Help! Lots of questions

By dajusta, in Citadels

1. Can the navigator build if he/she chooses not to take 4 cards/gold?? Similarly, can the witch choose not to bewitch, and continue his/her turn??

2. If the diplomat switches a building that is LESS than his/her original building, does he get gold back?

3. Why does the abbot suck?

4. When the Emperor gives the crown to a player, does the player pick gold/cards, or does the emperor pick gold cards? If the player picks, is it at random, or is it at the player's choice?

5. Is the Queen's ability to take 3 gold dependent on the CROWN itself, or dependant on the player who took the King or Emperor card? Like, if she sat next to the person who took the Emperor card, yet the Crown itself is passed away from her, does she recieve gold?

6. When playing to 6 or 7 districts, how many victory points should be awarded for the player who reaches the target first?

7. When playing to 5-6 districts, should more points be awarded for the player who has all 5 colours?

8. If the diplomat takes the museum that has cards underneath it for victory points, does the diplomat take everything?

9. Can a bewitched emperor give the crown to the witch??

10. Why are the districts distributed in such a way that there are 19 greens, 11 reds, 11 blue, or 10 yellows? (the #s can be a little off, but there are more dominantly green districts).

dajusta said:

1. Can the navigator build if he/she chooses not to take 4 cards/gold?? Similarly, can the witch choose not to bewitch, and continue his/her turn??

2. If the diplomat switches a building that is LESS than his/her original building, does he get gold back?

3. Why does the abbot suck?

4. When the Emperor gives the crown to a player, does the player pick gold/cards, or does the emperor pick gold cards? If the player picks, is it at random, or is it at the player's choice?

5. Is the Queen's ability to take 3 gold dependent on the CROWN itself, or dependant on the player who took the King or Emperor card? Like, if she sat next to the person who took the Emperor card, yet the Crown itself is passed away from her, does she recieve gold?

6. When playing to 6 or 7 districts, how many victory points should be awarded for the player who reaches the target first?

7. When playing to 5-6 districts, should more points be awarded for the player who has all 5 colours?

8. If the diplomat takes the museum that has cards underneath it for victory points, does the diplomat take everything?

9. Can a bewitched emperor give the crown to the witch??

10. Why are the districts distributed in such a way that there are 19 greens, 11 reds, 11 blue, or 10 yellows? (the #s can be a little off, but there are more dominantly green districts).

1. Generally you're supposed to use a character's ability if it is possible to do so.

2. I think the rules state you can't trade down. Otherwise, yes

3. B/c you're picking him when you have/are tied for the most gold probably. Otherwise, yes, he is an underpowered tax collector. But at least you're one of the three players who get district income

4. Player's choice

5. Crown and King are synonimus. In the case of the Emporer I'd say crown, but if you have enough people to use her why aren't you using the artist instead?

6/7. Not sure where that's coming from. You only get points for reaching 8 unless you have the bell tower and I've never heard of any variant that decreases it.

8. Not sure, but I'd say no.

9. No. You pick a player other than yourself to give the crown to.

10. A city's economy revolves around its trade more than anything else. Game wise, it probably keeps the players trying to get the merchant for themselves since 1 gold is less stellar than the other abilities most of the time.

dajusta said:

1. Can the navigator build if he/she chooses not to take 4 cards/gold?? Similarly, can the witch choose not to bewitch, and continue his/her turn??

Yes the Navigator can choose not to take the cards or gold and then build instead. I've always read it that the abilities are optional (with the exception of the Emperor/King), although generally speaking you pick a character whose ability you intend to use.

dajusta said:

2. If the diplomat switches a building that is LESS than his/her original building, does he get gold back?

No. I'm not sure if the rules forbid making the trade at all, but if it's allowed he certainly doesn't get money back for it. This is incentive not to pick this option.

dajusta said:

3. Why does the abbot suck?

I hadn't noticed that he did. Keep in mind the Abbot is also immune to the Warlord/Diplomat as the Bishop is, even though it doesn't say so on the card.

dajusta said:

4. When the Emperor gives the crown to a player, does the player pick gold/cards, or does the emperor pick gold cards? If the player picks, is it at random, or is it at the player's choice?

The player chooses in both cases.

dajusta said:

5. Is the Queen's ability to take 3 gold dependent on the CROWN itself, or dependant on the player who took the King or Emperor card? Like, if she sat next to the person who took the Emperor card, yet the Crown itself is passed away from her, does she recieve gold?

She must be beside the player with the crown, not the Emperor.

dajusta said:

6. When playing to 6 or 7 districts, how many victory points should be awarded for the player who reaches the target first?

I'd say +4. The same as the first player who gets 8 normally.

dajusta said:

7. When playing to 5-6 districts, should more points be awarded for the player who has all 5 colours?

More than the normal bonus for doing so? I don't think so.

dajusta said:

8. If the diplomat takes the museum that has cards underneath it for victory points, does the diplomat take everything?

I've always played yes. Those cards are part of the Museum now.

dajusta said:

9. Can a bewitched emperor give the crown to the witch??

No. Who you give the crown to is a player, not a character. You cannot give it to the current holder or to yourself.

dajusta said:

10. Why are the districts distributed in such a way that there are 19 greens, 11 reds, 11 blue, or 10 yellows? (the #s can be a little off, but there are more dominantly green districts).

I hadn't noticed it before, but it makes sense to me that the Merchant gets better taxation benefits than the other taxing nobles.

Steve-O said:

dajusta said:

3. Why does the abbot suck?

I hadn't noticed that he did. Keep in mind the Abbot is also immune to the Warlord/Diplomat as the Bishop is, even though it doesn't say so on the card.

Why do you think this, I tried to find some reference but was unsuccsesful. No mention of it in the FAQ or anywhere?

Also one more question :

Can the Diplomat take a district from another player that he already has in his city (will have a duplicate), or can he give a district in exchange that the targret player already has in his city (will have a duplicate, if yes does the player have to discard it) ?

Thanks :)

The Abbot doesn't get immunity b/c there's no building destruction (aside from Armoury if you include it) for you to protect yourself against. Though it does say the Bishop is immune to the Diplomat so his power doesn't become completely useless.

The only way you can have duplicates is with Quarry. That keeps some of your buildings safe.

fpol said:

I hadn't noticed that he did. Keep in mind the Abbot is also immune to the Warlord/Diplomat as the Bishop is, even though it doesn't say so on the card.

Why do you think this, I tried to find some reference but was unsuccsesful. No mention of it in the FAQ or anywhere?

I thought it was in the rulebook under the Abbot's description. There are a lot of special caveats for the different leaders there that are not spelled out on the card. Admittedly it has been a while since I actually looked it up, but I thought it was there.

fpol said:

Also one more question :

Can the Diplomat take a district from another player that he already has in his city (will have a duplicate), or can he give a district in exchange that the targret player already has in his city (will have a duplicate, if yes does the player have to discard it) ?

I would say no, but I have nothing explicit to support that at the moment.