by Theorel
Other than that, a non-binding priority list:
You forgot removing cubes that arrived in cities not yet seen in the infection deck because of an outbreak. That's often pretty important.
Also, building a few extra research stations is a good idea, and the sooner you do it the more benefit you get. It's a useful action in the early stages of the game, before anybody's close to curing anything.
Generally, I tend to fight fires and build research stations early on, then start thinking about how to achieve cures once someone is only a card or two away from having what they need.(outside of Legacy) I have only occasionally removed the cubes from outbreaks in cities not yet seen...I think for someone struggling to ever win (especially with only 4 chances to set them off), it's so far down as to be off the priority list. If you're already winning, removing those cubes is a good way to increase consistency, but they're still only a small risk. Most worth it if you have a medic and a cured disease, or if there are very many of those cubes. Much more worth it in legacy with the rioting mechanics, as the double-outbreaks are more of a problem.
-it's better strategically (IMO) to remove all 3 cubes from the outbroke city than remove one cube from its neighbor. (note: both cost 2 actions once you're in the outbreak-city). Leaving the problem city at 2 means it will likely outbreak after 2 more epidemics, and if you draw any other adjacent city the double-outbreak is likely. Treating the 3-cube city to 0 means that even if you happen to draw an adjacent city, it's only a single outbreak...and if you never draw one, that problem city will not likely come back up in the game at all.
Otherwise, research stations are good, I agree. I like to have about 3 on the board. I start thinking about cures from turn 1. I start trading when someone has 2 cards if it's convenient (or even earlier, if it's super convenient). The cool thing about ending in a city in hand, is it helps make trades more convenient, but it also makes everything else more convenient (flying, building research centers, etc).
