Posted by Andy Merritt
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Distribution: rec
Subject: Merchant of Venus -- Alternate Rules

Having read three or four articles posted on this subject so far I disagree
strongly enough with some of the opinions to make me post.

First of all, I'll say that I mainly play MoV with two players, but have also
played solitaire on some occasions, and with three players on some occasions,
but never with more than three players.  I also always play with the quick
setup rules suggested in the General, and have disallowed attacks on anything
except other players ships and Rastur.  In games with the Rastur, other players
may NOT be attacked, but without the Rastur, they may be attacked.

With two players, I find the Rastur game and the Non-Rastur game to be equally
interesting, although strategically quite different.  When using the Rastur
with two players I always use 20 Rastur (60-150).  We normally play first to
2500 dollars with two people.  This value can lowered or raised to change
the winning strategies slightly.

I have found that if in a two player game (and even more so in a three player
Rastur game), if one player goes all out from the beginning getting a laser and
shields and positions Rastur carefully to allow easy pickings when he has
a fully equipped ship, then the 'easy money' so generated can normally put
a player somewhat ahead of the others.  Especially in a three player game, as
the Rastur are regenerated more quickly (w.r.t. the killing player's turns).

With three players when using the Rastur I suggest using 23 or 25 Rastur and
again playing to around about 2500 dollars.  In this game if one player is
allowed to 'harvest' the Rastur on his own, then he will probably win.  Thus
if one player starts going all-out against them, then other players should too.
Note that Rastur hunting is made much easier if using 'Mercenaries' (I use a
variant upon those outlined in the General), and is also made easier with
Mulligan Gear (reroll a non-one for another chance to get a Rastur!).

With Four players or more I would not advise using Rastur - it will be hard
to stop them even if everyone cooperates, and after all the game is supposed
to be about trading rather than killing Rastur when push comes to shove!

When playing Solitaire, I normally play with 16 Rastur (60-130), and to win
I have to get 1500 dollars.  I have found this fairly balanced, with a roughly
50% win rate.  I really don't understand how another poster said that the
Rastur won't get in the way.

For your information, in the Solitaire game the estimated number of turns
before the Rastur win (assuming none of them are killed) is 1.5 x the number
of Rastur.  Thus with 12 rastur you have 18 turns.  With 16 Rastur you have
24 turns.  If you find that you win less often than you would like try:

 * reducing the amount you need to obtain to win, or

 * increasing the number of rastur (the board will get colgged towards the
   end), or

 * allowing mercenaries or cloaking devices (see the General for more info).

Another thing to consider in the solitaire game is that it takes 2 rastur
to be killed before the active pool is increased by one, so taking on the
Rastur in a solitaire game is not such a wise idea as it might at first seem!

Ah well, there's some food for thought for avid MoV players (like myself)

Andy Merritt