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Messages - A_S00

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1
Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / Re: Dominion Scavenger is Back
« on: December 25, 2018, 01:14:40 am »
The mu and other information listed with the games is for that opponent.

In the screenshot it shows that you won 4 games to an expected 3.5 and correspondingly your mu is projected to go up.
Can you unpack this more for me?  Does that mean that the negative number I was pointing out in the mu column doesn't mean "your mu decreased this match", but "this opponent's mu was lower than yours"?

Does that mean the other 3 players I beat has higher mu than me (despite being lower level)?

2
Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / Re: Dominion Scavenger is Back
« on: December 24, 2018, 06:21:23 pm »
Thanks for the work on this, happy to see it's back!

Question about Glicko ratings (possible bug report?) while you're here:  Are there any circumstances under which a player's mu parameter should decrease after a win?

My match history currently looks like this.  The bottom line surprises me; I was under the impression that a win would always increase your mu (the algorithm's "best guess" about your true skill), and that even if your opponent was rated substantially lower, that would only result in a smaller increase in mu.  Have I misunderstood the rating system, or is this possibly a bug?

(Note that I don't specifically remember the game, so even if it is a bug, it could be a display bug rather than an actual ratings implementation bug; that is, maybe the bug is just that a loss is displaying as a win.)

3
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Best Uninteresting Moments in Dominion
« on: February 01, 2018, 01:58:07 pm »
Cultist board with Forager.  Open 5/2, my opponent is 4/3.  Turns out Forager is really good at letting you play your starting Cultist a bunch of times.

Won Ruins split 8/2.  Opponent resigned.

Sorry buddy :-\

4
Dominion Articles / Re: Hinterlands: Fool's Gold
« on: April 05, 2012, 03:15:13 am »
Totally did mean Steward, oops.  And I meant to include a section on Colony games, but then I forgot.  Tomorrow's project.

I'll do some more playing with Chapel to see how exactly it ends up working.

5
Dominion Articles / Hinterlands: Fool's Gold
« on: April 05, 2012, 02:19:25 am »
Hey, y'all.  This is my first attempt at an article, so I'm mostly looking for feedback here.  I'm sure I've missed a few things, said some dumb stuff, and just generally shown why I can't seem to hit level 40 on Isotropic in this article.  So let me know how I can improve it and I'll make it better.  Thanks!

-----

Hinterlands:  Fool's Gold



“Chapel is the most powerful Dominion card relative to its cost, and I'm unlikely to make another card that powerful (relative to its cost).” -Donald X. Vaccarino

“Oops, I did it again.” -Britney Spears

-----

Fool's Gold is pretty good.  And, like Minions, Hunting Parties, and sex, the more of it you have, the better it gets.  Play one FG in a turn, and it's a Copper.  Play two, and each one is a Silver-and-a-half.  Play three, and each one is a Gold.  Play four or more, and they're better than Gold.  Pretty snazzy for a $2 card.

It should follow from the above that you want to buy as many copies of Fool's Gold as possible.  And, indeed, you can do worse than buying nothing else:  Big Money Ultimate on Geronimoo's simulator loses to an equivalent strategy that just buys Fool's Gold instead of Gold and Silver 25%-67%.  The Fool's Gold strategy averages 4 Provinces in 15.5 turns.  But sometimes (a lot of the time), you can do even better.

-----

What does Fool's Gold like?

There are three things that Fool's Gold loves almost as much as other Fool's Gold, and sometimes it's worth dipping out of Fool's Gold to pick up one or more of them.  Those three things are:
  • Trashing:  The less cards you have in your deck that aren't Fool's Gold, the higher your chance of drawing lots of Fool's Gold at once.  Thus, Fool's Gold loves trashers (but only some...more on this later).
  • Card Drawing:  The more cards you have in your hand, the more of them are likely to be Fool's Gold.  Thus, Fool's Gold loves drawing cards.
  • +Buy (or gain):  The only thing better than buying a Fool's Gold every turn is buying more than one Fool's Gold every turn.  This accelerates your game if you're going for it and your opponent is ignoring it, and gives you the chance at a favorable split if you end up racing for the Fool's Golds.  Plus, this will give you a chance at double Province or Province/Duchy turns in the late game, which can easily spell the difference between a win and a loss.  Thus, Fool's Gold loves +buy.
Even better than getting just one of those, though, is getting multiple.  So, with that in mind, let's consider some specific cards that go well with Fool's Gold.

