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[michaeljb]

Link to the game: http://www.boiteajeux.net/jeux/agr/partie.php?id=728472
Turn History: http://www.boiteajeux.net/jeux/agr/historique.php?id=728472

Agricola Rulebook

When I play IRL, it's almost always 2p or 4p (my wife and I, or us and another couple). I'd like to play a 5p game, so I'm setting this up with that specifically in mind. If there's not enough interest, we could get started with fewer players (or I could set it up as a 5p game, the rest of the spots would be filled in by other players at the site). I guess I'd need to come up with a deadline or something for that.

As described in the first Agricola game thread, Boite a Jeux is a decent site for playing Agricola. One downside is that it seems that "your turn" notifications are only sent once per day at a set time. To deal with this in Agricola I, we're posting in the thread at the end of each turn to let the next player know they're up. It's not the best system, but it's fine, and definitely better than tracking everything in Agricola like a normal PBF game. Anyway, BaJ offers a bit of flexibility with what variant, decks, and distribution are used.

3 choices for 'Variant'
Family: from the rulebook; no cards (Occupations/Minor Improvements) are dealt
Advanced: from the rulebook; each player is dealt 7 Occupations and 7 Minor Improvements they can play over the course of the game
Tournament: Advanced with some cards banned for being too powerful I guess (the list of bans is available here)

Include any of the Beginner (E), Interactive (I), and Complex (K) decks (these are just the decks that come with base Agricola; also it looks like it doesn't have quite all the cards)

3 options for Distribution of cards at the beginning of the game:
Random: the decks being used are shuffled up and you get your random 7 and 7
Draft: you choose one Occupation and one Minor Improvement from a hand, then pass that hand to the next player, and so on
10-7: you are dealt 10 Occupations and 10 Minor Improvements, and you pick which 7 of each to keep


When you want to sign up, be sure to let me know what your username at BaJ is (if you say nothing I will assume it is your forum name), and include your preferences for the variant/decks/distribution to use.

[michaeljb]

player list

1 michaeljb (any, any)
2 Jack Rudd (Advanced, Draft, EIK)
3 Watno
4 AHoppy (advanced, draft)
5 eHalcyon (Tournament, Beginner, Random)

[michaeljb]

I'm fine with any number of players, any deck/variant settings, beginner/experienced, whatever. I'm gonna go back through the first couple threads and find people that expressed interest but didn't get in a game, and they'll have priority for getting into this one.

...

Alright, I'm counting Jack Rudd's post in the Intro/Sign-up thread as /in since it was very recent, Watno and AHoppy both wanted /in but I'd like a confirmation since those posts were a while ago.

TINAS and Jim also expressed interest but not as concretely.

Maybe I need to make an Agricola queue, or just start Agricola IV as well

[eHalcyon]

I am interested.  I would vote for Tournament, Beginner, Random (because I have never played before).

If I am in, I must say that I would purposely try to limit myself to playing like one turn a day, because otherwise I might spend even more time just sitting there refreshing... nonetheless, I will probably be unable to hold to this restriction.

[Jack Rudd]

BaJ name: JackRudd.

Preferences: Advanced, Draft, EIK.

[michaeljb]

So eHalcyon and Jimmmm have never played before, TINAS has only played a little and was interested in E-deck only, and there could be others here who haven't played before but would like to give it a try. I think an all-beginners game would work fine, and the only modding that really needs to be done is setting up the actual game at BaJ. AFAIK you can't set up a game without being part of it, so one of the beginners would need to do that.

Thoughts? Should I post this in the Intro/Sign ups thread?

[Watno]

Im in
Fine with everything except family game.
Have played a few times irl.

[AHoppy]

I still want in.  Same settings.  But if people don't want draft, that's fine.  I just don't really like family version

Edit:  Username is ahoppy

[michaeljb]

OK, I've PM'd Jimmmm and TINAS, if I don't hear back from them "soon" (by some time Saturday I guess? I dunno) or they don't want the spot, it'll be eHalc's. If one of them does take it, I'll start Agricola IV so that eHalc can get in a game, unless someone wants to start a more beginners-centric game. Whatever works, just trying to remember those that expressed interest in playing but didn't get into a game.

[eHalcyon]

My name is still eHalcyon, btw.

[Watno]

I'm Watno, btw.

