Carcassonne Central

Carc Central Community => Online Games and Competitions => World Cup of Carcassonne Central => Topic started by: danisthirty on October 12, 2015, 03:25:07 AM

Title: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 12, 2015, 03:25:07 AM
With just one of the group-stage games left to play, I’m hopeful that the knock-out stage of the World Cup can begin soon. So, with this in mind I thought it would be helpful to start a new thread for the last 16 as we’re gradually whittled down to just one player left...

Here’s a quick review of the fixtures so we all know who we’re going to be playing:


And here’s a quick review of the expansions that will be included in these games:


Please don’t play your game yet, but do be prepared to play it as soon as the final group stage game is complete!

Best of luck to everyone!

:blue-meeple:
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: kettlefish on October 13, 2015, 10:38:51 PM
Here is the blanc list for the score round 1 knock-out-stage.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on October 14, 2015, 07:14:56 AM
So, are we free to organise our games for the next round now?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 14, 2015, 09:12:18 AM
Quote from: jungleboy on October 14, 2015, 07:14:56 AM
So, are we free to organise our games for the next round now?

Yeah sure. But beware of this (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2116). Not sure how long it's going to be before it's fixed.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: khalidqasrawi on October 14, 2015, 09:16:58 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on October 14, 2015, 09:12:18 AM
Yeah sure. But beware of this (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2116). Not sure how long it's going to be before it's fixed.

I'm actually feeling pretty pleased with myself as I've managed to fix it.  It's been at least 10 years since I coded any Java!  farin has my fix.  Don't know what the test and release plan is though.

kq  :blue-meeple:
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: zone2 on October 15, 2015, 01:56:43 AM
Zone2 (338)  -  ny1050220 (236)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 15, 2015, 03:30:45 AM
Congratulations on your win zone2, that’s a very impressive score! :(y) And well done to both of you for playing your game so quickly despite the time difference!

Zone2 – you are through to the quarter finals. Sorry for your loss ny1050220... :'(
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on October 15, 2015, 12:55:32 PM
hi guys, it's fixed by khalid (thx)
i don't want to make regular release immediatelly (want few more thiks put into release)
but i thing i can make 3.4-beta relase just now for out tournament purpose
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on October 15, 2015, 01:15:18 PM
Let's don't complicate things
it's regular 3.4.0
http://jcloisterzone.com/builds/JCloisterZone-3.4.0.7z

it contains
* winter theme
* fixed few winter extra tiles definitions to match original winter tiles
* fixed #184 - opponent can accidentally skip follower placement on Abbey
* fixed #182 - Cloister/Shrine can't be placed next to cloister AND shrine

but it won't be publicly visible on website and I will make public 3.4.1 in one or two weeks.
If you play with currect 3.3.1 - be careful and save game before placing abbey to be safe.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: khalidqasrawi on October 15, 2015, 03:44:06 PM
Quote from: farin on October 15, 2015, 01:15:18 PM
but it won't be publicly visible on website and I will make public 3.4.1 in one or two weeks.
If you play with currect 3.3.1 - be careful and save game before placing abbey to be safe.

Thanks @farin for putting out the release.  Just to be clear, for the bug I found and is fixed in this release, it's not just the Abbey tile that your opponent can skip with space or enter keyboard shortcuts, it's any meeple placement.  I strongly advise people to play with this new version.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on October 16, 2015, 08:30:49 AM
Great job guys! Very well done!  :(y) :(y) :(y)

My game against Farin is scheduled on Sunday evening. My record against him is 2 wins, no losses BUT these games were extremely tight:  :o

139-131 (difference of 8pts) in the Traders & Builders League

123-116 (difference of 7pts) in the Inns & Cathedrals League

I expect the same this time again! Won't be easy but I'm looking forward to it!  :)

Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 16, 2015, 08:36:12 AM
Quote from: Jéré on October 16, 2015, 08:30:49 AM
Great job guys! Very well done!  :(y) :(y) :(y)

My game against Farin is scheduled on Sunday evening. My record against him is 2 wins, no losses BUT these games were extremely tight:  :o

139-131 (difference of 8pts) in the Traders & Builders League

123-116 (difference of 7pts) in the Inns & Cathedrals League

I expect the same this time again! Won't be easy but I'm looking forward to it!  :)

So you're playing farin, he's recently issued an unexpected "fix" to JCloisterZone a few days prior to your game and you're looking forward to it? I'd be terrified! :))
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Rosco on October 16, 2015, 08:44:57 AM
Are you suggesting foul play?? That's a mighty brave accusation to throw around especially coming from an organiser of the competition who is doing quite well!!  emoji code6] emoji code6]
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 16, 2015, 08:53:00 AM
I guess we'll find out for sure when it's revealed afterwards that Jéré drew nothing but road and only had one meeple...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Hounk on October 16, 2015, 10:25:38 AM
Quote from: farin on October 15, 2015, 01:15:18 PM
Let's don't complicate things
it's regular 3.4.0
http://jcloisterzone.com/builds/JCloisterZone-3.4.0.7z
I don't know why, but I can't make this 7z running on my machine. Can you please release a zip version, too?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Hounk on October 17, 2015, 08:21:18 AM
Great game. Extreamly tight till about maybe 5 or 6 tiles to the end. Always two to ten points appart. And when I occasionally peaked into the "presumably points at end", never more then maybe 3 or 4 points. Then I got really lucky getting a CCFF and the CFFF from A&M to finish my second cathedral city. Before that, I planned to build a second hole for my abbey where I put the CCFF, but a city cap would have been needed anyway.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on October 17, 2015, 10:31:12 AM
Quote from: Hounk on October 16, 2015, 10:25:38 AM
Quote from: farin on October 15, 2015, 01:15:18 PM
Let's don't complicate things
it's regular 3.4.0
http://jcloisterzone.com/builds/JCloisterZone-3.4.0.7z
I don't know why, but I can't make this 7z running on my machine. Can you please release a zip version, too?

It also doesn't appear to work for me on a Mac. I get this message.

Edit: khalid sent me the zip file so I it works now. Thanks khalid!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on October 17, 2015, 10:57:50 PM
It's possible. I made 7z on Win, but when I creating regular builds I am using Linux machine to it.

Quote from: jungleboy on October 17, 2015, 10:31:12 AM
It also doesn't appear to work for me on a Mac. I get this message.

Edit: khalid sent me the zip file so I it works now. Thanks khalid!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on October 18, 2015, 02:33:38 PM
Farin 259 - 200 Jere

touch battle for big cathedral city - finally 105 points for me (with Mage help) - used Abbey to finish and sacrificed 2 trapped meeples on different place.
After that I prayed for early end :-) Lost one farm, but in rest of game we don't played much different score.

Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 19, 2015, 02:42:58 AM
Congratulations farin and Hounk! :) :(y)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on October 19, 2015, 02:57:54 AM
I sent a PM to dustyu a few days ago to try to organise our game but he hasn't replied yet.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 19, 2015, 03:04:12 AM
Quote from: jungleboy on October 19, 2015, 02:57:54 AM
I sent a PM to dustyu a few days ago to try to organise our game but he hasn't replied yet.

Thanks JB. Hopefully he'll respond and you'll be able to play soon...

khalidqasrawi and I are expecting to play our game tomorrow evening at 10:30pm UK time. It seems a shame that the last two UK players are playing each other, but at least one UK player is certain to reach the quarter finals this way!

Any other games scheduled any time soon: SRBO vs. MrsNumbers / glh510 vs. Leven / Merlin_89 vs. laguse ?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on October 19, 2015, 03:24:35 AM

Quote from: danisthirty on October 19, 2015, 03:04:12 AM
It seems a shame that the last two UK players are playing each other, but at least one UK player is certain to reach the quarter finals this way!

Patriotism never fails to amuse me :)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: glh510 on October 19, 2015, 05:28:56 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on October 19, 2015, 03:04:12 AM
Any other games scheduled any time soon: SRBO vs. MrsNumbers / glh510 vs. Leven / Merlin_89 vs. laguse ?

Leven and I play tomorrow 21:00 CET
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on October 19, 2015, 11:25:12 AM
Dustyu and I are playing today at 22:30 CET. We may need a host. Can anyone help? Thanks!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 19, 2015, 11:51:45 AM
I can host if needed. Are you both using 3.4?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on October 19, 2015, 11:56:33 AM
Thanks Dan. I have 3.4 already but dusty hasn't downloaded it yet; he'll do it just before the match when he gets home. And he might be able to host himself.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 19, 2015, 12:27:19 PM
Quote from: jungleboy on October 19, 2015, 11:56:33 AM
Thanks Dan. I have 3.4 already but dusty hasn't downloaded it yet; he'll do it just before the match when he gets home. And he might be able to host himself.

OK cool. Well I'm in the chat room now so just give me a buzz if you need me...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on October 19, 2015, 02:34:48 PM
jungleboy 244, dustyu 176

This felt closer to me than the final score because dusty was working on a large cathedral city (with mage) and if he had completed it he would have won. But he was always at least two tiles from completion and I was able to add some extra tiles to it towards the end of the game to make it harder and eventually impossible to complete. My early placement of the barn in the main farm was important; other than that the game was very even. Thanks for the game dusty!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: kettlefish on October 19, 2015, 02:45:13 PM
Here comes the score list for Round 1 in the knock-out-stage.
4 games have been played.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 20, 2015, 01:40:03 AM
4 players are now through to the quarter-final round! 8)

2 more quarter-finalists will be decided this evening...

