Carcassonne Central

Carc Central Community => General => Topic started by: danisthirty on September 26, 2018, 07:33:58 AM

Title: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on September 26, 2018, 07:33:58 AM
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your invitation to take part in a unique Carcassonne experience as a community, where we will share our thoughts/ experience on what best to do with each tile that we get to place in a 4-player game of Carcassonne with no expansions. :blue-meeple: :green-meeple: :red-meeple: :yellow-meeple:

All you need to do is follow this thread and contribute with your thoughts on what you'd do if you were in the position that we find ourselves in with each tile that we get to place. I'll track scores and will post what our opponents do with each update of the developing landscape, with the intention of collectively outwitting them all to win the game! ;)

My hope is that it will be something a bit fun that we can all contribute towards and potentially learn from by understanding the thought processes going on inside the heads of others when we're all faced with the same decisions to make. If we can't agree on what best to do with our turn then we'll settle it through a vote, but I'm looking forward to seeing how things turn out and considering different options to those that I'd normally consider when playing by myself.

Please ask if you have any questions. Otherwise you can expect a screenshot of the starting position to be posted here very soon, so have your thinking caps at the ready! C:-) :(y)
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: TheSteveAllen on September 26, 2018, 07:37:41 AM
An excellent idea Dan. I hope that this gets plenty of interest.  :(y)
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on September 26, 2018, 07:40:42 AM
An excellent idea Dan. I hope that this gets plenty of interest.  :(y)

Thanks TheSteve, so do I! I think it could be quite an eye-opening experience for all of us, and a great place for newer players to begin to appreciate some of the strategy that isn't always immediately obvious.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Rich_The_Fish on September 26, 2018, 08:02:49 AM
Strategy - I thought you just needed to build a map complete with no holes?!
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on September 26, 2018, 08:04:40 AM
Strategy - I thought you just needed to build a map complete with no holes?!

:P

Only in the advanced rules.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Rich_The_Fish on September 26, 2018, 08:06:31 AM



emoji code14]

Only in the advanced rules.

Thought that was using farmers
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: TheSteveAllen on September 26, 2018, 08:16:28 AM



emoji code14]

Only in the advanced rules.

Thought that was using farmers
Those are the optional rules Rich. Not the advanced.  >:D
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: wolnic on September 26, 2018, 08:55:36 AM
So, will that be one tile per day, or variable when a consensus is reached?
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: wolnic on September 26, 2018, 08:56:36 AM
And isn't the starting position already known?
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on September 26, 2018, 09:01:37 AM
So, will that be one tile per day, or variable when a consensus is reached?

I would prefer to leave longer than just one day per turn, but we'll see what the uptake is like. I expect the best placement in some situations to be more obvious than others, so I don't expect the same amount of discussion with each and every turn.

And isn't the starting position already known?

The starting position is known assuming we are the first player to take a turn as the starting tile will be the only tile on the table. But since we could end up being the 2nd, 3rd or 4th to place a tile the exact starting position isn't yet known, and won't be until the game begins!
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Rich_The_Fish on September 26, 2018, 09:35:14 AM
I like the sound of this Dan, good idea
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Halfling on September 26, 2018, 10:26:13 AM
Will you press gang leven, merlin, MrNumbers et al. That way you can learn too Dan!  >:D
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on September 26, 2018, 10:29:27 AM
It's funny you should say that as I was thinking of giving them and Jere a shout to see if they'll join in too. Can't guarantee they'll share any of their secrets with us but I'm sure they'd have some very valuable contributions to make between them.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Valheru on September 26, 2018, 11:59:17 AM
FAntastic idea. Looking forward to see it develop using the Hive mind!
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: wolnic on September 26, 2018, 01:05:55 PM

The starting position is known assuming we are the first player to take a turn as the starting tile will be the only tile on the table. But since we could end up being the 2nd, 3rd or 4th to place a tile the exact starting position isn't yet known, and won't be until the game begins!

Oh, I thought we were going to analyse and decide for every tile, switching between the colours. So, the team will decide for one colour and we don't know which yet? That was also the reason I asked about the number of days per tile, as it would be around 70 days to completion if we analysed the placement of every tile.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Hproctor1478 on September 26, 2018, 02:48:33 PM
This sounds like so much fun.  I can’t wait to see how everyone thinks about placement!



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Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Halfling on September 27, 2018, 09:19:32 AM
Will JCZ be used to decide tile order?
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on September 29, 2018, 08:13:19 AM
Quite right wolnic. Deciding how to place every tile would seem too much like a solo project, and could take a very long time to complete the game as you pointed out.

