Poll

Which starting tile do prefer to play with?

Standard Start tile
16 (22.9%)
The Spring (from River I, II, III, or GQ11)
31 (44.3%)
Carcassonne Town - The Count  (Starttableau or 12 tiles)
4 (5.7%)
Die Windrosen start tile
1 (1.4%)
Die Schule
5 (7.1%)
The Wheel of Fortune
3 (4.3%)
We play with a random start tile
4 (5.7%)
Other (please explain)
6 (8.6%)

Total Members Voted: 70

Author Topic: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile  (Read 19234 times)

Offline asparagus

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #15 on: April 15, 2016, 02:34:57 AM »
2) if you draw a tile without a road at the beginning of the game, you have to draw again, which is annoying.

I'm fairly sure the school tiles are used in addition to the regular starting tile (placed on one side)- so there should be a space for city and field tiles.

Yeah I think last time I played the school I forgot that rule. Maybe we would play it more if we got it right.

Offline dirk2112

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #16 on: April 15, 2016, 04:39:48 AM »
I've always had two problems with the School: 1) I hate the palm trees – there should not be palm trees in medieval France, and 2) if you draw a tile without a road at the beginning of the game, you have to draw again, which is annoying.

We use the school the same way Christopher does and throw one of the tiles in the stack. 

Also the palm trees explain where King Arthur got his coconuts.  As we all know coconuts don't migrate and I don't want to get into an argument over whether or not a swallow can carry them.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2016, 04:42:33 AM by dirk2112 »

Offline Decar

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #17 on: April 15, 2016, 04:46:14 AM »
+1 for a fantastic reference!

Edit: meant to add perhaps we should test if you're a duck..
« Last Edit: April 15, 2016, 04:58:54 AM by Decar »

Offline Valheru

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #18 on: April 15, 2016, 05:24:25 AM »
I find this a very difficult poll to answer. It all depends on the game you want to play.

The school is a very road dependent beginning of the game. Especially combined with A&M, you get an interesting game later on with small farms .

Opposing to the school, using the river (GQ excluded) or the wheel/count starting tile(s), you get big farms and a very different game. I think Christopher said it right:

I find that large starting areas, such as the Wheel of Fortune, the City of Carcassonne and the River encourage different play styles. When everything is built from a single tile, players start off right on top of one another. Everyone is making plays for the same features, and it sets the tone of the game. Not aggressive, necessarily, but... of that vein. With a large starting area, everyone expands in their own area. There's no need to build into other player's features because there's plenty of space. It changes the game.

So for the sake of playing and competing for farms, I would say the larger the better. If you want a different game, take the standard tile or the school. I've recently played with the school and really enjoyed the different tone in that game so for now, I'll vote that one. Although the river gives a nice board.. Darn it haha. The school it is!
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Offline franks

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #19 on: April 15, 2016, 06:51:45 PM »
Easy choice for me - The School, (along with the start tile).

I really like what it brings to the early game with roads and bonus scoring.

It may be out of place but I never notice the palm trees - these old eyes can't bother with such details  ::)

We have added an extra house rule where the three lower roads are treated like Inn on the Lake to add a few more points to the early game - but that is a separate matter  :)

We use to play with the Wind Roses but felt it got lost in our long game and didn't amount to much.

Never liked the river :P

Franks

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Offline Neil

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #20 on: April 15, 2016, 08:05:37 PM »
This is a tough one. I chose the spring as I usually play two player and the river makes a great starting place as it comes with the base game.

When playing with more than two players we like to start with the carcassonne town tile (the count) and then start with two, or three depending on player count, spring tiles. This makes for an interesting play as sometimes you get two really short rivers and one super long river.

As for the school, we currently play with it in game. We place all the left tile of the school pieces in the draw bag and set all the right tiles to the side of the table. When a school tile is drawn the player gets the other half of it to play. I'm currently designing proxy tiles to print on blank tiles so I can pile all of the draw tiles on the table instead of inside a bag. Those blue bags just aren't big enough to get an efficient mix when playing a large game.

I've never played with the wheel of time so I don't have much of an opinion on that.

Offline jungleboy

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #21 on: April 15, 2016, 10:36:19 PM »
I put the standard tile but it was out of default more than anything else. My regular partner doesn't care much for the River so we rarely use it. We only use the City of Carcassonne or the Wheel of Fortune if we're playing with those expansions. And we've literally never played with the Wind Roses or the School.

