Shared points for a city

[Gwendoline]

Hi, everyone!
Me and my partner are playing Carcassonne since a few months and we really like it. However, we still stick to the basic version, because we are absolute beginners.
We had a dispute over the rule for sharing the points for a common city. I was building a big city and I had one meeple put on it The city was open from one sides (2 tiles in total to finish it) and he posed a closing tile on the upper place, insisting we should share the points. I objected, because in this case the remaining tile couldn't have 2 individual finishings. It was obvious that I will have no other choice that to use his tile and attach it to my city, because a tile that will allow me to finish both his city and mine independently simply doesn't exist (it should have 3 caps and one open side). I insisted that in this case when there is no other option for the other player you just can't use the same recourse, means you can still put your meeple on your tile but on the road for example. You can't occupy other players cities leaving them no choice but to use your tiles. It should be a matter of choice and a fair play. I can rebuild the schema and provide picture if necessary.
Hope some of the more experienced players will give a professional opinion here. I simply refuse to believe that such a popular game has missed to specify a conflict rule like this. There must be something we are missing.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=6381.0

[Meepledrone]

Hi @Gwendoline !!!

Welcome to the forum!!!

I'm trying to visualize the situation you are describing, but if you could attach an image, it would be great to avoid any misintepretation.

Thank you in advance...

In any case, I guess the tile you would have needed in order to prevent the other player from joining you city would be something like this, which is available in Expansion 1 - Inns & Cathedrals:

[NGC 54]

Note: The all CCCF tiles can be viewed here: https://wikicarpedia.com/index.php/Tile_Reference.

[kothmann]

Hi @Gwendoline welcome to the Forum!

I think the situation you are describing is when one player builds a big city and another player joins it at the very end, sharing the points.  This can be frustrating and feel unfair for the first player, but it is a very important part of the game!  One way to guard your city is use the same idea to add a second meeple of your color before your opponent tries to, making it harder for your opponent to steal.

Another frustrating (some people say mean) but important tactic is to place a tile that makes it impossible to complete a big city.  As you probably noticed, there are 7 tile edge combinations missing from the base game: CRFF, CFRF, CFFR, CCRF, CCFR, CRCF, and CRCR.  If you make a “hole” that requires one of these tiles, the cities bordering that hole will never finish and the meeple is trapped.

For me, the most important part of the expansions (particularly #1 and #2) is that they include many new tile types.  In fact, my first post on the forum discussed the situation you describe, where a CCCF tile is required to complete several cities with different players’ meeples in them.
https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=4962.msg76193#msg76193

I hope you will continue to enjoy the game even when it sometimes feels mean. 

[Decar]

I think the rule to remember is, if you can place a tile, you have to, regardless of the outcome.  If you could play your tile anywhere else, you could play it there, even if that means leaving big cities incomplete.

Experienced players sometimes setup the board so that there is only one beneficial place for the other player to waste a turn.  They're pretty tricky to pull off though!

[danisthirty]

Hi @Gwendoline and welcome to the forums!

I'm not sure I completely understand the question either I'm afraid, but will echo what others have pointed out that the only rule regarding tile placement is that the landscape features must match against any tile that the placed tile is adjacent to. Field against field, road against road, city against city. Just because a tile exists that would join your partner's meeple into your city doesn't mean that you should have to place it there! Instead, you could use it to make a hole there. Some people don't like these, but you might discover more and more of them creeping into your games as you start to play more competitively!

Enjoy!

[Maiday]

While I'm not commenting on rules I just wanted to add that carcassonne really isn't a "fair" game and can be quite mean when you get really in to it.

[danisthirty]

While I'm not commenting on rules I just wanted to add that carcassonne really isn't a "fair" game and can be quite mean when you get really in to it.

That's how I like it!

[Decar]

Well, I don't think the game is unfair. Everyone gets the same access to the tiles, it might just be some of the players optimise their plays more than others   

[Maiday]

Well, I don't think the game is unfair. Everyone gets the same access to the tiles, it might just be some of the players optimise their plays more than others   

Okay I meant unfair plays might be made by some players.

[Decar]

I think the sort of play you're referring to is entirely fair though.  I think it's unjust, unequal, and unfair to demand that another player has to be nice to you at the expense of their own detriment!

[ny1050220]

I think the sort of play you're referring to is entirely fair though.  I think it's unjust, unequal, and unfair to demand that another player has to be nice to you at the expense of their own detriment!

Well said! Thank you so so much, Decar.