Mint:  A special case for a 5/2 split, Mint/Fool's Gold is currently the 6th best opening, according to the councilroom.com rankings.  Mint's on-buy effect provides excellent trashing, and its on-play effect then goes on to effectively provide +buy, getting you lots of Fool's Gold fast.  It's probably not worth picking up later unless you get a lucky 5-Copper hand (don't trash any Fool's Gold for it).

Council Room:  Huge draw and +buy to go with it.  Council Room/Fool's Gold is an excellent opening if you're lucky enough to get a 5/2 split, but even if you're not, picking one up with your first $5 hand is worth it.  Buying a single Council Room as soon as possible increases Fool's Gold's margin over BMU to a whopping 90%-7%, and beats Fool's Gold head-on 71%-23%.  It also beats the optimized Council Room bot 76%-19%.

Margrave:  Card drawing, +buy, and an attack to boot.  Smells like victory.  Like Council Room, Margrave is worth picking up with your first $5 hand even if you don't get a 5/2 split.  One of these babies will let Fool's Gold beat BMU 92%-5%, and beats straight Fool's Gold 69%-25%.

Salvager:  A trasher tailor-made for Fool's Gold.  Get rid of your Estates and Coppers, accelerate your Fool's Gold purchasing with +$ and +buy, then have the option to rush the end game by trashing Provinces if you get ahead (doubly beneficial to a Fool's Gold deck, since Fool's Gold hates greening).  Buying a single Salvager on turn 1/2 increases Fool's Gold's margin over BMU to 81%-16%, and beats straight Fool's Gold head-on 60%-37%.

Spice Merchant:  In mirror match-ups, ends up being a slightly less good version of Salvager in Fool's Gold games, but still worth picking up if it's the best option on the board.  If your opponent ignores Fool's Gold, it's even better.  You can use the +$/+buy option early to pick up extra Fool's Golds, or the +cards option if you get an unlucky hand like 2xFG, 1xC, Spice Merchant, Province, hoping to draw an extra Fool's Gold.  Picking up a Spice Merchant as an opening increases Fool's Gold's margin over BMU to 86%-10%, and beats Fool's Gold head-on 54%-37%.

Masquerade:  Gives a little card drawing, along with light trashing.  Masquerade is a good card, and its strengths line right up with what Fool's Gold likes, so no surprise that they go well together.  Masquerade/Fool's Gold beats BMU 81%-15%, and beats straight Fool's Gold 57%-38%.  It also beats the optimized Masquerade bot 55%-39%.

Bridge:  Gives +buy for cheap.  The cost reduction also minimizes the chance of unlucky turns where you get your +buy but don't have enough money in hand to buy two Fool's Gold (a problem with some of the weaker +buy cards), and gives you a decent shot at double Province or Province/Duchy turns late game (FG/FG/FG/C/Bridge is P/D, FG/FG/FG/FG/Bridge is P/P).  Buying an opening Bridge bumps up the margin against BMU to 88%-9%, and beats straight Fool's Gold 67%-27%. Also beats the optimized Bridge bot 83%-13%.

Envoy:  It's good for BMU, and it's good for Fool's Gold.  It beats BMU 76%-18%, straight Fool's Gold 50%-4-%, and the optimized Envoy bot 51%-41%.

Smithy:  No surprises here.  Beats BMU 78%-18%, Fool's Gold 55%-36%, and the optimized Smithy bot 53%-38%.

Thief:  An interesting case, and one of the few types of games in which the card is actually useful.  In a mirror match-up, Thief acts as +buy, letting you pick up extra copies of Fool's Gold, while killing your opponent's copies (of course, you still run the risk of getting unlucky and just trashing his Copper for him).  With a single Thief as an opener, it beats straight Fool's Gold 63%-30%, but it's worse against BMU than straight Fool's Gold is (though it still wins 64%-29%).

-----

What doesn't Fool's Gold like?

