LOL sorry @Hardco - you threw in Brass and that was too much for my brain to handle, I guess!
I’m in two practice CoB games now, so maybe @js619 and you can find a third player for another table?
Crossing messages! Thanks, @js619 … it will be a bit tighter than the Decathlon event with 4 players but should be good enough for practice/learning purposes!
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Yeah, I’ve got it … just logged into online play for the first time, though. mgeiger9 in Digidiced games, since they use Game Center …
Ah, probably the issue. I’ll send the invite over later tonight.
Invite sent. For those new to the game / app, when shown the map initially, it wants you to pick a starting location - one of the dark green tiles (this may not happen in our practice games, the way they’re set up).
Some basic strategy - mines are super useful (the sooner you have them, the sooner you’ll generate silverlings each round end). Tiles which allow free actions are also great, assuming you can get them. And don’t sleep on the yellow tiles, their purpose is to increase the effects of your other stuff.
Also worth noting that the notifications for your turn don’t always show up, and sometimes the game needs a force close to properly load multiplayer games.
I think the picking a starting location is when the map mode is not set to standard. Or something like that. There is also a checkbox for shuffle. Any idea what that is?
In the video I watched, it said that some layouts are better than others, so maybe we should choose standard for the decathlon.
I think shuffle just shuffles the player order? I’m not sure tbh.
But I agree - for the sake of the newer players, maybe we should opt for standard boards all around for the actual decathlon?
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I’ll probably recommend shuffle (random player order) with the standard board, but as long as it’s either “Standard” or “Random identical” I think it’s fine…
Alright, coming up for air at the end of the work week… some basics / strategy for Castles of Burgundy:
(@js619 and others, feel free to chime in, of course!)
Points in a 3 player game are scored by
- Completing contiguous areas of the same colour/type - more points for a larger area, plus bonus points for the round (+10 points in Round A, +8 points in Round B, etc.)
- Bonus points for covering ALL tiles of a certain colour before everyone else - 1st = 6 VP, 2nd = 3 VP
- Selling goods - 3 VP per good sold
- Points for each animal on a tile placed in a field (eg. 4 sheep = 4 VP)
- Extra points for placing the same type of animal in the same field
- Points for certain tiles/combos (eg. 4 VP for certain buildings)
- End of game scoring - 1 VP per unsold good, silverling, and every 2 workers
So, there’s a trade-off between finishing smaller areas early or completing larger areas later for more completion points but fewer bonus points. Similarly, there are often races to cover all tiles of a certain colour due to the bonus points awarded.
As with most dice rolling games, the RNG can kill you ( 
) so generally anything you can do to avoid needing specific die values or using dice at all is good. Managing your number of workers and/or the knowledge tiles that relate to die values or worker “efficiency” is also key since they can help you avoid a disastrous roll.
Striking a balance between collecting and placing tiles is necessary, not to mention the limiting factor of only being able to “store” 3 tiles.
Buying tiles from the black market is critical as that allows you to collect tiles without spending dice to do it. Consequently, there tends to be competition for mines (which generate the Silverlings to let you buy tiles) and also ships (which allow you to collect goods which you can sell for Silverlings.)
Likewise, there tends to be heavy competition for castles because they let you take another action for free without needing a specific die value, and for city halls because they let you place another tile for free. Other buildings allow you to collect certain types of tiles from the main market for free, thus saving you from using one of your dice.
Competition for ships also tends to happen because playing a ship moves you forward on the turn order track, allowing you to buy / choose tiles sooner each round.
There is another trade-off between collecting goods of the same colour for big points, vs selling goods to get the 1 Silvering (you only get 1 Silverling no matter how many goods you sell at once.) Also keeping in mind you can only have three types of goods at once, which can mean playing a ship tile can be less effective if there aren’t any goods that you have room for.
Yellow knowledge tiles give important “rule breaking” abilities and boosts, or can give you a significant amount of bonus points.
Animal tiles - and particularly the additive power of placing tiles with the same type of animal that you already have in that area - can swing the score pretty significantly. (Note that if you tap and hold on an animal tile, the game will show you how many of each animal tile are left in the game.)
Given all that, plenty of different strategies are available, so watching what your opponent is doing and either following a different strategy and/or blocking what they are doing is important.
Probably more but now I’m running out of steam after a long week!
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My strategy in my first game ever is to try and figure out what moves I can make and why I’m allowed to do so…
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The ol’ click and see what happens. I see you’ve embraced my style of play as well.
Doesn’t help that I’m also forever confusing Brass with Steam…
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Putting Castles of Burgundy on fast speed, is still really damn slow, especially in a 4 player game where it pops your board up between each turn. Is there really no way to turn off other player turn animations?
If you uncheck “Watch Replay” in the game list, it won’t show you the opponents’ turns.
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But also, paying attention to what your opponents are doing is key to beating good players in this game…
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lol, I was looking all over in the settings and stuff. I never even noticed that there.
@Codington - I don’t disagree, but like with Waterdeep, I can just click on them on the left and see what they have for a good enough idea. The display of each opponents mini-boards along with what tiles they have is really good in this game.
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I only noticed that option because I was in the same boat as you–really, really tired of watching every turn replay. Pretty sure every Digidiced title handles enabling/disabling replays similarly.
it’s so funny.
often players are grumbling about missing replays in games. sometimes grumbling about replays. sometimes about being too fast (Yellow & Yangtze, SW2), sometimes about being too slow.
i guess as a developer i would just shrink shoulders and stop listening 
[edit]
of course the best way would be…to deliver it all.
kudos to Through The Ages for this achievement: adjustable replay speed from step-by-step (my favorite) to instant!
not to speak of the new features Spectate, Graphs and Replay whole games.
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That’s actually a good point.
I turned off the replays in CoB but I still would like to see replays in games like Ticket to Ride, Terraforming Mars, etc.
I think for me, there’s one difference. In CoB, we’re each on our own board. Yes, we have the master board for what tiles are available, but what you do on your turn won’t really affect me, other than taking a tile that I wanted. And if it’s not there when I take my turn, I know you took it!
In Ticket to Ride, Terraforming Mars, and so many other games, it’s important to know what the other player did because it does directly affect what I might want to play.
Brass is kind of a mini-exception for me.
It has replays either with animation or without. I do it without because the animations are pretty slow. But even without the animations, it gives me a turn by turn account of what the other players did.
So I still value that.
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I think I agree with this. When the board state changes, I really want replays. If I have my own board or it I’m playing multiplayer solitaire or something, replays are less important.
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I don’t win often, but I’m not a bad Terraforming Mars player. But I really have trouble with the app because of not having replays. I know there’s a log, but it’s not quite the same, at least for me.
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100 “Likes” for that statement.