Carcassonne Central
Carc Central Community => Quizzes, Puzzles and Challenges => Topic started by: Decar on July 29, 2015, 08:31:59 AM
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Intro
Unless you've been living in a cardboard box - you're probably aware that tomorrow is the start of GenCon. Gen Con is the original, longest-running, best-attended, gaming convention in the world! (http://www.gencon.com/)
When is it?
It runs from 30th July until the 2nd August, 2015.
GENCANT
Anyone who cannot attend, is implicitly a 'GenCanter'.
#GenCant was established in 2014 for those unable to attend GenCon - www.gencant.com
Contest
We're going to be running a small contest over the GenCon Period. The rules are quite simple:
- Play a basic Carcassonne game, on your own (1-player)
- Take a screenshot or photo at the end
- Post it here in the forum with the result
Or post it on Twitter with the following on the end of the tweet:
#GenCantSoloCon #GenCant @carcassonne
You may:
Play a digital Carcassonne (like JCloisterZone) and take a screenshot OR you can play analogue Carcassonne and tally your score.
So long as it's the 72-tile Basic Carcassonne you're taking part in #GenCant!
What do I need?
JCloisterZone (http://jcloisterzone.com/) allows you to play 1-player Carcassonne.
If you need help getting JCloisterZone running, there's usually plenty of people in the #cc-league chatroom (http://sydby.com/carcassonne/irc/index.html) willing to help!
More Details
The Contest is now open, and will run until midnight 2nd August!
Enter as many times as you like!
How many points can you score?
Leader Board:
Leven - 303
Jėrė - 297
@AvlinMaker89 - 286
DecarSnr - 282 (but a bit late)
jma03 - 280 (but a bit late)
danisthirty - 279
Quevy - 276
jungleboy - 271
dustyu - 271
Merlin_89 - 268
Rosco - 267
Paul - 266
Rich_The_Fish - 263
sagawalt - 263
laguse - 252
Lukey-Dukey - 250
Elodieden - 248
SRBO - 246
Halfling - 246 (no photo :()
Steve Jones (via Twitter: @stephan_jones13) - 243
Decar - 241
kettlefish - 234
Curt194 - 231 (not 321 :P)
squirealex - 229
Brandon Dean (@choirmage) - 224.
uniconfis - 224
Ailurus - 222
Nick Shaw (@njshaw2) - 213
Douglas Ward - @binaryflow - 128 points
Running Total Leader Board:
....
Let's just say Paul won: 30 games played
Honourable Mention:
Decar Senior - 282
My Dad attempted this over the weekend, he got back to me today. I found out on Sunday he was playing 2-player solo, so although it's a late entry, it's worth a mention.
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Here's my first entry, to get the ball moving - plenty of room for improvement!
222
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Love this idea!
Decar mentioned it to me yesterday so I had a bit of a head start:
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/gencant_254.png)
254! I'm sure someone must be able to beat 300...
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I take it I can use a basic game box to play and take a photo? My tiles are getting restless. C:-)
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Yes Paul,
You may:
Play a digital Carcassonne (like JCloisterZone) and take a screenshot OR you can play analogue Carcassonne and tally your score.
So long as it's the 72-tile Basic Carcassonne you're taking part in #GenCant!
Please don't take a photo of your screen though, no one likes that :(y)
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Very interesting. I think that the trick would be to score same cities in separate fields in order to reach higher scores.
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223 on the first attempt.
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Second attempt: didn't manage to claim a 9-point farm! (Top right). Better luck next time. Another condition to increase chances to score high would be that all 6 cloisters are drawn (and scored) early, which didn't occur so far.
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/29/cd2edccb3a79cb69ab3e8ed09548fdda.jpg)
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Really?! You had to go and beat me by 1 point!! >:(
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Really?! You had to go and beat me by 1 point!! >:(
That's not a "heavy loss"... Nothing to worry about Dan :-P
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Second attempt using Jéré's strategy - 253 points.