[michaeljb]

Jimmm and TINAS both opted out, so we've got our 5 players, now we just need to agree on our game settings.

variant:
advanced: 2 (Jack Rudd, AHoppy)
tournament: 1 (eHalcyon)
family: -1 (Watno)

Tournament mode is the Advanced mode with some cards vetoed (the list of banned cards, and I think explanations for why they're unbalanced, are in the BaJ forums somewhere). Since we have at least one player that is concerned with these unbalanced cards, I think we should play the tournament mode.


decks:
EIK: 1 (Jack Rudd)
E: 1 (eHalcyon)

I don't think adding the I and K decks to the mix will severely screw up eHalcyon, but I could be wrong and don't want to assume too much. Personally, I think playing with just the E deck would be a little bland (somewhat like Base Dominion when we could also play with Intrigue, Seaside, and Cornucopia), but I'm not totally opposed

Of course, if I ran this like a real PBF we could use the G deck as well, but that just sounds like way too much work


distribution:
draft: 2 (Jack Rudd, AHoppy)
random: 1 (eHalcyon)

I think I still haven't played a drafting game and I would love try it, but on the other hand that would probably be tough on a new player.

[eHalcyon]

I read somewhere (I think in the official rules) that mixing the decks was kind of imbalanced.  Probably less so if drafting?

For the record, I own a copy of Agricola but I haven't had a chance to actually play it yet!  So I am interested in learning it so it would be easier to get it to the table...

[AHoppy]

I don't know about decks being unbalanced, but I'm fine with playing tournament mode or with whatever decks.  Personally, when I play I don't really pay much attention to the decks. 

Reasons for draft:  It takes out much of the luck, makes it so you can build a strategy from the beginning.  I've had too many games where I've been screwed over by having all terrible occupations/minor improvements and drafting removes that.  Or at least, it's your fault then...

Reasons for no draft: It would be much easier for beginners.  seeing as a beginner has no idea what would be good anyways.  So I'm fine with not doing a draft then.  I recently played with someone who never played before and just playing with 7 was tough because occupations and minor improvements are confusing.  every other time I've taught the game it's been family version first. 

Summary: I'm fine with not doing a draft, fine with playing tournament/advanced/any decks, I'd just rather not play family version. 

[AHoppy]

So, have we decided on any game settings yet?

[michaeljb]

I guess tournament with random deals with the E deck I guess. We can always play another one including the I and K decks or using draft.

[michaeljb]

OK, i've created the game, when you log into BaJ it should be visible in "join a game"

[Watno]

Jack Rudd?

[AHoppy]

And so it begins.  eHalcyon, you're up

[eHalcyon]

General questions:

What is the Cooking tab for?

Looks like the Round 1 card that came up was "build an improvement".  What are the other cards that can come up?

[michaeljb]

During your turn, you can go to the cooking tab to cook animals or veggies if you have a cooking improvement. You generally won't need to use the cooking tab; when you take animals, a box appears that gives you the option to place or cook them, and in the feeding phase of the harvest you will also be given the option to cook right there. You can use the cooking tab if you need the Food for something else that turn; for example, if you need Food to pay for an occupation.

The other cards that can come up are shown on the summary card. The game is separated into 6 stages; at the end of each stage is a harvest. Each stage has its own set of action cards that can come up, and they can come up in any order within the stage. So the next game, "build an improvement" might come in the fourth round, but will never come later than that.

Jack Rudd's turn

[eHalcyon]

For us newbies, can you give us some general strategy tips?  The simple two I've found online are:

- make babies
- have a plan for getting food

[Davio]

For us newbies, can you give us some general strategy tips?  The simple two I've found online are:

- make babies
- have a plan for getting food

It's like a real life simulation!

It's probably a good idea to do some planning with your cards and see if you can squeeze out some extra juice that way. Agricola is micro management to the extreme so every little extra counts.

You also have to be good at priority management. Often there's so much you want to do, but certain things can wait for your third action while others are more pressing.

[Jack Rudd]

Watno.

(I'm surprised 3 Clay made its way round to me, but I'm not complaining.)

[AHoppy]

Another thing to watch out for is what can/will the other players take.  If it's something you need, take it because if you try to wait for it to build up, it probably won't.  Also, look for what others can't do.  If you're the only one who can sow/bake bread, take an action others can take first and save the one you can do for later.