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/KO_19oct15.png)

SRBO/ MrsNumbers and Merlin_89/ laguse - is there any news on when you might be playing your games yet?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on October 20, 2015, 01:59:06 AM
Nice progress with knock-out stage! Well done...

I have just sent PM with invite to play laguse. But he's not be seen on forum whole October. I'd like to play during weekend, but we'll see...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Rosco on October 20, 2015, 03:10:01 AM
I will take his place if he doesnt show!!!!!!!  ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on October 20, 2015, 04:28:43 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on October 20, 2015, 01:40:03 AM
SRBO/ MrsNumbers and Merlin_89/ laguse - is there any news on when you might be playing your games yet?

MrsNumbers will play with SRBO either Wednesday or Thursday evening.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 20, 2015, 05:22:33 AM
Quote from: Merlin_89 on October 20, 2015, 01:59:06 AM
Nice progress with knock-out stage! Well done...

I have just sent PM with invite to play laguse. But he's not be seen on forum whole October. I'd like to play during weekend, but we'll see...

I've emailed laguse too. Hopefully there will be a response soon.

Quote from: MrNumbers on October 20, 2015, 04:28:43 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on October 20, 2015, 01:40:03 AM
SRBO/ MrsNumbers and Merlin_89/ laguse - is there any news on when you might be playing your games yet?

MrsNumbers will play with SRBO either Wednesday or Thursday evening.

Excellent! Looking forward to hearing all about it... :)

:blue-meeple:
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Leven on October 20, 2015, 03:56:22 PM
A thrilling game right until the last tile:

 :green-meeple: GLH510 vs  :violet-meeple: Leven 191:213

I was behind almost the whole game even after deploying my barn.
In the final phase of the game I had some lucky draws which allowed me to complete a big city (where I had majority thanks to my mayor) and to finish a long road with inn (but with the witch). Then I had a slight lead but everything depended on whether GLH510 can deploy his barn or not. I came up lucky in the end.

Well played, GLH510, thanks for this exciting game.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 20, 2015, 04:42:08 PM
:blue-meeple: danisthirty - 263 : 118 - khalid :red-meeple:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/khalid_vs_dan_WCR1.jpg)

This score line does not give khalid the credit he deserves. For one thing, I won 60 points purely because I was lucky enough to get my barn down first and could then expand it while khalid was trying to work out how to get his barn onto the same farm. He came close to doing this, but again the luck was on my side and I was able to cut him off.

Khalid had me on the run with his huge city too. That could have been a game-changer if it had been completed, but I struggled hard to prevent him from completing it (not easy when players have an abbey at their disposal!) and eventually succeeded. Of course, this also meant that he spent the whole game without either his mayor or his double-follower which was joined into the same city as his mayor soon afterwards.

So all in all, it was a lot closer than the scores suggest and khalid put up an excellent fight even though he struggled with meeples towards the end. This was at least partly down to the fact that I made a crfr gap which trapped 3 of his meeples early on; one on a cloister and two on seperate roads. I then proceeded to draw all of the remaining crfr tiles (2 or 3 of them I believe) just to add insult to injury!

Well played khalid, see you in the next round Leven! :) :(y)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 21, 2015, 07:50:15 AM
Time for another update now that 6 of our 8 quarter-finalists have been identified...

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/KO_21oct15.png)

Round 2 fixtures:

Expansions to include:

If you're taking part in any of these games, please wait for the two remaining Round 1 games to be played before playing your game. Thanks! :(y)

:blue-meeple:
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: khalidqasrawi on October 21, 2015, 07:56:26 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on October 20, 2015, 04:42:08 PM
ell played khalid, see you in the next round Leven! :) :(y)

Thanks for playing Dan.  Your match report, doesn't do justice to your own formidable game play.  Each move you made was considered and correct and progressed your winning strategy.  My mega city was never going to be finished.  I'm still beating myself up for a number of my mistakes but even without those, your play was simply better.

Good luck with the rest of the tournament.

khalid :blue-meeple:
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on October 21, 2015, 01:12:45 PM
MrsNumbers vs. SRBO

Very nervous game. Everything depended on one tile, and MrsNumbers got it, leaving SRBO with huge unfinished cathedral city.

EDIT: However, that city would score 72 points, but score difference is 83, so it could go either way.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: laguse on October 23, 2015, 05:00:49 AM
hey all,

just quick message to everybody, Merlin_89 and myself will likely play the game this Sunday.

I am just back from vacation, and saw the surprise that I am in next round which wasn't expected. Thanks for the hints & personal messages from kettlefish, Dan and of course Merlin_89 earlier this week.

Thanks,
laguse
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 23, 2015, 05:18:39 AM
Quote from: laguse on October 23, 2015, 05:00:49 AM
hey all,

just quick message to everybody, Merlin_89 and myself will likely play the game this Sunday.

I am just back from vacation, and saw the surprise that I am in next round which wasn't expected. Thanks for the hints & personal messages from kettlefish, Dan and of course Merlin_89 earlier this week.

Thanks,
laguse

I hope you had a nice holiday! :)

Thanks for letting us know about the game, I hope it's a good one for both of you!

Best regards,
Dan

:blue-meeple:
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on October 25, 2015, 11:57:41 PM

Quote from: laguse on October 23, 2015, 05:00:49 AM
Merlin_89 and myself will likely play the game this Sunday.

I hope there was no issues due to the time change...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on October 26, 2015, 01:55:09 AM
Sorry guys, but there was no match... Laguse hasn't spoken to me whole weekend and didn't show up on Sunday (as he said he would).

I start to be pissed that we are slowing you down... :(
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on October 26, 2015, 05:28:21 AM

Quote from: Merlin_89 on October 26, 2015, 01:55:09 AM
I start to be pissed that we are slowing you down... :(

Thanks for being concerned about us :) But I for one am enjoying having extra time between rounds to play some practice matches with the Tower.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on October 28, 2015, 08:13:22 AM
Update with no real update...

Laguse is continuing with his silence treatment. I hope he's ok, and he'll show up soon, preferably today or tomorrow. Unfortunately I'm away whole weekend and Monday, so I'm afraid there's no chance to complete this match before next week.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 28, 2015, 09:32:08 AM
:blue-meeple: :blue-meeple: :blue-meeple: Laguse? Please respond! :blue-meeple: :blue-meeple: :blue-meeple:
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Rosco on October 28, 2015, 11:37:02 AM
Just call me Laguse, Rosco Laguse.  Double 0 Red meeple, license to glom.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 29, 2015, 05:38:24 AM
Quote from: Rosco on October 28, 2015, 11:37:02 AM
Just call me Laguse, Rosco Laguse.  Double 0 Red meeple, license to glom.

Much as I'd like to offer you laguse's place Rosco, the highest ranked player who didn't make the top 16 is Paul who was ranked 3rd in his group despite winning 3 of his games :(. However, in this situation I think a win by default and a free ticket for Merlin_89 into the quarter finals will be the appropriate course of action if there is still no reply from laguse...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Rosco on October 29, 2015, 05:51:32 AM
Venga hombre - INJUSTO! !!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: laguse on October 30, 2015, 09:46:13 AM
hello,

first let me apologize for my silence. I am really sorry.

Just reading the last few postings, I appreciate you're concerned if I am ok (which I am from health perspective), but also the other comments e.g. from jungleboy that the others have more time to practice for next round(s). I like the way of positive thinking while waiting for me.

The reason is really simple: I am offline since Saturday evening, as my broadband DSL stopped working.  They told me it should work again "tomorrow" - which was repeating story multiple times this week.

Today I was also really really tired about this, so spent some Euros, and now I am online via UMTS/3G USB-stick. Not sure this is good enough for Carcassonne online gaming - anyone know ? Also how much data in MBytes are transferred during one game - anyone know ?

I really hope to be back online again on my broadband DSL soon.
As far as I understand, Merlin_89 is back on Tuesday.

Thanks, and again sorry,
laguse
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on October 30, 2015, 11:07:25 AM
Hi laguse, it's good to hear from you!

Glad you're OK, and thanks for explaining the situation with your internet access. What a pain! >:(

I'm not sure how much data is transferred during games via JCloisterZone but I'd guess it would be minimal (i.e. barely a few kb required to communicate each tile placement between nodes). I'm sure somebody would be able to have a practice game with you to test this if you're available, but it sounds like normal internet service should have been resumed by Tuesday...