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Boom!
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/gencant_264.png)
One big farm and a couple of little ones... :)
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Boom, boom, BOOM!
My approach:
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On my first try :)
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Boom, boom, BOOM!
Nice one. I'm in awe of how you got everything to line up so neatly!
On my first try :)
Excellent! Welcome to the forums Elodieden :)
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Ladies & Gentlemen, I'm done for tonight :)
(Unless a little troublemaker comes and beats my score!!!)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/29/8a0604e1dfeb4779fe54eb738a3230cf.jpg)
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Ladies & Gentlemen, I'm done for tonight :)
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/29/8a0604e1dfeb4779fe54eb738a3230cf.jpg)
(Unless a little troublemaker comes and beats my score!!!)
:(y) :(y)
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Ladies & Gentlemen, I'm done for tonight :)
(Unless a little troublemaker comes and beats my score!!!)
As disgusted as I am by that score, it's definitely worth a merit... :(y)
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Ladies & Gentlemen, I'm done for tonight :)
(Unless a little troublemaker comes and beats my score!!!)
As disgusted as I am by that score, it's definitely worth a merit... :(y)
To most disgusting is the city I scored in 4 different fields :)
EDIT: Actually, there are 2 cities worth 12 pts for farming.
Spoiler: They have a CFCF in common ;)
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Thanks :) playing solo is a challange :)
got a few more points
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Good job Elodie and welcome to the forum!
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Just finished my first solo game. Managed 263 points, but it all felt a bit weird - I kept wanting to place meeples in cities as soon as possible and had to resist putting any farmers down early too!
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I was soo pleased with my score until i saw Jere's!
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One more from me before bed, and with only one incomplete city too:
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/gencant_279.png)
Still behind Jéré for the time being, but I can live with that...
...I kept wanting to place meeples in cities as soon as possible and had to resist putting any farmers down early too!
I know exactly what you mean. It's weird not having to worry about anyone else claiming stuff! :))
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Thanks for the challenge!
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Thanks for the challenge!
Good effort! Welcome to the forums uniconfis! :) :(y)
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My first attempt resulted in 254 points.
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Nice one Paul! :yellow-meeple: :(y)
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Nice one Paul! :yellow-meeple: :(y)
Thanks. :) My second and third attempt I got lower and lower score. Seems it's all downhill. :@ Gonna keep trying a few more today.
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Some amazing results so far everyone!
Thanks to Danisthirty for posting some tweets of your results to #gencant (+1 to you)
Please feel free to post all your attempts, it gives us an idea how much you've been trying and how hard those top scores are to beat!
It's great seeing new members coming on board too and hitting some great scores! Still four days to go!
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Seventh try: 245 points.
Game 3: 238
Game 4: 238
Game 6: 222
Game 2 and 5 I forgot to save the screenshot for.
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Seventh try: 245 points.
Game 3: 238
Game 4: 238
Game 6: 222
Game 2 and 5 I forgot to save the screenshot for.
I admire your perseverance Paul! All I can suggest is that you might try splitting your cities up a little so that you don't just have one big farm. There's nothing wrong with your current approach, but if five or six cities are also bordering a secondary farm then you have an additional 15 - 18 points (assuming you've got a farmer on it).
It certainly isn't easy, but clustering your cities up like this seems to be the way of getting the top scores. :) :(y)
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Seventh try: 245 points.
Game 3: 238
Game 4: 238
Game 6: 222
Game 2 and 5 I forgot to save the screenshot for.
I admire your perseverance Paul! All I can suggest is that you might try splitting your cities up a little so that you don't just have one big farm. There's nothing wrong with your current approach, but if five or six cities are also bordering a secondary farm then you have an additional 15 - 18 points (assuming you've got a farmer on it).
It certainly isn't easy, but clustering your cities up like this seems to be the way of getting the top scores. :) :(y)
I'm just trying various approaches, see which hits the spot.
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this is my solo game from yesterday.
