DaviddesJ wrote:
The cost of taking Great Start, in terms of turn order, is pretty high. If you get little or nothing in exchange, you're just digging a deeper hole for yourself. I think that's the main issue. You're really gambling to get enough benefit to pay for the cost. If it weren't so costly to take, then I would view it differently. Planning is almost guaranteed to give you some benefit, over the course of the round. Great Start costs you more, in general, yet sometimes it really does you no good at all.
I don't agree with this advice, generally speaking. Suppose your starting hand was Rage, Concentration, Determination, Promise, Threaten. And absolutely terrible hand!:yuk: To make things worse, it's a 4-player game, and Rethink is already taken.:shake:
Of course it would depend on the exact board position. Assume there is something to do if you could come up with 4-5 move points without playing 4-5 cards sideways. Would you take Planning here, intending to play two cards sideways for Move 2, and looking at 3 new cards? Or would you gamble and take Great Start, hoping to draw some move?
I would probably gamble and take Great Start here. Of the 11 cards that I have not yet seen, 5 will help me a lot (March, March, Stamina, Stamina, and Improvisation). My chance of drawing one of them is {1-[(6/11)(5/10)]} = 73% That is pretty good odds to improve my hand. I could also draw Tranquility, which I could cycle to draw one or two more cards. If I choose Planning, I have a 100% chance of playing two cards inefficiently and doing little on my turn, and thus falling behind my opponents. Taking Great Start gives me a very good chance to actually accomplish something on my first turn, even with that horrible hand. IMHO, it's worth the risk.