Reply: Clinic:: Strategy:: Re: first player changing and garden use questions

by Mymil

klbush wrote:

Since everyone starts with the same service module and there is only 1 patient starting the game it seems very likely that the 3rd or 4th player will not have any patients to care for in the first 2 rounds.

I think you made a rules error. The rules say to seed the initial Pre-Admissions queue for each service available in the game, which is always players + 1.

It seems like changing start player between rounds before anyone scores any popularity is needed. Luck-of-the-draw for who goes first shouldn't carry into round 3.

Turn order gets determined at the end of every Administration phase, see page 3:

Reset turn order: Least Popular first, most Popular last.

Gardens appear totally useless. Since nothing can be building above a garden except another garden, but Rooms can't be built above each other the garden so at most a garden will earn $4 if you build two rooms adjacent (which is quite challenging) while costing $2 to Build and $1 for maintenance. They block such a large section of your building causing too much congestion for building efficiently.

You can legally build such that 3 Rooms are adjacent to a single garden. I'll let you figure out how. Gardens can also have parked cars around them. Consider how the following might change (your perception of) the value of gardens:
- a Room with not just 1, but 2 adjacent gardens;
- the garden starting bonus you don't have to pay for;
- reducing upkeep costs with Staff;
- If you start with a garden on turn 1 and treat 2 patients adjacent to it every round, you've earned (2 * 2 * 6) - (2 + 1 * 6) = $16 total. What is the expected return on building 1 other thing?

can a player move a patient from the que even if they are the 3rd or 4th patient in by spending that many que movement points, and can you swap places of 2 adjacent patients in the service row?

Yes, you can move patients forward (toward your Admission) and move them adjacent (to a different service Pre-Admission queue). When you move a patient within Pre-Admission, they swap places with whatever was in the space they are moving to, which could be nothing. See "Admit Patients":

You may also move each Patient headed to your Pre-Admissions one time to an adjacent queue for 1 queue point, by swapping it with whatever is in the same position in the adjacent queue, even if that’s nothing (shift Patients to the right to close any gaps).