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Messages - danisthirty
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5956
« on: April 16, 2014, 04:01:27 AM »
Is anybody else planning on going to the UK Games Expo in Birmingham at the end of next month? The UK Carcassonne Championships are being held on Sunday 1st June from 10am to 2pm. I've booked my place but there are still plenty of places available! It sounds like the tournament will be based on 4-player games using just the basic 72 tiles, and the overall winner will be crowned UK Carcassonne champion and be given 150 pounds towards the cost of representing the UK at the world championships (this seems a little cheap but I guess it's representative of its fan base in the UK). Realistically I don't expect to win or even do particularly well but it'll be a great experience I'm sure and I'm looking forward to seeing what else is there too. UK Games Expo: http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/UK Carcassonne Championship 2014: http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/game.php?id=BOR697
5957
« on: April 16, 2014, 12:33:24 AM »
@MrNumbers - thanks for that. How difficult would it be for an average Joe like me to set this up?
5958
« on: April 15, 2014, 03:08:36 PM »
For me, finding people to play against can be tricky at the best of times, let alone those who know how to play most of the expansions without having them explained before we can start. It's very frustrating when you're waiting to take your turn and someone is sitting opposite you faffing around with a straight bit of road that they can't decide where to place, but I don't think my tiles would see a lot of action if I started pushing timers in people's faces!
5959
« on: April 15, 2014, 02:53:04 PM »
@jungleboy - yes timezones could certainly be a problem although not an insurmountable one with a bit of planning hopefully.
At the moment, the biggest problem I can see is how the games would actually be run. The two best options are probably the iPhone/ iPad app and the Facebook app. I don't have an iAnything and I don't suppose I'm alone in this. Also, I don't think the Facebook app is officially recognised by Hans im Gluck, nor is it free, which could be a problem for some.
I was pinning my hopes on the network play features of JCloisterZone but I've since discovered that these are specific to local networks rather than the internet. It may be possible to get a game to work using VPN software or some such thing but this seems prohibitively complicated and would undoubtedly put people off (myself included).
Is anybody else aware of any other websites/ freely available apps that can be used to play Carcassonne online? I've found Brettspielwelt but this is German for one thing and I haven't been able to get into a game on it yet.
5960
« on: April 15, 2014, 12:29:18 PM »
I guess the trick is to try and place tiles around any key meeples so that a tower foundation can't be placed next to it and immediately capture him. If you don't do this then regardless of how carefully you avoid the towers already in play there's always a chance you could still lose something you'd rather have kept...
5961
« on: April 15, 2014, 12:24:49 PM »
@rfielder - I've not played an online game using JCloisterZone yet but it wouldn't necessarily be limited to this as people with the iPhone app or the Facebook app could play against each other depending on preference. Sticking to the basic tiles just helps to keep things simple and consistent. @Yellow - I'm hoping it will be a little more sophisticated than that! 
5962
« on: April 15, 2014, 09:06:56 AM »
Most of the games I play tend to have between 150 and 170 tiles although I generally play with just 100 to 120 if there's only 2 of us playing.
Fortunately my dining table is big enough to accommodate this many tiles without the edge being a problem. I have heard about people inventing house-rules however, whereby any features that reach the edge of the table are completed in the same way as an abbey would do provided they're not still open elsewhere!
5963
« on: April 15, 2014, 07:38:27 AM »
Carcassonne is a great game for lots of different reasons. One of those reasons is the number of expansions available for it and how these can be used to cater for individual tastes or to bias the game in favour of/ against certain types of tactics. As fun as the majority of these are, and despite owning (almost) all of them, I'm frequently finding myself now coming back to just the basic tiles as there's a certain elegant simplicity about it which is easily forgotten when you have to think about all the complications introduced by any expansions that have been included, along with the different types of meeples that come with them. 72-tile games are a lot shorter too! In my opinion, certain expansions seem to change the rules of the game so much so that the underlying rules of Carcassonne become far less relevant than they should be. I'm not saying this spoils the fun and I'm actually a big fan of The Princess and the Dragon despite what I've written here. But the luck factor becomes too significant for me to consider games including it to be taken particularly seriously. Admittedly I've only played three or four games with The Tower but on balance I've always felt that the mechanics of the towers have taken more away from the game than they've added to it. I certainly wouldn't turn down a game against someone who wanted to include it but I wouldn't beta myself up too much about it if I lost...