We would just be playing as one player (blue) against 3 AI players who won't be reading this thread or getting any insight into whatever plans we may be making.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Rich_The_Fish on September 29, 2018, 08:15:48 AM
 emoji code1]
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 02, 2018, 02:20:38 AM
OK, we're ready to go...

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/CollabCarc_Turn1.jpg)

The playing order was determined randomly (:red-meeple: :green-meeple: :yellow-meeple: :blue-meeple:), and we drew the short straw by going last :( The main drawback here being that we get one turn less than the other players (17 tiles to place rather than 18).

So our starting position is pictured above and it's quite an interesting one! I see 7 places we could put our somewhat uninspiring frfr tile, but 4 of them serve mostly to give points to Green or Yellow for little to no worthwhile benefit so it's probably best to avoid those. The other option (immediately to the west of the green meeple) just seems like a waste of a turn though, which isn't necessarily a bad thing given the circumstance but I feel like more can be done.

So then, down to business. I think my preferred placement is immediately north of the yellow meeple, and to claim the road with the hope of joining to Yellow's road and eventually completing it for 6 points each. It isn't a significant feature at this stage of the game, but if it does get completed it gives us and Yellow a nice little boost over Red and Green hence why I think it's worth the investment. Plus of course, at this stage of the game it's likely/ possible that others will add to our road as a consequence of them placing their own tiles, purely because of the limited placement opportunities.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours? There are no right or wrong answers, as long as you can justify your preference based on what we can see in front of us so have a look, have a think, and post away! :) :(y)
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: wolnic on October 02, 2018, 02:44:42 AM
Given the limited number of times a meeple can be used in a 4-player game, is it worth placing it with a farmer on it, even at this early stage? For example, extending green's road down and placing the meeple on the field with the part city in it, as this opens up scope to extend the field later.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: TheSteveAllen on October 02, 2018, 02:45:38 AM
My immediate thought would be to place it to the west of the green meeple and claim the road. This means that another placement of a tile to the north would restrict the possibility of red completing the city even further, leading to possible entrapment, along with adding a boundary to the size of the field in the centre.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 02, 2018, 03:32:41 AM
Thanks for the suggestions wolnic and Steve!

Suggested options so far:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/20181001_234850.jpg)

I won't usually place a farmer on a 0-point farm unless I intend for him to glom onto something more valuable, but there's definitely scope for this field to grow and it could pay to have an early farmer down.

I also like what Steve has suggested in terms of trying to shut Red down a bit. There's no guarantee that others will take the bait and tighten the trap of course, and there's even a risk that our road here could be pointed into the city and a cfrf gap created immediately to the west of Red's meeple. Even if this did happen however, the other end could still be extended to add points.

What do others think?
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Maj. Frost on October 02, 2018, 03:39:55 AM
+1 For Wolnic
I would follow the same logic, but putting it right of green, just under yellow.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 02, 2018, 03:48:00 AM
+1 For Wolnic
I would follow the same logic, but putting it right of green, just under yellow.

:(y)

Why there rather than on the other side though? Maybe it isn't of concern, but I think it is kinder to Green by placing the tile under Yellow's meeple as he has a better chance of joining his road to Yellow's road here.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Rosco on October 02, 2018, 04:18:52 AM
No need for kindness in my opinion.  I would go with option 1.  I wouldn't add to someone else's road at this stage and Steve's option risks entrapment of our meeple.

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Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: TheSteveAllen on October 02, 2018, 04:19:43 AM
I am doing this quickly while I am at work, so I am distracted a little. However, I see that red is to play next, and he is being forced to play onto the city this time around to avoid getting trapped. He has 25 possible tiles that will go there CFRR x 3, CCFF x 5+2, CCCF x 4, CFCF x 3+3 and CFFF x 5. Of these we have 3 that leave us with a road for the next tile to the north and 10 leaving us with a city. I he gets any other tile, we have another chance to trap the red meeple.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Decar on October 02, 2018, 06:00:43 AM
id play below the start tile and look to share the road with green
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Jéré on October 02, 2018, 06:19:35 AM
Thanks for your email Dan, I'm now "watching" the thread.

Without looking at the other proposals my choice was option 1. What I usually try to do in a 4-player game is to build a feature with another player to share the points, and really hope this other player will not try to fight for the majority (can happen with inexperienced or AI players)

Yes, an early farmer is always an option in a 4-player game but the current situation does not convince me to go down that path. Early does not necessarily mean the very first turn for me.