As good a card as Fool's Gold is, there's a number of things that don't go along with it very well.  Some of them are expected, but some are surprising (at least to me).  Here are a few of them:

Cursing attacks:  Just like having less crap in your deck makes you more likely to draw your Fool's Golds together, having more crap makes you less likely to do so.  Thus, if you're going to be eating a lot of Curses, you should probably stick to Gold and Silver which at least retain their value in crappy hands, rather than turning into so much Copper.  Mountebank is the worst of the lot, of course, since it gives you two cards that aren't Fool's Gold every time you get hit.  When Cursers are on the board, I'd probably just avoid Fool's Gold altogether.

Fast megaturns:  Fool's Gold strategies can be pretty fast...but not necessarily the fastest thing on the board.  If you think your opponent can probably pull off some kind of KC/Bridge monstrosity on turn 12, you should probably try and contest him on those grounds, rather than plodding along with your Fool's Gold strategy.

Chapel:  Despite my assertion above that Fool's Gold loves trashing, it turns out not to get along with the king of trashers, Chapel.  Straight Fool's Gold beats Chapel/Fool's Gold 59%-38%.  Without any +buy to make up the turn you lose buying Chapel, you're probably only going to end up with 4 Fool's Gold in your deck when they run out, and with no copper to back them up, that's not going to stand up to any greening whatsoever.  It may be viable to work Chapel into a Fool's Gold strategy that also gets some +cards from somewhere, but I suspect that's going to be too slow and lose the Fool's Gold race.

Moneylender, Steward:  Good as these cards are, they both fall prey to the same problem as Chapel.  If you waste a turn buying them, you lose the Fool's Gold race, and the deck thinning and +$ they provide isn't enough to make up the difference.

-----

Other stuff

Should I buy Gold and Silver after the Fool's Gold runs out?

In a word, yes.  It's not going to matter against a player who's not going Fool's Gold (by the time they run out, you're going to be buying Provinces and Duchies anyway), but in a mirror match-up, a player who buys Gold and Silver after the Fool's Gold runs out beats one who doesn't 85%-10%.  Just do it.

When should I trash my Fool's Gold to top-deck a Gold?

I have no idea.  Geronimoo's simulator doesn't have a way of controlling the bot's behavior for this, and I don't know my way around rspeer's well enough to answer this question with it.  However, there are a couple things I think are probably important when deciding whether or not to trash:
  • Can you already buy a Province?  If so, don't trash.
  • How did the Fool's Gold split go?  The better it went for you (the more Fool's Golds you got), the less you should be inclined to trash.
  • Do you have more than one Fool's Gold in hand right now?  If so, probably don't trash.
  • Given what you know about what's left in your deck, are top-decked Golds likely to let you buy a Province next turn?  If yes, might be a good idea to trash.
  • Is the game far enough from over that a VP card next turn is as good as one this turn, or are you really down to the wire?  If the former, you might consider trashing; if the latter, probably best to just buy buy buy.
Should I try and incorporate Fool's Gold into engines?

This is a tricky question, and in my experience, the answer is generally "no."  It's easy to see why you would want to:  Fool's Gold rewards big hands with lots of buys, and the best way to get that is a big, fancy engine.  The problem is, fancy engines take time to set up, and Fool's Gold is always a limited resource.  So, if you try to get your engine set up first, your opponent has time to buy up all the Fool's Gold, making your ability to draw your whole deck useless.  On the other hand, if you buy up the Fool's Gold first, you've probably spent enough turns on that race that it's too late to start building an engine; your opponent already has enough Fool's Golds to be buying Provinces.

There may well be some exceptions to this, but in my experience, Fool's Gold and engines don't mix especially well.

-----

Works with:
  • +Buy
  • Trashing (if it gives +buy)
  • +Cards
  • Thief
Doesn't work with:
  • Cursing attacks
  • Trashing (if it doesn't give +buy)
  • Fancy engines

6
It looks like a fun game.  I wonder if Courtyard/money would have ended up beating both of you, though.  A quick fiddle with the built-in bot in Geronimoo's simulator to make it buy 4 Gold before Province and ignore Duchies and Estates has it empty the Province pile on turn 22-23 on average, for 51 points.  Lady Heidi won your game with 54 on turn 24, and there were no attacks in play and no real competition over the Provinces.

Still, would have been close, and your way was definitely more fun.  Cool game!

