Ticket to Ride: Classic Edition

Vanderbot Jr are the "hard" AI, and obviously, 4 of them mean 4 hard AIs.

To win, it took me a few tries, but, I was able to finally start a game where my 3 initial route options overlapped each other, coast-to-coast, and with 46 points of routes. Taking those three, and focusing on that, without taking other route cards, got me not only those 3 routes, but, also longest train for an additional 10 points.

56 endgame points still only put me at 100 - 93 - 55 - 67- 43, winning by 7 points.

Vanderbots do actively try and sabotage opponents, taking small, single route spaces to block you off, so, make sure you have alternate routes planned, and don't take more than you trains can handle. You have 45 trains, and the points for each route ticket is the minimum amount of trains it takes to complete, on the optimal route.

Short version, if you don't have three good initial route cards, that overlap, for good points, you are better off quitting and trying again.

Couldn't win by playing to complete tickets so I changed my tactic up and won first try with the below:

I noticed the AI rarely won with 100+ points, so I decided to avoid completing tickets altogether, you rely too heavily on the AI not taking the available tracks.

Choose the lowest tickets possible in a new game, preferably so the points add up to no more than 10 as we won't be completing them.

Keep restarting until you have the desired tickets, once in game, we're going to aim to snap up all of the 6 train routes, as each one gives us 15 points, which is more points than a lot of the tickets anyway. Keep taking trains, and once you have 6 of a certain colour, take that route.

There are 9 routes that grant you 15 points. Grab as many as you can, once they're all gone focus on the 5 train routes. Aim for the longest train if you can, but I didn't achieve this and still won.

This is easier than playing normally, and relieves the stress of deciding routes and completing tickets.