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There really isn't a set strategy here, but a number of tips I've found useful from playing Power Grid, and I hope they can help you, too: Look at what everyone is buying -- if you're playing 3rd in a 5 player game, and the first two players bought coal plants, consider going with a different fuel source, as coal could get expensive quickly if everyone is ...

Some mix of the following: Buy the biggest one you can afford - Remembering that you have to afford fuel as well. Try to get a plant that has dual fuel sources Don't buy a coal only plant if 2 other people already have coal fired plants. Don't get into bidding wars with more experienced players If the above isn't working out, switch tactics - save your ...

Your power plant capacity has no bearing on the size of your network. So you can build as many houses as you can afford. From the rules: A player may connect to any number of new cities in a round, as long as he can pay the building and connecting costs. Of course, it's probably a bad idea to build a network substantially larger than you can power. ...

The best advice I can offer is don't buy a city unless you can fire it up This is especially important in the early game, when turn order hinges on a single city. If you do, then all you are doing is sacrificing turn order. Even if it makes no difference because you have the highest value plant, it may make a difference next turn. When bartering for a ...

After D won the first auction, Player A is obligated to choose a plant again. You may have missed this on page 3 of the rules: When the auctioning player wins the auction and gets the power plant, the next player in turn order takes his turn at offering a power plant for auction, if he has not already purchased a power plant this round. If he has, the ...

I haven't played a great number of 2 player games of Power Grid, but I haven't seen the problem you are noting. Perhaps you are missing out a few of the key rules? Rule changes with 2 players Check the table on page 7 of the rule book on how to change things up for different numbers of players. When playing with 2 players: Each player may keep 4 power ...

It has been a little while since I have played Power Grid, but I will take a stab at this. In the early and mid-game the decisions that have to be made are fairly straightforward and tactical like improving power plant efficiency/capacity and expanding into reasonably priced cities. Power plant prices are generally based on their expected monetary output ...

In later revisons of Power Grid phases are used to describe the difference phases of a turn. Steps are used to describe the 3 different game states that happens when a player builds 7 cities or pull the card in OP post from the top of the power plant pile. The card does say "Step 3" in the later revisions that I played. For more information check the Power ...

They are discarded, which pretty much means they are removed from the game. The only time a power plant is put back under the stack of plants is during Phase 5: Update the power plant market. Once a plant is discarded (because of too many plants) or removed from the game (no one bids on a plant in a turn, or someone's house count is higher than a power ...

Try to minimize the number of plants you buy. Aim to end up with enough plants to power the endgame # of houses Don't buy more than one four plant unless it's great deal Look carefully at the resource costs and double buy if it looks like a resource is in demand A simple strategy is to alternate being first and being last Don't think that $1 doesn't ...

Have you tried looking at any of these? I've ordered that list by popularity, so the stuff at the top should be the most useful. There are lots and lots of summaries and crib sheets available. Which one works best for you is really a question of personal taste.

I don't mind to, in the first turn, buying a cheap plant with a lot of storage space (say, three coal). The cheap plant will help you in the turn order. Now I stock up on cheap resources (cheap because we are in the start of the game) so later my one-coal plant can run for 6 turns. This has the additional bonus that resources become more expensive for the ...

Part of it will depend on your long term strategy; buying a low power plant puts you up first for the cheap resources and the prime places on the board. While more expensive and efficient power plants can give you a leg up in accumulating cash early in the game. Personally I prefer to start with a relatively inexpensive power plant (as low and cheap as ...

Assuming you're playing with 3 or 4 players, use the 1-2-3-4-5-6-6 strategy. That is, first power plant should power 1 city, second 2, etc. Then you'll grow your capacity in a measured pace, and you'll end up with a capacity of exactly 17. A bad strategy would be: 1-1-3-4-4-5-... because that will make it very hard to reach 17. Also, by not buying ...

We use the system where player 1 picks an area to keep, player 2 picks an adjacent area, etc. until we have the right number of areas. I'm nearly positive this is how the designer, Friedemann Friese, taught us. If not then we picked it up from the earlier version of the game, the crayon-based Funkenschlag. One tip: when the new (current) edition came out I ...

Officially, Money is hidden. See the FAQ for Funkenschlag (the game was originally published in German under that name. Hide the amount of money Question: Are you supposed to hide the amount of money you have? Answer: The rules are not explicit on this point. You should play with hidden money, to prevent AP in the last (couple of) turn(s). ...

Sure - see page 5 of the rulebook, in the "Earning Cash" paragraph of the Phase 5: Bureaucracy section: Earning cash: Starting with the first player, every player indicates how many cities in his network he wishes (and is able) to supply with electricity. He earns cash based on the number of cities he powers as shown on the payment table. A ...

You may keep the resources, as long as the new plant can store them. According to the rulebook: When a player buys a fourth plant, he must discard one of his other power plants. The player may move resources from the discarded power plant to his remaining three power plants, if they match the resources used by one or more of the retained power plants.

This is a good question, and I'm afraid I don't have a great answer. I think the creators addressed this question a bit with the creation of the Benelux board. When you play with that board you always remove the lowest power plant. That speeds things up a lot.

I would add a single advice: Plan your turn before the auctions start. I usually plan my turn backwards: How many cities can I connect to with the money I have? How much will I (likely) need to pay for resources for my current plants? Now how much is there left for auctions? (counting both the plant price and its resources for at least 1 turn) After ...

On page 3 of the Power Grid Rulebook: If, in later rounds, no power plant is sold in a round, the players remove the lowest numbered power plant from the market, placing it back in the box, and replace it by drawing a power plant from the draw stack. They then rearrange the market according to the rules. This ensures that new power plants are added to ...

I don't think it really matters so much. But you could randomize it, or else agree to rotate through each of the possibilities on a game-by-game basis, to create as much variety as possible. Many connoisseurs seem to think that Power Grid is much better for 3-5 players, mind you, so if the lack of hard-and-fast rules for how to set up the 2 or 6 player ...

Do not wase your money on plants to 13th number, you'll ned to change them soon. Later ones are better. And also you don't have many cities at the begining. Later I'm trying to get plans which could electrify as many cities as possible. These plants wastes a lot of resources, but you will not need to change them until the end of game.

While the answer is certainly yes, it is important to note that player order is determined by the number of cities in the player's network, not the number that were powered. This misconception is the best reason I can imagine a player would want to do this. It is also possible to fuel plants that cannot supply any city. Although still rare, you might want ...