The endgame

Games are routinely decided by 5 points or fewer, and the last two generations are where sloppy players leak exactly that much. The endgame is a checklist discipline, not an inspiration business.

Know when the end is

Count the tracks (oceans left, temperature steps, oxygen steps) and the pace they’ve been falling. When the remaining steps are about one generation’s worth of both players’ output, the end is next generation — start final-generation behavior now, not when it’s announced.

The conversion checklist (run it every late generation)

1. Plants: every 8 = greenery = 1 VP + 1 TR + placement. Can you reach another 8 by game end? Protect the pile from his events until you can convert.
2. Heat: every 8 = +1 temperature = 1 TR, while the track lasts. Heat left over at the end is worth zero — spend it all.
3. Money: greenery at 23 MC (points + TR), temperature at 14 (TR), city at 25 only if greeneries will sit beside it. Spend to near-zero; leftover MC scores nothing.
4. Blue actions: the free ones every generation, always; the paid ones only if they beat the standard-project rate (~10-14 MC per point).
5. The side board: any milestone you now qualify for; any award you’ve already won that still has a slot.

Greenery placement math

A greenery is never just 1 VP:

• +1 oxygen (+1 TR) while the track lasts,
• +1 VP to every adjacent city — yours or his. In two-player this cuts both ways: green next to your cities, never gift-wrap his. A city with three of your greeneries around it is a 3-point building; his city with your greenery beside it is a self-inflicted point.
• Placement bonuses (plants, steel, cards) on the hex itself.

The final greeneries placed after the last generation (the end-of-game plant conversion) still place as tiles — plan the hexes before the last round so your cities finish surrounded.

The final generation, played properly

Order matters one last time:

1. Claim/fund anything on the side board first (before the money goes).
2. Convert heat while temperature still has steps (once it tops out, heat is dead — check before assuming).
3. Spend money down: greeneries > temperature > opportunistic VP cards.
4. Place tiles in descending order of adjacency value — best hexes first in case he denies one.
5. Recount both scores before your last action. TR, tiles, side board, and his likely card VPs are all countable. If you’re up, consider whether your action should end things; if you’re down 2, the answer is hiding in placement or a forgotten conversion more often than you’d think.

Unspent resources are the sound of points evaporating. The winner’s board at game end is nearly empty: no heat, no plants past the last conversion, money in single digits. Aim for that emptiness.