Carcassonne Central

So, what do we all know about this?

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/06/25/carcassonne-coming-to-xbox-live (http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/06/25/carcassonne-coming-to-xbox-live)

  ...and more to the point, for those of us without an XBox, are we going to get something on Playstation 2, old XBox or PC? Will they finally release the PC versions worldwide?

Anyone know of any sites selling the Big Box PC version or the Hunters and Gatherers PC version?

I want it on Mac!

Please!! just don't get me started!!!!  :)

Well, take a look on the story (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=1) on the front page my friend! That earned you a few merit points, thank you!

Hmmm I'm wondering if any members here have Xbox Live, and if they'd like to be our Xbox Carc guy?

Woo-who!! Thanks for that... Just doing me duty, Sir!!  ;)

I have the Xbox360 and have Xbox Live fully paid up for a year so would be happy to take on the hoards and report back. If its anything like their online Catan then it should be pretty good.

Tomorrow night booked off for serious online gaming whilst tonite is reserved for proper tile placing meeple bashing.  ;)

Excellent!  What I'm wondering specifically is, might there be a need for an Xbox-version Carc FAQ/Resource that Carc Central might be able to fill?  Keep in mind oddities in rules etc vs the boxed game.

From the Xbox live website. Clickthe link to check out the graphics http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/news-features/news/carcasssonne-makes-inroads-on-LIVE-260607.htm
 (ftp://http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/news-features/news/carcasssonne-makes-inroads-on-LIVE-260607.htm)
Carcassonne makes inroads on LIVE
 

Carcassonne isn’t just a name pulled out of thin air to suit a classy board game; it’s actually a medieval town in southern France known for its strategic wherewithal. You’ll need lots of tactical tricks up your sleeve to emerge victorious in Carcassonne for Xbox LIVE Arcade. This award-winning game designed by Klaus-Jurgen is one of the top board games in Europe, only the unstoppable Settlers of Catan (also available on Xbox LIVE Arcade) is more popular. We thought you’d like to know Carcassonne is available now for 800 Microsoft Points, and here’s what to expect:

The core game system is literally built around a system of 72 tiles used to construct roads, walls, farms and fields. A single square tile is placed on the board at the start of the game and from here each player must develop the medieval countryside to their best advantage in order to earn the most points. Carcassonne is designed so that nobody is ever out of the game. Up to four players can compete on the same console but if you’ve friends on LIVE then up to five of you can take part. Another cool thing here is that the Xbox LIVE Vision camera can be used.

In addition to including a useful tutorial mode for beginners and skill-based matchmaking for ranked games across LIVE, this special Xbox LIVE Arcade edition of Carcassonne also features the ‘Rivers II’ expansion set comprising 12 new tiles.

So if you fancy some fun-filled strategy action with friends and family, Carcassonne and Catan will keep you busier and brainier than you’ve ever been before. Both of these great games are available from Xbox LIVE Arcade today.

The link is broken…

Anyway: "72 tiles", "up to 5 of you" - is it only based on the basic game with no expansions?

And the essential questions: 1st or 3rd edition farmer scoring? And what about small cities? (if there are expansions, there'll be countless other questions ;) )

[Edit: just read on BGG that it will include the River as well - so the question is whether it bans all u-turns, or only immediate ones]

the link on the front page story will lead you there

yeah that's one oddly messed up link there steve hehe

Strange that link was copied directly from the Xbox site. ??? (http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/viewer.aspx?productId=1842&assetTypeId=1&shotId=0)

Yep its the basic game withthe river thrown in as an extra.

I've played one online 5 player game and several single player versus the computer games. I whipped the computer everytime. came third on the 5 player.

The game is very swish in how it looks with 3d graphics of castle walls and cloisters rising up on completion and it plays very well. The rules allow for RGG and original scoring options which is good as it saves on the arguments I suppose. All the original 72 tiles and the basic river set are represented and there is a very good tutorial for anyone who isnt conversant with the game (cant believe that there is anyone out there who doesnt  ;D).

The game gives you a tile and outlines each option for where it could be placed. Once placed then you have the option to place the normal meeple as in the proper game. Scoring is a graphical and audio feast as fireworkd, cheering and buildings rise up or roads are paved and horses gallop along.

So far its a cracking game and very good if you havent got an adversory to play against for real nut for the purists out there it might not cut it to provide you with the stimulation expected from the game.

I for one will keep playing it and will report back more about it. I hope they bring in more variations.

