I've typically had a strategic rule of going into a new phase without tiles in the duchy. But I never thought of the strategic value of keeping tiles between phases. The church sounds perfect.
I don’t always take buildings into a new round but in some cases it be a strong strategic advantage depending on the connections you have on your board and the die spaces open. Church and Market are great for this.
Great video and thanks for making it! I learned a bunch but especially about the Watch Tower having more usefulness in phase E, maybe keeping the Church til phase end, and that the Warehouse combos with so many tiles. I do suspect that Watch Tower probably belongs in B or C tier though!
Have you played with the Pleasure Garden? (Take the effect of the value of the white die) It's a separate expansion in the original version, but I also thought it was part of the 2019 version of CoB. Perhaps it's just absent from the online version. I was hoping you would discuss it. My personal experience (which is much fewer games than you) is that it's so context sensitive -- depending on the die value, it can be just what you need. I'd consider it at the top of the A tier, or bottom of the A+ tier. Maybe a little lower because it depends on what's showing on the white die. I have never seen the crane, and that just seems absurdly overpowered.
I believe you are referring to the White Castle tile. I have not played with that. I don’t think that is a building tile though so I did not cover it in this video. But yes, using the effect of the white die is quite strong. Worse case, it’s two free workers.
@@strategymeeples Yeah it is a building tile. There's even a yellow tile that gives you four points for each one. Right it was called White Castle in the first reprint.
My personal experience with the white castle building tile was extremely bad. But I did only play with it in around 20 games or so. I think I just got really unlucky during this small sample size though. I seemed to never get a good use out of this building, because the white die was always showing a useless number to me, even after waiting for multiple rounds for a good use. I then often ended up getting 2 workers as my extra action :D Of course you can still adjust the white die with workers but once you spend workers for a building tile it often becomes quite weak. I also had 9 white castles in both 2019 versions so far, which irritated me. Why not 8, like all the other buildings?
@@Pistol_Star I wouldn't be surprised if the general consensus was that it was low value. I find it almost always useful to at least place that sticky tile that I can't get down.
Yeah based on this discussion it seems like an A tier tile. Although if you get lucky with the white die rolls, I can see this tile having huge combo potential.
I feel this tier list is pretty accurate based on the 100s of games of CoB I have played. Please describe what is ridiculous about the Bank and Watchtower both being in A tier. I am genuinely curious
@@strategymeeples Sure. Sorry if I sounded rude, I was just a bit chocked by this list. Also, I dont quite see the point with a tier list if you're only gonna have 2 tiers? It just feels indecisive. I have also played 100s of games (though only 1v1) and I NEVER see the tower get taken unless its desperation to fill an area or for endgame points. I would rank it has the most useless tile, and bank on the other hand one of the most powerful. The reason I value it higher than market is because it always gives you 2 money and sets you up for another buy. Market only gives 1 and has a prerequisite (goods in stock).
@@strategymeeples Here is how I would rank the buildings: A - Bank / Town hall B - Church / 4 workers C- Market / Ship-animal-tile D- Carpenter E- Tower Bank and town hall are the ones I see played the most, they can both set up combos and are almost always useful. I did watch a handful of your games and you dont seem to go for the Tower very often either? Many games where you dont pick it at all. A statistical analysis of which brown tiles get played the most would be interesting (and Im willing to bet money on that tower would be at the bottom).
Ok thanks for the details. I feel that your breakdown of the Buildings tier list is quite inaccurate. Here's why: -Watchtower is one of the strongest tiles in Phase E. I have picked it up in several games and won off of it. I have also seen the highest ranked ELO players pick it up in Arena games on BGA. It may not be the most flashiest building tile, but 4 points + region completion bonus can be huge as some of the final actions in the game. In competitive games every single point maters and a tile like the Watchtower can make a big difference if picked up at the right time. -Bank is a strong tile, that is why I put it at the top of A tier in my list. It is definitely not as strong as the Town Hall or the Boarding House. Even the Warehouse is stronger than the Bank since selling goods combos with so many Yellow tiles in the game. -Finally, I completely disagree with your tier list. You rank buildings from A to E tier. What is your criteria for A tier and what is the criteria for E tier ? With Yellow tiles I understand that we need multiple tier levels to classify the tiles. The building tiles on the other hand are fairly balanced. 2 tiers is more than enough to rank them all. There is technically no 'useless' building or for that matter any 'useless' tile in this game. Even the weak tiles can be situationally game-winning. I don't think any of building tiles belong below A tier. That also speaks to the great design this game has to offer. At most I would put the Crane in X-tier (Broken tier). All the buildings can come in handy at different moments in the game. Ranking them solely based on how many times you pick them up in your games is incorrect. Also I am curious, do you play on BGA ? If so, what is the ELO range that you play in ? Feel free to challenge me anytime, I would be happy to play :)
@@strategymeeples HAHAH I didnt intend for this to be a d*ck measuring contest. I see the ELO is very important measurement for you but I dont pay too much attention to it. Yes, I am lower ranked than you (also because I play less) but i regularly beat 400+ players. Anyway, I would say the criteria tierlist is about which tiles are the most universally useful (and get picked most often). Town hall and Bank lets you do leapfrogging combos which is very good. I do find Carpenter rather weak and mostly useful if you aim to complete brown areas. If a tile is strong in Phase E, thats still only 1/5th of the game. When I look at your games I dont see you picking tower very often either! If you show me a winning game where you pick 3 or 4 I would be glad to change my mind
I've typically had a strategic rule of going into a new phase without tiles in the duchy. But I never thought of the strategic value of keeping tiles between phases. The church sounds perfect.
