Author Topic: iOS: New expansion for christmas (Read 20131 times)

Gerry · « **Reply #15 on:** December 17, 2014, 11:51:53 AM »

Just tell them that you feel the cover art has gone too far with the exploitation of the female character and it is no longer family friendly

danisthirty · « **Reply #16 on:** December 17, 2014, 12:39:48 PM »

Quote from: Carcking on December 17, 2014, 11:29:04 AM

Speaking of new expansions for Christmas...I am fearful that any number of my family members (who all know my love of Carcassonne) may go out and get me Carc .02 for Christmas. What do I do? Pre-empt their notions and say thanks, no thanks? That would be a horrible gesture. And far too late to be polite at this late date. $:-\$

I'm guessing you'll just have to get that "Down with the new version of Carcassonne" t-shirt that you've always wanted printed, and then make sure you just happen to be wearing it when you visit your entire family over the next few days...

Carcking · « **Reply #17 on:** December 18, 2014, 03:24:48 AM »

Quote from: danisthirty on December 17, 2014, 12:39:48 PM

I'm guessing you'll just have to get that "Down with the new version of Carcassonne" t-shirt that you've always wanted printed, and then make sure you just happen to be wearing it when you visit your entire family over the next few days...

This is not a bad idea Dan. It could be the launch of the "Save the Meeple!" campaign!

CKorfmann · « **Reply #18 on:** December 18, 2014, 08:16:39 AM »

Wow, I never paid that much attention to the Gingerbread Man since I don't have the winter edition. I had no idea it could make that much difference.

jungleboy · « **Reply #19 on:** December 20, 2014, 12:29:49 PM »

Has anyone else noticed a bug in the iOS winter edition? Often the last tile (and occasionally the second last tile) is dismissed as unplayable when it is not unplayable.

Also, not a bug but an issue with the AI. Often (but not always) when a strong AI player has to move the gingerbread man and he doesn't have any of his own followers in a city, he will move it back into a city containing my followers, even though there are empty incomplete cities that are far better choices.

jungleboy · « **Reply #20 on:** December 21, 2014, 09:53:21 AM »

Quote from: CKorfmann on December 18, 2014, 08:16:39 AM

Wow, I never paid that much attention to the Gingerbread Man since I don't have the winter edition. I had no idea it could make that much difference.

I didn't know either but after I saw what Jéré did I started playing around with it and got similar results (see screenshot below). But basically, if you truly want to maximise your points with the Gingerbread Man, you have to forget about all other aspects of the game, so while it's fun for a little while to pile up the points, I don't really think it's 'in the spirit of the game'.

But here's how to do it anyway:

On iOS you can now play with two base games and two copies of the Gingerbread Man, so the way to score 1000+ points is to create the largest city you can with all seven of your followers in it. Don't complete it, but just keep expanding it. With 179 tiles, you should be able to make a city of 40 tiles or so. The key is to make sure it's contiguous (i.e. that all of your followers are actually in the same city, not just potentially in the same city) and to leave it unfinished. So if you have all seven followers in a 40-tile city with the Gingerbread Man and any player draws a Gingerbread Man tile, voila, you have 280 points. Then you just need to get the Gingerbread Man back into your city again (either by drawing another Gingerbread Man tile or by completing the city that the Gingerbread Man has been moved to), and then you can score 280 more points the next time a Gingerbread Man tile is played.

danisthirty · « **Reply #21 on:** December 22, 2014, 06:06:00 AM »

Quote from: jungleboy on December 20, 2014, 12:29:49 PM

Has anyone else noticed a bug in the iOS winter edition? Often the last tile (and occasionally the second last tile) is dismissed as unplayable when it is not unplayable.

Also, not a bug but an issue with the AI. Often (but not always) when a strong AI player has to move the gingerbread man and he doesn't have any of his own followers in a city, he will move it back into a city containing my followers, even though there are empty incomplete cities that are far better choices.

I pointed this post out to the developers of the iOS app via Twitter. They said they were aware of it and are now working to fix it.

DaFees · « **Reply #22 on:** January 02, 2015, 07:31:59 PM »

I've been enjoying the new expansion. Definitely made for some nice mega games with 1500+ scores. Is it just me though or does it seem like the AI isn't as strong any more. I know the gingerbread man is powerful but before this expansion the count and countess would make for fair opponents and now they don't seem so much the fair competition. I wouldn't call the games runaways by any means but I haven't lost a game yet either.