Dan
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on October 31, 2015, 07:28:12 AM
yeah, only sync messages are transfered. I didn't measure it but my personal tip is that transfered data fit to 100kB
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on October 31, 2015, 08:22:49 AM
FYI I released 3.4.1
It should be compatible with "World Cup private 3.4.0", adds eg tile distribution help
UPDATE: my mistake, I increased also internal version number, so unintentionally you can't play with 3.4.1 and 3.4.0 together
Full change log:

it's possible to enable/disable plugins without app restart
tile distribution window (in help menu) - show overview of tiles in expansions
added OSX native full screen hook (thx khalidqasrawi)
monasteries in netherlands and belgium theme plugin
winter theme plugin
plugin icons are displayed in preferences/plugins
colored placement history (thx fatsu)
#112 - warn aboul last chance to place abbey
fixed few winter extra tiles definitions to match original winter tiles
fixed #184 - opponent can accidentally skip follower placement on Abbey
fixed #182 - Cloister/Shrine can't be placed next to cloister AND shrine
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: kettlefish on November 04, 2015, 01:53:16 AM
I have a question:

What is with the game Merlin_89 and laguse?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 04, 2015, 05:06:34 AM
Quote from: kettlefish on November 04, 2015, 01:53:16 AM
I have a question:

What is with the game Merlin_89 and laguse?

+1 to this.

Merlin_89, you are back from your holiday now? I hope you had a good time. And laguse, presumably your internet connection has now been fixed?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on November 04, 2015, 08:32:37 AM
What can I say... One of things I did early on Tuesday was sending a PM to laguse to schedule our game. But his internet problems has to continue as he was last active on site on Friday... I don't know what I can do more.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 07, 2015, 02:04:45 PM
I think we've been waiting for long enough now, and still we have heard almost nothing from laguse. I'm sure this can be explained either because of holidays or internet problems, but I don't think it's fair to ask everyone else to continue to wait...

So, I'm going to propose that if the Merlin_89 vs. laguse match isn't either been scheduled or played by next Wednesday (11th Nov) then I will award a win by default to Merlin_89. I hope this this won't be the outcome and that the game will be played as expected, but we have been waiting for some weeks and it is high time the competition is moved on if we expect it to be complete by the end of the year. :(
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 13, 2015, 02:14:06 AM
OK, it’s time to move on.

I’ve done my best to contact laguse via the forums and also via email but he just isn’t replying and I think that the rest of us have been delayed for long enough already. Awarding a win to someone else by default isn’t something I’m comfortable with, especially at this stage of the competition, but since the only alternative is to continue to wait for something that might never happen, I think giving Merlin_89 a “by” into the next round is the only sensible course of action. If you ever get to read this laguse, I can only apologise for this course of action but you’ve left me little choice... :(

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/KO_13nov15.png)


Round 2 fixtures:

Expansions to include:

Good luck everyone, and enjoy the games! :(y)

:blue-meeple:
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on November 13, 2015, 03:39:33 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on November 13, 2015, 02:14:06 AM
Game 9: Hounk vs. SRBO

MrsNumbers also was dropped out, together with laguse? ???
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 13, 2015, 03:41:56 AM
Quote from: MrNumbers on November 13, 2015, 03:39:33 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on November 13, 2015, 02:14:06 AM
Game 9: Hounk vs. SRBO

MrsNumbers also was dropped out, together with laguse? ???

Apologies. This was a mistake, although the image was correct as this showed MrsNumbers' name. I have fixed it now.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on November 13, 2015, 04:03:32 AM
It's 'bye', by the way :)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 13, 2015, 05:20:31 AM
Quote from: jungleboy on November 13, 2015, 04:03:32 AM
It's 'bye', by the way :)

Thanks. I blame you for not telling me this before I wrote it though... :P
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on November 13, 2015, 05:46:27 AM
I can only say that I don't feel fully comfortable with that course of action either, I'd definitely wanted to win my place in quarters on my own... At least I knew I felt ready to play 1/8 after so many friendlies (thanks for those!).

So, let's play quarters!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 13, 2015, 05:49:00 AM
Quote from: Merlin_89 on November 13, 2015, 05:46:27 AM
I can only say that I don't feel fully comfortable with that course of action either, I'd definitely wanted to win my place in quarters on my own... At least I knew I felt ready to play 1/8 after so many friendlies (thanks for those!).

So, let's play quarters!

Sorry that you don't feel comfortable with it, and sorry that you missed out on getting to play the game too. It's a shame all round. But after 3 weeks of waiting and with so little communication from laguse, I think the line has to be drawn somewhere for the sake of everyone else as much as anything.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on November 13, 2015, 06:00:13 AM
Danishthirty, don't be bothered with me, you did what you had to do, and I agree with it... But I guess every participant would prefered to win his place...

I guess, I'll have to double my efforts in game against zone2...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 13, 2015, 06:02:04 AM
Quote from: Merlin_89 on November 13, 2015, 06:00:13 AM
I guess, I'll have to double my efforts in game against zone2...

I'd triple them just to be sure; he's a beast! :o
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on November 13, 2015, 08:18:18 AM
Here's a snapshot of the current situation before QF starts:


(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/13/d290aa7921b39a52cb6ed6560580d117.jpg)

Note that the forfeited game (Merlin_89 vs laguse) didn't count for Elo rating calculation.

Good luck all! :)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on November 13, 2015, 10:31:13 AM
Quote from: Jéré on November 13, 2015, 08:18:18 AM
Here's a snapshot of the current situation before QF starts:


(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/13/d290aa7921b39a52cb6ed6560580d117.jpg)

Cool, thanks for sharing!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on November 13, 2015, 12:57:34 PM
Farin and I are playing our QF at 21:00 CET on Sunday.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 13, 2015, 03:53:57 PM
Thanks for the update Jéré, it's good to see how the Elo ratings stand mid-competition. :(y)

Quote from: jungleboy on November 13, 2015, 12:57:34 PM
Farin and I are playing our QF at 21:00 CET on Sunday.

Excellent. Well done for organising it so quickly. No such luck at this end arranging my game with Leven but next week is going to be all over the place for me with work (it's 23:48 here now and I'm going to be heading in soon) so I really don't know when I'm going to be free and/or awake.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on November 15, 2015, 02:10:59 PM
MrsNumbers vs. Hounk
155:150

Very tense game, 2 tiles before the end Hounk was ahead by ~40 points, but MrsNumbers managed to close huge city and gain control of some resources.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on November 15, 2015, 02:14:05 PM
Farin 241 - 186 Jungleboy

Match was even more exicitning than Rousey vs Holm :)
At one moment poor Jungleboy missed that I trap his meeple just single turn before, complete city and skip placement.
I am like that final margin is greater than the city value.

Anyway in first third I was expection only terrible result, but after that it starts looking better. I like that everything can change in these long games.

Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on November 16, 2015, 02:07:22 AM
Quote from: farin on November 15, 2015, 02:14:05 PM
At one moment poor Jungleboy missed that I trap his meeple just single turn before, complete city and skip placement.
I am like that final margin is greater than the city value.

I had one knight (+ builder) in a large city with only one tile needed for completion (CCFF). Farin had tried to use a tower to kidnap my knight earlier but I capped the tower. He then used a different tower foundation to capture my knight and I didn't realise that had happened (this happens to me a lot while using the Tower with JCZ). I then drew the tile I needed on the next turn and completed the city but, thinking my knight was still in it, I didn't add a new knight, and no points were awarded. At least I got the trade goods, but this was completely my fault and exactly the kind of mistake that I promised myself I wouldn't make after doing things like this in practice games.

I was also somewhat 'happy' that the final margin was greater than the 32 points that I would have received for this city.

The other key part of the game was the battle for the large city in the north. Both of us had knights in at one or more stages but they kept getting kidnapped by the tower. Finally farin was able to use his builder (in another city) to generate a double turn which allowed him to remove my knight on the first turn and then close and claim the city on the second turn. This gave him a large lead and got him back on track with trade goods. Up until that point, it was very even despite my earlier blunder of not claiming the other city on the final tile.

So, overall I was outplayed by farin. I didn't help myself with this big mistake but in the end farin deserved to win anyway. Congratulations farin and good luck in the semifinals!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 16, 2015, 05:34:15 AM
Congratulations to MrsNumbers and farin! :)

Commiserations for Hounk and jungleboy :(

Here are the standings:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/KO_16nov15.png)

I haven't scheduled my game with Leven yet, but should be free most evenings this week. Will send him a PM now...

Merlin_89 / zone2 - do you have a date in mind for your game?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on November 16, 2015, 12:01:45 PM
OMG, you can't actually imagine how loud I shouted when final score appeared!

 :yellow-meeple: Merlin_89 154-152 Zone2 :blue-meeple:

I don't even know where to start with summarazing this game...

First of all, I was loosing... whole game... miserably! It was utter catastrophe for me, Zone2 kept getting tower pieces, and he wasn't merciful, it looked like he found a hobby - collecting my meeples (and he wanted to do it Pokemon style "Gotta Catch 'Em All"). At peak point he had 5 (and picked tower tile for 6th, he didn't use it... and maybe he should have!). It had bright sides, he depleted his resource of tower pieces, he had none at middle of the game (I had 9!). At the same time, score wasn't that bad for me - I was behind by less than 20 points (not that bad considering situation), I kept scoring quick things: small cities, 2,3-pointers for roads. But he had meeple advantage, I haven't seen any chance at winning, I thought (and wanted) to forfeit the game but I knew it wouldn't be right... All I could do was showing respect for Zone2 and finish. I started to play a lot faster...