I would not extent somebody else's feature either unless it would allow me to place a farmer to tie/win a large field or similar situation where I could join/close a large feature.

Not related to current situation but worth mentioning: Monasteries are very valuable in 4-player games.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Halfling on October 02, 2018, 07:56:13 AM
Either option 1 or Decar's option 4. I will want to glom into the road of the opponent I fear most. Too early for farming in my opinion.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: cletus81 on October 02, 2018, 08:06:06 AM
Either option 1 or Decar's option 4. I will want to glom into the road of the opponent I fear most. Too early for farming in my opinion.
I do agree with you, those two options are pretty much equivalent.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: oosie on October 02, 2018, 11:25:31 AM
By far most of my Carcassonne games have been one-on-one games and mostly against the same opponent. In that regard we've always been a fan of an early farmer (option 2) and an aggressive play style (option 3). However, I'm not sure due to the lack of experience in 4 player games if that's a good approach. I'd be content with option 1 and 4 as well. They are equally good.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Decar on October 02, 2018, 11:35:57 AM
On detailed reflection, I don't think the south option is as good.  It's easier for another player to place an awkward city and possibly trap a meeple (or two).

I feel the North approach leaves a little more room to move.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: TheSteveAllen on October 02, 2018, 11:54:44 AM
Having taken a good look at my solution, which relies heavily on Red being into self-preservation, I had not considered the real possibility of him getting a FFFF cloister, which would mean that we would almost certainly get trapped by one of the other players by simply getting a FFRR aimed at the city. I therefore think that option 1 is the way to go.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Hproctor1478 on October 02, 2018, 12:42:00 PM
I think option 1 is our best way to go.  I think it’s too soon to start farming.


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Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Maj. Frost on October 02, 2018, 12:55:16 PM
Finally, I will know what is going on in Decar's head.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Decar on October 02, 2018, 01:39:30 PM
Finally, I will know what is going on in Decar's head.

Just what i wanted you to think  8)
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 03, 2018, 03:38:33 AM
Thanks for your thoughts and responses everyone! It's great to see so many people involved and taking part, and I'm especially enjoying seeing how other people's responses differ to my own :)

It sounds as though option 1 is the favoured approach here so I'll make this play later today and then post the updated situation once the others have drawn their tiles and responded. Stay tuned!
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Maj. Frost on October 03, 2018, 03:55:07 AM
What kind of drink is next to the tiles? I would like to know what we are drinking.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 03, 2018, 03:58:36 AM
What kind of drink is next to the tiles? I would like to know what we are drinking.

It was a glass of Jura (Scotch Whisky) if I remember correctly. If that isn't to your tastes I can take requests for the next photo? :o :(y)
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 03, 2018, 01:13:37 PM
OK, so this is what happened...

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/CollabCarc_Turn2.jpg)

Whose stupid idea was it to try and share that road with Yellow?! >:( :yellow-meeple: :@ :(n)

So, Red is carrying on with his city nicely and stands to win himself a tidy 8 points if he can complete it with a city cap on his next turn. That's a concern, but there's nothing we can do to hinder him with this tile, although we can create an opportunity for someone else to hinder him by placing it immediately to the west of Green's city. Another reason for doing this is that we could point the road downwards which would prevent Yellow from getting two meeples onto that road. It would also cut us out of the more valuable part of the road however. The bigger risk with this is that Red might very easily extend his city and leave a road pointing into the rrrx gap we'd be leaving. This would make it an rrrr gap, and since that tile's already gone we would not be getting our blue meeple back (or the meeple we put on the cloister if we choose to claim it). So that's one option, with several subsequent options regarding which way the road faces and whether or not we claim the cloister.

Another option is to place it in on Green's road immediately East of the starting tile and claim the cloister. We'd be giving a point away to Green but it's 5 points straight off and the cloister looks like it would stand a good chance of being completed. That's another option, albeit one which ignores the threat of Red's city and Yellow winning the road overall. Maybe we're not so fussed about those though? This is probably my favoured option, but I'd be secretly hoping that Green would extend his city and point a road downwards into the space where Yellow is trying to get his second meeple onto the road in the process...

A third option might be to place it next to the rrrr that Yellow claimed and take a quick 2 points for the road. If we were to do this I'd recommend taking the east-facing branch rather than the south-facing branch as it the former would provide an opportunity to stop Yellow from getting his second meeple onto that road if we pointed another road junction towards where he intends to join his second meeple. If he joins it quickly then this wouldn't matter anyway, but it's certainly worth thinking about.