7
GokoDom / Re: Kirian's Bracket Week One
« on: March 25, 2012, 09:56:25 pm »
A_S00 5 (10 points) - CarpeDeezNuts 2 (4 points)

Thoughts:

Game 1: A_S00 (34) < CarpeDeezNuts (36) - I greened too early, and it didn't occur to me until too late that with Moneylender as a big part of my income and no +Buy, I was going to run out of Copper.  Consequently, I stalled.

Game 2: A_S00 (10) < CarpeDeezNuts (52) - I tried to get fancy with Scheme/TR/Thief, thinking I could keep my opponent from hitting the critical mass of non-Copper money it would take to get to Grand Markets (the only +$ on the board).  Turns out I couldn't.

Game 3: A_S00 (31) > CarpeDeezNuts (27) - Despite some terminal collisions after a Chapel buy of questionable wisdom, turns out a 5/2 split with Council Room in play is just too strong on a money board.

Game 4: CarpeDeezNuts (65) < A_S00 (68) - A real nail-biter.  We both went Lab+money, and I picked up a Remodel to go with it, while he grabbed a Conspirator.  I think Conspirator was probably the better choice, as he was ahead for most of the game.  I was in desperate green-rush mode at the end of the game, and I was honestly pretty surprised when I pulled it out.  I think slightly earlier greening by my opponent would have sealed the deal.

Game 5: CarpeDeezNuts (37) < A_S00 (44) - A Familiar board with a couple twists.  I credit my Bishop with the win.

Game 6: CarpeDeezNuts (24) < A_S00 (39) - This just in:  Jack is pretty good.  Also, turns out to synergize decently with the Remodel and Gain functions of Governor.

Game 7: CarpeDeezNuts (17) < A_S00 (40) - With a Sea Hag and a Witch early against an opponent who only picked up a Sea Hag on turn 3, I won the Curse war 7-3, then sailed through the rest of the game fairly comfortably.  I really think my opponent should have picked up Witch instead of Governor with his 5/2 split.

-----

Fun games overall, if mostly fairly straightforward (base set and all).  Thanks to CarpeDeezNuts for playing!

8
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Really bad card ideas
« on: March 24, 2012, 12:47:47 am »
King Midas:
Whenever you play a card, trash it, gain a Gold, and put it in your hand. If the "Gold" supply pile is empty, you immediately lose the game.
Maybe should be an exception for playing Golds...but then again, maybe not :P .

9
Game Reports / Re: City/Saboteurs is too slow to beat double Jacks
« on: March 23, 2012, 12:24:25 pm »
This thread title makes me want to play a bunch of terrible, terrible strategies and then post about losing with them, just so I can make threads with awesome titles (I know the OP was actually playing the better strategy here, but I can't think of a way to make people play bad strategies against me very often).

"Workshop/BM is too slow to beat NV/Bridge."
"Gardens rush with no +buy is too slow to beat Minion spam."
"Only buying Copper is too slow to beat Drunk Marine Students."

10
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Combo: Ambassador/Secret Chamber
« on: March 22, 2012, 08:30:01 pm »
No idea how effective it is, but the cleverness of it tickles my awesome bone.  I wanna try now.

11
Dominion Isotropic / Re: People to avoid on isotropic
« on: March 22, 2012, 05:44:45 pm »
What the heck is up with winners saying gg first so often on isotropic? I've yet to play an online game where that's not considered boorish.
Wait, really?  I mean, I consider it rude to say gg if you're winning but the game isn't over yet (because it's presumptuous...you're saying, "I'm so far ahead you're dead, you should just admit that it's over now," which is mean even if it's true).  And that's why it's rude for the winner to say gg first in, say, SC2, because you don't have an opportunity to say anything to each other after the game is well and truly over.  But once the game is actually over (like, the "Game Over" image has come up), the game is...you know...over.  Now it's just time to acknowledge that it was a good game (or really, that you respect your opponent enough to acknowledge them with the token gesture of saying "gg," since it doesn't really mean anything about the game itself).

If there's actually a rule about the order you're supposed to say gg in, I may have been inadvertently offending people :-\ .

12
GokoDom / Re: IsoDom Challenge Sign-up
« on: March 18, 2012, 12:00:57 am »
A_S00

Central Standard Time (USA)

Was in the last IsoDom, but none before that; currently level 37.

