The best way to use heat is for gaining turns, let’s take a look at some tips and strategies to help you win more at the Heat Pedal to the Metal board game.
Spinning Out?
Passing the speed checks without spinning out is very important. It’s pretty easy to avoid once you know what you are doing but it is very punishing if it happens (essentially it’s like losing a turn).
Your opponents (unless beginners) are likely to not spin out throughout the game. This makes spinning out very hard to recover from.
You spin out when you pass the check speed line and do not have enough heat in your engine to pay for any difference between your speed and the check speed. Eg. If you pass a 2 check speed line by moving 4 spaces you will need to pay 2 heat from your engine to prevent spinning out.
How to Avoid Spinning Out
The following steps will help you avoid spinning out:
- When playing cards check to see if you will cross the check speed line.
- If you are going to pass a check speed line ensure you are within the speed limit or have enough heat to pay the difference.
- When using adrenaline (+1 movement) check to see if it pushes you over a check speed line.
- Be especially careful with boost, it can move your car 1-4 spaces forward and push you past a check speed line. If it does you will need to compare your total speed (including the boost amount) to the check speed.
- Slip streaming does not add to your check speed. However it can push you pass a check speed line where you would not have otherwise passed.
Using Heat: Pass a Check Speed Point
Whichever map you are playing sometimes you will be just short of passing the check speed point without going over.
The best way to use heat is when it can reduce the number of turns it will take to pass these check speed points.
Instead of stopping just before the (3) Check Speed turn you can pay heat to pass it.
Using Heat: Pass 2 Check Speed Points
Passing 2 check speed points in 2 turns instead of 3 turns is even better. Essentially you are looking for 2 check speed points that are close enough together for you to pass in 2 turns.
In the above example if you are able to get closer to the (3) Check Speed turn you can pay some heat to over shoot it even further than our previous example. Then pass the (2) Check Speed point in your next turn.
The downside is that this is often heat costly. Meaning you’ll need to cool down (drive at a lower gear) after this maneuver.
Therefore this strategy is often left for situations where there are additional check speed points that follow allowing you the opportunity to shift down and pass them without being punished for playing less cards (lower gear).
Alternatively if you are on your last lap and are passing the final check speed point before the home stretch you wouldn’t have to worry about the heat build up.
It gets easier once you add the Garage Module (Advanced play) which add powerful upgrade cards which can be used to get closer to these points and even allow you to cross at higher speeds without penalty.
Managing Stress
You don’t want to end up with too many stress cards in your hand. Stress cards lead to less control making it harder to manage check speed points.
They cannot be discarded so you’ll want to play them along with your regular speed cards.
