Carcassonne Central: Advent Quiz MMXXIII

[Meepledrone]

- Meepledrone: Thank you guys! Glad you enjoyed it... But I still have...
- The Grinch: Stop procrastinating! Where are my results?
- Meepledrone: Going through them a second time... 
- The Grinch: So you want to maintain the suspense...
- Meepledrone: No, it is just...
- The Grinch: If it is for a bad cause I will allow it...
- The Grinch: I heard you were overwhelmed by the participation...
- Meepledrone: We had 34 participants this year...
- The Grinch: And how may did it make it until the end?
- Meepledrone: 24... Some of them skipped the xx.5 questions though...
- The Grinch: Whaaaat?
- Meepledrone:
- The Grinch: This was the peak participation last year...
- Meepledrone: Well... It seems some people liked it.
- The Grinch: Nonsense! I wanted everyone to walk away and keep the prizes for myself...
- The Grinch: Keep the xx.5 questions coming!
- Meepledrone: (whispering) So typical...!
- The Grinch: You were saying?
- Meepledrone: Ahem! Nothing!
- The Grinch: OK. I'll leave you to it...
- Meepledrone: Phewww!
- The Grinch: Come on! HURRY UP!

[Liambass]

- The Grinch: Keep the xx.5 questions coming!

It pains me to agree with The Grinch, but the xx.5 questions were an interesting extra challenge.

Also,

- The Grinch: Come on! HURRY UP!

 

[Death Meeple]

The xx.5 questions barely made me stop... Until I figured out the pattern of the first one and got some motivation back 

Bad grinch, bad!

And thanks Meepledrone for the amazing quiz, can't wait to see the results 

[Meepledrone]

Happy New Year everyone!

- Meepledrone: Finally, here you are the answers and the ranking...
- The Grinch: It was about time, you lazy minion!!!
- The Grinch: Hope you suffered with the wait as much as I did with Christmas!!!

[Meepledrone]

Question #1: The Gingerbread Man wants you to help him score this scenario during the game. How many points will each player score after Red places this wonder tile?

Notes:
* This question only uses normal meeples. No large meeples were used.
* We are considering the current rules for non-square tiles (C2/C3). If you use the C1 rules, please indicate so.
* This is a mid-game scenario. The game goes on for a few more turns.

Answer #01: By placing the Stonehenge wonder tile, Red completes two features:
* A road occupied by Blue and Red, who share the majority with one normal meeple each.
* A monastery occupied by Yellow.

Notes:
* the fork on the Stonehenge wonder tile does not separate roads. Therefore, it creates a road with various legs which have to be closed in order to complete the road.
* The road is completed on the same turn that Stonehenge is placed. So, the wonder will grant Red no bonus points for the road completed in this turn.

Depending on the rules applied, we will have two cases when dealing with the wonder tile:
* C1: the wonder tile is counted as 1 tile.
* C2/C3 (current default rules): each square space occupied by a wonder tile is counted as a separate tile.

Let's see each case in turn, starting with the current rules:

C2/C3 rules

The completed road occupies 9 square spaces: 6 tiles and 3 square spaces on the wonder tile. Therefore, the feature is scored as a 9-tile road, so Blue and Red will score 9 points each (9 tiles x 1 point per tile)

The completed monastery is surrounded by 5 square tiles and 3 square spaces on the wonder tile also counted as 3 tiles. The monastery will be scored as if surrounded by 8 tiles as usual. Yellow will score 9 points for it ( ( 1 monastery tile + 8 adjacent tiles ) x 1 point per tile = 9 x 1 points)

Bottlomline:
* Blue scores 9 points
* Red scores 9 points
* Yellow scores 9 points

C1 rules

The completed road has 7 tiles: 6 square tiles and 1 wonder tile. Therefore, the feature is scored as a 7-tile road, so Blue and Red will score 7 points each (7 tiles x 1 point per tile)

