Quick winning principles
- Place headwater dams first to control flow to downstream placements.
- Fulfill contracts matching your dam height—do not build tall without contracts.
- Take the management spot that grants an extra engineer in round 2.
- Use conduits to redirect opponents' water away from their contracts.
Ideal strategy
- 1
Water flow: dams on the same river channel stack—first dam controls all downstream income.
- 2
Dam placement: height 3 dams on contracts with bonus VP pay for themselves in two rounds.
- 3
Contract fulfillment: match contract color to your technology track for bonus tiles.
- 4
Engineer economy: three engineers by round 3 enables simultaneous dam plus conduit actions.
- 5
Management board: executive action for 2 VP plus resource beats neutral spots after round 4.
- 6
Endgame: four fulfilled contracts plus height-4 dam beats five dams without contract bonuses.