Extremely harsh to criticise red for this move. It's not intentional kingmaking. It's not even a bad move for them.Dinandino wrote: ↑11 December 2022, 00:17 Let me first say that I don't think that this is a widespread problem. It can definitely happen, but according to my (humble) opinion most players make the moves that they think are best for them.
However just after reading this thread I played this game.
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=325422288
Its the last round of the game and I am the start player. I have materials for farm development but cultivation gives me 11 points, expecting to get fencing back. I know I could have played differently and put myself into a much less risky situation, but I'll come back to this. The player after me (who is currently 3rd on points) has two 3-points moves (urgent wish and grain utilization) and (I think) five 2-point moves (one of which is fencing). And as you probably guessed he picked the 2-point fencing move. Next two players choses their best move (farm development and house development), leaving me unable to fence and/or renovate. I do get urgent whish back and we are back at the player after me. This time he has still one 3-point move left and quite a number of 2 point moves. This time he does opt to take the grain utilization and not decides not to block a 3-point plow from teal.
Maybe I should have just fenced first action the round before and don't end up in this situation. Probably the best way to avoid king-making is by making sure you can't get blocked.
They took fencing to block you for sure.
Do you think they took it to ensure you wouldn't get 1st place?
Or because it's their best chance at getting 2nd place?
At the time it happened you were both on ~20 points. Yeah, maybe they were never going to catch you anyway. I would absolutely give myself a chance at 2nd place for the cost of only 1 point with a guaranteed 3rd.