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Please note: Connie now has 11 cards in her layout. If she plays one more, it will end the game. There are 10 VPs left in the pool, and 12 goods sitting on peoples' layouts. If Phase IV is selected and the pool exhausted, the game will end. Basically I'm saying it's very likely that this will be the last round. Bear that in mind when choosing your action.

The suspense is killing me!

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Wait no longer! Orders are in.

Connie Neil: Phase III - Settle
omnis: Phase II - Develop
Laga: Phase IV (x2) - Consume (double VPs)

Three phases this round. It now looks certain that this will be the final round. Smoke 'em if you've got 'em.

Phase II (Develop) is first. We start with Laga's card draw from Interstellar Bank. And now we can go back to the suspense as I check whether this draw changes her COs.

Tonight Ryan reached a gaming milestone. I was playing him at Race for the Galaxy. He pulled a fine all-round game, with over 20 VPs from consumption, ditto the value of his layout. He picked up 15 prestige points and 11 points from goals (we don't use these, they're more advanced rules items). He added good points from 6-cost developments like Galactic Federation and Free Trade Association (he had 5 Blue production worlds).

When we added everything up, he'd clocked 101 points. His first game cracking 100! He's very proud. (He really deserved the win; alas, his daddy pulled 120 points. I started as the Imperium Warlord; finished with five Rebel military worlds and five Imperium cards, and four 6-cost developments that rewarded just those types of cards. 221 points between us makes it our highest-scoring game ever.)

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And now! We return to this, the final round. With no incentive to save cards, everyone has a development to play in Phase II, and a world in Phase III. Phase II (Develop):

omnis plays Trade League for 5 discards - 1 off for choosing this phase. This 6-cost development lets him trade a good in Phase IV even without choosing Phase IV ($) as his Action card, not that that matters now. More importantly, it's worth 2 VPs per development with a trade power (including itself), plus 1 VP per world with a trade power. It's worth 5 VPs. He then draws 1 card from Public Works.

Laga plays Export Duties for free; -1 cost from Investment Credits reduces the cost to zero. This development gives +1 card when trading.

Connie gets -3 cost from Galactic Federation and Investment Credits. She uses it to play Terraforming Guild for 3 discards. This 6-cost development gives her a card draw whenever she plays a world, and lets her produce on a windfall world in Phase V. More importantly, it's worth 2 VPs per windfall world in her layout, plus 2 VPs per Terraforming card (including itself). It's worth 6 VPs, and also adds 2 VPs to the value of Galactic Federation. She then draws 1 card from Public Works.

Cards are going out now.

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As we move into Phase III, Connie extends her lead, while omnis overtakes Laga for second place. Can he hold onto it?

Connie plays Runaway Robots. This is a Brown windfall world, and a 1-defence military world. Connie's strength is up to 3. She then draws 3 cards: 1 for choosing this phase, 1 from Terraforming Robots and 1 from Terraforming Guild.

omnis plays Pilgrimage World. This costs 0 discards, but is worth 2 VPs.

Laga plays Merchant World for 4 discards. This card gives +2 cards when trading; Laga could now trade a Blue good to draw 8 cards. In Phase IV, it also allows her to discard up to 2 cards from her hand for 1 VP each. Phase IV is next.

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Phase IV (Consume) - everyone's final play.

Connie has the most trade goods, with Runaway Robots taking her total to 5. But she lags the others in Consume powers. Only three cards let her consume for VPs - Public Works, Epsilon Eridani and Terraforming Robots. She consumes her 5 goods for 3 VPs and 6 cards.

omnis has 4 goods. He's the only player whose VP haul can outstrip the number of trade goods - Galactic Trendsetters gives 2 VPs for 1 good. He consumes his 4 goods for 5 VPs and 1 card.

Laga is last. She could consume up to 6 goods for 1 VP apiece. She has 4 goods, giving 4 VPs. However, she chose this phase, and opted to double her points. She nets 8 VPs. And she's not quite finished. Using the power from the newly placed Merchant World, she discards 2 cards from her hand for another 2 VPs. (this is not doubled.) She takes 10 VPs.

Connie now has 13 cards in her layout, and the total consumption has now overshot the VP reserve by 8 points. These both are sufficient to trigger the end of the game. All that remains is the wrap-up.

Unfortunately, it's just gone midnight here, and it's a work day. I'm afraid you may have to wait until tomorrow to learn the outcome.

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I suspect someone enjoys suspense.

...sounds of nailbiting from Bethlehem....

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Bite no longer! The fix is in. As usual, I'll break down the scoring into the three categories.

Consumption VPs
Connie Neil: 12
omnis: 14
Laga: 18

This game saw pretty much everyone run a consumption strategy. Everyone had four production worlds at game end, and a selection of Consume powers. Laga takes the honours overall, almost entirely on the strength of the last few rounds. Coming into Round 12, she had amassed only 2 VPs; but her choice of Phase IV (x2) in Rounds 12 and 14 added a total of 16 points in the two rounds. As you can see, if you have the production and consumption to support it, consuming for double points can generate a decent haul.

Layout Value
Connie Neil: 14
omnis: 16
Laga: 15

There wasn't much separating the players on layout value, with omnis just in front. The cards that are worth big points in one's layout are high-defence military worlds and expensive Alien worlds. No one pursued much of a military strategy (though Connie ended the game with 3 strength) and the only Alien card in anyone's layout was a starting world. Not much to choose from here.

6-Cost Developments
Connie Neil: 20
omnis: 5
Laga: 7

But here there's a strong difference. omnis and Laga both had just the one 6-cost development (Trade League and Galactic Survey: SETI respectively). In both cases, they never used the power granted by said card, it was purely a scoring entity. (And in both cases, it wound up being the most valuable card in their layout.)

Compare Connie. She played no less than three of these developments. She was able to do so because the first one down was Galactic Federation. The strength of this card is its synergy between its power and its scoring structure. It gives points for developments, especially 6-cost developments. It also knocks 2 off the cost of any development. If you're able to play this card early enough, it can pay for itself in spades.

Everyone led in one category. Connie's lead in the last category was impressive indeed, but she finished last in the first two. Who did best overall?

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The totals are:

Connie Neil
Victory Points: 12
Layout Value: 14
6-Cost Developments: 20
Total: 46

omnis
Victory Points: 14
Layout Value: 16
6-Cost Developments: 5
Total: 35

Laga
Victory Points: 18
Layout Value: 15
6-Cost Developments: 7
Total: 40

VP Pool: -8

Connie wins! Laga's haul of VPs from her double Consume saw her hold off omnis for second place.

Congratulations to all players; even the lowest score in this game would've been enough to win either of the last two games. Everyone did a fine job of building their point-scoring capacity as the game went on. In the last round alone, every single player added at least 12 points to their score, the payoff to groundwork in earlier rounds. For each player, Round 14's points account for 30-40% of their total score.