Zone2 wanted to win, he invested in large farm, he pushed into my city with my builder. But things started to change, finally I got few tower tiles! I regained few of my meeples and shot his valuable meeples. But situation was not good, farm was main center of attention, he had advantage 2-0, 2-1, he pushed for 3-1, it was desperate from me, but I put additional 2 of my farmers, and I hoped for a tie 3-3. He invested a meeple into monastery (I had one as well at the beginning, but he took care of it...). He pushed into my builder city further (he led there 2-1), but he stopped caring for towers, I took out one of his knights to bring tie again, at that point whenever I got weak tile I connected it to that city only to get additional tile (his builder was stuck within his nearly blocked city). That's how I connected all my 3 farmers... But I was far behind.

Then Carcassonne Magic/Curse struck, 10 tiles remaining, I remember that thanks to the builder I got most of them. I got last tower piece and struck his farmer, that's how I won 36 points at farm (it was 3-1 in meeples there).  Last 2 tiles, first one was rather useless, I chose to use builder and put faith into last tile (I stopped counting tiles at the middle of the game). I got The Flier, one I could use with 100% accuracy, I flied into my unfinished builder city to regain it (15 points of worth).

And then, the score! Wow... Rather close one. Great job, zone2! You played great, but I couldn't expect less from you, I was cautioned that you're a BEAST... :) I guess I'll remember this game for a while.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: zone2 on November 16, 2015, 12:16:46 PM

all respect him, and patience merlin C:-) :(y)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 16, 2015, 12:54:10 PM
Quote from: Merlin_89 on November 16, 2015, 12:01:45 PM
OMG, you can't actually imagine how loud I shouted when final score appeared!

Oh believe me, I really can! My loudest cheer to date was against MrNumbers in the 2014 base-game league as he was unbeaten in 6 games up until then. He more than made up for it in the following game though, plus I got told off by Mrs_danisthirty for waking the baby O:-)

Quote from: Merlin_89 on November 16, 2015, 12:01:45 PM
I was cautioned that you're a BEAST... :) I guess I'll remember this game for a while.

In the nicest possible way of course! ;)

Anyway, congratulations Merlin_89! You've certainly proved that you deserve to be going through to the semi-finals now, regardless of what you thought about going through to the quarter-finals. This is also means it can't now be a Latvia vs. Latvia final :)

Commiserations zone2... :(
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Hounk on November 16, 2015, 02:47:49 PM
Congrats Merlin_89. Looks like you really had an epic game. It actually is a very good combination of expansions, I think. I like it a lot, although I lost the important WC game in it. And I'm very pleased, that my "dream team mate" picked it up so great, after being a little doubtful about it.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 16, 2015, 10:32:34 PM
Quote from: Hounk on November 16, 2015, 02:47:49 PM
Congrats Merlin_89. Looks like you really had an epic game. It actually is a very good combination of expansions, I think. I like it a lot, although I lost the important WC game in it. And I'm very pleased, that my "dream team mate" picked it up so great, after being a little doubtful about it.

:(y)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 17, 2015, 02:26:45 AM
Leven and I are expecting to play our game tomorrow evening at 10pm CET.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 18, 2015, 04:19:39 PM
Quote from: danisthirty on November 17, 2015, 02:26:45 AM
Leven and I are expecting to play our game tomorrow evening at 10pm CET.

We played our game this evening as planned. It took over 2 hours to play and was eventually won by just 3 points:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/WC2015_QF_Dan_vs_Leven_scores.jpg)

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/WC2015_QF_Dan_vs_Leven_map.jpg)

I'm still so surprised that I won that it's difficult being able to summarise the game, but I'll give it a go...

From what I can remember, Leven trapped me mercilessly at every opportunity and did a pretty good job of making his own opportunities to trap me when I wasn't making them for him! Meanwhile, I disregarded my initial game plan almost immediately and focused mostly on kidnapping his meeples rather than trapping them. At one point in the early game I happened to notice that I had just 1 of my own meeples left in my supply, and 4 of Levens! He was very cool, calm and collected about it all though 8) and didn't make much of an effort to kidnap my meeples in return, managing instead with the few he had and undoubtedly enjoying watching me struggling with even fewer. :o

Our scores were very close for most of the game, with me gradually building a very slight lead thanks to a cloister or two and a few small cities. I edged further ahead as a result of Levens justified willingness to complete my cities in return for the trade tokens which gave him a 20-point lead over me for most of the game (which he eventually turned into a 30-point lead with the majority in all 3 types).

My builder ended up being trapped in a city worth a mere 10 points for most of the game as Leven did such a good job of trapping him. I couldn't remember most of the tile configurations that were available, but even though the city could never be completed, I did enjoy two turns in a row where I drew rare tiles which I could use to extend it, and then won some lucky extra points from the bonus turns. The first bonus turn was a splitter which allowed me to take 10 points for a city, and the next bonus turn won me 9 points from a cloister on a t-junction. These points came at just the right time for me, especially since I was so restricted in terms of what I could do with so few meeples (and couldn't force Leven to buy any of his meeples back from me). :@

As we entered the final third of the game I had approximately 31 points from three uncompleteable cities and a farmer worth either 9 or 12 points. This is where Leven started to come back at me more ferociously using his large supply of tower blocks to remove some of my more valuable meeples (I only had 1 left). My farmer became vulnerable but I didn't have anything left to protect him with so Leven took the farm outright relatively easily, dropping his pig on it and quickly expanding it to cover 7 or 8 cities. I had another less valuable farm to the west but knew that the final scores would be close enough that I didn't stand a chance of winning without a share in the main farm. So I took a chance with one of my final meeples knowing that only 1 tile could join him on (as it turned out there were 2 but the other tile wouldn't have worked for me as it was a ffff cloister with tower foundation that Leven sh/would have used to remove my farmer). I was lucky enough to draw the last German Monastery which I used to win an equal share in the main farm and claim 17 or 18 points (which I then lost when my Abbot was kidnapped on the next turn).

With the last tile of the game I was able to claim a 6-point farm which neither of us had previously claimed due to it being right next to a tower foundation. This was pretty much the only place I could have generated more than 3 points for myself, so it was lucky that I was able to claim them as the game would have been a draw without them!

It was a great game anyway. Leven really wore me down to the point that I had no idea who had actually won at the end although I knew I had a chance because of the shared farm, even though I was 30 points down in trade tokens. So, all in all, an excellent game, and a shame there could only be one winner. Well played Leven! :) :(y)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on November 19, 2015, 12:38:33 AM
Congratulations, danisthirty! Very close game!
I wonder why Leven didn't kidnap your most left farmer? As you stated the last tile was cccf with 6-points farmer on it, so Leven had a great chance to reduce your score by 12 points.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on November 19, 2015, 12:41:48 AM
And I thought that my summary was too long...

I believe none of our quarterfinals had exclusive rights for being cutthroating... only Farin won by a bigger margin, rest of QFs had difference of 5, 3, and 2 points! We were so close from deadlocking those meetings. WOW!

Danishthirty, I think what was remarkable in your game (and what saved you), were completed cloisters... 3 of them. I believe quite unique while playing with tower. It nearly tied with Leven's 30 points from trade goods.   

Good job with QFs!

One thing about coming SFs, what's our approach with Bazaars, we'll play with or without auctions? I consider it pointless when playing 2-player game...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 19, 2015, 12:52:36 AM
Quote from: MrNumbers on November 19, 2015, 12:38:33 AM
Congratulations, danisthirty! Very close game!
I wonder why Leven didn't kidnap your most left farmer? As you stated the last tile was cccf with 6-points farmer on it, so Leven had a great chance to reduce your score by 12 points.

Thanks MrNumbers, it looks like I will be me vs. MrsNumbers in the semi-final now! :-\

My second to last tile was the German Monastery below my 27-point farmer. I placed an Abbot on this tile which was worth 16 points (I think) so Leven rightly chose to kidnap this instead of my west farmer. I believe he had other opportunities to take him, but chose instead to take other pieces (mostly knights) or to claim features for himself. This is why I had another farmer (worth 0 points) placed adjacent to the farm but not within reach of any towers, as I wanted to be able to take the farm back in necessary.

With hindsight, it's worth pointing out that if Leven had placed his final tile (rrff) adjacent to where I was able to place my final tile (the cccf with farmer at the top for 6 points) then I couldn't have placed my tile where I did. The next best option would have been the city in the south-west corner which could have got me 4 points, so I would still have won but only by 1 point instead of 3.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on November 19, 2015, 01:02:17 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on November 19, 2015, 12:52:36 AM
With hindsight, it's worth pointing out that if Leven had placed his final tile (rrff) adjacent to where I was able to place my final tile (the cccf with farmer at the top for 6 points) then I couldn't have placed my tile where I did.

Which one of them? How many points Leven scored with it?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 19, 2015, 01:22:04 AM
Quote from: MrNumbers on November 19, 2015, 01:02:17 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on November 19, 2015, 12:52:36 AM
With hindsight, it's worth pointing out that if Leven had placed his final tile (rrff) adjacent to where I was able to place my final tile (the cccf with farmer at the top for 6 points) then I couldn't have placed my tile where I did.

