Author Topic: Ranking expansions by difficulty  (Read 9840 times)

Offline krambigmac

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Ranking expansions by difficulty
« on: January 10, 2014, 09:04:45 AM »
Been a lurker for a little while but I think this is my first post.  Hope this hasn't been done before.

I'm a collector by nature so of course I want every expansion I can get my hands on.  I typically only get to play 2 player vs my wife and I love to introduce more expansions but she isn't hardcore so I try to incorporate the simple ones and wait on the harder ones.

I'm also a chronic listmaker so I figured why not try to rank them based on difficulty.  I defined difficulty based on both the rules themselves and being able to follow it throughout the game.  I haven't used all the expansion components so I put an asterisk next to those and am basing it from reading the CAR6.4 file.

Tier 1: No rule changes
GQ#11 Expansion - just added tiles to my knowledge
The River - New starting tile sequence, no biggie
The River II - I combine this with River I to make a 2 spring, 1 lake river

Tier 2: Easy to learn/follow along
Big Meeple - no issue explaining
Festival* - 10 tiles in the mail from cundco
Inns and Cathedrals - no issues explaining
Phantom* - 4 clear meeples in the mail (couldn't get red or purple)
Wind Roses* - in the mail
Mayor* - haven't tried
Trade Goods - easy enough but wife hates antagonistic expansions(she thinks I'm stealing her trade goods when I give her city points lol)
Pig - one time placement, pretty easy to know +1 pt per city

Tier 3: Medium difficulty/needs more monitoring
King and Robber - pain to keep track of and then count all the completed roads/cities at the end
The School* - in the mail from cundco
The Flier* - just received, haven't tried
Magic Portal - only tried once, likely will become tier 2
Abbey* - haven't tried
Cult - could forget about the challenge while playing
Dragon - not hard, maybe wife not liking it caused it to fall here
Princess - hardly ever play with dragon so princess goes here along with it
Siege* - don't think I've introduced this yet
Besiegers* - just found out it existed but looks to be same as siege but different tiles
La Porxada* - printed out a copy but haven't tried it
Mage+Witch* - just received, haven't tried
Builder - no idea why it's here, just felt the "when to use" adds some complexity
Crop Circles* - too expensive for now
Crop Circles II* - just received, haven't tried (same rules as CC I right?)
Little Buildings* - in the mail
Bridges* - do not own
Messages* - just received, haven't tried
Fairy - easy to forget about the 1pt bonus
Goldmines* - just received, haven't tried
Ferries*- just received, haven't tried
Robber*- just received, haven't tried
Barn* - haven't tried
Castles* - do not own
Catapult* - do not own
Tower - played once with a friend complexity plus antagonistic = wife won't try

Tier 4: Hardest to learn or keep track of with good strategy(added most complexity)
Tunnel* - likely easier than this but do not own
Wagon* - haven't tried but I get confused trying to explain it
Bazaars* - do not own, seems like a pain to do
Count of Carcassonne - strategy makes this hard for me to incorporate
Wheel of Fortune* - do not own but looks harder than Count
Plague* - do not own but geez, adds way too much to get anyone to try this

Added notes:
1) 43 expansion components, holy cow.
2) I did not include the Cathars since the tiles are identical to the Siege(I would only use Siege rules so the cloister can be anywhere adjacent to the city).
3) I did not include both Wind Roses I and II, just one of them due to same tiles (I know there's a rule change between the two but it seems unnecessary)
4) I haven't used a lot of these as you can see many asterisks so they may become easier in practice than in writing(The wagon in particular confuses me for some reason)
5) I tried to rank within each tier with easiest at the top but it's certainly not gospel

Anyone ever play with everything?  That's my carc dream.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=577.0

Offline evmillan

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Re: Ranking expansions by difficulty
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2014, 09:40:13 AM »
Hello krambigmac!, congrats for your first post at CarcC.

I think that you can follow this thread Rating System for Reviews, by BIG GUY, is a good approach to what are you looking  for.

http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=513.0

Offline kettlefish

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Re: Ranking expansions by difficulty
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2014, 06:44:16 PM »
Quote from: krambigmac
Crop Circles II* - just received, haven't tried (same rules as CC I right?)
Crop Circles II:
Yes, the rules are the same like the rule of Crop Circles I.

Please be careful with short version of CC. CC means in the world of Carcassonne the basic game Carcassonne.
And here at CarcassonneCentral is CC also a short form for the CarcassonneCentral like the short forum CarcC (I prefer the CarcC for CarcassonneCentral).

You didn't have update your profile. It looks like you haven't anything from Carcassonne.  ;D


Offline Carcking

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Re: Ranking expansions by difficulty
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2014, 08:14:46 PM »
Great list! And welcome to the CarcC Forum! Glad to have you along.

I think you'll find as you actually get to play a number of the expansions you have in Tier 3 & 4 that they will slide up into Tier 2. Many of them are not that complex at all.

It can be quite a challenge playing with several expasions at a time though. You usually find yourself concentrating a just a couple of them during the game - depending on your tile draws.
I just drew the perfect tile for my MonKnighThieFarmer!

Offline JT Atomico

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Re: Ranking expansions by difficulty
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2014, 03:16:16 AM »
Anyone ever play with everything?  That's my carc dream.

I have :)

I played one big game in November that had one of every tile ever printed. You can see a photo here: http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=517.msg5498

I never got round to writing up a game report, I really should do that sometime...


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