I was discussing it's XBox 360 release at work today. This may all be known to most, or not... The KOCH Media PC version(s) of the game were close to going Live worldwide (as opposed to just Germany), when Microsoft stept in promising big things.... Big things meant it ground to a complete halt as Microsoft put it to one side for around four years. Finally if you are are an XBox 360 owner it seems you get to play just the base game. Lets not forget, KOCH released the base game, Hunters and Gatherers, an expansion set and indeed the Big Box version all on PC. So the big question, are Microsoft going to update these games for PC... I've not seen anything that says so. It's strange, because an Arcade console does not seem to me to be the right place for these games (they've done Settlers of Catan as well) - Surely the PC is the obvious route?

That would seem obvious, but MS makes more money in the xbox arena than they do in the pc world.  Same with other companies too, for example there is no more Call of Duty 3 on PC. I think it's all about attracting "exclusives" to your platform (xbox, playstn etc), but then again I don't know much about them because the last console i bought was a playstation 1, lol.

What's the 'Big Box' version of the Koch Media game? I have the Collector's Box from 2004, and AFAIK that's the newest version available (2 years before the real Big Box). It includes the basic game, Inns… Traders…, King… and the River, as well as Hunters… but not Princess… or the Tower.

Btw, except for music, it runs fine on a Win2000 emulator on my Mac ;D

Sorry, my fault - That's the one I meant - OOps! Any idea where  can get one from?

Not really. Even amazon.de doesn't really have much on offer there (see here (http://amazon.de/s/ref=sr_nr_i_4/302-1804570-0146404?ie=UTF8&rs=&keywords=carcassonne&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acarcassonne%2Ci%3Asoftware)). I picked mine up at the back of a shop after a long hunt…

I've actually come to this site as a direct result of wanting more information after purchasing the XBox Live Arcade version of Carcassonne. I had played it years ago, but recently became re-acquainted and re-addicted.

What I know about the XBLA version:

Carcassonne XBox Live Arcade is 800 Microsoft Points, or right around $10 US.

Developed and Published by Sierra Online

It allows for 1-4 human players locally, and 2-5 players online.

It supports 720p HD resolution.

It is the base version of the game, encompassing 72 tiles and up to 5 players. It includes the 12 tile River  expansion as an optional play type.

It has a scalable board, allowing for potentially limitless expansion in all directions.

---

Scoring:
During the game-

Road: When a road is completed with two end pieces, the player with the most followers on the road receives one point per tile. A follower tie means both players get the points.

City: When a city is completed, the player with the most followers receives two points per tile, and two additional points per pennant tile. Unlike the board game, the two tile cities are four points, instead of two points. A follower tie means both players get the points.

Monastery: A monastery is completed when it is completely surrounded by tiles. The player receives nine points.


As mentioned earlier, the player gets their follower back upon the completion of those structures.

At game end-

Incomplete road: The player with the most followers receives one point per road tile.

Incomplete city: The player with the most followers receives one point per city tile, and one additional point per pennant.

Incomplete monastery: The player receives the one point for each attached tile.

Farms: The player with the most followers in each contiguous farm receives three points per completed city adjacent to that particular farm. Cities that touch multiple farms are re-used for scoring purposes.

In the case of any ties, the players are awarded the same score.

---

For those of you that don't know, XBox 360 has an achievements system to track your progress, add replayability, and allow people to brag about their accomplishments in their games. XBox Live Arcade Titles allow a total possible Gamerscore of 200.

Here are the Carcassonne Achievements, a description of the Achievement, and the point value for the achievement:

Big City    
Score a City with 3+ tiles in Single Player    
5

King of the Road    
Score a Road with 5+ tiles in Single Player    
5

Farm Boy    
Score a Farm supplying 4+ Cities in Single Player    
10

Rack Up the Points    
Score 50+ points in Single Player    
10

King for a Day    
Win 1 Ranked game    
15

Top Score    
Score a total of 2000+ points from all your Carcassonne games combined    
15

Top of the Heap    
Win a Player Match against 3 or more opponents    
20

Count of Carcassonne    
Score 150+ points in a Single Player game    
20

Metropolis    
Score a City with 9+ tiles in a Player Match vs. 2 or more opponents    
25

Mirror Monk    
Score 2 adjacent Monasteries in Single Player    
25

Lord of Carcassonne    
Beat an opponent in a Player Match by 50+ points    
25

Ultimate Score
Score a total of 5000+ points from all your Carcassonne games combined    
25

---

I hope that helps some. I'll be lurking this forum here and there. See you on XBox Live!