I've scored 234 points.
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My first try was pretty bad.. bad meeple management.
but the second was better.
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Bad meeple management in a game where you are the only player is quite funny :)
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256 points.
I managed to score 9 points from every cloister. All but one follower ended up as a farmer. The follower on the road did score decent as well.
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Looking tidy everyone.
I've given everyone who has posted a submission a merit so far :(y) Keep up the good work!
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Bad meeple management in a game where you are the only player is quite funny :)
Well.. i had too few followers to both keep the cloisters and farmers.. and suddenly i ran out.. :(
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Bad meeple management in a game where you are the only player is quite funny :)
Well.. i had too few followers to both keep the cloisters and farmers.. and suddenly i ran out.. :(
For me it's not so much a case of "If I don't farm here now, will someone else take it before me?" as it is "If I don't farm here now, will I draw the correct tile that allows me to farm here before I run out of tiles?"
When there are four or five places you want to farm and you've still got incomplete cloisters to think about it can be a bit of a challenge...
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Getting closer to 300...
(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/30/118fb98ded32a068ac8af7115846179a.jpg)
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Amazing!
Shame you couldn't claim those spare roads for 4 points. It means 300 is possible!
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Some new submissions from Twitter:
Nick Shaw (@njshaw2) - 213: no screenshot
Steve Jones (@stephan_jones13) - 229
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/SteveJones_229.png)
Well done both! :) :(y)
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I've been working on a small square shaped prize for all the contestants:
I've also started a Running Total Leader Board:
Running Total Leader Board:
Paul: 254 + 238 + 238 + 222 + 245 + 256 = 1453
Dan: 254 + 264 + 279 = 797
Jéré: 255 + 268 + 297 = 820
Elodieden: 243 + 248 = 491
Jungleboy: 223 + 253 = 476
Merlin_89: 268
Rosco: 267
Rich_The_Fish: 263
SRBO: 246
Kettle: 234
Steve Jones : 229
uniconfis: 224
Decar: 222
NickShaw: 213
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Want me to upload ALL my games??? I played 22 or so and have screenshots on all but two of them. :)
Fun statistic: I often get 238 points.
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That would be awesome :(y) But maybe not as separate posts.
I had to double check your 238 score; it's obviously a magic number :)
Keep the entries coming!
Tonight I'll be posting more detailed rules for some variants for #gencantsolocon Euro day, which is Saturday.
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Today's first game: 266 points.
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What a wonderful start! (game still in progress)
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What a wonderful start! (game still in progress)
Indeed! How did it end?
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What a wonderful start! (game still in progress)
Indeed! How did it end?
As usual, with a disaster. I keep putting myself into a corner mid-thru any game.
Off to the gym now but I'll have at it when I come home tonight. :@ 29 games so far. Even here I can't win. LOL!
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231 for this game. I messed up the bigger city near the top and pulled a lot of city close tiles near the start. Almost managed all the monasteries. Not the best score ever but I had good fun going it. Really quite relaxing :orange-meeple:
Edit: I originally said I'd got 321 (hence the posts below). Sorry for the confusion!
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Curt!! What do you mean not the best score ever - you just breached 300!
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Curt194 used 7 followers in his game and not only 6 followers - then it is easier to earn so many points.
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Score track says 231
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Bet I had you were worried ;)
Better put the fireworks out
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The picture with the scoreboard - that can't be the final picture of it, see the landscape tiles - it shows different to the final playing field (the followers).
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Bet I had you were worried ;)
Better put the fireworks out
No no ;)
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That was indeed a typo on my part (sorry everyone!) :-X
As for the photos showing different followers I took a photo before final scoring then the photo of the scoreboard once I'd finished counting (I ise meeples to count cities).
Also I was under the impression 7 followers was the standard…I'm not really competing just wanted to see how I did. Sorry for the confusion.
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Argh I keep forgetting to actually place meeples on the tiles ::). Oh well, 222 for now.
