There Goes the Neighbourhood

[Scott]

I had an idea for a new scoring technique. It's the opposite of a cloister: instead of 1 point per tile, it's -1 points per tile. The feature starts with an initial value of 8 points (it cancels out the ninth point already just being on a tile), and loses a point for each surrounding tile. Meeple is stuck on the tile until end of game or tile is completely surrounded by other tiles. The intention is for encouraging players to build in areas where there is little activity.

The problem is, I have no idea what the feature should be. If somebody has an idea, they can feel free to take this and run with it.

EDIT: This idea has been reworked in the expansion Incarcerated!

[Whaleyland]

A cave.

 

[DasViktor]

A dry well.

[meepleater]

A hermit's house?

[Novelty]

Traditionally, leathermakers (aka tanners) didn't have a good reputation due to the stench from the tanning vats.  That could be an idea.  Or you could have a slaughterhouse (as in for live animals).

[skipboris]

The intention is for encouraging players to build in areas where there is little activity.

Doesn't the gold mine expansion accomplish this?  When I introduced that to my gaming group they were instantly the envy of anyone that didn't have one and they purposely tried to close them ASAP.

[Novelty]

Sorry, I've got a stupid question, but why would anyone want to place a meeple on this tile and lose points?

[Whaleyland]

I agree, I think each adjacent tile needs to be more profitable. Make the tile initially worth 16 points (which of course would actually be a maximum of 14 points since at least one tile would have to be adjacent to it). Thus it would be more worth placing a follower on. The only problem I perceive is that some people may intentionally NOT completely surround the tile to hold up the (now worth only 2 points) follower from being used elsewhere. A similar strategy has been used against me with cloisters, especially early cloisters, when other players place difficult-to-obtain tile-situations around the cloister, thereby making it nearly impossible to finish and stranding the follower on the cloister. But that is strategy as much as anything.

That all being said, except for the slim points, I like the idea for this expansion.

[Scott]

Doesn't the gold mine expansion accomplish this?  When I introduced that to my gaming group they were instantly the envy of anyone that didn't have one and they purposely tried to close them ASAP.

Heh, I'd completely forgotten about how gold mines worked. Those generate points ongoing, whereas with this idea there is a fixed number of points and it can only go down.

Sorry, I've got a stupid question, but why would anyone want to place a meeple on this tile and lose points?

When I said I had an idea, I didn't promise it was a good one.

I think each adjacent tile needs to be more profitable.

I agree with increasing the values to make this idea more playable.

[Novelty]

I know you want to encourage players to build in an area little used, but the person who played this tile would have the opposite goal - i.e. prevent people from building around it.  What might end up would be unsightly "holes" around the tile where there are no known tile configurations (except perhaps the abbey) so that the player may keep most of his points.  Based on this idea alone, I think this expansion, as it currently is, is a bad idea.

However, if it's reworked such that it's somewhat similar to mountains - i.e. each player gets a point for placing a tile around it (or 2 if it shares an edge?), this will not only encourage building, but also encourage the elimination of holes (and there isn't the negative points deal).  That's my suggestion, although I'm sure there are other ways to make it better.