Tzolkin the Mayan Calendar - Stupid temples

stupid temples...

Its been some time since i last played Tzolkin especially since my copy has been exchanged with a friend's vanilla copy and I haven't gotten down to painting the new copy (so many things to do, so little time!). I was eager to see how the double turns can screw with other players and also other methods to win the game and not rely too much on the temple.

I won't go much into the mechanics as there are quite a lot of reviews on this already. I started off going for the technology track with the 2 starting tiles I have gotten and quickly zoomed in on the tech tracks as there were 2 monuments which reward tech advancement. Halfway through though I kinda got diverted to the temples because I had this feeling I did not want to lose out when the rewards/feeding times came around. I manage to get back on track with the tech trees though but lost out on purchasing a monument which will give me 33 points instead of the 27 points I had gotten. Now if I had managed to build TWO monuments that would have given me total of 60 points which would assure me the victory I am sure but we all know how difficult THAT will be!
In the end, the 2 players that were fighting over the temple tracks were way ahead of the other 2 players that were not concentrating on it. Like 20+ points ahead! I think my main failure is changing my mind in the middle and not aiming for the 2 monuments and thus getting as many resources as I can (using the technology benefits anyway) and scoring those points and proving once and for all that it is possible to score and win not from the temples.
Still, it seems to be a lot of hard work though and going by temples seems the easiest. It seems the most straightforward way is to have temple as the base scoring method and then something else at the side for extra points to push you for the win.
Oh well, to keep or not to keep, now I am kinda torn about the game. I still want to give this a few more gos and make a final decision. I also don't feel that the gear is gimmicky as it does have both function and form (good to look at especially after its painted!) Try before you buy!