Hope I can participate, but either way, thanks for putting this together!

13
Dominion Isotropic / Re: How do you set your auto-match bias?
« on: February 29, 2012, 07:15:46 pm »
I used to go Base + Promo, because I was more familiar with the Base cards, and I really liked Chancellor/Stash :P .  Then I realized how much I hated Black Market, so I switched to just Base.  And then I really liked Hinterlands, so I added it.  But then I decided that bias is lame and I should just learn all the cards since I have to play them all sometimes anyway, so now I'm leaving all the boxes unchecked.

(cool story bro)

14
Simulation / Re: Yet another simulation challenge: Oasis in rush strategies
« on: February 29, 2012, 05:01:50 pm »
Not hardly optimized, but my version of a Duke bot that buys 2 Hoards before going for full green does better if it starts buying Oasis over Silver (wins 51-44) once it has $12 in deck.  Whether you buy 2 Hoards or 1 doesn't seem to matter for winning overall, but Oasis makes more of a difference if you buy 2.

Bots (haven't been modified, so they're mostly just the Duke bot):

Code: [Select]
<player name="Duke/Hoard/Oasis"
 author="A_S00"
 description="Duke/Duchy wants Hoard and Oasis.">
 <type name="Optimized"/>
 <type name="Province"/>
 <type name="UserCreated"/>
 <type name="TwoPlayer"/>
 <type name="Bot"/>
 <type name="BigMoney"/>
 <type name="SingleCard"/>
   <buy name="Hoard">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Hoard"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duchy">
      <condition>
         <left type="getTotalMoney"/>
         <operator type="greaterOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="14.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Province">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Duchy"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Duchy"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="7.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duke">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Duchy"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Duke"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="3.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Gold"/>
   <buy name="Oasis">
      <condition>
         <left type="getTotalMoney"/>
         <operator type="greaterOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="12.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Silver"/>
   <buy name="Copper"/>
</player>

Code: [Select]
<player name="Duke/Hoard"
 author="A_S00"
 description="Duke/Duchy wants Hoard.">
 <type name="Province"/>
 <type name="Optimized"/>
 <type name="UserCreated"/>
 <type name="TwoPlayer"/>
 <type name="Bot"/>
 <type name="BigMoney"/>
 <type name="SingleCard"/>
   <buy name="Hoard">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Hoard"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duchy">
      <condition>
         <left type="getTotalMoney"/>
         <operator type="greaterOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="14.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Province">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Duchy"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Duchy"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="7.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duke">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Duchy"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Duke"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="3.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Gold"/>
   <buy name="Silver"/>
   <buy name="Copper"/>
</player>

15
Dominion Articles / Re: A Primer on Luck
« on: February 29, 2012, 08:51:18 am »
Can we change the word luck to probability?
Given how much of the article is about things like cognitive biases to see ourselves as unlucky and what to do specifically in those cases where, through no fault of our own, we end up on the crappy end of the distribution, I think it's more appropriate to call this a primer on luck than on probability.  A primer on probability would, to my mind, be an appropriate name for just the bit toward the end about opening probabilities.

16
Simulation / Re: Simulation Challenge: play according to the draw
« on: February 29, 2012, 07:29:54 am »
That is harder (which is why I was lazy and went for the 5/2 split case :P )...I'll see if I can come up with a good case for what you're actually going for.

17
Dominion Articles / Re: A Primer on Luck
« on: February 29, 2012, 01:19:05 am »
Even with 2 Familiars (which seems optimal), Smithy seems to have a slight lead. When I examine some sample games, the Smithy player is sitting there handsomely with his 10 Curses and 6 Provinces, smiling broadly at the Familiar player.
Rather than a fixed number of Familiars, I'd say that ceasing to buy Familiars when there are around 4 Curses left in supply seems to work best (though I can't find much of any difference between stopping at 4 Curses and 6 Curses).  This bot beats HME's optimized Smithy bot 49-46, for instance:
Code: [Select]
<player name="Familiar"
 author="Geronimoo"
 description="Familiar is often one of the defining cards on a board.">
 <type name="TwoPlayer"/>
 <type name="BigMoney"/>
 <type name="Bot"/>
 <type name="UserCreated"/>
 <type name="Attacking"/>
 <type name="SingleCard"/>
 <type name="Province"/>
   <buy name="Province"/>
   <buy name="Duchy">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="4.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="4.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Gold"/>
   <buy name="Familiar">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Curse"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="4.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Potion">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Potion"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="1.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Silver"/>
</player>

