What is resource advantage?

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So, you have learned the basic rules of X: Seekers of Fortune, and now you want to start winning games? You came to the right place. At its core, X: Seekers is a game of resources. A player can win the game by either completing 5 Adventures or by completing 4 Adventures and then Breaking Through, both of which require a significant amount of resources. But, what is Resource Advantage? Resource Advantage is the concept of having more relevant game pieces than your opponent, which you can leverage to win the game. The Heroic Feats allow a player to exchange some of their own resources for a different type of resource, and they also allow a player to sacrifice some resources in order to reduce those controlled by their opponent.

Let’s dive into an example. Imagine that your opponent has a Thirsting Stone in play. You have 2 Leads in hand and 2 Adventures revealed. The Sabotage Heroic Feat allows you to scrap an Adventure and discard a Lead to destroy the Thirsting Stone. This play costs you some amount of resources, but it could generate you a huge advantage if the Thirsting Stone is a key piece of your opponent’s game plan. Now, imagine you have 3 Adventures revealed and 7 Leads in hand. Destroying your opponent’s Relic generates the same exact advantage, but this time the cost is less painful because you are flush with resources. This is the manifestation of Resource Advantage- you are able to make advantageous game plays because you are accumulating resources faster than your opponent.

Now that we know what Resource Advantage is, let’s take a look at how we might go about achieving it. X: Seekers of Fortune has 3 key resources: Leads, Adventures, and Action X cards. Leads are the smallest and most fluid resource in the game. Because the Break Through feat allows you to exchange 3 matching Leads for an Action X card, we can think of Action X cards as having approximately 3 times as much value as a Lead. By the same token, since you can use Negotiate to exchange 1 Adventure for a net of 1 Lead (+2 Leads to you - 1 Lead to your opponent), we can think of Adventures as having approximately the same value as a Lead. So, in summary, we have a 3 : 3 : 1 value proposition for Leads : Maps : Action X. Of course, these exchange rates are fluid and will fluctuate based on which stage of the game you are in. We can use this basic exchange rate as framework for generating Resource Advantage. For example, if your opponent plays an Action X feat, it is generally a good idea to Thwart it if you can because you are exchanging 2 Leads for their 1 Action X card, and it usually costs 3 Leads to get 1 Action X worth of value. Similarly, if your opponent goes for a Break Through and you have the ability to Thwart, it is even more obvious that thwarting is a good idea because you are clearly exchanging 2 of your Leads for 3 of their Leads. You have the opportunity to generate 1 Lead worth of Resource Advantage. We can also generate Resource Advantage in a non-interactive way. Any Relic or Site that passively generates resources (e.g. Merchant’s Scale on Noble, which allows you to draw an additional Lead whenever you complete an Adventure) is another great way to get an edge over your opponent.

X: Seekers of Fortune is a game of resources, and careful management of these resources is a key step towards winning. The game provides many methods for exchanging resources, so it is important to consider the baseline value of Leads, Adventures, and Action X cards before making a trade. With a little bit of practice, you can become an expert at generating Resource Advantage. You are now well on your way to becoming a veteran competitor. Keep it up, Seeker!