Poll

How do you primarily use The Pig?

I use them to increase the value of my field.
5 (35.7%)
I use them to gain some points in a merged field.
2 (14.3%)
I use them to annoy my opponents.
0 (0%)
I usually forget to use or ignore my Pig.
5 (35.7%)
I use it in other creatively strategic ways (see below).
2 (14.3%)
I don't ever play or don't own Traders & Builders.
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 14

Voting closed: October 03, 2014, 02:33:33 PM

Author Topic: The Pig – Element of the Week #3  (Read 14732 times)

Offline Whaleyland

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The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« on: September 26, 2014, 02:33:33 PM »
ELEMENT OF THE WEEK: THE PIG

As an attempt to keep this forum someone on topic, each week a specific expansion element is chosen from among the various expansions that have released over the years. This is an opportunity for you, Carcassonne's biggest English-language fans, to discuss techniques and problems you have encountered over the years regarding specific expansion elements. All forms of critique – from the most positive to the most resolutely negative – are encouraged.

This week's element is THE PIG, from Traders & Builders (Expansion #2). This otherwise forgotten element from the expansion that brought you trading tiles and Builders gives players a +1 point bonus for one of their Farms. That is, if they can get the Pig on the farm before the game ends! How do you use the Pig? How much success have you had wracking up the points? Describe your dismay when somebody merges the fields, marginalizing or eliminating your bonus. Discuss your relationship with the Pig, as well as your strategies for taking advantage of this expansion.

Next Week's Topic: The Princess  :-* :-* :-*

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=1086.0

Offline Guy

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2014, 11:14:22 PM »
Tactically I use it to gain an advantage over a shared field.  If i'm going to have to share a field with an opponent I'm going to do my best to make sure I can gain a points advantage of some sort over him.  I know that this doesn't stop my opponent also putting his pig in the same field but in my experience a lot of people forget that he exists as a piece! More fool them I say!

Guy
I play orange

Offline DIN0

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2014, 11:36:16 PM »
 :@ can be very powerfull if you use it with some other expansions such as Cathars or barns from 5th.

Offline Paul

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2014, 11:51:51 PM »
It's been years since I had a normal game. With all the megaCarc we now play, the pig is one of many aspects of a large various collection of elements in the game I tend to forget to use.

But I do make up for it by using the emoticon here quite often.

 :@
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Offline danisthirty

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2014, 02:07:18 AM »
I quite like the Pig although I've always been confused as to whether it's supposed to lie on it's side (like a farmer) or stand on it's legs like a... well, Pig.

It is certainly easily forgotten but when I remember that it's there I tend to use it in a variety of ways in my games. Sometimes I'll place it on a large, shared farm purely because my opponent(s) has/ have and it feels like we ought to at least get the same number of points from it if we're going to share it. Other times I'll keep it back and place it on a farm of my own. Naturally, it always depends where I can generate the most points.

Using Pigs with Abbey & Mayor is interesting because of the Barn. I remember reading in the CAR that you can place your Pig on a tile that merges an existing farm with a farm with a barn and consequently get 2 points rather than 1 for every city. If this is something you do over and over again it can make a huge difference to your overall score.

All things considered, it goes without saying that this is almost always one of the last pieces of wood to be placed as you don't always know where the most valuable farm is going to be. In this case it's often a race against time to get him down in the right place!

Also, I'd love to see a list of potential ways to annoy your opponent(s) with your Pig. It could provide me with a valuable tactical advantage the next time I play with Traders & Builders!

Offline SRBO

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2014, 02:20:13 AM »
Tactically I use it to gain an advantage over a shared field.  If i'm going to have to share a field with an opponent I'm going to do my best to make sure I can gain a points advantage of some sort over him.  I know that this doesn't stop my opponent also putting his pig in the same field but in my experience a lot of people forget that he exists as a piece! More fool them I say!

Guy

When i share a field then yes i would use it. but most of the time its just to increase the value of my farmers

Offline MrNumbers

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2014, 07:23:02 AM »
Using Pigs with Abbey & Mayor is interesting because of the Barn. I remember reading in the CAR that you can place your Pig on a tile that merges an existing farm with a farm with a barn and consequently get 2 points rather than 1 for every city. If this is something you do over and over again it can make a huge difference to your overall score.

