw a spanner in whatever the others want to do. Like if someone is clearly going to win warlord I would seize and declare empath just to deny them points. Or if I could snag a choice card I would seize and do that. You aren’t going to get a lot of actions with a low value hand so missing an action at the end of the round isn’t much of a loss, you mostly want to sabotage and set up for the next chapter. Hopefully you have some resource tokens to shore up a bad hand.
I have a question. If I have a city and one ship in the sector, and my rival has 6 ships in that sector. If I was to do a battle in that sector and rolled an intercept, would I take 6 hits and lose my ship and my city?
Thank you for making this guide! Now I just have to convince my group to get it haha. We have one player that I swear prefers no player interaction AT ALL so it will be a hard sell.
20:27 How do you pull an Agent directly from the City in TTS?
Haha 🤣 you can’t. We set the agent on the city so it would look better for the video
Fantastic video!
@12:08 what simulator is this?
@@chr10s tabletop simulator
Thank you for sharing your tips. I'm waiting eagerly for my copy to arrive. Is there a discord for Arcs players on TTS?
@@Shad0wSix the woodland warriors discord is a really good place if you’re looking for a good TTS group
Learned it the hard way: 3 raid dices are not enough for two keys 😢.
So much pain and regrets.
@@BenjaminH_48 I feel you brother 😢
I'm confused how someone would double declare ambition in a turn. how do you acquire initiative back consistently? is this not dependent on your hand?
Obviously it can sometimes depend on your hand. But there's always seizing as an option. Or, if an ambition was declared by someone else in a previous turn, it doesn't take a much effort to declare it again yourself. And of course, careful card counting will help you get initiative back consistently!
Is it generally worth it to influence cards someone else has started to influence before you? Like if someone has placed two agents on a card, is it efficient, power point wise, to place three agents on that card to possibly capture the opponent's agents?
@@Uberskull I would say yes, if and only if you know you will be able to immediately secure before that person can respond.
Otherwise that other player will respond by putting agents back on it and then one of y’all is gonna get screwed over trying to secure it first.
What do You mean by you can use psionic to take down an agent on a card and use a relic to take the card by using secure... how does psionic takes down an agent
@@dimitrivanpaepegem3107 if the lead card was either a Mobilization or Administration, you can use a Psionic to take an influence action (placing an agent on a card), then you can use a relic to immediately secure that card (provided you have the most agents).
This all happens in your prelude before your turn starts.
Just played my first game this afternoon and I wish I had watched this first - made a lot of the mistakes you identified. Very helpful!
I made 'em too! 🤣
Is arcs available at game stores yet? My algorithm is bombarding me with this game lol. Also, do you think there’s a steeper learning curve than Root?
@@mattjenkinscomic MUCH easier learning curve than Root. But there’s still a high skill ceiling like Root.
Easy to learn, hard to master.
When you say 3+ do you mean "three or more" or "more than three"?
It should mean "three or more" but from the way you were talking about it I got confused on which you meant.
@@e.l.2386 three or more 👍
Wow jealous… your 6 Siege pledge actually delivered I never got mine…
@@tyrussleightholme7261 😳😳😳
oh we never realized you could raid starports. we thought it was just cities for some reason.
@@SwedishWookie you can raid any buildings! 🫡😈
Helpful vid, thanks man!
13:24 Starports can't be raided. Only Cities
@@Sebby_Nineteen any buildings can be raided 👍
@@115-Gaming Just rechecked the rules... my mistake.
Why isn't he wearing pants?
The comment on here about crypto bs is hilarious, nice YT spam, creator should’ve already deleted