In a game, let's say with "Inns & Cathedrals", without the "Hills mechanism", if one of the cathedrals has not shown up till 5 tiles to the end, you can always be sure, it will show up. Same goes for example for the two cloisters from base game with roads. The more you are familiar with the tile configuration of the game (or the individual expansions), the more you get an edge over players, who are new to the game. Which is OK, in all games, which are not entirely luck based, you gain experience and advantages by playing them. However, this is a mechanism, which reduce a little bit the influence of "tile counting", because you can never be sure about that with the hills.