A Parlour Game Diversion - Carcassonne Endgame

[Gerry]

Red and Black are in a competition where points are awarded for the win plus bonus points are awarded for the margin of the win.

Current score has Red 135 and Black 100, Red currently enjoys a commanding 35 point lead.

Black has the last tile to play (in Cell A1) and has 1 meeple left (in Cell A2).

The Mayor Meeple has a shield shape on the chest – as in JCloister
The Big Meeple has II on the chest

Black currently has a meeple advantage on 2 cities, one with several pennants and one with a Cathedral.

Which city does Black complete to ensure his best possible score.

Give the Cell grid reference, and state how the tile is used.

What is the final score including post game scoring

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=1354.0

[Decar]

Here's my punt:

Placing the tile on 6C and place black's last meeple as farmer:

Road with Inn of length 13 is completed for: 26.  Wagon moves to Cloister.
Red completes City for 8.

Game closes:
Cloister with Wagon scores 8.

Farm with 4 completed cities scores: 12 for black.

So Black's score for playing is: 26(city) + 8(cloister) + 12(farm) -8(Red's City) = 38Points


I think:
Playing 3H scores black: 28(city) + 3(farm) = 31.
Playing 10D scores black: 27(city) + 6(farm) =  33.

How did I do?

EDIT: I have switched font size to 1 so that comment is still "available" but isn't obvious unless you copy and paste it...

[danisthirty]

Excellent work Gerry! Merit for this! 

This is exactly what I was hoping to achieve with the CKT section of the newsletter but after 2 or 3 months I started to run out of ideas. This is a great little puzzle, and I love how you kept it relatively simple too.

Would you be interested in taking over the CKT section from me and putting something like this together on a monthly basis Gerry?

EDIT: I agree with Decar's solution 

[MrNumbers]

Yes, it looks like 6C with farmer on it is the best option.
Final score:  - 153,  - 159.

EDIT: Font size reduced to 1

[Fritz_Spinne]

Is the wagon on C3 on a completed road?

[danisthirty]

Is the wagon on C3 on a completed road?

No. The tile at C5 does not complete the road.

[Gerry]

Well done Decar, thanks for the interest and taking the time to work it out.

It was nice to see that the obvious move of completing one of the cities was avoided. 

Understanding how the wagon can be exploited adds a valuable dimension to the game.

When competitions (like the one just reported from Barcelona) are held using the basic game tiles do they just use standard followers? I can understand restricting the number of tiles to limit playing time but adding or substituting the Builder and the Wagon for regular followers would make the game more challenging.

When we bought the Traders or Inns or Abbey it was probably the new tile designs that caught our eye at first but it was the new Meeples (and much more fundamentally  important – the rules that came with them) that makes this game endure.

I just wish there was a way to post the question then lock down the topic so that people would not see others answers straight away.

 To keep answers hidden for a day or so to give more people a chance to respond would be nice.

[danisthirty]

I've "hidden" the answers posted above by modifying them to reduce the font size to 1. This means they are still available to read, but you have to copy and paste them (or have really good eyesight) to read them. This was the best I could think of at short notice...

When competitions (like the one just reported from Barcelona) are held using the basic game tiles do they just use standard followers? I can understand restricting the number of tiles to limit playing time but adding or substituting the Builder and the Wagon for regular followers would make the game more challenging.

As far as I'm aware, yes they do. Unless it's some kind of special competition, I think most official tournaments are base game only for various reasons. I like the elegant simplicity of the base game only but am aware that not everyone feels the same, hence that the "expansion league" tournaments will be included amongst our online competitions next year...

[Gerry]

whatever happened to the good old "answers on a postcard please" format that the BBC used to use when I was growing up.   

[danisthirty]

I was never really sure what they meant by this as I only ever sent postcards after going on holiday. Did they want me to go on holiday simply to enter a competition to win a cuddly dog and one of 10 trips to a soap factory in Coventry? No thanks...

Needless to say, I never entered any of them although my nextdoor neighbour - Gary - came 2nd or 3rd in a Kids TV competition where you had to paint a picture inspired by Jimbo and the Jetset.

How about asking people to respond by PM only? That's what I do with the CKT in the newsletter. Speaking of which... any interest?

[MrNumbers]

I've "hidden" the answers posted above by modifying them to reduce the font size to 1. This means they are still available to read, but you have to copy and paste them (or have really good eyesight) to read them. This was the best I could think of at short notice...

This solution doesn't work in mobile browsers: in Opera Mobile I still see a normal text.

[danisthirty]

I've "hidden" the answers posted above by modifying them to reduce the font size to 1. This means they are still available to read, but you have to copy and paste them (or have really good eyesight) to read them. This was the best I could think of at short notice...

This solution doesn't work in mobile browsers: in Opera Mobile I still see a normal text.

Can you read the text below (I changed the font colour to white):

Dan is really cool.

[Gerry]

I was never really sure what they meant by this as I only ever sent postcards after going on holiday. Did they want me to go on holiday simply to enter a competition to win a cuddly dog and one of 10 trips to a soap factory in Coventry? No thanks...

It was actually a very good idea.  It forced everyone to answer using a standard format that did not have to be opened so they could easily scan for correct answers and the card was rigid enough that all answers could just be thrown into a large box and one or more could be picked out at random to choose a winner.

Very low tech but also very effective and it kept that postman you are so very fond of in business.

[Gerry]

I can read the white text  - It says

Dan is really a fool     

[Decar]

Sorry beginner's faux pas   - I did wonder about spoiling the puzzle for others. 

I'll reduce the font size in the future!

[spoiler]Some forums use spoiler tags[/spoiler]
Might be worth considering? -- http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/?mod=195

Also, I think this puzzle is a great example of good times to complete an opponent's city.