Archive for the 'Power Grid Factory Manager' Category

I enjoyed Factory Manager a lot when I played it (initial review here).  A second play (again with experienced gamers) was just as enjoyable and a chance to try my gained knowledge to improve my efficiency.

Like my initial play, I found there were lots of decisions to make which is not common to find in a relatively short game.  So, it held my interest as before and kept my brain very busy.  I still really like how the turn order is balanced by the later players getting discounts on all their purchases.  It’s a really nice game mechanic as it means that turn order doesn’t over-dominate the game, which means players who have more workers available because they’ve gone the manpower efficiency route don’t automatically get to dominate the game.  I can’t tell yet if it’s almost too balanced as few players have bid for these tiles in my games and no-one’s ever bid more than one worker, but it’s a nice system. Read the rest of this entry »

As someone who likes Power Grid, the idea of Power Grid: Factory Manager was very intriguing.  I wondered if it was like Power Grid, or would it be too like Power Grid?

The goal is to earn as much money as possible in a limited amount of turns.  Each player has their own factory and buys machines (to produce goods or improve efficiency) and warehouse space.  Each manufacturing machine uses power and require workers if they’re not automated.  Income is based on the lower of your manufacturing capacity and warehouse capacity, so you need to keep these two factors as balanced as possible and plan for expanding evenly too.  

Your limited amount of workers are under great demand as workers are not only needed to run machines but are also used to bid on the turn order cards.  Read the rest of this entry »