I don't know if anyone has thought about this but this whole app and its expansions make for a very interesting clash when compared to the physical version and I think this is really where this website could become of great use. The physical game originates from Germany and is published in German. The game is also available/published in English. Z-Man Games is the current publisher and is essentially in charge of the translations. Some times these translations are wrong. If this digital app didn't exist then these incorrect translations wouldn't be such an issue. This app does exist however and the developers do not use the English translations as a basis for their rules. They consult directly with the German publisher / creator of the game. This all means that if someone plays the digital app in English then goes to play the physical game in English (or vica versa) then at some point they may run into a conflict with the rules. To sort out who is right that might lead those people to end up here. This is nice but really, if Z-Man games put more effort/thought into their translations then none of this would be an issue. Honestly, assuming it wouldn't interfere with the developers and their work it be nice if Z-Man games supported the app like HiG does.

With the recent release of Carcassonne II there is a very small chance things could start to turn around but that is unlikely unfortunately.

Jéré · « **Reply #23 on:** January 30, 2015, 01:36:32 AM »

Yay!! They finally did it! In an update this morning they painted the grass on the remaining tiles (from I&C, T&B, P&D expansions) in white to that we finally get a nice and uniform wintry landscape! For me this was a minimum requirement that they did not fulfilled in the original release so I was really dissapointed. Now it's fixed!!

danisthirty · « **Reply #24 on:** January 30, 2015, 01:42:21 AM »

Does this mean you now have to ask yourself whether the dragon can eat the gingerbread man or can you not play these together despite the matching artwork?

Jéré · « **Reply #25 on:** January 30, 2015, 02:30:23 AM »

Quote from: danisthirty on January 30, 2015, 01:42:21 AM

Does this mean you now have to ask yourself whether the dragon can eat the gingerbread man or can you not play these together despite the matching artwork?

It was already possible to play with all available expansions before this update but the contrast between snow and green grass was ruining the experience (in my opinion). Dragon apparently really likes to eat gingerbread as well, as indicated in the rules.

Jéré · « **Reply #26 on:** January 30, 2015, 02:37:04 AM »

Another screenshot showing the river:

jungleboy · « **Reply #27 on:** January 30, 2015, 11:02:10 AM »

This looks cool; I look forward to playing it when (if?) I end my Carcassonne iOS exile

DaFees · « **Reply #28 on:** January 30, 2015, 01:04:26 PM »

I'm with everyone else here. I love the fact that they finally winterized all the expansion tiles. Along with today's update I got the impression that they sorted out most (if not all) the major bugs from their most recent major release (Winter edition / double base set) so I asked them what expansion they'll tackle next (I'd assume the Tower, if they're going in order) and they said they're still collecting feedback on that but in the meantime they are working on a BIG project for Carcassonne apparently. Not sure what that could entail though.

https://twitter.com/CarcassonneApp/status/561260882760851458

I was thinking about what they might be working on (Mac version maybe?) then I started thinking about the expansions they have to do yet then I thought about two particular expansions, the Messengers and the Robbers and I realized that it would be very difficult to implement these two expansions given how scoring is done as is. Note that I said very difficult but not impossible. Either way in order for these two expansions to eventually be included they'd have to really redo how scoring is visualized in the game.

At any rate I love Carcassonne on iOS and I CANNOT wait to see what they will do next.

jungleboy · « **Reply #29 on:** January 30, 2015, 02:11:34 PM »

Quote from: DaFees on January 30, 2015, 01:04:26 PM

I was thinking about what they might be working on (Mac version maybe?) then I started thinking about the expansions they have to do yet then I thought about two particular expansions, the Messengers and the Robbers and I realized that it would be very difficult to implement these two expansions given how scoring is done as is. Note that I said very difficult but not impossible. Either way in order for these two expansions to eventually be included they'd have to really redo how scoring is visualized in the game.

At any rate I love Carcassonne on iOS and I CANNOT wait to see what they will do next.

But the way the tweet is worded suggests that the big thing they're working on is not an expansion. Maybe it's version 2.0 instead.