Carcassonne game notation system for tournament play

[Meepledrone]

I think that document is pretty much the ultimate tile reference for vanilla tiles. Props to you for coming up with the ideas for tunnel/bridges and all the things you added and for having condensed all of this discussion in a fleshed out document!

Thanks. I just wanted to put some examples together and ended up with a comprehensive guide of the tile notation plus the additions after a few days of work.

Meeple placement is a little more straightforward, since we only need a way to indicate on which road/city/field the follower is placed. For Knights KN,KE,KO,KS (knight north/east/south/west) and for some H&S tiles KNE/KNO etc. Pretty much the same for thieves (maybe a TI for T “internal”) is needed) and for non-internal  farmers. Internal farmers seem a bit more problematic with this system.

 Perhaps notating the continuation of a feature by keeping the same capitalization would solve this problem since we could put the type of the meeple followed by the letter of the feature they’re in. But perhaps there are more convenient ways.

Edit: Nvm, I came up with a far better idea. Just use the letter of the meeple+a number that denotes on which feature it’s placed. The numbers are assigned depending on the position of the city/field/road/cloister in the field notation. E.g. in CcR/R a T1 would be a thief on the south road and T2 on the east one. Since internal fields are also noted this solves that problem too. Let me know what you think of those methods. I personally feel this one is the best.

Figure placement requires:
1. Tile coordinates: We cannot assume the figure is placed on the last tile placed. Meeples can be placed with a magic portal or a flying machine. Meeples can be also placed on an acrobat tiles, on the Wheel of Fortune crown, on a district of the city of Leipzig or the city of Carcassonne.
2. Tile rotation: We need to take into account the rotation applied to the target tile. 
3. Target feature: We can address the feature by type but assuming a meeple type can be a bit limiting as there are other figures. Consider the Mage, the Witch, the Fee, Gingerbread Man. Other figures have other placement requirements. 
4. Figure identification: We need to define how to identify figures. Something like <player#/neutral>.<figure type>.<number>; for example:
- neutral.dragon.1: the dragon
- neutral.bigtop.1: the bigtop
- player1.normal.6: player 1's normal meeple #6
- player4.big.1: player 1's large meeple
- player6.shepherd.1: player 1's shepherd

What do you think?

[CarcFox]

Hi meepledrone, sorry if I'm a bit late.
I think that the main concern atm should be to resolve any ambiguities in placement that manifest themselves using "vanilla" tiles. A coordinate system would be useful for expansions but perhaps it's better to use it only when it's necessary and not by default. I wrote something about a similar system for the plague and the dragon previously in this thread, too.

Anyway, what do you think should be done to differentiate the placement of a knight on different cities in the same tile? Is the system I proposed in the edit in my previous post ok in your opinion?

[Meepledrone]

Hi meepledrone, sorry if I'm a bit late.

Hi CarcFox,

It seems I missed your post. Sorry.

(So I'm even later )

I think that the main concern atm should be to resolve any ambiguities in placement that manifest themselves using "vanilla" tiles. A coordinate system would be useful for expansions but perhaps it's better to use it only when it's necessary and not by default. I wrote something about a similar system for the plague and the dragon previously in this thread, too.

I totally agree. Something simple is enough for vanilla cases, but it has to be open when needed, that is, when the placement happens on a previously placed tile.

I think you are referring to this, right?

Meeple placement is a little more straightforward, since we only need a way to indicate on which road/city/field the follower is placed. For Knights KN,KE,KO,KS (knight north/east/south/west) and for some H&S tiles KNE/KNO etc. Pretty much the same for thieves (maybe a TI for T “internal”) is needed) and for non-internal  farmers. Internal farmers seem a bit more problematic with this system.

Anyway, what do you think should be done to differentiate the placement of a knight on different cities in the same tile? Is the system I proposed in the edit in my previous post ok in your opinion?

If you were referring to the text I quoted, it would work fine. My only concern is that you would need to define a set of letters for all types of figures. In this case, I'm more inclined to use the feature as a reference and indicate the figure type separately, being the default a normal meeple. Examples: CN, CE, CO, CS, CNE, CNO. In this case, if you place, let's say, the Mage, you can say CN.Mage or CN.M if we agree M represents the Mage.

What do you think?