Offline danisthirty

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #22 on: April 15, 2016, 11:56:22 PM »
Also the palm trees explain where King Arthur got his coconuts.  As we all know coconuts don't migrate and I don't want to get into an argument over whether or not a swallow can carry them.

What do you mean? An African or European swallow? ;)

I have voted for the standard, classic, awesome crfr vanilla start tile. My biggest problem with this is that the starting player has a 33% chance of drawing a city cap, completing the city and getting a 4-point head start for little reason other than that they went first. Other than this though, I don't like there being too many options from the start and like how the number of available placement opportunities increases in the early part of the game. In my opinion, several of the other starting tiles (notably rivers, the count and the wheel of fortune) spoil the early competition that is usually rife by giving players too many options, but I still recognise that they can be fun from time to time.

Aesthetically, I also enjoy how the entire landscape extends out from a single tile at the start of the game, and that the landscape is entirely different every time.

Offline asparagus

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #23 on: April 16, 2016, 12:03:11 AM »
Other than this though, I don't like there being too many options from the start and like how the number of available placement opportunities increases in the early part of the game. In my opinion, several of the other starting tiles (notably rivers, the count and the wheel of fortune) spoil the early competition that is usually rife by giving players too many options, but I still recognise that they can be fun from time to time.

I think you are being a little harsh on rivers here. As the river extends people are taking bets on limited information on what will be worthwhile. Obviously an early farmer is a good start but how do you know it won't be hedged in by roads? Monasteries are a nice little earner but can end up awkward to finish. It's a different game from the basic starting tile but I don't think its worse in any sense.

Offline danisthirty

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #24 on: April 16, 2016, 12:57:55 AM »
Other than this though, I don't like there being too many options from the start and like how the number of available placement opportunities increases in the early part of the game. In my opinion, several of the other starting tiles (notably rivers, the count and the wheel of fortune) spoil the early competition that is usually rife by giving players too many options, but I still recognise that they can be fun from time to time.

I think you are being a little harsh on rivers here. As the river extends people are taking bets on limited information on what will be worthwhile. Obviously an early farmer is a good start but how do you know it won't be hedged in by roads? Monasteries are a nice little earner but can end up awkward to finish. It's a different game from the basic starting tile but I don't think its worse in any sense.

All true (well, mostly, but that's just my opinion). I was literally just stating my preference as everyone else has been in this poll. To reiterate, one of the things I like about Carcassonne is how opportunities expand out from a central point and the competitiveness and/ or aggression that comes with it. Rivers aren't inherently bad in any way, and I said as much (see bold part of my quote), but I prefer to play without them as I don't like the number of options/ choices that they present from the early part of the game.

Sorry if this was taken to be an unduly harsh dig at rivers in general, this certainly wasn't my intention. :(

Offline ny1050220

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #25 on: April 16, 2016, 04:36:02 PM »
I use the spring in GQ11, and all the "interesting" river tiles in river I and II. You may ask, what is interesting? All of the rfrf and rrff tiles without additional features, i.e., road, cloister, city, or pig herd, are not interesting.

Offline ARabidMeerkat

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #26 on: April 16, 2016, 04:40:56 PM »
Since we have all of these, we really should use a variety to begin with.... but we're boring so we always use the spring!
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Offline CKorfmann

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #27 on: April 16, 2016, 07:18:40 PM »
I think CKorfman and Paul both created some mega-starting setups on another thread a few months ago.

I don't recall discussing it, but that doesn't mean I didn't...  :o

I do favor starting with several, if not all, of them at once, for whatever expansions you are playing with, though I haven't had an opportunity to play with all of them yet.  I always include the regular start tile in with the rest of the river tiles when playing the river.
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Offline Valheru

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #28 on: April 17, 2016, 05:46:15 PM »
I must say, to me, Die Schule is a surprising third in the poll.

Hurray for education!

Offline dirk2112

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Re: Favouritism Poll #5 : Start Tile
« Reply #29 on: April 17, 2016, 06:29:52 PM »
I must say, to me, Die Schule is a surprising third in the poll.

Hurray for education!

I underestimated the school and overestimated the count's Tableau


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