The completed monastery is surrounded by 5 square tiles and 1 wonder tile. The monastery will be scored as if surrounded by 6 tiles. Yellow will score 7 points ( (1 monastery tile + 6 adjacent tiles) x 1 point per tile = 7 x 1 points)

Bottlomline:
* Blue scores 7 point
* Red scores 7 points
* Yellow scores 7 points

[Meepledrone]

Question #2: The Snowman completes this road on behalf of Red. The player decides to use the flying machine on this tile and rolls a 2.
Red has two questions:
a) What destinations can the player choose for their meeple? (1 point)
b) How many points does each player score this turn for each possible destination? (1 point)

Notes:
* This question only uses normal meeples. No large meeples were used.
* This is a mid-game scenario. The game goes on for a few more turns.

Answer #2: The placement of this tile completes a road occupied by Blue, Red and Yellow. This road is worth 10 points (10 tiles x 1 point per tile). Note that the bridges count as regular tiles.

Red wants to use its the flying machine to land a meeple. After rolling a 2, the meeple will land on the tile with the monastery and the bridge passing over. The meeple can only land on the monastery; it cannot land in a field or on the road:
* The flying machine cannot land a meeple in a field as stated in the rules.
* The flying machine can land a meeple on a road even if it is occupied, but in this case it is not possible, since the tile just placed completed the road. Therefore, the road was completed before you could use the flying machine to place the meeple.

Since the red meeple can only be placed on the monastery, the road will be scored as is (no additional red meeple) and all the players will share the majority. So, Blue, Red and Yellow will score 10 points each.

Bottomline:
a) The red meeple can only be placed in the monastery under the bridge.
b) The scoring will be as follows (only one scenario possible):
- Blue scores 10 points
- Red scores 10 points
- Yellow scores 10 points

[Meepledrone]

Question #3: Santa Claus places this tile on Red's behalf. He has several questions for you:
a) According to the mist on the tile just placed, how many ghosts will each meeple have during scoring? (1 point)
b) How many points does each player score? (1 point)

Notes:
* This question does not use large meeples.
* This is a mid-game scenario. The game goes on for a few more turns.

Answer #3: The placement of the tile completes a city with 7 tiles and 1 coat of arms, so it is worth 16 points ( (7 tiles + 1 coat of arms) x 2 points = 8 x 2 points).

Since the tile just placed limits the mist, Red will have to add one ghost to their meeple. As a result, both Red and Yellow will have 2 ghosts each added to their meeples.

The city is shared by the three players, and each one has 1 majority vote:
* Blue: the guard meeple has 1 majority vote 
* Red: the normal meeple has 1 majority vote
* Yellow: the mayor has 1 majority vote, as the city has 1 coat of arms.

This tie is broken in favor of Red, whose meeple is on a hill. So, Red will score 12 points for the city after subtracting the points for the ghosts added to the red meeple (16 points - (2 ghosts x 2 points ) = 16 - 4 points). Blue and Yellow will score 0 points. Note that Yellow, will not score negative points for the ghosts added to the yellow mayor, since the player does not have the majority in the city.

Bottomline:
a) The number of ghosts to consider when scoring the completed city is as follows:
- The blue guard meeple will have no ghosts
- The red normal meeple will have 2 ghosts
- The yellow mayor will have 2 ghosts

b) The scoring will be as follows:
- Blue scores 0 points
- Red scores 12 points
- Yellow scores 0 points

[Death Meeple]

how did I manage to forgot to answer question 3 a??? 
What a terrible move from me!

[Challa007]

oh.... it's always sooo exciting when the results come out ....    thanks @Meepledrone for all the counting and re-counting!! 

[Meepledrone]

how did I manage to forgot to answer question 3 a??? 
What a terrible move from me!

- The Grinch: Love it when this happens!!! 

oh.... it's always sooo exciting when the results come out ....    thanks @Meepledrone for all the counting and re-counting!! 

- The Grinch: Don't thank that little lazy worm!
- The Grinch: I should tell you one or two things about his neverending procrastination...
- Meepledrone:

[Meepledrone]

Question #4: Can you tell Danisthity how many points does each player score after this tile is placed?