Over to you guys. What's the plan?
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: oosie on October 03, 2018, 01:23:34 PM
I think I would go for the cloister and give green the 1 point as suggested by Dan. It also creates a potentially bigger field for farming (that's the early-farmer in me speaking again) which we might want to keep an eye on.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: TheSteveAllen on October 03, 2018, 02:19:59 PM
My immediate thoughts for consideration are to place to the west of green's city with the road pointing west and take the cloister.

The reasons are that this would help to avoid our road meeple getting trapped, as yellow will be trying to fill the gap with FRRX, of which there are plenty. If red extends the city then the two worst possibilities are a road to the east, needing FRRR (4 left) and a a city to the east (neither red nor yellow would do this), needing CFRR (3 left) All other extensions to the city that red can make leaves us and yellow FFRR (8 left) to rescue the potential trapped meeples. The reason for claiming the cloister is that it is in all player's interests for different reasons, to place tiles around this tile in order to rescue potential entrapments.

Green would be the only opponent that would benefit from spoiling this by extending red's city and leaving us a CFRR, and he would probably be concentrating on extending his own city or, at least, making it safer, rather than messing about with red's.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Rosco on October 03, 2018, 02:59:46 PM
To me the only option is to add to greens road and take the cloister.  With a 4 player game you have to take the most points you can when you can as you don't have that many opportunities.  Preventing trappage of our other meeple is not a bad idea but we risk a lot and gain very little.

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Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: wolnic on October 03, 2018, 04:56:14 PM
That was also my first thought when I saw the setup this time.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Hproctor1478 on October 03, 2018, 05:55:57 PM
I agree that my 1st thought was place it on greens road and take the cloister.  I think that is our best option, to score the most points.


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Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Halfling on October 03, 2018, 11:35:39 PM
Taking the cloister to the east of the start tile is a no brainer for me. 

Blue +5, Green +1, Red and yellow +0
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Decar on October 04, 2018, 12:03:00 AM
Thought to use it to prevent yellow from nabbing the road. However the RRRR tile is out, so I think we'd be waiting for the necessary XRRR tile to come out.

Score the 5pts with the cloister, there's a good chance it'll be finished, though disappointing no one will help you on future turns.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Sinscerly on October 04, 2018, 12:08:58 AM
I would have chosen the option next to the right side of greens road to :)

Best point / busy place at the board with most points to instant grab. Hopefully you can start a road on the right side of it then and by that completing the cloister over the game. Also a lot of options to place stuff to your cloister are still there.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Jéré on October 04, 2018, 12:19:12 AM
Another option is to be mad at yellow for this vicious attempt to steal the road... and rage quit by flipping the table...

But for now we could just place and claim the monastery in that sweet spot and make green happy too.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Decar on October 04, 2018, 12:23:38 AM
Another option is to be mad at yellow for this vicious attempt to steal the road... and rage quit by flipping the table...

Don't give Dan too many ideas!
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 04, 2018, 02:38:23 AM
Another option is to be mad at yellow for this vicious attempt to steal the road... and rage quit by flipping the table...

Don't give Dan too many ideas!

That's a great suggestion, and I'm somewhat annoyed I didn't think of it myself. Especially since it's a favourite tactic of mine.

With any luck Green will extend his city eastwards and point a road south into the gap in the process making it impossible for Yellow to get his second meeple on. This said, it's often useful to help one opponent to steal points from another if a feature is otherwise shared. Who wants :yellow-meeple: and :blue-meeple: to get 6 points each when you can stuff :blue-meeple: over and give all the points to :yellow-meeple:? (who apart from :blue-meeple: anyway)
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: oosie on October 04, 2018, 04:48:08 AM
Another option is to be mad at yellow for this vicious attempt to steal the road... and rage quit by flipping the table...

Don't give Dan too many ideas!

That's a great suggestion, ...

A great suggestion indeed. Especially as there doesn't seem to be a drink on the table this time that could be the victim of the tableflip!  8)
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 04, 2018, 03:52:18 PM
I know I said there were no right and wrong answers when I started this thread, but in this situation with Yellow being greedy and trying to keep his road for himself there really was only one thing to do. Anything else would have been wrong.

Thanks for your suggestion Jéré; here is the situation immediately after our turn:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/CollabCarc_Turn3.jpg)

The way I look at it we have three options:

1) Remain seated and try to look calm while the other players pick up all the tiles and meeples and quietly pack the game away. When we're on speaking terms with everyone else again we can point out that Carcassonne is a stupid game anyway, and isn't fun with more than two players.

