Author Topic: Mega-Carcassonne how many base games  (Read 1120 times)

Offline OneEyedOwl

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Mega-Carcassonne how many base games
« on: January 26, 2022, 10:25:22 AM »
Hwllo everyone,

I have every major and minor expansion (except gifts and markets of leipzig) of C2+20th anniversary edition, including the Phantom expansion
Furthermore, I have 2 sets of the 1st, 2nd and 6th expansion.
Do you have any recommendations of how many base games one should use with this amount of expansions to play a round of Mega-Carcassonne?
I Currently own 3 "Base" games (Base game without river(bought separately), 20th anniversary base and 2017 Big Box)
and plan on Using the 20th anniversary river as the starting tile. Which ending Pieces do you recommend? (the river would have 4 endings)
I also plan on using the City of Carcassonne but having it not be a part of the playing field, I'll probably just put it next to the score tracker.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=5708.0
No interest in 1st edition, but glad to help anyone looking for them. If you see something on ebay-kleinanzeigen.de and need someone to ship to your country, hit me up ^^

Offline corinthiens13

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Re: Mega-Carcassonne how many base games
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2022, 10:33:31 AM »
Well, I played a lot of mega Carcassonne, with every major expansions, minor expansions and promo tiles, C2 and C1 for those not existing in C2, but always with 1 base game (or no base game at all).

Mega Carcassonne already dilute the effect of every expansions, there's no reason to add more base games that will dilute the expansions effects even more  :yellow-meeple:

As for the river sources and lakes, I always try to use those that separate farms to avoid creating too big farms (20 anniversary or GQ11 source, lake with city).

Offline Meepledrone

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Re: Mega-Carcassonne how many base games
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2022, 10:36:42 AM »
I would say the more tiles, the merrier! ;)

In case you need some inspiration for the setup, here you can find some ideas:
https://wikicarpedia.com/index.php/Mega-Carcassonne
Questions about rules? Check WICA: wikicarpedia.com

Offline Willem

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Re: Mega-Carcassonne how many base games
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2022, 10:47:35 AM »
It depends a bit on how many expansions with their rules you want to use.
If you want to do a big but easy game, then 2 or 3 base games are great to just add volume.
Adding many expansions can complicate things a bit in terms of rules, which can work, as long as you're familiar with the rules
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Offline kothmann

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Re: Mega-Carcassonne how many base games
« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2022, 10:57:31 AM »
I like a second copy of Exp#2 because it helps break up mega-farms.  Double the Goods points, too?  And throw in the 6 extra Inns from Exp#1 for more relevant roads.

Please share photos of the game!

Offline Scott

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Re: Mega-Carcassonne how many base games
« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2022, 10:58:39 AM »
I think it largely depends on how long you want the game to take. Back in the C1 days, Wheel of Fortune came with a full second set of base game tiles, so some people would use both sets of tiles and other people would exclude one set of tiles. The expansions themselves already add a large number of tiles, so there should be plenty to go around. If you want to calculate the actual impact on the game, the math is simple: 72 divided by the number of players will tell you how many extra rounds.

For the 20th Anniversary River combined with River I and River II, you would need 4 lake tiles. I think you have five to choose from, so I would exclude the volcano lake from River II. I'm not especially a fan of the dragon, and excluding the volcano lake means that the dragon doesn't enter the game until later.

After the river source is placed, you have 37 tiles to place until the river is finished (assuming you're not playing with CutCassonne, otherwise add 3 more).
72 tiles in base game
15 tiles in 20th Anniversary Expansion
18 tiles in I&C
24 tiles in T&B
30 tiles in P&D
18 tiles in Tower
12+6=18 tiles in A&M
10 tiles in CK&R
12 tiles in BC&B
18 tiles in H&S
20 tiles in UtBT
6 tiles in Barber-Surgeons
6 German castles
6 German cathedrals
6 crop circles
8 tiles in Ferries
10 tiles in Festival
8 tiles in Flier
6 tiles in Fruit-bearing Trees
8 tiles in Goldmines
6 Japanese buildings
1 labyrinth
8 tiles from Mage & Witch
6 German monasteries
12 tiles in Peasant Revolts
8 tiles in Robber
12 tiles in Signposts
2 Spiel Doch tiles
10 tiles in Tollkeepers
12 tiles in Watchtowers

Subtotal: 396 tiles (assuming everyone plays their abbey)

Number of rounds = total tiles divided by total players
Assuming a 6-player game: 396 / 6 = 66 rounds
Add 3 half-tiles per player = 69 rounds AFTER the River
75 rounds including the River

The base game claims 35 minutes to play 72 tiles, which assumes 2 tiles per minute.
396 + 24 half-tiles + 37 river tiles = 457 tiles
457 tiles / 2 tiles per minute = 228.5 minutes or 3 hours, 48 minutes, and 30 seconds

Some tiles should not take 2 minutes to place, particularly the river tiles, but even after adjusting for that, I think the game is probably long enough with just one set of 72 base tiles.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2022, 12:00:44 PM by Scott »

Offline Meepledrone

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Re: Mega-Carcassonne how many base games
« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2022, 11:03:58 AM »
Ooops! 35 minutes --> 72 tiles means 2 tiles per minute...

457 tiles --> 229 minutes = 3h 49 mins aprox 

IMHO this is too fast, since the game will slow down as it progresses due to the increasing number of options to analyze...
« Last Edit: January 26, 2022, 11:07:28 AM by Meepledrone »

Offline Scott

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Re: Mega-Carcassonne how many base games
« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2022, 12:01:28 PM »
Good thing that I showed my work! I have fixed my calculations.

Offline Meepledrone

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Re: Mega-Carcassonne how many base games
« Reply #8 on: January 26, 2022, 12:16:53 PM »
:(y) :(y)

Now you have to push your Mega-Carcassonne opponets to place their tiles at that pace for hours...  ;)


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