Cult and other expansions questions

[dajomas]

Hello,

I have 2 questions related to the Cult expansion:
1) can a Monk placed on an abbey challenge a Shrine? (If one of the adjourning tiles is a shrine of course)
2) can you teleport to a shrine or cloister (or abbey if the answer to question 1 is Yes) which has lost a challenge but hasn't finished yet? (There are 2 entries in the FAQ related to this question but they are a bit different. If a challenge is finished, both followers are taken of the board which means that 1 cloister or shrine is complete and the other doesn't have to be complete yet (see example below))

In this example, * means any tile, - means no tile, C means cloister tile and S means Shrine tile. Here the shrine has sucecsfully challenged the cloister and both followers are taken off the board but the Cloister isn't finished yet. Can I now teleport to the cloister?

*	*	*	*
-	C	S	*
*	*	*	*

[dajomas]

I just noticed in the FAQ that question 1 is answerd with a firm YES.

[Lardarse]

2: It's a slight oversight that this is possible, but yes.

[Novelty]

From the latest CAR, page 57:

196 Question: Imagine I have an unoccupied cloister next to an occupied shrine. I place a tile with a magic
portal which completes both buildings, and choose to use the magic portal to deploy a monk to the cloister. Does
this declare a challenge, and if so, who wins? Answer: Then it’s a challenge which ends in a draw.

199 Question: When a challenge is resolved, both the monk and heretic are removed from play. What if that
leaves one of the buildings incomplete? Can I reoccupy it using a magic portal or a follower from Carcassonne?
Answer: Gnnnn… (damn!) Yes, that’s allowed (if unforeseen).

So the answer to question 2 is yes.

[Johngee]

Thanks for that information to clarify this newest addition to my collection.  May I ask two questions about the same topic, rather than starting a new thread? 

#1.  I know it say that you CAN NOT place a Cloister/Monastery (and apparently an Abbey as well) next to two or more Shrines and vice-versa you CAN NOT place a Shrine adjacent to several Cloisters/Monastaries.  Obviously, the one player is immediately outnumbered and overpowered in the "Challenge" and thus should choose to place their tile elsewhere to avoid complications.  However, and I don't remember if I read it in the tiny RGG Rules for "Siege, Cult, and Creativity" or in the FAQ's -- but doesn't it say somewhere that if a SECOND Cloister / Monastery is placed next to a Shrine and vice-versa if a SECOND Shrine is placed adjacent to a Cloister / Monastary THEN the one which is singular is outnumbered, overcome, and immediately looses the Challenge.  My question is: Why isn't the player of the singular feature (be it Shrine or Cloister) given the opportunity to place their own SECOND and possibly a THIRD feature to combat this Challenge -- thus battling it out like multiple Farmers ending up in the same field, until at least one of the features is completed.  Yeah, I know that this is probably getting more complicated that the designers intended. 

#2.  Why isn't the Big-Guy [Super] Meeple more powerful than a lowly normal follower Meeple when they are both involved in a Challenge between a Shrine and a Cloister, the same way that they would be on the Road, Town and Farm features?  Thhis would seem logical to me, since multiple Shrines or Cloisters can overpower their counterpart during a Challenge. 

[Novelty]

Let's start with #2 first.

The challenge is a speed challenge, and not a who has a larger majority challenge (like everything else Carcassonne), so it doesn't matter how big the followers are, it's whoever that finishes it first wins the challenge (and if the last tile completes both features, then it's a tie).

As for #1, I have no idea where you might have read that you could play a second shrine or cloister to overpower and win the challenge.  As the rules clearly state, it's the first to finish the shrine or cloister that wins the challenge, not who has more followers (or bigger followers) in the challenge.  So it is a moot point why you can't place a second shrine or cloister (or abbey) to win the challenge.

[Generale]

Hello!
When I play with the Tower expansion, I have two doubts about the rules:
1) If the tower has not any follower on the top, another player could place a follower on a territory covered by the tower, or it becames immediately a prisoner?
2) if I have a tower placed inside a town, at the end of the game, I get points for that town or not, if I do not have any other follower-knight on it?


Thank you for your answers!
Bye

Generale

[Whaleyland]

1) You can only capture followers in the range of a Tower if you add to the tower. Otherwise, they are (relatively) safe. Followers can't immediately become prisoners, otherwise there would be no reason for placing a follower on the title.
2) A follower on top of a Tower is not worth any points at the end of the game and counts toward the occupation of nothing except the Tower. If you have a tower inside a city with a follower on top of it at the end of the game, you still have no claim on the city itself. You must put another follower somewhere else in the city to get points for it.