2) We could do the opposite to 1 and go on a violent rampage, perhaps even setting fire to the table, tiles and meeples. Personally I'm not really built for violence, and there's a risk we may have to interrupt the flow of violence to borrow a lighter from someone if we go ahead with burning the table, so this isn't a favoured option for me.

3) Stand up so aggressively that our chair falls over and then storm out, never to play Carcassonne again. This works for me, although it could be embarrassing if we later remember that we were playing at home with the wife and kids and will have to return at some point.

Any other suggestions?
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 05, 2018, 12:56:05 AM
Alright. Fine. Here's what really happened, you nutters:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/CollabCarc_Turn3b.jpg)

 :P
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Jéré on October 05, 2018, 12:59:25 AM
I know I said there were no right and wrong answers when I started this thread, but in this situation with Yellow being greedy and trying to keep his road for himself there really was only one thing to do. Anything else would have been wrong.

Thanks for your suggestion Jéré; here is the situation immediately after our turn:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/CollabCarc_Turn3.jpg)

The way I look at it we have three options:

1) Remain seated and try to look calm while the other players pick up all the tiles and meeples and quietly pack the game away. When we're on speaking terms with everyone else again we can point out that Carcassonne is a stupid game anyway, and isn't fun with more than two players.

2) We could do the opposite to 1 and go on a violent rampage, perhaps even setting fire to the table, tiles and meeples. Personally I'm not really built for violence, and there's a risk we may have to interrupt the flow of violence to borrow a lighter from someone if we go ahead with burning the table, so this isn't a favoured option for me.

3) Stand up so aggressively that our chair falls over and then storm out, never to play Carcassonne again. This works for me, although it could be embarrassing if we later remember that we were playing at home with the wife and kids and will have to return at some point.

Any other suggestions?

4) Press UNDO!
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Jéré on October 05, 2018, 01:03:09 AM
Alright. Fine. Here's what really happened, you nutters:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/CollabCarc_Turn3b.jpg)

 :P

I would definitely claim the field with that one, below the monastery.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: TheSteveAllen on October 05, 2018, 01:52:59 AM
Sorry to be boring this time around. I will have to put my 'maverick' status on ice this time. I agree with Jéré, as that farm is getting too large to miss out on.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 05, 2018, 02:12:48 AM
A farmer of all things?! Whatever next!

I would probably have placed this below the cloister and claimed the city segment on the east side as it's more likely to complete than the city on the west side. The risk with this is that someone expands my new city northwards leaving a rxcf gap immediately to the east of our cloister. If someone else then points a city or a field into the open side of that gap we'd lose two meeples (one in the city and one in the cloister) which would be a bit disappointing, so the farm idea is perhaps better.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: wolnic on October 05, 2018, 02:16:39 AM
I'm just waiting for green to put a corner road tile above that red meeple on the road, to tie up all those meeples for the rest of the game
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 05, 2018, 02:30:13 AM
I'm just waiting for green to put a corner road tile above that red meeple on the road, to tie up all those meeples for the rest of the game

Indeed. Or maybe Red will get an rrrx tile to complete his road and point one of the other roads into the gap. There's always a risk that something will go wrong.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Halfling on October 05, 2018, 04:17:38 AM
I would place to the west the board next to the uppermost of the red city tiles, place a meeple on the top city segment and hope to glom into reds city in moves ahead. I don't tend to farm until there is a completed city available.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: wolnic on October 05, 2018, 03:39:05 PM
How about placing it SW of "our" cloister, and irritate green ... we can either put a farmer on it, or meeple on the easterly city.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Halfling on October 08, 2018, 01:14:36 AM
Lots of options - no concensus yet. What will Dan do, is it time for referendum?
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: oosie on October 08, 2018, 07:21:00 AM
Jéré's suggestion is getting my vote!
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 09, 2018, 08:43:12 AM
OK so here are the options we have so far (sorry I've been a bit slow getting this back on the road, but... weekend):

1. Jéré: place below Blue cloister and claim farm ( :(y) :(y) :(y))

2. Dan: place below Blue cloister and claim east city segment ( :(y))

3. Halfling: place west of Red city and claim north city segment with intention to join Red city ( :(y))

4. wolnic: place SE of cloister and either farm (4a) or claim east city segment (4b)

They're all good, and I reserve the right to pretend I wanted to do something different if my chosen choice would have been more successful if I'd chosen something else.

