I do have 1 question regarding question #24: is the majority of meeples in the vicinity of the Darmstadt church always decided at the beginning of scoring? Because I thought red could choose the order of scoring as active player, and thought it would be more interesting to score it as the last feature because the blue meeples in its vicinity would already be gone, thus earning the red player the 3-point bonus.
I just analysed more in depths my answer and the correct answer to question 24 and now I also have the exact same question as KBellon 
There is no clarification that establishes when the majority should be calculated for the Darmstadt church bonus, but for the sake of consistency, it should happen before any feature is scored and their meeples removed. This way, no matter the order of scoring, the outcome will be the same.
This is based on the non-written principle of coherence and stability of the scoring process: no matter the order of scoring, the results should be same. This is obvious in the base game, but can this be the same when adding more and more expansions that affect the scoring sequence? Let me elaborate...
WARNING: This is a long digression about the scoring process but I think it may be interesting to discuss. Some of this ideas are important for a more general Order of Play.
The rules of Carcassonne are not very explicit about how the scoring sequence should be conducted. Players will follow an arbitrary sequence when multiple scorings are triggered by a single tile placement. But determining this sequence may be conditioned by certain expansions. Not all sequences may be valid, or some of them may produce inconsistent outcomes. And there is no arbitration role defined for the scoring sequence in case of conflict or any clarification to help resolve this (only the Barber-Surgeons attribute this role to the active player when deciding what meeples are sent to bathhouses if the decision may involve several players).
To make things worse, some expansions state that each player will score their features in their preferred order to meet certain conditions (maximazing their own gain and/or minimazing the gain of their opponents).
There are many expansions that add new constraints or dependencies to the usual scoring process but not all race conditions or side effectes are clarified:
A) The Watchtowers: A watchower bonus must be scored before the associated feature as per the rules, but watchtowers scoring for meeples may depend on unrelated features completed by the same tile placement.
B) The Toolkeepers: Tollhouses should be scored before the associated completed roads.
C) Castles triggered by multiple features or even other castles define a series of dependencies to be considered during the scoring sequence.
D) Mini #2 - The Messengers: This expansion instructs players to choose the order of scoring of their features and the scoring figue to use in order to receive messages. This expansion may be combined with Mini #6, increasing the decision factors.
E) Mini #6 - The Robbers: This expansion instructs players to choose the order of scoring of their features to control what points may be robbed by other players. This expansion may be combined with Mini #2, increasing the decision factors.
F) Darmstadt Promo: Completed Darmstadt churches grant a bonus to the players with the majority in their vicinity. This may involve meeples on other features completed by the same tile placement.
G) The School: Players may decide the order of their scorings to control what points may receive the player with the Teacher.
H) The Barber-Surgeons: The active player may decide the order of scoring in order to send one or more meeples to free bathhouses.
I) Exp. 10 - Under the Big Top: All features are scored and their meeples removed before the big top is scored.
J) Exp. 6 - Count, King & Robber: Players may deploy meeples from Cacassonne to completed features
K) Markets of Leipzig: Players may send meeples to Leipzig, affecting the scoring of roads sending meeples and the features associated with various districts in the city.
Therefore, a complex scenario may combine implicit contraints dictated by meeples redeployments (J, K), feature dependencies (A, B, C, F, I), decisions made by the owner of the features (D, E, G), and decisions made by the active player (H). If you followed an arbitrary sequence: pick a feature - score - remove meeple - repeat, you may find several issues:
- Scoring castles before some features triggering them (C)
- Side effects caused by meeples added and removed in different orders: sending meeples to Leipzig (K), deploying meeples from Carcassonne (J), watchtowers scoring for meeples (A), Darmstadt churches (F), big top scoring (I)...
Getting all this to work together may drive someone nuts. We should pursue a scoring process where all the different contraints can be combined freely and reach a consistent result: No side effects when scoring features as in the base game, while in full control of any constraints to be consider or any actions triggered.
We always try to resolve all this with one single loop. However, this may no work in complex cases. I always envision the scoring process as several loops back to back in the most complex scenarios:
1. Detecting the completed features and other features to be scored
- Small cities converted into castles do not participate in the scoring
2. Sending meeples to Leipzig
- Determining the majority in the roads connected to Leipzig
- Redeploying meeples from selected roads to Leipzig
3. Redeploying meeples from Carcassonne to features to be scored
4. Evaluating features (calculate points only)
- Evaluating the majority for all features (some may have been affected by actions in 2 and 3)
- Determining the sequence of evaluation due to dependencies (watchtowers, tollhouses, triggered castles...)
- Calculating the points each bonus and feature is worth (the points evaluation as a sequence of scoring events to be noted by each player)
5. Noting the points on the scoreboard (the actual scoring loop)
- Each player notes their scoring events according to their preferred sequence:
- Each player uses the scoring figure of their preference to note their points (one, or two if playing with Mini #2 - The Messengers)
- Robbers steal points according to the scorings performed (if playing with Mini #6 - The Robbers)
6. Sending meeples to bathhouses (with the arebitration of the active player if needed)
7. Wagons are moved and the remaining meeples invoved in the scoring are removed
8. Distributing gold ingots
9. Flipping over tollhouse tokens as needed
10. Scoring of the big top.
- Robbers steal points according to the scorings performed (if playing with Mini #6 - The Robbers)
11. Receiving messages by the active player according to the last position of their scoring figures moved during this turn.
- Robbers steal points according to the scorings performed (if playing with Mini #6 - The Robbers)
12. Sending meeples to Carcassonne
Note the following:
- Loop 4 (Evaluation) determines the majority to be considered in each scoring (including the Darmstadt bonus) using a frozen snapshot of the gam. No points are noted on the scoreboard, no meeples are removed. It also handles the sequence required for calculating points (constraints defined by feature dependencies A, B, C, and F).
- Loop 5 (Points noting) handles the decisions made by feature owners (D, E, G). The separation between Loops 4 and 5 decouples mandatory feature-contraints from player-driven decisions, avoiding race conditions and making the outcome consistent.
In simpler cases, most of these loops, if not all, can be merged into one. Only when race conditions may impact the scoring process, you may need to split the scoring loop into stages.
This way you may control situations where one meeple may affect multiple scorings (e.g. the Darmstadt church bonus or a watchtower scoring for meeples). The scoring process should rely on a snapshot of the game configuration and run away from any volatility that would require negotiations or arbitrations between the players beyond those detailed in the rules.
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November 14, 2022, 01:44:55 AM