Streaks are a choice

This track builds on Gold, interest and streaks, which covers how interest and streak gold are paid.

Every player gets the same income each round. What separates a rich player from a poor one is the rest: interest on the gold held, streak gold for rounds won or lost in a row, and 1 gold for every round won against another player. Anyone with a bank earns interest. Streaks and wins are the gold your board earns, and they only come to players who pick a direction.

A run either way pays. Six wins in a row earn 14 gold on top of income: 8 from the streak and the rest from the wins. Six losses in a row earn the same 8 in streak gold and cost health on every round. Win and lose in turns and no streak ever starts: you get the win gold for half the rounds, and still pay health for the other half. The middle is the worst place in a game. It earns the least and bleeds anyway.

A win streak is the best of the three, so keep one alive when you can. Play your strongest board every round, and spend to keep it in front. Spend a little to keep a long streak, not a whole bank to save a short one. A level or a few shops that drop you one interest step cost one gold of interest for each round you stay below it, and the round they win pays 1 back before the streak gold. Spending to keep a streak is not breaking your economy. It is where the economy comes from.

A loss streak is a plan, not an accident. Commit to it: field the strongest board you have without rolling, so you lose with as few enemy units standing as you can, and save every gold. Use the perks that come with low health, like picking early on the carousel. Then pick the round you flip it, usually the first big level and roll once the bank is full, before stage 4 losses start to bite. A loss in stage 2 costs 5 health with three enemy units standing, in stage 3 8, and in stage 4 11, so a loss streak that runs too long spends the health you need to finish the game.

Which side to take is not decided before the game. A strong opener with pairs and items that fit says win. A weak board with nothing worth holding says lose on purpose. When a streak is about to break anyway, break it on your terms: the round you choose to roll, not the round the lobby chooses for you.