Which one of them? How many points Leven scored with it?

His final tile was the far left tile on the bottom row. He couldn't generate any points with it as he didn't have a thief anywhere on the board that it could be added to, and couldn't deploy a meeple as this would have deprived him of the ability to take 16 points from me (my Abbot) with his tower block.

My final tile was the cccf on the top row where I was able to place a farmer for 6 points. If Leven had placed his rrff adjacent to this (on the left) then I couldn't have placed this tile here and could only have won 4 points by placing it elsewhere rather than 6.
Title: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on November 19, 2015, 01:44:04 AM
Congratulations Dan! Commiserations Leven.

So of the four quarterfinals, three of them were won by the player with the lower ELO rating. Only MrsNumbers managed to 'hold serve' in this respect. The players ranked 1-2-3 in ELO all lost at the QF stage. It will be interesting to see the ELO changes at the end of the tournament.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on November 19, 2015, 02:30:16 AM
Well played everyone! I feel the pain of the participants who lost their game by a narrow margin!

I can give an Elo update right now. I don't want to flood the thread with stats so lets do it just for the active players. Full ranking will follow after the World Cup, as usual.


(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/19/022f927d456d0f7478572d046bd59f3c.jpg)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: kettlefish on November 19, 2015, 03:20:00 AM
here are now some x-score lists:

WorldCup15 - Round1 - knock-out-stage - with score - one game was cancelled (no play)
WorldCup15 - Round2 - quater final
WorldCup15 - Round3 - semi final - blanc
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Leven on November 19, 2015, 04:13:03 AM
Quote from: MrNumbers on November 19, 2015, 12:38:33 AM
Congratulations, danisthirty! Very close game!
I wonder why Leven didn't kidnap your most left farmer? As you stated the last tile was cccf with 6-points farmer on it, so Leven had a great chance to reduce your score by 12 points.

This could have been an option if the last two tiles had come in different order, and I get the CCCF tile. This way I can increase my builder city so I get the last tile too, and then I can capture Dan's farmer as well.

In hindsight, I think I made a mistake when I drew the FFFF tile with cloister and tower base. Instead of placing it next to Dan's follower in his smaller farm to the left, I should have placed it to fill the gap between the main farm and Dan's farmer (where Dan placed the GM later in the game), and so I could have captured Dan's farmer which earned him 27 points in the end.

Thanks Dan for this great game (and for writing such a detailed summary), and good luck in the semis for everyone!

Quote from: Jéré on November 19, 2015, 02:30:16 AM
Well played everyone! I feel the pain of the participants who lost their game by a narrow margin!

I can give an Elo update right now. I don't want to flood the thread with stats so lets do it just for the active players. Full ranking will follow after the World Cup, as usual.


(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/19/022f927d456d0f7478572d046bd59f3c.jpg)

I wonder how far the first two ranked players (I assume they are zone2 and jungleboy) are ahead of danisthirty and Merlin_89. Do they have a chance to get to the top after the World Cup?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 19, 2015, 04:25:22 AM
Quote from: Leven on November 19, 2015, 04:13:03 AM
In hindsight, I think I made a mistake when I drew the FFFF tile with cloister and tower base. Instead of placing it next to Dan's follower in his smaller farm to the left, I should have placed it to fill the gap between the main farm and Dan's farmer (where Dan placed the GM later in the game), and so I could have captured Dan's farmer which earned him 27 points in the end.

Exactly, and you could even have claimed the cloister for 8 points (assuming I didn't kidnap your monk with my final tower block). This was the biggest surprise of the game for me. I figured maybe you'd put it where it was so that you could take both farmers but this would have required 4 tower blocks to have got both which I believe you had at the time.

Funny to think that if the final two tiles had come out the other way around you would have won the game. How frequently is this the case though...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on November 19, 2015, 04:59:31 AM
Quote from: Leven on November 19, 2015, 04:13:03 AM
I wonder how far the first two ranked players (I assume they are zone2 and jungleboy) are ahead of danisthirty and Merlin_89. Do they have a chance to get to the top after the World Cup?

I'm a bit scared that I've already gone down to #5!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on November 19, 2015, 09:48:54 AM
With higher ELO ranking I can only feel more threatened... Underdogs rule in 2015 WC!

Once again, how do we rule on bazaar element in SF?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 19, 2015, 12:12:37 PM
Quote from: Merlin_89 on November 19, 2015, 09:48:54 AM
Once again, how do we rule on bazaar element in SF?

We've always done our best to stick to the official rules as far as this is possible with JCloisterZone. I don't see why we should opt to use a variant in this case (presumably you're talking about JCZ's non-bidding variant?). Plus, I think it's worth keeping the auctions as it allows one player to force the other player to spend more points on a tile they really need, rather than simply selecting it for themselves and forcing the other player to take the other tile... >:D
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on November 21, 2015, 02:49:06 AM
Any semi-final matches in sight?
Just curious :)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on November 21, 2015, 06:22:50 AM
requested fix for Bazaar tile definition is here

http://jcloisterzone.com/builds/JCloisterZone-3.4.2.7z
/ .zip / .tgz

full changelog:

Russian Promos "expansion"
dark theme (there is definitely place for many improvements, especially in create game view)
fixed: Impossible to undo Goldmine tile placement
fixed The Corn Circles II tile definitions - cities was linked to farm (this bug can cause less points on farm in some cases)
fixed BB.CFR.b tile definition - another missing city-farm link
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on November 21, 2015, 11:03:31 PM

Quote from: farin on November 21, 2015, 06:22:50 AM
requested fix for Bazaar tile definition is here

http://jcloisterzone.com/builds/JCloisterZone-3.4.2.7z
/ .zip / .tgz

full changelog:

Russian Promos "expansion"
dark theme (there is definitely place for many improvements, especially in create game view)
fixed: Impossible to undo Goldmine tile placement
fixed The Corn Circles II tile definitions - cities was linked to farm (this bug can cause less points on farm in some cases)
fixed BB.CFR.b tile definition - another missing city-farm link

Thanks Farin! I tried the Russian Promo tiles and the Dark theme. Very well done!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Hounk on November 22, 2015, 03:50:29 AM
I tried the Russian tiles in a game with Adda, too. Nice! Also changed the setting to "dark", but I'm not sure, if I will let it like that forever. Have to decide after a few games. :(y)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 23, 2015, 06:57:43 AM
Quote from: Jéré on November 21, 2015, 02:49:06 AM
Any semi-final matches in sight?
Just curious :)

Today I emailed MrNumbers to find a time for my game with MrsNumbers. I'm hoping that we'll be able to play this week, but obviously this will depend on her availability.

Merlin_89 / farin: How about you guys?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on November 29, 2015, 12:09:26 AM
We are in touch with Merlin_89, I think we should be able play at end of the week.

Btw I can't find what is game setup for this round. Could you point me?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on November 29, 2015, 01:43:43 AM
Quote from: farin on November 29, 2015, 12:09:26 AM
Btw I can't find what is game setup for this round. Could you point me?

The full list of expansions can be found here (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2012.msg29234#msg29234).

If we both win our games it looks like we'll be having a re-match after our game in the group stage!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 05, 2015, 01:12:20 AM
I played my game with MrsNumbers last night and it was close from start to finish. But I always felt like MrsNumbers had the edge, especially since she slaughtered me on the trade tokens for 20 bonus points. However, for much of the first half of the game we fought fiercely over an ever-growing city which I eventually secured with 4 knights against 3 (plus both builders). So in the end I didn't know who was going to win (I never use the predicted score option) and was very pleased to see the following:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/Game7_scores.jpg)

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/Game7_map.jpg)

As can be seen from the score summary, cloisters made all the difference for me, but none of them were easily completed and I seemed to spend most of the game with at least two monks waiting for specific tiles to free them up. Obviously this slowed me down in other areas, so I was surprised to see that I finished ahead on roads and cities also (by just 1 point in both areas) even with the big city boosting my score significantly.

Gold was evenly distributed between us, and every single bit of it was claimed which meant neither of us had an advantage here. Neither of us used our castles either. I was tempted to "castle-up" at one point, but with 4 meeples in the big city and 1 or 2 others in nearby cloisters I chose to complete the city purely to get my meeple back. MrsNumbers used just one bridge (on her second to last tile) whereas I played all 3 of mine as they were very useful for getting me out of various scrapes. It didn't seem worth keeping them back for the sake of it...

MrsNumbers received 20 bonus points for her majority in wine and silk trade tokens (no wheat was claimed), but I didn't worry about this too much as I had the city to come and knew this would be worth at least 30 points. What eventually swung the game in my favour was drawing the final crrf tile which I'd been waiting for for most of the game. This completed a cloister, got me a bonus turn and allowed me to claim a previously inaccessible 12-point farm. Nice! 8)

In the final stages of the game I seemed to draw some very helpful tiles which I used either to boost my score a little or to claim a couple of small farms, not really finding a good opportunity to place my pig.