I don’t always take buildings into a new round but in some cases it be a strong strategic advantage depending on the connections you have on your board and the die spaces open. Church and Market are great for this.
Great video and thanks for making it! I learned a bunch but especially about the Watch Tower having more usefulness in phase E, maybe keeping the Church til phase end, and that the Warehouse combos with so many tiles. I do suspect that Watch Tower probably belongs in B or C tier though!
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Can you do an episode about cons of pros of various livestock?
That is too advanced for me, I will have to pass XD
I've been waiting for this one!!
Hope you enjoy! It was fun making this tier list :)
So excited for this video.
Have you played with the Pleasure Garden? (Take the effect of the value of the white die) It's a separate expansion in the original version, but I also thought it was part of the 2019 version of CoB. Perhaps it's just absent from the online version. I was hoping you would discuss it.
My personal experience (which is much fewer games than you) is that it's so context sensitive -- depending on the die value, it can be just what you need. I'd consider it at the top of the A tier, or bottom of the A+ tier. Maybe a little lower because it depends on what's showing on the white die.
I have never seen the crane, and that just seems absurdly overpowered.
I believe you are referring to the White Castle tile. I have not played with that. I don’t think that is a building tile though so I did not cover it in this video.
But yes, using the effect of the white die is quite strong. Worse case, it’s two free workers.
@@strategymeeples Yeah it is a building tile. There's even a yellow tile that gives you four points for each one. Right it was called White Castle in the first reprint.
My personal experience with the white castle building tile was extremely bad. But I did only play with it in around 20 games or so. I think I just got really unlucky during this small sample size though. I seemed to never get a good use out of this building, because the white die was always showing a useless number to me, even after waiting for multiple rounds for a good use. I then often ended up getting 2 workers as my extra action :D Of course you can still adjust the white die with workers but once you spend workers for a building tile it often becomes quite weak. I also had 9 white castles in both 2019 versions so far, which irritated me. Why not 8, like all the other buildings?
@@Pistol_Star I wouldn't be surprised if the general consensus was that it was low value. I find it almost always useful to at least place that sticky tile that I can't get down.
Yeah based on this discussion it seems like an A tier tile. Although if you get lucky with the white die rolls, I can see this tile having huge combo potential.
Bank > market
Also, putting the bank in the same tier as Tower is ridiculous
I feel this tier list is pretty accurate based on the 100s of games of CoB I have played. Please describe what is ridiculous about the Bank and Watchtower both being in A tier. I am genuinely curious
@@strategymeeples Sure. Sorry if I sounded rude, I was just a bit chocked by this list. Also, I dont quite see the point with a tier list if you're only gonna have 2 tiers? It just feels indecisive.
I have also played 100s of games (though only 1v1) and I NEVER see the tower get taken unless its desperation to fill an area or for endgame points. I would rank it has the most useless tile, and bank on the other hand one of the most powerful.
The reason I value it higher than market is because it always gives you 2 money and sets you up for another buy. Market only gives 1 and has a prerequisite (goods in stock).
@@strategymeeples Here is how I would rank the buildings:
A - Bank / Town hall
B - Church / 4 workers
C- Market / Ship-animal-tile
D- Carpenter
E- Tower
Bank and town hall are the ones I see played the most, they can both set up combos and are almost always useful.
I did watch a handful of your games and you dont seem to go for the Tower very often either? Many games where you dont pick it at all. A statistical analysis of which brown tiles get played the most would be interesting (and Im willing to bet money on that tower would be at the bottom).
Ok thanks for the details. I feel that your breakdown of the Buildings tier list is quite inaccurate. Here's why:
-Watchtower is one of the strongest tiles in Phase E. I have picked it up in several games and won off of it. I have also seen the highest ranked ELO players pick it up in Arena games on BGA. It may not be the most flashiest building tile, but 4 points + region completion bonus can be huge as some of the final actions in the game. In competitive games every single point maters and a tile like the Watchtower can make a big difference if picked up at the right time.
-Bank is a strong tile, that is why I put it at the top of A tier in my list. It is definitely not as strong as the Town Hall or the Boarding House. Even the Warehouse is stronger than the Bank since selling goods combos with so many Yellow tiles in the game.
-Finally, I completely disagree with your tier list. You rank buildings from A to E tier. What is your criteria for A tier and what is the criteria for E tier ? With Yellow tiles I understand that we need multiple tier levels to classify the tiles. The building tiles on the other hand are fairly balanced. 2 tiers is more than enough to rank them all. There is technically no 'useless' building or for that matter any 'useless' tile in this game. Even the weak tiles can be situationally game-winning. I don't think any of building tiles belong below A tier. That also speaks to the great design this game has to offer.
At most I would put the Crane in X-tier (Broken tier). All the buildings can come in handy at different moments in the game. Ranking them solely based on how many times you pick them up in your games is incorrect.
Also I am curious, do you play on BGA ? If so, what is the ELO range that you play in ? Feel free to challenge me anytime, I would be happy to play :)
@@strategymeeples HAHAH I didnt intend for this to be a d*ck measuring contest. I see the ELO is very important measurement for you but I dont pay too much attention to it. Yes, I am lower ranked than you (also because I play less) but i regularly beat 400+ players.
Anyway, I would say the criteria tierlist is about which tiles are the most universally useful (and get picked most often). Town hall and Bank lets you do leapfrogging combos which is very good. I do find Carpenter rather weak and mostly useful if you aim to complete brown areas. If a tile is strong in Phase E, thats still only 1/5th of the game.
When I look at your games I dont see you picking tower very often either! If you show me a winning game where you pick 3 or 4 I would be glad to change my mind