18
Game Reports / Re: Alternative VP Battle
« on: February 28, 2012, 06:53:14 pm »
My thoughts on Oasis vs. Silver:  As long as the money density of your deck is $1 or higher, and you always have a useless card to discard, the expected value of playing an Oasis is at least as high as that of playing a Silver.  In this game, my money density actually dropped below $1 toward the end; I'm not sure how exactly that changes things.  Even when Oasis misses, though (when you draw a green card), it's not just a Copper.  It's also cycling trash; any green card you draw with it is one you don't draw on the next turn.  So, I think it's probably superior to Silver under the conditions that:

-You're greening heavily enough that you're always going to have trash to discard to it.
-You can keep your money density above $1.

I failed at condition 2 here, which might be part of why I lost the game (and probably made Silver a better choice here).  But I think if, for instance, there's a Woodcutter on the table (which encourages Copper buys), the situation is likely to favor Oasis more heavily.

19
Simulation / Re: Simulation Challenge: play according to the draw
« on: February 28, 2012, 06:30:21 pm »
This challenge is cool enough that I feel like it shouldn't keep languishing, so here's a (probably not especially good) solution:

Code: [Select]
<player name="Fool's Gold/Mint || Familiar/FV/Smithy"
 author="A_S00"
 description="Goes Fool's Gold/Mint with a 5/2 split, or Familiar/Fishing Village/Smithy with a 4/3 split.">
 <type name="Bot"/>
 <type name="BigMoney"/>
 <type name="Combo"/>
 <type name="TwoPlayer"/>
 <type name="Competitive"/>
 <type name="UserCreated"/>
 <type name="Province"/>
   <buy name="Province"/>
   <buy name="Duchy">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="5.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Mint">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Mint"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="1.0"/>
      </condition>
      <condition>
         <left type="countTurns"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Fool$s_Gold">
      <condition>
         <left type="countTurns"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
      <condition>
         <left type="countAvailableMoney"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Fool$s_Gold">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Fool$s_Gold"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Gold"/>
   <buy name="Potion">
      <condition>
         <left type="countTurns"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Familiar">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Curse"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="4.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Smithy">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Smithy"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Fishing_Village"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Fishing_Village">
      <condition>
         <left type="countTurns"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
      <condition>
         <left type="countAvailableMoney"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="3.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Fishing_Village">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Fishing_Village"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Silver"/>
</player>

This bot plays FG/Mint on a 5/2 split, or opens Familiar, then transitions into a Fishing Village/Smithy engine if it gets a 4/3 split.  With both bots on a random split, it beats FG/Mint 70-27 (not surprisingly, since FG/Mint is terrible on 4/3), and beats my Familiar/Fishing Village/Smithy bot 62-34.  It also crushes BMU 86-11, and takes out the built-in Familiar bot 78-19 (it loses 26-71 against the "lucky 3rd turn" variant, but I don't think that's really a fair comparison).

For reference, here are the two bots I'm comparing it against (which are just the two halves of the bot above, without the conditional play):

FG/Mint:
Code: [Select]
<player name="Fool's Gold/Mint"
 author="A_S00"
 description="The 5/2 dominator.">
 <type name="Bot"/>
 <type name="Combo"/>
 <type name="BigMoney"/>
 <type name="TwoPlayer"/>
 <type name="Competitive"/>
 <type name="UserCreated"/>
 <type name="Province"/>
   <buy name="Province"/>
   <buy name="Duchy">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="5.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Mint">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Mint"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="1.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Fool$s_Gold"/>
   <buy name="Gold"/>
   <buy name="Silver"/>
</player>