Notes:
* This is a mid-game scenario. The game goes on for a few more turns.

Answer #4: The tile just placed:
a) Connects a field with a farmer and a pig belonging to Red to another field with Blue's barn. The field will be scored due to the presence of the barn and the farmer and the pig will be removed.
b) Completes the abbey occupied by Yellow.

Let's score them in turn:

The field has the following features to be considered in its scoring:
* Two completed cities adjacent to the abbey worth 2 points each (1 city x (1 point for the city + 1 point for the pig) = 1 x 2 points).
* One completed besieged city worth 4 points (1 city x (1 point for the city + 1 point for the pig) x 2 for the Cathars tile = 1 x 2 x 2 points).
* One castle worth 3 points (1 castle x (2 points for the castle + 1 point for the pig) = 1 x 3 points)
Red will then score 11 points (2 + 2 + 4 + 3 points). Blue will not receive points for their barn until the end of the game.

Notes:
* The castle is built on a besieged city but, in this case, the castle is not affected by the previous siege.
* The abbey separates the cities adjacent to it. They are not connected.
* The field scoring caused by the barn does not trigger a castle scoring. The field is not a completed feature.
* The completed abbey does not tigger a castle scoring, since the abbey tile itself is not in the vicinity of the castle, that is the abbey tile is not in any of the 6 adjacent spaces conforming the castle fief. The tiles adjacent to the abbey cannot trigger the castle scoring.

Yellow will score 9 points for the abbey (1 point fo the abbey + 8 points for the tiles adjacent to it).

Bottomline:
- Blue scores no points
- Red scores 11 points for the connected field
- Yellow scores 9 points for the abbey

[Meepledrone]

Question #5: The Grinch places this tile on behalf of Blue. He also has the following questions:
a) Who receives the cloth token? (1 point)
b) How many points does each player score? (1 point)

Notes:
* This question does not use large meeples.
* We will be using the Variant Rules for Little Buildings
* This is a mid-game scenario. The game goes on for a few more turns.

Answer #5: The tile placement completes a city with 5 tiles (one of them with a siege), one coat of arms and one cloth trade goods symbol. The city scoring will be affected by the witch in the city and the little building on the left.

Note: The edges connecting two city gates do not continue the city, so the 1-tile city top left and the 2-tile city bottom left are independent features.

Blue will take a cloth trade goods token, since it is the player completing the city.

The city is occupied by Red and Yellow, but Yellow has the majority with two meeples (one of them a phantom) against one from Red, and will be the only player scoring for the city. The presence of the witch, the siege and the little building will affect the scoring as follows:
* The city would be worth 6 points due to the siege ( (5 tiles + 1 coat of arms) x (2 points per city tile - 1 point for the siege) = 6 x 1 points), but the presence of the witch halves that amount, so the city is worth 3 points at this point.
* After halving the points due to the witch, the little building points a added: 3 points for the tower, as indicated in the Variant Rules for Little Buildings.
* The final scoring will then be 6 points (3 points for the city itself + 3 points for the tower).
So, Yellow will score 6 points.

Bottomline:
a) Blue will receive the cloth trade goods token
b) The scoring will be as follows:
- Blue will score no points
- Red will score 0 points
- Yellow will score 6 points.
 

[Snearone]

That was a rough start 
Let's see if I made more stupid mistakes on the easiest questions, not to mention the hard ones.

[SailingMeeple]

Thanks for organising this quiz, Meepledrone! Unfortunately, I caught on a little late, figured I might catch up, and then basically all my plans were turned upside down and I found myself way behind. So instead I decided to just enjoy the whole tale with all the shenanigans. And enjoy I did! So, thanks! Hopefully next time I'll be able to join in.

[Meepledrone]

Ha ha ha! If you have these silly background stories, you may check those from previous years...

You are most welcome to join next year!!!

Some people sent me all their answers in the last few days... So never too late to join.