Jail behaivior - Which is your golden rule?

[Jacques Dupont]

I think this is one of the most controversial things about this game, as players vary a lot in their choosing. There are those who go always bad hoping for getting out at the dump. Others avoid bad at all cost because it can increase the turns you spend in jail, and they want to leave asap, so they choose either neutral or good.

Of course it depends on many factors (state of the game, cards in your hand, who are you playing with, etc.), but do you have a general rule about it?

In my case, I have the philosophy of trying to get out of jail asap. I don't care about jail rank or getting resources inside jail, so I usually choose neutral with 4 or 3 turns remaining (for the extra amnesty), and good with 2 turns remaining, to maximize the chances to get out early. My philosophy also indicates that, when I look at the final stats, if I spent more than half of the sentenced turns in jail, I did something wrong or had terrible luck.

I dislike the risk it implies to choose bad. I get that teleporting to the dump is huge, but so is the risk of losing more tempo in jail. So I only choose it if the risk is really worth it, like having a winning card/combo from the dump or near it or if I'm really behind and I really need to take risks to catch up.

[[PHNX]Kordarus]

There is more than the escape card when you pick bad. Personally if my income is high and I,m short on money, I'll skip the amnesty and the escape card in hope to get some money flow. If you'r lucky you can get 3-4 time your income just by staying there for a few turns.

I also do this if I am near to get enough for the army of chaos card in hell. Also usually when you are in jail, other peopl don't target you most of the time, unless you are really high in ressource and close to win the game.

It also depend of the character I play, but most of the time I'll pick bad and not for the escape to the dump card, which imo is risky for only 50% chances to escape. Only time I,ll play the escape is if I get the missing gear i need to win and the card to play in the dump, otherwise I'll just skip it.

[ハードボイルド]

The mechanics of the jail are indeed one of the most fascinating parts of the game. Generally, I want to leave the jail asap. There is only one golden rule in this game, time is money. Your EVERY turn must be another step to victory (or your opponents' defeat, it's the same). You can't just skip turns and hope to win. So if you don't have anything useful to do in jail, leave. Compare jail to skip a turn cards that we almost never use to move. Jail is skip 2-4 turns plus a misfortune. Insane punishment on all game stages, early, mid, late. (That's why I dislike people using Set-up lightheartedly but that's another story xD).

On the other hand, I am by no means an expert on jail mechanics or the game generally. I don't try that hard with this game to be honest. So take my words with a grain of salt.

For example, others prefer to invest in jail rank but I'm still not convinced if it's worth it (because you don't know how often you'll be there).

[Jacques Dupont]

Originally posted by extenion:

For example, others prefer to invest in jail rank but I'm still not convinced if it's worth it (because you don't know how often you'll be there).

I think that if there is one thing of common agreement about jail is that jail rank isn't worth the time you need to invest in it, not in the ranked setting at least. I think it's something thought for longer matches. Which is a pity, because there are really cool things you can do from jail at the higher ranks, but those are rarely seen at ranked games.

[jack_was]

Escape through the Dump is much better than passing misfortune spot unless you have a card to deal with it. You only risk getting malice and longer term vs virtually anything. Moreover there is no punishment if you succeed.

[uCANdoMAGIC]

Getting that first upgrade is important because it adds an Amnesty to the deck. But otherwise, I agree that the ranked matches don't last long enough for jail rank to be important. I pick "neutral" most of the time because it adds an Amnesty to the deck.

[Jacques Dupont]

Originally posted by jack_was:

Escape through the Dump is much better than passing misfortune spot unless you have a card to deal with it. You only risk getting malice and longer term vs virtually anything. Moreover there is no punishment if you succeed.

It's obviously better, but spending more turns in jail is punishment enough when you miss the 50/50 chance (it's a high risk), and that is if you even get the card. I would say that spending one extra turn in jail because of that is in average equally bad as a misfortune. Spending 2 or more turns in jail because of it is much worse in average than a misfortune.

[jack_was]

Originally posted by Jacques Dupont:

It's obviously better, but spending more turns in jail is punishment enough when you miss the 50/50 chance (it's a high risk), and that is if you even get the card. I would say that spending one extra turn in jail because of that is in average equally bad as a misfortune. Spending 2 or more turns in jail because of it is much worse in average than a misfortune.

There is one more advantage of escaping: access to some locations at the left side of the playing field. If you have good Plant/Office/Dump card you'll be able to use it much faster than making almost the whole round (or passing another Misfortune spot) to get there. When we consider Clockwork Town the Marketplace is also available and with Fast & Fair it means the whole playing field.
Picking bad behaviour you can still get an Amnesty or Bribing the Guards cards.
I'm not against good behaviour - it provides Helping the Guards and Testimony cards but you'll have to increase your rank first to be able to play these.

[Standard of Ur]

This can be judged even among advanced users.

Because Probation and Lay It Down are included in choices, it's better to raise to Rank2 in the early section.
In this case, praying that Bribing the Guards will come out. Bully is also safe if it's not subject to Calma!&etc. Prison Escape is also OK.I recommend this when using the damned.Damned is the target of Calma!&etc.

Basically it's better to take a good attitude.I recommend this when using secret agent.Thief,too.but, bad if there is no vote or money.

Good if less than 2 turns, bad if 4 or more turns.

When you anticipate a very long game.It's better to raise to rank4.Testimony often exerts destructive power.