[Edit] Woohoo, 100th post :gray-meeple:
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Also I was under the impression 7 followers was the standard…
It is.
7 + 1 for the score track. You were correct.
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That was indeed a typo on my part (sorry everyone!) :-X
I nearly fell off the sofa when I checked my phone and saw your post of 321! :o
Also I was under the impression 7 followers was the standard…I'm not really competing just wanted to see how I did. Sorry for the confusion.
Your impression was correct! :(y)
Argh I keep forgetting to actually place meeples on the tiles ::). Oh well, 222 for now.
[Edit] Woohoo, 100th post :gray-meeple:
Congratulations on this milestone Ailurus! :) :gray-meeple: :(y)
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Only 246 for me.
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Two more days to go everyone, so don't forget those screenshots ;)
I'll purchase a hat and eat it if someone manages 321. Then I'll be coatless and hatless :-[
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Here's my most recent effort 248, but then i accidently posted 241 over the top of it :@
(http://www.tehill.net/carcassonne/jcloisterzone/JCZ_Solo_3.png)
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Argh I keep forgetting to actually place meeples on the tiles ::). Oh well, 222 for now.
Only the best people score 222 :)
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Ok I'm not lucky enough
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Welcome to the forum - thanks for taking part!
Your board looks very tidy at least; all my attempts have been a mess so far!
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I've played a few times now, here's my best so far - 219
I can't quite figure out how to post my screenshot on here...... it's too big to add as an attachment, and it won't copy to the post box, help!
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I've played a few times now, here's my best so far - 219
I can't quite figure out how to post my screenshot on here...... it's too big to add as an attachment, and it won't copy to the post box, help!
If using Windows and you do not have any image editor other than the one that comes with Windows you can open up that one.
The English version of Windows it's simpy called Paint. Open up this Paint program before or after you pressed the PrtSc (or similar which stands for Print Screen) and then go to the Paint program and paste it there (easiest way by CTRL+v). It will automatically resize the work area and then you can save it as .jpg.
Should you use a high resolution there is an option in the menu to shrink it a bit. 75% should be enough for 1980x resolution to allow text on the image still being readable.
Hope this helps!
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Welcome to the forums sagawalt and squirealex! And congratulations on your efforts so far... :) :(y)
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Hi squire alex, welcome to the forum. Thanks for joining in.
The maximum size for attached images is only 512kb. You can try to resize it or compress the jpg or gif.
You can also provide a link to somewhere else like imgr or Twitter if that's easier for you!
Keep those tries coming in!
I've played a few times now, here's my best so far - 219
I can't quite figure out how to post my screenshot on here...... it's too big to add as an attachment, and it won't copy to the post box, help!
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Here is my best attempt so far: 276 pt.
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;) :(y) :neutral-meeple: My best attempt, for now. :green-meeple: :white-meeple: :orange-meeple:
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276 ;)
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Awesome work quevy! Joint 3rd :)
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If you notice the tile cccc was discarded due to the impossibility of placement, I have made those points with a tile in less :)
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Thanks for all the help guys! Here's my screenshot!
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Good work squirealex - Glad you were able to attach the photo. I love watching roads meander away from everything else!
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I notice that some folks have a running total. I've played twice more since my first attempt but haven't beat the score (it was probably a fluke). Should you be interested, my totals so far are 263, 215 & 245. I really thought that I'd do alright in my last game but didn't realise that I'd run out of meeples at the end (because I kept putting them in cloisters) and didn't score anything for the incomplete large city which is a pity as the last piece would have made it even larger - oh well! :(
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To break the tie with quevy: 277 pts. :)
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To break the tie with quevy: 277 pts. :)
I could not play the tile CCCC, I used a tile in less :)
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Getting better as I progress - 229 points!
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Jimmy Thompson @AlvinMaker89 - just took 2nd place: 286!
https://twitter.com/AlvinMaker89/status/627549124460572673
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My new high score - 271.
