Carc Central Community > Strategy Guide
Tactical Tuesday -- Week 04
kothmann:
--- Quote from: Bumsakalaka on September 29, 2021, 01:44:38 PM ---(idea was let to know, that online game in 5.x branch is HERE!)
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Are there detailed instructions for playing online? I would like to connect with my family for a game.
danisthirty:
Thanks for this series kothmann. I would have loved to have been more involved from the start if I'd been aware that these strategically minded posts were being made, but I haven't been visiting the forums so much lately. Anyway, here are my thoughts which I jotted down as I went through the options:
A feels like a waste of a meeple at this stage. 4 of the rrrx tiles have already gone, so my main reason for placing here would be to hinder red and black, I certainly wouldn't place a meeple.
B also feels like a bad move. It's high risk, and fairly low reward since the other farm is larger and has more points of entry.
C is possibly my favourite (so far - I'm writing this as I go through the options) as it's attacking the most valuable farm and has two routes onto it, one of which red and black will have to help out with if they want to finish their roads, the other might be assisted by black if he extends his road adjacent to his farmer.
D feels a lot better than A in that it hinders red and black without risking a meeple. I would be looking to get a share of the big farm at this point though so C is still my favourite.
E is similar to C although it prioritises the secondary route onto the farm via black's road. There isn't much between them, but I think I still prefer C as it blocks grey from getting onto the farm which would be achieved by red and black joining their roads together.
F doesn't seem like a good option to me as it's easily thwarted by another player pointing a road towards the join, but even if it's successful I struggle to see a shared road with black as a priority at this point whereas the farm really could make all the difference.
G doesn't seem great either. It reduces black's chances of extending his road slightly, but if I was looking to take a 2-point road with growth potential at this point I'd go for the east branch off the rrrr tile as it creates an opportunity to hinder black's city at the top.
H is a decent choice, although I don't entirely like the idea of setting grey up to take some easy points by adding to the road. An alternative might be to place it above the tile it's below so that it can join in the gap immediately to the left with a common tile like a ffrr or the remaining fffr. That's easily blocked though, so on second thoughts I probably agree that it's better to give away a couple of points to grey if an attack on the farm is to be launched from here.
I is better than G in my opinion because of the opportunity it creates to attack black's city, but it's still not my preferred option.
Having seen all the options, it's between C and H for me. However, I choose C because it hinders every other player. Black and red are hindered by their road needing a rrrx to complete it rather than just a rrxx, and grey is hindered because it prevents his farm merging onto the main one. H is still good, but it doesn't hinder black or red and leaves grey with a nice opportunity to extend his road, and still reach the main farm.
--- Quote from: kothmann on September 29, 2021, 10:42:48 AM ---... it seems that Black will almost always re-invade the field (add a second farmer) from wherever Yellow didn't. In other words, if Yellow chose H, Black chooses either E or @unclewill's J. My notion that Yellow would still be able to enter the field from the east ("this field is still pretty open...") seems to be quite wrong, because I had a hard time adding a second Yellow farmer. I could do it eventually, but Black could also add a 3rd, etc...
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I think it's hard to say what might happen next as it will always be dictated based on what the tiles will allow. But if an all-out farm war were to erupt between black and yellow and both players were a similar standard I'd have my money on yellow taking it outright simply because black has more meeples committed elsewhere and will need to commit turns to these if he wishes to get them back rather than focussing purely on the farm like yellow can afford to do. Yellow may have to work to create some opportunities to get 2nd (3rd/ 4th...) farmers onto it, but it still looks to me as though there should be plenty of opportunities to do so.
Bumsakalaka:
--- Quote from: danisthirty on September 30, 2021, 01:53:31 AM ---I is better than G in my opinion because of the opportunity it creates to attack black's city, but it's still not my preferred option.
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Problem is, that you open it for your opponents, because between this turn and next your turn are also Red and Grey on turn.
Also Black can "save" his possition with CCRR file. (I'm not telling that it is good or bad move, but it's possible).
Anyway, nice explenation of each option. +1 merit to me. (was simmillar in my mind)
kothmann:
--- Quote from: danisthirty on September 30, 2021, 01:53:31 AM ---I would have loved to have been more involved from the start if I'd been aware that these strategically minded posts were being made , but I haven't been visiting the forums so much lately.
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.
Welcome back. So glad you found it!
--- Quote ---B …high risk, and fairly low reward
C is … attacking the most valuable farm
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I see the risk of B, but I’m not clear on how to evaluate a farm at this stage. Both farms are currently worth 6, and obviously the lower farm is very likely to connect to the other football city. But Yellow has strong motivation to complete the city cap at [-1;1], so then both farms would be 9. And Gray has incentive to complete the city in the west, which would further increase the value of the Gray farm. Is it just that the lower farm looks easier to grow in the east, as part of the war with Black for control? I have the feeling this is one of those things that you just learn to recognize with experience?
--- Quote ---[when Yellow chooses C]…grey is hindered because it prevents his farm merging onto the main one.
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When Yellow invades the lower field, it is with the expectation of committing 2 or 3 meeples to winning the lower farm? So why not promote a merger and win the whole thing? I think this is why most responses favor H over C? (If Yellow goes that route, they want to be sure to close off their upper farm to prevent it from merging, since all the cities are also in what is currently Gray’s farm?)
--- Quote ---…if an all-out farm war were to erupt…
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I think this is the challenge for me—being too averse to a farm war. It feels like a lose-lose proposition in a 4-player game, and I can’t tell when it is okay to risk a war—in other words, I have difficulty judging “what the tiles will allow.”
I think my current philosophy is: avoid farm conflicts early; make my own farms difficult to invade and relatively small so they aren’t an attractive target; and prevent other farms from merging or growing to be huge, so that my opponents won’t be willing to place a 2nd farmer preemptively. And then pick a farm or two to invade near the end, when my opponent can’t or won’t prevent me from sharing the farm points. But of course you can’t always achieve these goals.
--- Quote ---…black has more meeples committed elsewhere…
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Interesting.
Thanks again to everyone who replied for very thought-provoking ideas.
Week 05 in the works…
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