Overall, I was pleased with the result (obviously) but did feel like it could have gone either way right up to the last 10 or so tiles. Thanks for the game MrsNumbers, I hope you enjoyed it too... :) :(y)

:blue-meeple:
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on December 06, 2015, 02:44:49 AM
Yes, MrsNumbers also enjoyed the game. In fact, it could go either way, if she would have placed crrf tile by herself (she had such possibility), and claimed both farm and road. But she didn't want to free your monk, so you did it by yourself.
Still not bad - to achieve semifinal! Will there be a game for 3rd place?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: quevy on December 06, 2015, 02:54:32 AM
Quote from: MrNumbers on December 06, 2015, 02:44:49 AM
Will there be a game for 3rd place?

In the last edition I and Jungle Boy we made the game for third and fourth place.
I think it should be done this time.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 06, 2015, 03:03:31 AM
Quote from: MrNumbers on December 06, 2015, 02:44:49 AM
Yes, MrsNumbers also enjoyed the game. In fact, it could go either way, if she would have placed crrf tile by herself (she had such possibility), and claimed both farm and road. But she didn't want to free your monk, so you did it by yourself.

Yes, in fact I think she drew two crrf tiles since the point that I came to rely on one so heavily. If we had switched positions and I had the opportunity to place the tile for my opponent I don't think I would have done either, even for the farm and the road. Having so many knights in the city, the meeple back from the cloister was what I needed most at that time so I think she chose well to deprive me of it.

The other reason I would not have done it is that this would have left the huge city just one tile away from completion. I wasn't expecting it to be completed, but if such a tile remained in the deck (I didn't know if there was one or not) and my opponent drew it to complete the city then I would never have forgiven myself!

Quote from: quevy on December 06, 2015, 02:54:32 AM
Quote from: MrNumbers on December 06, 2015, 02:44:49 AM
Will there be a game for 3rd place?

In the last edition I and Jungle Boy we made the game for third and fourth place.
I think it should be done this time.

Yes, definitely there should be. This is how we will determine 3rd/ 4th place overall. :(y)

Any news on your game Merlin_89/ farin?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on December 06, 2015, 12:59:35 PM
Congrats Dan! You had to practice a lot...

I've just sent PM to farin, I definetely want to play SF this week (the sooner the better).
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on December 07, 2015, 04:13:31 PM
Here we are, me and Farin played 2nd semifinal:  :yellow-meeple: 273 Merlin_89 - Farin 212  :blue-meeple:

It can be said that game had two parts, first 40-50 tiles when Farin was quite ahead, and last part when I equaled Farin's score and built safe advantage over him.

We started, and Farin played fiercely! We barely started and he used a castle (it was obvious that he fully wants to use expansions to up his game). And it gave him quick additional 14 points. I haven't started my game and he led by more than 30 points (I was -1). He counteracted to my initiatives, my first city (with builder) quickly became his city (2-1 in meeples). My game was based on scoring small stuff, collecting gold... and putting meeples into cloisters. I had constantly (whole game) at least 2 meeples in cloisters, I felt it was huge risk, but those points allowed me to equal with Farin.

Then things started to go a little bit more my way. I started farm game by putting key farmer that ended with winning 50 points. Farin had very small possibilities to get inside... I managed to limit Farin's chances to score in few areas, he started to be low on meeples, and he had to feel pressure, because I scored constantly (small stuff and cloisters), gold tiles suited me. I claimed one wheat and one cloth from Farin's city (8 pointer on the left side) - small move but in the end it gave me 20 points (otherwise it would had to be his 20 points so it was 40 points worth move). Different things suited me, Farin got CFRF that he needed to finish nearly blocked city, but in the process he enlarged my farm and connected it with pig herd from river tile... It really looked good for me. With last push, Farin regained control over incompleted city worth 29 points, but it was too little. Before final scoring I had small edge of 10 points (138-128). But I had winning margin with farms, gold, and trade goods, all of that gave me victory.

In the end, I think that Bridges and Castles had small impact on our game. I helped my game only a little with 2 bridges, but because I was low on meeples I couldn't use any castle. On the other hand Bazaars could have had real impact on the game, I managed not to overpay and get most of tiles I wanted.

Farin, thanks for playing, you were worthy opponent! Thanks for your great work on JCloister! :)

Next stop, (mini)mega Carcassonne - 174 tiles... And against Dan... Thriller?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: kettlefish on December 07, 2015, 11:46:14 PM
here come the x-score list: WorldCup15 - 3rd round - semi-finals:

Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 08, 2015, 02:57:54 AM
Congratulations Merlin_89! :) :(y) It sounds like it was a tough game for both players...

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/KO_8dec15.png)

So we now have just two games left to play:

Final: danisthirty vs. Merlin_89
Match for 3rd / 4th: farin vs. MrsNumbers

Both games will use the following expansions:
I guess I won't be sparring with Merlin_89 for my next match, so if anyone has time for a practice match against me at some point this week I could use the experience!

Dan
:blue-meeple:
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Rosco on December 08, 2015, 05:46:26 AM
surely its a fix!! the organiser is in the final!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 08, 2015, 05:58:34 AM
Quote from: Rosco on December 08, 2015, 05:46:26 AM
surely its a fix!! the organiser is in the final!

@Rosco: I was worried that this might have been posted by someone who had hacked into your account so I've reset your password. PM me if you want the new one... :P
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Rosco on December 08, 2015, 06:15:25 AM
ha ha ha - scared someone may find out your secret??? 
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 08, 2015, 06:20:27 AM
Christmas Card List 2015
:P
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Rosco on December 08, 2015, 06:26:28 AM
Dan - of course you are an incredibly skilful player who got to the final completely on his own merits. I never thought anything else!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Guy on December 08, 2015, 06:42:42 AM
Quote from: Rosco on December 08, 2015, 05:46:26 AM
surely its a fix!! the organiser is in the final!


I'm not aware of any ties that Danisthirty has with FIFA but with the quality of the expansions he gives away as prizes, the size of his collection, and now him as a finalist in the World Cup I am becoming more suspicious that he may have picked up some of their underhand competitive methods...  :P
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 08, 2015, 06:47:17 AM
Christmas Card List 2015
Christmas is getting cheaper... ;)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Rosco on December 08, 2015, 06:51:43 AM
Before this gets out of hand - i would categorically like to say that Dan has done a bang up job organising various competitions and i trust him to do so without prejudice.  He is very trust worthy and him getting to the final is actually a measur eof his immense skill at the carcassonne table and nothing else.  I wish i had his skill and i hope to try to at least match his level of skill at the uk champs this year.

Please dont lets put into question his honour as all that will do is make it difficult for him to give it his all in the final which his opponent deserves. 

Good luck to you both.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 08, 2015, 06:56:24 AM
Quote from: Rosco on December 08, 2015, 06:51:43 AM
Before this gets out of hand - i would categorically like to say that Dan has done a bang up job organising various competitions and i trust him to do so without prejudice.  He is very trust worthy and him getting to the final is actually a measur eof his immense skill at the carcassonne table and nothing else.  I wish i had his skill and i hope to try to at least match his level of skill at the uk champs this year.

+1 to this. I'd just like to add that I'm also devastatingly good looking and keep rather a handsome beard too.

(we need an emoticon with a beard - but since we don't have one, please pretend I posted one above)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Guy on December 08, 2015, 07:26:13 AM
Quote from: Rosco on December 08, 2015, 06:51:43 AM
Before this gets out of hand - i would categorically like to say that Dan has done a bang up job organising various competitions and i trust him to do so without prejudice.  He is very trust worthy and him getting to the final is actually a measure of his immense skill at the Carcassonne table and nothing else.  I wish i had his skill and i hope to try to at least match his level of skill at the UK champs this year.

Please don't lets put into question his honour as all that will do is make it difficult for him to give it his all in the final which his opponent deserves. 

Good luck to you both.


+1 from me too.  Best of luck in the final Dan and Merlin - may the best man win.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: kettlefish on December 08, 2015, 08:34:07 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on December 08, 2015, 06:47:17 AM
Christmas Card List 2015
  • Rosco
  • Guy
  • Everyone else
Christmas is getting cheaper... ;)
Hi danisthirty,
I like to get a Christmas Card from you this year.  ;D
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on December 08, 2015, 10:18:27 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on December 08, 2015, 02:57:54 AM
I guess I won't be sparring with Merlin_89 for my next match, so if anyone has time for a practice match against me at some point this week I could use the experience!

I'll play against you tonight if you're available as a thank you for last night's games. 8:30 UK / 9:30 CET?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 08, 2015, 10:21:41 AM
Quote from: jungleboy on December 08, 2015, 10:18:27 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on December 08, 2015, 02:57:54 AM
I guess I won't be sparring with Merlin_89 for my next match, so if anyone has time for a practice match against me at some point this week I could use the experience!

I'll play against you tonight if you're available as a thank you for last night's games. 8:30 UK / 9:30 CET?

Thanks! I've just posted on the Play me now thread for some more 4-player basic game action. I guess we'll see what happens...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: zone2 on December 08, 2015, 11:21:12 AM

my favorite in the finals will Merlin_89 O0 :(y)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on December 09, 2015, 06:37:54 AM
Congrats to both danisthirty and Merlin_89 for reaching the final!  Also very good job done by the other semi-finalists!