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Wowzords - it's been a big day for the competition. 22 entrants now! :) :(y)
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To break the tie with quevy: 277 pts. :)
I could not play the tile CCCC, I used a tile in less :)
Sometimes it's better to play without the CCCC tile. I had a game today where near the end I had to complete a big city with only one open side, but then came the CCCC tile and the big city's open side was the only possible place where I could put it. So it totally ruined my chances to reach a really high score.
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My new high-score: 288. :)
Jéré's 297 seems so close but still so far away...
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My best score so far 271. This has been a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be.
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My best score so far 271. This has been a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be.
Nice one! :(y) Glad you're enjoying the challenge... :)
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Brandon Dean (@choirmage) From Twitter: 224.
Thanks for the entry :(y)
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"only" 252 points ... but had a lot of fun on this challenge !!
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Nice solution! Looks like a garden. I think everyone has been suprized how fun this challenge has been!
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Not long left everyone!
Tomorrow I'll double check everyone's scores; but keep the entries coming in!
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Douglas Ward - @binaryflow - 128 points
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This is my third GenCan't solo attempt and my high score so far. This is my last go, so I'm happy that I've finished with my best. My scores are: 225, 201 and finally 250 :)
Lukey-Dukey :blue-meeple:
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Awesome job! And with a meeple left at the end!
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Since my post yesterday, I've had a further two goes at this contest making it five attempts in total. I am still yet to beat my first go, so I reckon it must have just been beginners luck! My scores (in order of playing) are 263, 215, 245, 248 and finally 251. On the last go I really thought that I'd beat my score as things were going pretty well, but then the tiles were a little cruel! The last tile to be drawn was CCCC, which had it appeared even a little earlier then not only would I have completed the city (meaning I didn't have to keep a meeple in reserve) but it would have completed an occupied nearby cloister too. This would have meant I could have placed a monk in the last cloister or a even a farmer in a spare field, resulting in a potential 12 points missed at least (that last tile freed up 2 meeples). Oh well, at least it was relatively consistent with my previous scores - I averaged just over 244 which isn't too shabby IMO!
Thanks Decar for suggesting this solo contest and well done to Jéré for a really immense score.
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303!!!! :@
But I'm afraid it's just a few minutes too late, it's already Monday...
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Damn it, couldn't resist not having another go. Still didn't get any better though - 255 this time. At least I'm pretty consistent - think I need to change the way I play!
Congrats Leven on breaking the 300 barrier, amazing score! Great placement of city walls to create lots of fields.
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303!!!! :@
But I'm afraid it's just a few minutes too late, it's already Monday...
Not here it isn't!
Congratulations! Fantastic work!
I'm on my phone at the moment. So you'll have to fill in the gaps in my textual praise below:
FIREWORKS
EXPLOSIONS
OOMP PAH PAH BAND!
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Congrats Leven! Looks like it was not yet midnight in the UK. Well done!
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Well done all who had a go at this. I must have tried at least 25 attempts. I just couldn't beat 274. I am amazed that it was possible to get over 300.
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Congratulations Leven, so glad to see that > 300 turned out to be possible after all! 8)
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Thanks you, guys!
And big thanks to Decar for the awesome idea. It was very much fun. :(y)
I had some promising attempts on Sunday evening, but until my last one (which I finished at 00:07 CET therefore I though I was too late) I've never had the perfect tile draw at the final phase of the game, considerig that it is crucial to complete all cloisters before the last couple of tiles are drawn, because you need all followers to occupy the farms. And to reach a large score for farms it is beneficial to build as many two-tile cities as possible, and to collect them in a specific area of the playing area. Therefore I decided to place (almost) all CCCF, CCCR and CCCC tiles into one large city at the right side. (Of course it was vital to complete the large city near the end of the game, so I had to do a lot of tile counting then.) And even if their segments are worth only 1 point, roads are also very important when you are fighting for every single point. There are some nice tricks that can be applied with them. (E.g. by using two RRRF/RRRC and two RRFF tiles you can gain 6 points by roads.)
