I'm having a very hard time with caravan. I'm no expert on the rules, but i do know them. A lot of the time I have two caravans with 26, and my oppenent doesn't have even have one imbetween 21 and 26. Sometimes I win, but sometimes the game keeps going. I end up getting all 3 caravans at 26 (becuase of my stratergy) and I still don't win. I then don't have anything to do but discard a caravan, or add to it, and when i do that, I lose, even though they may only have one caravan imbetween 21-26.

Am i missing something here? It seems to be very inconsistant that I do exactly the same thing, but sometimes win, but most of the time lose.

I would really appreciate some help, as I am going for the caravan master trohpy, and so far I have only won 7 matches.... :sadvaultboy:


Thanks

whoever made this mini game up was totally drunk and on acid when he/she invented it.

its just a load of bollox

must have made sense while he/she was tripping his nuts off and downing 5 bottles of jack daniels.
but in the cold light of day he/she was just ashamed to cut it from the game.

makes as much sense as dousing your sack in petrol and jumpig naked over an open fire to see whos nuts burst into flame first.

That was....Helpful...

The game is actually very, very easy when you get the strategy down. All you have to do is not [censored] up and let the computer beat itself. But it does take getting used to, because the win conditions are more complicated than in your average game.

First rule: Always, always, always have your jokers in the deck. The game cannot end if any of the caravan pairs are tied, and jokers are the most effective tiebreaking tool you have.

The main win condition is this: At least one player must have a score from 21-26 in each of the three piles. So this setup (you on bottom, like in the game):

21 18 24
19 26 22

Means the computer wins. The computer has 21 in the first pile, you have 26 in the second, and you each have 21+ in the third, with the computer winning two of three.

However, this setup:

21 24 7
25 26 18

Means the game continues. No one has reached 21 in the third pile. Hopefully, in this circumstance, you can hit somewhere from 21-26 on your next card and win.

And this setup:

26 15 14
26 26 26

Means the game continues as well. You're dominating, but because there's a tie in one of the piles, the game goes on.

Now, obviously you can't add to the first pile to get ahead. One thing you can do in this instance is use a jack to get rid of a card from your first pile. This will break the tie, and even though the computer will be ahead in that pile, you'll lead in the other two and win.

But what if there are two ties? Or even three?

26 26 26
26 26 26

I've had this happen a few times. That's when your jokers come in handy. Find a rank of card (usually something high, 7-10) that the computer has in each of its piles (or at least two). Hopefully you only have one card of that rank played, and you can drop the joker on it to make the computer get rid of its cards of that rank. (If you don't understand what I'm talking about, go read the rules again).

Another thing to note is that when the computer starts playing cards on a pile, it will keep pushing that pile up 90% of the time, even when it's already past 21. It will drop small cards to get it to 26. Take that early opportunity to play your other two piles up past 21, and you'll get a lot of easy 2-1 wins.

If you have more questions, ask; I'll try to remember to check the thread later. Won't be for some hours, though.

Edit: When I say the game is easy, I mean like, my record is 70-8, and the first five losses were all on purpose to get the loss achievement. The other three were just dumb mistakes. You can win basically every game you play.

When i get to the the point where im at 26 26 26 and not won i simply start putting cards onthe opponate's caravans. a jack on there to take out the high cards, a queen to turn it around, a king to push them over 26.

they lose pretty soon after that.

My deck is mainly full of kings, jacks, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, Ace's and i never lose a game.

Wow. I never knew you could play face cards and jokers on the other guy's piles. That's [censored] crazy. Game's even easier now.

And the AI doesn't know how to do the same to you. They even play Jacks on their own cards when they can't beat your score :huh:

yep. the game is really easy to win.....I dont play it anymore cause otherwise im just get loaded with caps and unbalance the money system.

Ok thanks guys.
However, I use that trick where in your hand you keep discarding to get your hand full of 10s,9s and 7s, so I can easily get 3 caravans to 26. In some cases when I have 3 at 26 and it's one of these ties, i have no cards left in my deck. Is that becuase I used that discard explpoit before you bid on your first caravan?

Not to be rude, but think about your question. "I keep discarding cards to set up quick 26s, but then I run out of cards. Is that because I keep discarding?"

For this reason, it's not really an exploit. The rules of the game are that if one player runs out of cards before the game can be resolved normally, the player that runs out loses. So if you keep chucking cards in order to set up quick 26s, you're leaving yourself vulnerable to such a loss.

Honestly, you can just keep the normal deck and never lose with it. Don't overcomplicate the game. Get your two 21+ winning piles and rake in the cash.