Are turn -based games only for beginners?

[Ajehn]

I've now joined three Agricola turn-based games and have been disappointed to discover they all have the beginner set-up (and even worse, two have no additional action spaces), so I have two questions:
Are turn based games only for beginners
Can a non-premium member request or only accept a game with minor improvements and occupations?
If I went premium would I be able to set up that game?

Also, is there any way I can request a two player game of real time Agricola? I just almost never have time for the 2 hour+ 4-player one

[cowboy_dan]

You wouldn’t be able to set up a table for a premium game without being a premium member, but if you use the manual setting under “play now” then you can choose to join a table that fits your criteria, provided one has been created by a premium member.

If you go premium, you can set up tables for any game however you wish. Also, the additional action spaces are a non-standard variant, and turn-based is not for beginners or experts, just people who prefer to play asynchronously.

I’m sure someone else can answer better, but I hope that helped. Happy farming!

[Shivaware]

It's possible that all of the non-beginner games are being snapped up, possibly by people using automatic matching. You can try to use the automatic matching mode yourself. Click the little gear and set the options you would like to use. In particular, under "Competitive level", you would make sure to indicate "I never want to play with 'Beginner'".

[Ajehn]

Thank you both so much! I'm new to BGA, and a little slow to figure things out. If no "beginner"s are in the game, does it automatically include the hand cards? I wouldn't mind the lack of additional actions as much if there were hand cards; it's just the combination that is brutal.

[SwanseaStephen]

It is an option for whomever sets the table to have hand cards set at "beginner" (which means no hand cards), so make sure the game you join doesn't have the beginner option listed in its description. Additional Action Spaces (AAS) is another option that is selected, so if you want AAS you need to see it listed in the description when you join the game. Also, just to point out something maybe you already know, but don't conflate the lack of additional action spaces game as somehow indicating a game as more beginner-oriented. The competitive crowd strongly prefers NO additional action spaces, as the AAS perhaps unintentionally water down the variety of strategies in the game, as big house strategies dominate when there is so much freedom to build early rooms and grow. The Arena seasons always disable AAS, for example.