So I assume we could gather quite a nice collection of tips and tricks for a strategy guide for solo games as well. :)
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Any consolation prize for trying 30 Times? :-[
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Only if you share all the pictures ;)
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This marks the official end of the tournament. Congratulations to everyone who entered. I think it's safe to say, everyone learnt something and hopefully everyone has increased their tile mastery a little bit. I certainly found it was more fun than I was expecting!
In total, 28 contestants took part. In my eyes you're all winners.
Much kudos to Leven, for controlling the tiles and scoring an astonishing 303 points. We all knew it was possible, but you managed it!
Also congratulations to Paul, who although he didn't win did manage to record the most games.
I even got my Dad to play, but he didn't understand JCloisterZone and started playing 2-player solo for the first day (and ended up scoring 282!!!).
I've thought long and hard about prizes that would reflect everyone's achievements and decided....
...to not let anything slip right now...
This contest was put together at short-notice, but the prizes will not be! So, watch this space and I'll be sharing prizes with our winners quite shortly!
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Thanks for all the time and effort that you put into organising the contest Decar. It was great fun! :(y)
Very well-deserved merit for you... :)
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entertaining competition .
this week I was busy with work, but last night when I read it , I said that I have to try.
nothing more and nothing less than four hours and after 6 or 7 games this was my best punctuation ...
thank you very much decar
I would have loved to be on time
a pity
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by the way decar , congratulations on your new competition GLOBAL MODERATOR¡¡¡
merit for you
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Thank you jma03 - it was quite a surprise!
We all have busy weeks in work, so I think we can let this one slide and squeeze you in :(y) [when no one's looking C:-)]
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261 on first attempt. Probably not so bad, but not to write home about.
EDIT: read now, that the contest is over anyway. ???
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261 is very good for a first attempt. Like Paul, I have played this quite a few times. I almost always get between about 230 and 270 with a top score of 275.
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jungleboy - I didnt see a screenshot for 275; only 271 did I miss it?
Hounk - As you were on holiday, I'll let you join late too.
NO MORE LATE COMERS THOUGH!
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Actually I just found a screenshot for 278 :)
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Actually I just found a screenshot for 278 :)
Hmm. How convenient! ::) Thanks for not photoshopping it to be 280...
;)
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Hmm. How convenient! ::) Thanks for not photoshopping it to be 280...
;)
What's that you say?
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Hmm. How convenient! ::) Thanks for not photoshopping it to be 280...
;)
What's that you say?
:P
I'm just glad the competition ended when it did. My scores lately have been getting smaller and smaller. If it had gone on for much longer I would have ended up with a negative score!
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Hmm. How convenient! ::) Thanks for not photoshopping it to be 280...
;)
What's that you say?
I don't see the tile CCCC
Is posible it??
71 tile??
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Hmm. How convenient! ::) Thanks for not photoshopping it to be 280...
;)
What's that you say?
I don't see the tile CCCC
Is posible it??
71 tile??
I would guess that the cccc tile was discarded because it couldn't be placed. I've noticed that happening a lot in my solo games as cities tend to get closed quickly, and while they're still small, so there aren't often open city edges for the cccc to be added to.
Leven pointed out in a previous post that it actually presents a small advantage when this happens (cccc is discarded) as it always takes more tiles to close any city including the cccc whereas those same tiles could be used to create 2 or more cities elsewhere, and therefore more farm points...
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Still trying! 284, a new personal best.
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Too late but still trying. 281 - new record*
* for me ;-)
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still trying .
after 30 games or so funny , this is my best record . I leave it here for now.
(297)
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Save your energy for next year guys - early entries wont be counted either ;p
Edit: awesome result though jma03!
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290 - my new best score.
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I know we're supposed to have stopped trying but I just couldn't rest until I'd broken the 300-point barrier here as well as the 600-point barrier in the 2016 competition. ::)
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/solo_312.jpg)
O0