Now, something REALLY interesting happened regarding the Elo ratings.

Danisthirty has gained 12 pts for his win against MrsNumbers (1314 + 12 = 1326)

Merlin_89 got 14 pts for his victory vs. Farin 1312 + 14 = 1326)

That means they are tie in 3rd place overall with the same Elo rating!

(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/09/90678471322fc403568a690326b95000.jpg)

Since the main purpose of Elo rating is to serve as predictor for the outcome of the next match... I announce that the result should be... unpredictable. It can go either way. Great, thanks Mr. Elo! :)

And that's not everything. The World Champion will be awarded 15 pts for winning the final match and reach a rating of 1341, which will be just enough to steal the first place overall, ONLY 1 point ahead of the current leader zone2 (1340). Wow!

Sincerely good luck to both of you!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 09, 2015, 06:57:49 AM
Thanks for this Jéré. I was a little concerned that there wasn’t quite enough pressure on Merlin_89 and myself already, so it’s reassuring to know that we’ll be playing this immensely complicated final not only for the title but for the #1 slot in the Elo ranking too. :o It will be a fantastic way to end the year for one of us anyway (and a large therapy bill for the other)...

In all seriousness though, I like that we’re evenly matched with regards to Elo scores and I’m looking forward to the game. Perhaps we should have taken bets? ;)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on December 09, 2015, 07:58:54 AM
Yep, the winner takes it all!  :o Absolutely no pressure.   >:D

I'll stick with Mr. Elo's prediction and flip a coin. :D
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on December 09, 2015, 12:34:50 PM
It sounds interesting and equally crazy... Winner takes it all!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: kettlefish on December 09, 2015, 01:46:43 PM
Merlin_89 and danisthirty - I wish you both good luck in your final game.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on December 10, 2015, 06:01:01 AM
congrats Merlin_89 and thx for a report. It was really interesting game.

(i was quity busy and didn't get here earlier)

Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on December 14, 2015, 08:34:58 AM
So the World Cup final is tonight? What channel is it on?  :(y)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 14, 2015, 08:44:38 AM
Quote from: jungleboy on December 14, 2015, 08:34:58 AM
So the World Cup final is tonight? What channel is it on?  :(y)

It's on Sky Sports 1, but it's pay per view. You can Paypal me £20 for a ticket if you want to watch? ;)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Carcking on December 14, 2015, 01:37:21 PM
Hey, Congratulations to the both of you making it to the finals. I bet it will be an epic battle of wills, wits and luck!
Can't wait to see the outcome!  :(y)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on December 14, 2015, 04:25:24 PM
Here we are... Dan and me played the gruelling FINAL - POLAND VS. UNITED KINGDOM!

And the score is:  :yellow-meeple: Merlin_89 495-392 Danisthirty  :blue-meeple:

I haven't expected that it could be so tiring, but after all we played for almost 3 hours. As you can see, my advantage over Dan is solid... and it was throughout whole game.

Dan had small moment of leading after first tiles... and it was it. I finished one city, than another one... As you can imagine tower heplped here and there, and Dan couldn't do anything with it. I got loads of good tiles, and Dan... well, he was not happy about his. I have been agressively scoring, but also managed to get few of Dan's meeples blocked.

He started his barn farm first, (by doing so, he scored field for me), and for some time placement of that farm was not looking good, like it had no further prospect. Dan had to really scramble but he revitalised it, and he did wonders to expand it. At the same point my barn prospect was nonexistent. I had a good looking farm, but for a long time I had no chance to place barn there (Dan sought to that). It took some time and specific tile to get it there... When it happened, I knew that with solid advantage, good barn field, nothing bad could take place.

With 52 tiles remaing, score was: 266-133. I had twice as many points... I relaxed and tried more passive game, focused on controlling things (and reducing Dan's chances to score by his own). Somehow, last 20-30 tiles, and Dan's city with cathedra started to look promising, I had thought it couldn't be completed, but Dan saw his chances there. But I got tiles and managed to connect to it with 2 meeples (Dan shot one with tower). I could relax once more.

Dan, Congratulations! Good job for reaching The Final. You've been great opponent and friend at the same time. You helped me so much, at the beginning of Knock-Outs by playing friendly matches with me. Also Hounk! You were magnificent opponent during friendlies... and you're the only person who bested me in this World Cup.

Great kudos to whole CarcassonneCentral and JCloister team! You've made great place to play Carcassonne!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 14, 2015, 04:54:05 PM
Congrats Merlin, you certainly deserved the win. And I'm glad you enjoyed the competition. :(y)

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/Game8_Merlin_scores.jpg)

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/Game8_Merlin_map.jpg)

This was a bit of an ugly game for me. I don't really know what went so wrong, but the game was won within the first 50 tiles and the remaining 120 or so were basically just a lap of honour for Merlin.

I didn't seem to be able to complete anything in the first third of the game. Anything at all. Merlin certainly wasn't experiencing the same difficulties though, and almost every effort I made to slow him down failed, even when the odds seemed stacked against him. From 25 - 25 he began to build a lead which just grew larger and larger, and didn't slow down until he was over 100 points ahead of me! Obviously this wasn't entirely down to bad luck on my part, and I wouldn't want to take anything away from Merlin as he played an awesome game and demonstrated an excellent knowledge of every part of every expansion we played with. But after having the stuffing kicked out of me so ferociously in the early stages, I didn't feel like I was putting up much of a fight. Apart from having some good luck extending my barn farm to a decent size, I simply couldn't generate enough points to keep myself in the game...

After rallying a little, my hope was that I could salvage some pride by keeping Merlin's win to less than 100 points. Nope! :(

Congratulations again Merlin, perhaps we can have an unofficial rematch the next time we both have almost 3 hours to spare?!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Guy on December 14, 2015, 05:45:39 PM
Great report from both of you. As a fellow Brit my heart is saddened by the result but at the same time don't let that diminish my congratulations to Merlin on what was a resounding victory - well done! You both certainly have plenty of skill it's a shame someone had to lose!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jungleboy on December 14, 2015, 11:16:04 PM
Congratulations Merlin! And commiserations Dan. I definitely know the feeling when you just can't get into a game and do anything to stop your opponent piling on points.

So after many months of festivities and celebrations worldwide, and record viewing audiences across the globe, the World Cup has come to an end and we will all shed a few tears. Until next year...

Edit: Forgot about the 3rd-4th playoff.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: jma03 on December 14, 2015, 11:40:26 PM
Congrats merlín and dan
Beautifull game!!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on December 15, 2015, 01:18:51 AM
Congratulations to Merlin! You showed great play during the World Cup! :(y)
And commiserations to Dan. I was on your place last year :-\
3 hours are not so much - it's about 1 minute per tile.
When MrsNumbers first time saw the set of the expansions for the final game, she predicted that winner of that game will be with 100+ points margin. She was right! :D Let's see, how her own game with farin will end ;)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 15, 2015, 02:42:13 AM
Quote from: jungleboy on December 14, 2015, 11:16:04 PM
Congratulations Merlin! And commiserations Dan. I definitely know the feeling when you just can't get into a game and do anything to stop your opponent piling on points.

Thanks JB! That's how it felt, although I know I made mistakes too and don't want this to detract from Merlin's consistently high standard of play and effective strategy.

I tended to forget about the fairy and only really moved her on the rare occasions that I scored anything. This made it too easy for Merlin to benefit from her, simply by keeping control of the fairy from turn to turn and getting a bonus point each time. On other occasions I didn't spot some easy tower captures until it was too late, or missed some good farming opportunities (one I completely messed up and was lucky even to get 3 points for it where I could have expected 9 or more).

Quote from: MrNumbers on December 15, 2015, 01:18:51 AM
And commiserations to Dan. I was on your place last year :-\

Yes, it’s a pretty rough place to be but I can’t feel too annoyed as I used up more than my fair share of luck just to get to the final in the first place! Plus, it’s probably better that I came second as it sounds like I have a lot more experience at losing than Merlin, and so am better equipped to deal with it! ;D Still though, 103 points. Ouch :( :-[

Quote from: MrNumbers on December 15, 2015, 01:18:51 AM
When MrsNumbers first time saw the set of the expansions for the final game, she predicted that winner of that game will be with 100+ points margin. She was right! :D

I had the feeling that with this much going on it could easily turn out to be quite one-sided too. It could have been a mere 99 point loss if not for Merlin using the dragon to eat my phantom monk with his last tile of the game though. This just added insult to injury, but as was the theme of the game for me, he skilfully made sure that there was nothing I could do to stop him...

Quote from: MrNumbers on December 15, 2015, 01:18:51 AM
Let's see, how her own game with farin will end ;)

Good luck to both players! Have you arranged a date for this match yet?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on December 15, 2015, 04:46:22 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on December 15, 2015, 02:42:13 AM
Quote from: MrNumbers on December 15, 2015, 01:18:51 AM
Let's see, how her own game with farin will end ;)

Good luck to both players! Have you arranged a date for this match yet?

