asparagus,what do you mean with:"taking an action"?I have never read such a rule for Carcassonne.
I have been thinking for sometime that all the Carcassonne rules could really do with being rewritten from scratch. You have the basic idea of placing a tile and then "taking an action". However the original rules don't say "take an action". They say "place a follower". And it is not always clear when an action is equivalent to placing a follower or not. I guess it is just too much to ask and perhaps it would do more damage than good.
Quote from: asparagus on June 16, 2014, 03:41:27 PMI have been thinking for sometime that all the Carcassonne rules could really do with being rewritten from scratch. You have the basic idea of placing a tile and then "taking an action". However the original rules don't say "take an action". They say "place a follower". And it is not always clear when an action is equivalent to placing a follower or not. I guess it is just too much to ask and perhaps it would do more damage than good.This is an interesting point, asparagus. The way the game has evolved, you're right, it would now make a lot more sense to consider the "follower placement" phase as the "action" phase, as you could place a tower segment, move the fairy, etc. instead of actually placing a follower. Obviously, the initial terminology was just fine originally, when there was only the base set and none of the more confusing elements. As you also note, trying to completely rewrite the rules would probably be a disaster. It might add clarity to those who use them, but how do you distribute that info to all of the people who already own the game? Because the reality is that the vast majority of users are casually playing the game, don't know about the existence of the CAR, and wouldn't care about all of the nuances that excite us anyway. (I'm thinking about my parents as prime examples here -- they play with the few expansions that they like best, they know the rules for those expansions, and life's too short to care about precise timing rules. If there's a question, they just resolve it in a way that makes sense to them.) A whole new set of rules may be met with apathy by most users and could even alienate a number of the casual users, so it's probably not worth it.It's an important point for prospective game designers, though. Precise terminology is critical, and if you think you might want to add expansions in the future, you better try not to back yourself into a corner with the mechanics.
I'm looking at the Step 4 now and I'm puzzled why we broke that up into 6 Phases. Why not just 2? The first 5 phases could all be in Phase 1 (You may do one and only one of the following:) - then list all the options that are currently broken into 5 phases. We can eliminate the if/then condition statements, which can be confusing.
here is a link to the BigBox3 rule at CarcF:BigBox 2010Big Box3 from 2010 - page 15Turn sequence2. Move wood-------------------This is a part of the Carcassonne rule-------------------
I am very confused to give new "names " like "action" for "move wood".You will never find action - please be carefully with new words at Carcassonne.Perhaps we need the word "action" some day, because in a new expansion HiG uses such word for something in the game...
Quote from: kettlefish on June 17, 2014, 02:05:24 PMI am very confused to give new "names " like "action" for "move wood".You will never find action - please be carefully with new words at Carcassonne.Perhaps we need the word "action" some day, because in a new expansion HiG uses such word for something in the game...Totally agree kettlefish - that's why I suggested to use it unofficially in the Order of Play summary - which is our own unofficial creation. I think putting it there does have value in that it will help close the loop for the reader's understanding that not all of the available move the wood actions are actually made of wood.
Quote from: Carcking on June 17, 2014, 01:47:10 PMI'm looking at the Step 4 now and I'm puzzled why we broke that up into 6 Phases. Why not just 2? The first 5 phases could all be in Phase 1 (You may do one and only one of the following:) - then list all the options that are currently broken into 5 phases. We can eliminate the if/then condition statements, which can be confusing.Yes I was wondering the same. I have to say I had assumed that this all hinged on a careful reading of the rules, but I had not so far had the strength to figure that out. In any case I have dodgy first editions for the base set and several expansions, so I am not even particularly well equipped.
I think that Order of Play summary on CAR is very useful and it's a good guide when you start to play with new expansions.
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