Tactical Tuesday -- Week 06

[kothmann]

See the series introduction here.

<--Last Week

JCloisterZone File.

Introduction: Continuing with the game from Week05, 5 turns later...

Configuration: Base game only (72 tiles & 7 meeples per player)

Players: Black, Gray, Red, Yellow (order of play as listed, alphabetical by color name).

Score: B=8, G=8, R=8, Y=8

Previous Turns & Scoring:
 1. B[ 1; 0] FFRR / thief /
 2. G[ 0;-1] FRRF / thief /
 3. R[ 2; 0] FCCF / farmer /
 4. Y[-1;-1] RFRF / thief /
 5. B[ 0; 1] RRCC / knight /
 6. G[ 1;-1] RFFR / /
 7. R[ 2;-1] CFFF / knight / R+4
 8. Y[-1; 0] CRRC / knight /
 9. B[ 0; 2] RFRF / farmer /
10. G[-1;-3] RRCC / knight /
11. R[ 3; 0] FRRC / knight / R+4
12. Y[-1; 1] RCCC / thief /
13. B[ 0;-2] RCRR / knight / B+8, G+8, Y+8
14. G[ 4; 0] RFRR / farmer /
15. R[-2;-1] CFCC / knight /
16. Y[ 3; 1] FFFF / monk /
17. B[ 1; 1] RRFR / thief /
18. G[ 3;-1] RRCF / thief /
19. R[-2; 0] CCCR / /

Current Decision (photo below):
Yellow has now drawn a CRFR tile.
Where should they place the tile?
Should they place a meeple and if so, where?
Feel free to comment on previous moves, but the emphasis is on Yellow's current move.


Option A (photo below)
[-3; 0], FRCR, meeple as knight in the city.


Option B (photo below)
[-1;-3], CRFR, meeple as farmer in field next to city.


Option C (photo below)
[ 3;-2], CRFR, meeple as farmer in field next to city.


Option D (photo below)
[ 3;-2], CRFR, meeple as knight in the city. (Yellow scores 4 points)


Option E (photo below)
[ 5; 1], RCRF, meeple as knight in the city.


Option F (none of the above)
Please describe a better play in your reply.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=5496.0

[Bumsakalaka]

Before checking available options I was wondering also about this option:
Place tile [0;-3] and try to invade to city on left side by placing meeple on city (left corner).
This option have some cons and some dis.
Cons:
1. Yellow is trying to invade to large city with possible to get majority
2. This placement not open any gateway to other player (yet) to new posibility to invade into city
3. If City will not joined, but divided by CCFf (2 small cities) tile, then yellow has at least one meeple in both cities.
Dis:
1. It is still one CCFf tile in stack, so any player in city is motivated to close yellow to not get majority - same in option A
2. It will be large city/cities, so maybe not finished
3. There will need a lot of tiles to finish city and possible options to invade by other players.

Anyway, it's goot to tell that there are still 52 tiles in stack so 13 turns per player.

CAN'T choose my option! Good Week 06. Merit to me!

Yelow placement to field will blocking all his 4 meeples on board for log time (due 2 meeples on field, 1 in laaaaarge city and 1 on Monastery with nice option to block it on west (left) side.

[kothmann]

Place tile [0;-3] and try to invade to city on left side by placing meeple on city (left corner).

Another interesting suggestion!  We'll call it F1...

Yellow placement to field will blocking all his 4 meeples on board for long time (due 2 meeples on field....

Oops--Yellow meeple at [-1;1] is a thief and [3;1] is a monk, so Yellow would only have 1 farmer after B, C, or F1.

[Ker42]

Option A would be good if I wanted to tie up another meeple in a city that may or may not ever be finished... But I prefer option C for a pretty good chance of getting a farmer into the main field.  (If I were playing with Phantoms, I'd also grab the football city too for a quick 4 points!)

[Bumsakalaka]

Hmm, Yellow on [-1;1] is on road not on field. Hmm, than I choose option D - 4 points for sure

[kothmann]

I choose D.  If you average 4 points per turn, you’ll have 72, which will be competitive in many 4-player games.  Plus you prevent anyone else from getting an extra city segment.

I also like A.  This is an offensive play, giving a pretty good chance to capture the 11+ points for what is likely to be a big incomplete city, in contrast to last week, where the clear winner was having Red jump into the urban sprawl mostly as a defensive measure, to prevent Yellow and Black from scoring 16+ for a completed city.
 
Option C makes me a little uncomfortable, because there are only 2 open squares to the left, so it feels like my farmer could get trapped, while Option B seems more likely to connect.  But Option C also prevents opponents from taking the extra city segment (like D).  I’d probably prefer C to B.  But I think there is already too much interest in the big field which isn’t yet very valuable (like 12 points), and Yellow would only be tied if they connect, not ahead like they would be in the city.

Option E was included because I have the idea of building a new field in the east and this does help the Yellow monastery.   But I don’t think this play doesn’t make sense here with the other good options.