Scythe does a wonderful job balancing the various factions and incentives. Whether each faction is balanced in terms of its overall strength, especially when factoring in the player board combinations, is a different topic. What I’m focusing on here is the design behind the factions.
Some of these elements are obvious. Crimea runs off of combat cards, thus the faction starts with no such cards. This hindrance goes further for the two immediate neighbors from the base set of factions lack a strong path toward enlisting, thus making it difficult for Crimea to receive a steady supply of wildcard resources. Fortunately for Crimea, Rusviet will sometimes want to create an engine to obtain combat cards due to the mech that allows a worker to use a combat card, thus helping to ensure that the faction will have many cards available to provide this often-essential benefit; however, not every game will see Rusviet behave this way.
In terms of balancing ability with need, Rusviet can drop a Mech to then warp their leader to the Factory, but Rusviet arguably least needs a factory card given that the faction can already move during successive turns and moving two, or three pieces with an upgrade, is often superior to moving one piece two or three hexes. Whereas Polania desires the extra move action to facilitate grabbing encounters, especially in games with fewer player counts given that more encounters will remain available yet lacks initial access to mechs and must rush the factory card to maximize its use, which in turns means not grabbing encounters right away. Nordic feel the most suited to adapt to the particular makeup of a game, being able to produce on nearly any resource without much effort; however, their mechs are so-so, outside of the wonderful ability to hide on lakes as well regroup after defeat to return to glory, and often seem to stall when going for the last star. Saxony can take a little effort and discipline to unleash, and seems to struggle at building power, which can be a useful star to grab before going wild with warfare, yet maintain the best mech power of the base factions, being able to warp into battle easily via their homeland’s mountain hex.
This interplay of factions while trying to maximize moves by linking top and bottom actions to the fullest extent all while recognizing that to get six stars means you’ll want to ignore certain development paths beyond the lightest dabbling. My games have found building to be one of the least viable paths to victory, same with upgrading all six cubes; however, I suspect there are ways to make such outcomes successful perhaps by ensuring you reach the highest tier of popularity. Trying to maximize moves is the Excel-like aspect of the game, where I’m seeking to find the sweet point that achieves the highest proportion of progress to efficiency. As an example, it seems unwise in most situations to move your leader from the starting faction circle until you’ve deployed the plus one movement mech, unless you’ve upgraded your movement to allow three moves and have no need for the third. Generally, movement without a clear gain is wasted (e.g., putting a worker on a desirable hex, obtaining an encounter or a factory card, shoring up your resources or conducting a quick easily-won battle, etc.), and unless you need the associated bottom action then there’s likely a better move available to you.
Similarly, that production costs power once you’ve rolled out some workers and then continues to get more expensive from there, the magic is determining the calculus to minimize these hits, whether through an early enlistment to have neighbors supplement this loss via their upgrades or hitting enough early upgrades before committing to a production economy. Basically, once all workers have come out, in most situations you do not want to produce more than one or two times from that point onward. Losing a point, some power, and popularity (which can cause massive swings in final points) is simply too much a hit when compared with the benefit received.
I love the ever tension of the possibility of war that Scythe brings, for people can break your game by striking a turn or two before you’re ready to contemplate such conflict. Though, and this aspect of randomness can be a primary driver of pace, that combat cards can simply never align for you is brutal. Most games, its essential to have a five, or even two fives, thus it seems a touch flawed that bad luck can break you by forcing you down an inefficient path of bringing multiple mechs to a battle, though, to be fair, being able to play multiple combat cards is often crucial to ensure that you don’t become a punching bag for stars.
Another thing I love about the game is how dangerous factory cards are, for to bring your character to the factory means that someone could end the game by taking thus hex from you. Many games are won by attacking the center hex, and grabbing the last star alongside a claim of three or four hexes (should you have deposited a worker along the way), and if the opponent with the highest score is the victim then you’re staring down a massive swing of points.
When it comes to battles, the one main problem scythe has is that a wildcard player can throw off the balance of the dance. To be the person who moves after a player who makes questionable moves means that you’re in the prime position to profit from these mistakes. There are many ways to king make, whether by distributing your pieces at the wrong time, conducting reckless battles, leaving resources ripe for plunder, or giving a person resources via unnecessary bottom actions, you can essentially hand the game to a person.
To counter this detriment, I’m always willing to discuss strategy and options with people while playing, to some degree. The line between table talk and apprising people of info to prevent poor moves from upsetting the game can be fine, I recognize. Yet to allow poor moves to upset the course of the game unravels the game. It’s like in chess where a player left a queen easily taken. I’d rather have that move undone and maintain the integrity of the game then to churn through the mid or end game all while knowing the end is likely quite clear, and all due to an error – at that point, why even bother playing?