Gamertag: GameJunkyJim

Thanks! That does help {up

From what you say, it sounds like 3rd edition scoring. Mind you I heard that players were given the choice between HiG and RGG rules… I also heard that the River is actually the River II, not the original one.

That's a great writeup, gamejunkyjim, would mind if we used it for our main page articles?  On the main web site (click the yellow Carc Central title), in the Articles, About section we're starting to fill those in.  (We've only been in existence for about 6 months, there's a lot more stuff we have yet to add.)  Your post would make a great addition to this section!

Would you mind re-submitting your xbox article?  On the main web site, in the User menu on the left, there is a Submit Article link.  If you fill it out, it will be submitted for inclusion, I'll have a quick lookover, and approve it for the Articles, About section, and the article will be forever attributed to you.  (Plus you'll earn yourself a nifty 'Author' status!)

 :D

Sure. You can reformat it to make it look nicer, I admit to playing around a bit with the forum tools.

You can assume anything I write here is yours to do with as you see fit for future reference.

I understood that the River II expansion had a fork, this one doesn't seem to have that, just 7 tiles with various border features. A couple curves, but no splits.

Sounds like the original River, then. It would be good to see the tiles, though. I've been asked about an XBox specific set of rules and FAQ, you see…

I'll start a game and try to take the clearest picture possible (My camera is only a 2.1 MP though and it tends to be blurry)

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/GameJunkieJim/Carcassonne/?action=view&current=CarcRiverTiles.jpg

I used a shoebox to steady the camera as much as possible.

Looks like the original River to me.

Cheers! Bonus points for that man!

Not so fast… see the fourth tile from the bottom? That should have a cloister on it. Which is not helpful - because now we need to know what other tiles from the basic set are not quite the same.

I could try to get my buddy to cooperate with me in a game and stick all the tiles together as symettrically as possible. I wouldn't know how to say what's different or not.  Might be tomorrow before he comes over though.

That would be awesome. I can't imagine there would be much difference, but then I wouldn't have guessed there'd be a missing cloister, either.

For your perusal. It's not that clear, but then again I have a 2.1 MP camera.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/GameJunkieJim/Carcassonne/CarcAllTiles.jpg

Hopefully it helps you.

There may be a problem with the "prettyfying" of the tiles when things are completed. It makes little models pop up when things are closed off.

Isn't that 83 tiles, rather than 84?

Ah- does it discard the original starting tile if you use the River? That would explain 83…

I haven't the foggiest, sorry to say. The last time I played the actual tile game before this week was about 15 years ago. Played a few games on Thursday and Friday with my pal.

Just that all 12 river tiles are in play, but I count on 83 total = 71 basic game. F:) - I'll go through the lot and see what comes up…

Yep - You are correct regards the River Cloister not being there - And check the second River tile up on the last photo... The road goes nowhere - Isn't that the one that should have the missing cloister?
Why are the roads in blue? Very strange!

Yeah, that's the one.

I suppose that's the whole 'prettification' thing when a feature is completed. But that does tell us that the cloister-less River tile is still considered to end the road - otherwise it wouldn't be 'prettified'.

So here's my guess at the rationale: the prettified cloisters are too big! If that tile had a graphically enhanced cloister on it, the cloister would actually be over the river itself, and look like the river was running through it, or even divided. So I think that's why they left it off.

If that's the case, it doesn't bode well for future expansions, especially the more recent ones, which often have multiple features…

I don't think we'll see a Towers expansion, that could get too cluttered.

That particular tile does not score or anything by itself save for the road. (On the XBox)

Roads are in blue/grey when they are completed, they get paved over then ! Same as cities, when not completed they are normal brown color but when completed they rise out of the screen in glorious 2D ! and become solid stone looking places with towers etc.

Yes I have spent last night studying the tiles again and again, even went back to the tutorials and there are a couple of inacuracies as you guys have already pointed out with roads thta lean nowhere and a cloister missing but apart from that I cant find any others.

Scoring is still interesting in that you get US, International or None as the options, which I to me appear to be RGG, Original or "Why Would You Do That!".

Welcome GameJunkieJim, look me up on live , my tag is Canada Steve, and we can have a few games, maybe get all those bonuses sorted  ;D

Gone through all the tiles, and all those of the basic game are correct. Also, the missing tile does seem to be the original start tile.

Slightly odd, because although The Count says the original starting tile should be discarded, the River says it should be mixed into the stack or placed immediately after the river.

Na ja, just one of those things I need to know for the Annotated Rules…

Added.