This is my favorite tactics playing with A&M. I had one game with my wife, where was a huge field (about 15-17 cities), and till the rest of the game we gave up building any more cities, but simply connected to this big field, gaining more and more points. One of us had more luck in connecting and he/she won (don't remember who it was).
If playing also with BC&B, it is even easier mission to complete.

When playing without A&M I simply put a pig to the most valuable farm.
"I never lose. Either I win or I learn." (Nelson Mandela)

Offline SRBO

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2014, 08:35:01 AM »
Can a barn and a pig be on the same field? or does it need to be pulled back?

Offline MrNumbers

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2014, 08:59:33 AM »
Can a barn and a pig be on the same field? or does it need to be pulled back?

No, it can't, because pig can be on the field only with a follower, but follower can't be on the same field with barn (in case of connect it immediately is scored and taken off the playing field).

Offline jungleboy

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2014, 11:17:31 AM »
When playing without A&M I simply put a pig to the most valuable farm.

This is what I try to do too - it's surely the most obvious and beneficial thing to do with the pig. I'm surprised it took this many posts for someone to say it!

Offline CarcAddict

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2014, 12:34:06 PM »
I think that interaction of pig and barn has broken game too much. Really, all other aspect lost value, it was all about joining fields with barns, especially in larger games with multiple expansions.

That's why I hope that future expansions for Carcassone II will be a bit more well tought and designed to integrate with eath other without breaking the game or changing it drastically.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2014, 12:50:27 PM by CarcAddict »

Offline Whaleyland

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #11 on: September 28, 2014, 06:44:22 PM »
I'll admit that Barn + Pig Field = Lots of Points if done properly. The bigger the field, the bigger the impact.

While I don't plan on buying Carc 2.0, I do admit that the addition of various elements that could be used in future iterations of the game is not shortsighted. I always felt that the little villages in the base game could be used for something, but they are just too small and random. Had the designers thought about it more, they could have made them a bit bigger just in case they wanted to use them in the future. Same with the multi-colored towers in the new game, even if those aren't used now, they could be in the future.

Offline danisthirty

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #12 on: September 29, 2014, 01:34:58 AM »
While I don't plan on buying Carc 2.0, I do admit that the addition of various elements that could be used in future iterations of the game is not shortsighted. I always felt that the little villages in the base game could be used for something, but they are just too small and random. Had the designers thought about it more, they could have made them a bit bigger just in case they wanted to use them in the future. Same with the multi-colored towers in the new game, even if those aren't used now, they could be in the future.

I agree, and I’m looking forward to seeing how these might be utilised. Equally, I’m sure that some of the more creative people here will be able to come up with some of their own fan-expansions that couldn’t have been made for standard Carcassonne (old artwork).

I think it’s easy to say, with hindsight, that the original game could have included some of the more subtle features like this from the beginning. I guess they just didn’t know how successful it was going to be at the time and so wouldn’t have seen the point. Who could have predicted that it would sell so well and have 30 or more expansions made for it? I suppose the redesigned artwork gives them the opportunity to plan ahead and ensure that it has plenty of years ahead of it. This can only be a good thing in my opinion, regardless of the problems it causes with regards to completionism (a word?) and backwards compatibility with the old expansions.

Anyway, back to the pig. I remember seeing an idea for a fan-expansion called “The Butcher” which introduced an alternative use for the pig. I can’t remember the rules, but they should be hard to find. I’m keen to experiment with some of these once I have the time (and can persuade my wife to play) and would perhaps like to come up with some alternatives of my own.

Offline Christopher

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2016, 12:39:04 AM »
In case anyone hasn't noticed, I've decided to go though all the Elements of the Week and throw my two cents in where I missed out before. HA!

(I haven't started work yet and I'm bored stiff)

I tend to forget about the pig. If I have a large farm I'll throw him down, but otherwise he doesn't do much. I tend to play with a fairly light-on farms-strategy, anyway. Mostly because my best girl relies WAY too much on farms. I'll usually trick her into sinking about three followers into a farm just to maintain control of it, then I'll clean up by grabbing every city and road on the table.

Heh.
Look to the north. Keep looking. There's nothing coming from the south.

Offline danisthirty

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Re: The Pig – Element of the Week #3
« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2016, 01:42:25 AM »
Mostly because my best girl relies WAY too much on farms...

How do your other girls feel about that? :)


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