Change the tie breaker in Carcassone! It's unfair.

[andr87]

I think I can speak for many that it can be very frustrating to lose on a tie breaker and lose a huge amount of ELO, just because you were next in order of play from the tie winner who achieved the same amount of points as you. This is too arbitrary and weights a lot. You work hard half an hour of strategy just to be differentiated on a silly rule. Same points should be same place, or at least don't affect the ELO at all.
Who's with me?

[SiRan90]

You should probably have this in the Carcassonne sub forum to get better feedback.

Taking a look, I only see one game in your most recent history where first and second tied and the person who came second gained elo

[Meeplelowda]

I think I can speak for many that it can be very frustrating to lose on a tie breaker and lose a huge amount of ELO, just because you were next in order of play from the tie winner who achieved the same amount of points as you. This is too arbitrary and weights a lot. You work hard half an hour of strategy just to be differentiated on a silly rule. Same points should be same place, or at least don't affect the ELO at all.
Who's with me?

This is the tiebreaker used in international competitions (see this thread). It was changed to this tiebreaker last year, so it's not likely to change back given that it was a deliberate choice.

[yzemaze]

Who's with me?

Quite likely only a select few folks who don’t play competitively.

I get that this tiebreaker in 3+ player games feels arbitrary, especially if it pertains to players with the same number of moves. But that’s quite surely not the lion’s share of Carcassonne games played on BGA. That would be 2p games and roughly 2% of them end in a tie. These go to the player who didn’t get first dibs and had (without discards) 35 instead of 36 moves. So it’s only fair to award them the win if they get a tie against the odds. [Starting players win roughly 55% of the games. At the world championships in 2024 and 2025 that quota was even over 57% – and that’s with ties going to the 2nd players already!]

[Ceaseless]

If anything, more games should include an amazing tiebreaker like this. First turn advantage is so nice in so many games, this tiebreaker helps alleviate a portion of that advantage. Obviously a tiebreaker isn't a match for first turn advantage, but every bit helps. It's something neat to look at on a game-by-game basis for sure!

[FrankJones]

I am a high-rated player of a game in which player 1 (in 2-player games) has a 20-point advantage in a game in which scores are typically in the 50s-80s.

So, yeah, this tiebreaker seems fine to me.

(In the game in question, "Aquatica," My win rate as player 1 is 98%. I have ten times as many losses as player 2 as I do as player 1.)

[FrankJones]

In Carcassonne, I play "The River" and "inns and cathedrals". This means the first 11 placements are mandatory river tiles.

So, whoever plays the 12th tile essentially "goes first", and, that player also places the 100th and final tile. This is a huge double advantage.