I have send PM to farin. Hope to play it during this week.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on December 15, 2015, 06:22:47 AM
Congrats to the new World Champion! Merlin_89!  :(y)  Also congrats for becoming the new Elo leader, which is quite an achievement in just 2 tournaments! Great job!

Few words for Dan. Looks like this game has been tough for you... I know the feeling. But for many of us, with everything you do here, you were already a World Champion! Again many thanks for organising this!  :(y)  Can't wait for the next tournament. Don't forget that most of the participants haven't played competitively for weeks/months, so hopefully early next year! In the meantime, you deserve to rest.  ;)









Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Hounk on December 15, 2015, 02:16:52 PM
Sure looks like an epic game. Thanks to the report of both off you. Congrats to Merlin, but also to Dan for his Vice-WC achievement.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Carcking on December 15, 2015, 04:42:35 PM
Congratulations to Merlin!! Now I have a fellow World Cup Champ! It doesn't have to be lonely at the top anymore! haha

Dan...commiserations my friend. That is a tough way to lose. Myself and many of us have been on the receiving end of those kinds of games. You just can't get anything going and the tiles don't seem to come. Ah well, on to the next one. Thank you for putting this all together. It was fun to be a part of it.

(Merlin, PM your address and I can get this trophy off the mantel. BTW, you are now my wife's new favorite!  :o )


Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on December 15, 2015, 10:15:08 PM
Quote from: Carcking on December 15, 2015, 04:42:35 PM
Congratulations to Merlin!! Now I have a fellow World Cup Champ! It doesn't have to be lonely at the top anymore! haha

By the way, if I am not mistaken, we didn't have a chance to see a photo of previous World Cup owner yet! ::)

Quote from: Carcking on December 15, 2015, 04:42:35 PM
(Merlin, PM your address and I can get this trophy off the mantel. BTW, you are now my wife's new favorite!  :o )

Just curious, who was the old one? ;)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Carcking on December 16, 2015, 06:08:40 AM
Quote from: MrNumbers on December 15, 2015, 10:15:08 PM
Quote from: Carcking on December 15, 2015, 04:42:35 PM
Congratulations to Merlin!! Now I have a fellow World Cup Champ! It doesn't have to be lonely at the top anymore! haha

By the way, if I am not mistaken, we didn't have a chance to see a photo of previous World Cup owner yet! ::)

I know, I know...I am delinquent...but a photo is forthcoming. Especially now that I have to relinquish the trophy. :)

Quote from: MrNumbers on December 15, 2015, 10:15:08 PM
Quote from: Carcking on December 15, 2015, 04:42:35 PM
(Merlin, PM your address and I can get this trophy off the mantel. BTW, you are now my wife's new favorite!  :o )

Just curious, who was the old one? ;)

Ah, that would be anyone who got the trophy off the mantel. It doesn't take much to please her  :o
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Merlin_89 on December 17, 2015, 09:18:12 AM
I think it's time for me to thank you for all kind words I got from you... What can I say, it was super nice!  :(y)

I can't wait for the postman visit with the package from USA from Carcking, 2016 will start with a blast!

How's it going with scheduling 3rd place game? It'd be interesting to see how that match rolls out...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on December 17, 2015, 11:09:56 AM
Quote from: Merlin_89 on December 17, 2015, 09:18:12 AM
How's it going with scheduling 3rd place game? It'd be interesting to see how that match rolls out...

Almost scheduled. It seems that this game will take place on this weekend.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: SRBO on December 17, 2015, 11:24:07 AM
Congratz Merlin!
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: quevy on December 17, 2015, 11:37:06 AM
Traduci

Congratulazione Merlin!!!

Dan mi dispiace ma il trofeo non può tornare a casa tua :)
Merlin congratulation !!!

Dan I'm sorry but the trophy can not return to your house :)

Quote from: Carcking on December 16, 2015, 06:08:40 AM
Quote from: MrNumbers on December 15, 2015, 10:15:08 PM
Quote from: Carcking on December 15, 2015, 04:42:35 PM
(Merlin, PM your address and I can get this trophy off the mantel. BTW, you are now my wife's new favorite!  :o )

Just curious, who was the old one? ;)

Ah, that would be anyone who got the trophy off the mantel. It doesn't take much to please her  :o


I am truly sorry that the trophy that I made with so much love did not like your wife :)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on December 17, 2015, 12:38:22 PM

Quote from: MrNumbers on December 17, 2015, 11:09:56 AM
Quote from: Merlin_89 on December 17, 2015, 09:18:12 AM
How's it going with scheduling 3rd place game? It'd be interesting to see how that match rolls out...

Almost scheduled. It seems that this game will take place on this weekend.

Very good. I'm waiting for the outcome of this game to publish the final Elo ratings.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on December 21, 2015, 04:36:04 AM
On Saturday MrsNumbers had the last match against Farin for 3rd place in World Cup 2015. Game ended after first 60 tiles: Farin gave up, motivating it by too many mistakes made by him and too big points difference till that point. So the final score is taken from projected points: 174 vs. 74.
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 21, 2015, 05:34:13 AM
Congratulations MrsNumbers, and commiserations farin. I for one know exactly how it feels to go behind almost straight away and find yourself unable to claw anything back. I like to think I would always see the game through to its natural conclusion regardless of how badly things went, but better luck next time all the same...

Now that the winner of the final game has been announced, here is the final ranking:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/KO_21dec15.png)

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/WC2015_Final_Standings.png)

Positions 17 - 40 were occupied by those who were eliminated before reaching the knock-out stage. The exact order was determined by group position, group points and then overall PD (points difference).

Positions 9 - 16 were occupied by those who reached the knock-out stage but lost their Round 1 game. The exact order was determined by group position, group points and overall PD as above. The same applies to positions 5 - 8 (losing quarter-finalists) which were determined according to the same criteria.

Positions 3 & 4 were occupied by the losing semi-finalists. There was a separate game played using the same tiles as the final to determine 3rd position. This game was abandoned by farin leaving MrsNumbers to claim 3rd.

Positions 1 & 2 were occupied by the winner and loser of the final. Well done to Merlin_89 who took the top spot! :(y)

Many thanks to everyone who took part; I hope it was fun for you and I look forward to competing against you again soon in our next online competition! This will be announced in the new year...

There will be a small prize/ memento for everyone who took part. There will also be other spot prizes which are yet to be announced (other than the "first group to finish" prize). So, if you've received something from me in the past then you will receive something from me again (unless you've changed your address - please let me know if this is the case!) Otherwise, expect to receive a PM from me sometime soon asking for your address; I promise you'll get something before Christmas (*)... :@

Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2016! :D
Dan
:blue-meeple:

(*) Christmas 2016 2017 2018
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on December 21, 2015, 10:14:43 AM
Thanks Dan! Here is the Elo rating!

(http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/12/21/f85fbeb5a2696f74185c199ec376c783.jpg)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 21, 2015, 03:37:20 PM
Brilliant work. Thanks for your efforts Jéré! :(y)

Nice (and kind of surprising) to finish the year in the top 5! ;D
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: SRBO on December 22, 2015, 02:41:15 PM
Can you make a seperate topic of current elo ratings?
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: farin on December 23, 2015, 05:32:50 AM
Thanks guys for arrangement, congrats winners and happy xmas to all :)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on December 23, 2015, 05:34:23 AM
Quote from: farin on December 23, 2015, 05:32:50 AM
Thanks guys for arrangement, congrats winners and happy xmas to all :)

Thank you for making it all possible with JCloisterZone! :)

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you and family...
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: Jéré on December 23, 2015, 06:05:56 AM

Quote from: SRBO on December 22, 2015, 02:41:15 PM
Can you make a seperate topic of current elo ratings?

Yes, this is certainly something to consider.

I already thought of a way to share my Elo spreadsheet via Google Drive or something similar but it is enormous and not easy to read. So a dedicated thread with more frequent updates could be a solution.

Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: MrNumbers on February 08, 2017, 10:25:27 AM
Quote from: danisthirty on December 21, 2015, 05:34:13 AM
There will be a small prize/ memento for everyone who took part. There will also be other spot prizes which are yet to be announced (other than the "first group to finish" prize). So, if you've received something from me in the past then you will receive something from me again (unless you've changed your address - please let me know if this is the case!) Otherwise, expect to receive a PM from me sometime soon asking for your address; I promise you'll get something before Christmas (*)... :@

Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2016! :D
Dan
:blue-meeple:

(*) Christmas 2016
Christmas 2016 is in the past, but I can't recall I have received something in my postbox ::)
Title: Re: 2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage
Post by: danisthirty on February 08, 2017, 02:46:16 PM
Thanks MrNumbers, I've corrected that typo now.

Quote from: danisthirty on June 01, 2016, 02:32:58 PM
6. 2015 World Cup (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2012)
This is the single item on my "to do" list that I am most embarrassed about as it's been getting on for a year since this tournament finished and I still have a big box of stuff to send out to people (this doesn't include the trophy which was sent directly from Carcking to Merlin_89 I believe). :-[ Hopefully it will prove to have been worth waiting for when I do eventually send it all out.

I do have some stuff to send out, I just need to sort out who gets what, package it all up and take it to the post office. And find about £80 for the postage.