5964
« on: April 15, 2014, 06:26:11 AM »
Maybe it's just me but in 2-player games I find it actually quite difficult to steer the Dragon towards anything in particular as my opponent will usually be trying just as hard to steer it away and we both get an equal say in where it goes. This often means it gets stuck in a dead end since! With 3 or more players though, the effect of the Dragon is much more powerful and if one player has a meeple in a particularly strong position early on they can expect to lose it by the end of the game. Personally, I think this goes against the spirit of the game somewhat, but it doesn't necessarily spoil the fun as long as the game isn't being taken *too* seriously.
The tower however is a very different story, hence why it doesn't get played in my house very often!
5965
« on: April 15, 2014, 06:07:20 AM »
Has anybody here ever taken part in a Carcassonne league? A friend suggested something similar recently but it doesn't look like this is going to happen so I wondered about trying to set something up online using JCloisterZone or some other method of online play.
Some initial thoughts:
- Each match is a head-to-head between two players
- Each match is made up of two games
- Games consist of just the initial 72 tiles i.e. no expansions
- Players earn 3 points for a win (if they win both games of their match) or 1 point for a draw (if they win one/ lose one)
- Scores could be kept via a thread on the forums here and screenshots could be posted for proof (or purely out of interest)
- The player with the highest score once everyone has played everyone else would be the champion
The idea of being able to take part in a league is something I find very exciting. I don't imagine there would be prizes, but the opportunity to play against other highly-skilled Carcassonne enthusiasts would be prize enough for me. After all, playing against new opponents is the best way (in my opinion) to learn from your mistakes and improve your tactics.
I'm keen to hear any thoughts and/or suggestions!
5966
« on: April 15, 2014, 05:36:00 AM »
I will usually wait to see how my opponent(s) react(s) with regard to farms. If a farm is serving at least three cities (in a 72-tile game) I'll often consider taking the plunge but obviously there are other factors too such as whether I want to keep a few meeples back or how easy it will be to place subsequent farmers. On the other hand, it's a pain when farming-wars break out as I've played games where both my opponent and I have managed to get 7 meeples each onto the same farm. Not much point in continuing after that!
My tactics can really change for larger games depending on which expansions are used. Megameeples tend to be farmers fairly often and Barns make a huge difference too.
In general I don't think it's a good idea to place a farmer very early on because you reduce your scoring potential too much by having one less meeple than your opponents. If I get the tile with four individual city segments on it though (Inns & Cathedrals) I almost always drop a farmer in the middle and try to complete four separate cities around it for 12 points.
5967
« on: March 14, 2014, 01:32:52 PM »
I have been following this project very closely too - the amount of support MeepleSource have had has been amazing but not surprising considering the quality and range of the meeples they produce. I love them!
I've put myself down for one of everything plus 15 8-piece sets. I even had myself "meepleized" hence my new profile picture!
Still just over two days left. Well worth a look if you haven't already looked...
5968
« on: February 20, 2014, 04:39:24 AM »
@wicke - Glad you got it OK! Don't worry about the postage as your package was a lot cheaper than the others I sent for some reason (less than two Euros) so it hardly seems worth it. Enjoy...
5969
« on: February 11, 2014, 05:34:44 AM »
Personally I will be interested to see how the "hills" element of this expansion turns out.
I don't know that many people (myself included) would consider themselves fully-fledged "tile counters" but recognising whether specific tiles have been placed or are still in the bag certainly affects how I play quite significantly.
If you're playing with Inns & Cathedrals for example, it's difficult to ignore whether both Cathedrals have been placed, and if not, how you could use one to either complete a city of your own or place in an opposing city if the end of the game is in sight and you're confident you can prevent it from being completed.
Generally I can't wait to play this expansion (although I think I may have to) based on what I've read about it here but I'm yet to be convinced that the idea of burying tiles will turn out to be for the best.
5970
« on: February 11, 2014, 03:15:24 AM »
Well spotted! I'll be thinking of you every time I place that tile!
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