Let the voting commence!

(I've assumed that Jéré, Halfling and I have voted for our own options, and oosie and TheSteveAllen have also voted with Jéré, wolnic - I wasn't sure which of your options you preferred so please vote for one or the other :))

Lots of options - no concensus yet. What will Dan do, is it time for referendum?

Farming. Means. Farming. Even in the event of a no-city farm, if it is the will of the people then placing a farmer is the right and proper thing to do!
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Decar on October 09, 2018, 02:15:06 PM
1 for me.  Normally, I wouldn't farm this early, but in 4p game getting a likely 12 points with potential for more makes a lot of sense.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: wolnic on October 09, 2018, 02:50:42 PM
Subtle difference only between 1 and 4a, so I'll stick with 4a, but would be OK if the concensus is 1.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 17, 2018, 02:29:50 AM
(http://www.dan.tehill.net/CollabCarc_Turn4.jpg)

Whoomp! (There It Is) as "Tag Team" sang back in good old 1993. Great days...

I'm just waiting for green to put a corner road tile above that red meeple on the road, to tie up all those meeples for the rest of the game

Indeed. Or maybe Red will get an rrrx tile to complete his road and point one of the other roads into the gap. There's always a risk that something will go wrong.

The game didn't want you to have to wait for long wolnic!

Points have been scored and meeples have been trapped! :red-meeple: has won himself 3 tasty points for a road, and :yellow-meeple: was the first person to complete a city (on our farm).

Our trapped meeple will be worth either 1, 2 or 5 points depending on whether we're able to join to Yellow's road. Yellow won't be keen for us to join on as this will trap a second meeple of his, but maybe this will encourage the other players to join them up instead?

Moving on, we've got an ffrr corner road to place. Not a particularly inspiring choice although there are a couple of options:

1. We could seek revenge on Red for his frrr viciousness by trapping his meeple in the north-east corner. This would mean giving him 2 points for no reason other than to trap his meeple, and there's a chance someone else will do it anyway. But it's an option.

2. We could place it 2 tiles east of our cloister creating an frfr gap (or an frrr gap but I'd advise against this given the number of frfr vs. frrr tiles left in the bag) as a means of improving our chances of completing our cloister. Another nice thing about this would be that it leaves a nice 3-point road for anyone who does put a tile there, which might be us, or someone else who wants those points for themselves and doesn't mind generating a point for our cloister in the process.

3. We could start a new road from one of the existing road branches on the crrr south-east of our cloister. There are a number of other places where we could potentially claim a new road but if we're going to claim a road I'd recommend joining to this tile as our new road would already be closed at one end and could potentially form a small loop if we wanted it to.

What are your thoughts people?


:yellow-meeple: 4
:red-meeple: 3
:blue-meeple: 0
:green-meeple: 0
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: oosie on October 17, 2018, 05:41:30 AM
Where did the coasters go?  :o

I think I'd go for a new road below the eastern tile of the completed city making a turn to the east.

In regards to option 1, let someone else seek revenge indeed (like yellow) as I don't like to give red another 2 free points. In regards to option 2, whatever is put beside that space is fine as all possibilities for that space are still in the bag, so I'm not worried yet about that. I can't think of another interesting option so I guess I'm picking option 3.
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: danisthirty on October 22, 2018, 01:17:24 PM
Where did the coasters go?  :o

I think I'd go for a new road below the eastern tile of the completed city making a turn to the east.

In regards to option 1, let someone else seek revenge indeed (like yellow) as I don't like to give red another 2 free points. In regards to option 2, whatever is put beside that space is fine as all possibilities for that space are still in the bag, so I'm not worried yet about that. I can't think of another interesting option so I guess I'm picking option 3.

Thanks oosie. The coasters are safe, but they were starting to take up a bit too much desk space.

Is anyone else willing to share their insight?
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: wolnic on October 22, 2018, 03:03:34 PM
I have no issue with option 2 but maybe it limits things too much, so feel I'd rather agree with Oosie. If a CRFR comes our way then we might be able to sneak into Yellow's city by placing it next to the cloister, but still have the option of FRFR and FRRR  tiles going there and the temptation of a 2 or 3 point road. The FRFR would leave a potential gap for another FFFF cloister - if we want to chance getting the next one? Putting the corner road tile to the south also helps keep the field open. Worth putting a follower on it?
Title: Re: Collaborative Carcassonne
Post by: Halfling on October 23, 2018, 08:25:40 AM
Option 2