Familiar/Fishing Village/Smithy:
Code: [Select]
<player name="Familiar/FishingVillage/Smithy"
 author="A_S00"
 description="A Fishing Village/Smithy engine that buys an early Familiar.">
 <type name="Bot"/>
 <type name="BigMoney"/>
 <type name="TwoPlayer"/>
 <type name="SingleCard"/>
 <type name="UserCreated"/>
 <type name="Attacking"/>
 <type name="Province"/>
   <buy name="Province"/>
   <buy name="Duchy">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="5.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Gold"/>
   <buy name="Familiar">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Curse"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="4.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Potion">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Potion"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="1.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Smithy"/>
   <buy name="Fishing_Village"/>
   <buy name="Silver"/>
</player>

Both of these bots beat BMU (even FG/Mint on a 4/3 split edges it out 48-45...this just in, Fool's Gold is pretty good).  They're also both competitive against the simulator's built-in Familiar bot (the engine beats it 60-37 on random split; FG/Mint needs a 5/2 split to win, but crushes through 92-6 if it gets it).

(Attached are two sample games, one of it playing the engine, one playing with FG.)

Who's next?

20
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Homage to the Best Card
« on: February 27, 2012, 01:25:34 pm »
With Bridge in play, that engine player has enough to buy a Province.  Intentional?

21
Looks like mine's 103, from a City/Bridge megaturn.  Interestingly, not in a Colony game; I picked up all 8 copies of both Duchy and Duke on the last turn.

22
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Really bad card ideas
« on: February 21, 2012, 10:23:00 pm »
Wrong Game
$3
Action
Tap all lands your opponent has in play
Hmmmmmm...

-----

Ancestral Recall
$1 - Action
+3 Cards, +1 Action

Hymn to Tourach
$2 - Action - Attack
Each opponent discards two cards at random from his or her hand.

Demonic Tutor
$2 - Action
Name a card, then draw cards from your deck until you reveal a copy of that card.  Put it into your hand, and discard all other cards drawn this way.  Then shuffle your discard pile into your deck.

Wild Growth
$1 - Action
Trash this card and a Victory card from your hand.  If you do, gain a Victory card costing up to $3 more than the trashed Victory card.

23
Game Reports / Outpost comeback
« on: February 20, 2012, 08:17:35 pm »
An interesting one from today:

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201202/20/game-20120220-165521-30e94fae.html

My opponent opens Lab/Haven on a 5/2 split.  I open Woodcutter/Potion for the Scrying Pool engine, intending to buy up some Labs and money to go with it and maybe pull off double Province buys late in the game.  Unfortunately, I draw my potion on T5 with C/E/E/E, delaying the Pools by a lot.  I try and catch up by buying a second Potion (along with a Haven) the first time I hit $6, which in retrospect was probably a mistake; it ends up meaning I don't get much money into my deck until very late in the game (I buy my first and only Gold on T12, the same turn my opponent buys his second Province).

By this point I know I'm way too far behind to try for the double Province buys, but I do have an engine that's reliably generating $10, and Outpost is on the board, so on T14, after an unlucky hand for my opponent loses him a turn of Province buying, I opt for Duchy/Outpost instead of keeping up on Provinces.

After that, I'm taking 2 turns to my opponent's 1, but I have to spend an action to use Outpost each time, which means I can't get any +buy on the Outpost turns.  On top of that, with only 8 of the Scrying Pools in my deck, I'm just barely able to draw enough each turn to keep me going, often playing the last Pool in my hand in the hopes of finding another one on top of my deck, and my opponent snags a nice Province+Duchy turn on T15.  In the end, though, the cards line up just well enough for me to pick up Province, Duchy/Duchy on T15 and Duchy, Province/Estate on T16, winning the game by a single point.

I don't think I really should have won this game; I think my deck should have stalled before the end of the game (that is, I should have had a turn where I ran out of Pools before I had enough of my deck in my hand to get the buys I needed), and that it only worked as well as it did because I got lucky.  In hindsight, I think it would have been better for me to buy money earlier instead of going for the extra Potion.  I also should have been setting aside green cards instead of my Spice Merchant with my Havens when I was drawing my entire deck; that would have made it slightly easier for my Pools to get through my deck.

But yeah, just thought I'd share, cause I thought it was a cool game.  Thoughts?

24
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Really bad card ideas
« on: February 18, 2012, 05:25:18 pm »
Repossession
$6 Action - Attack

Each other player reveals their hand.  They must discard Treasure cards until they have discarded Treasure with a total value equal to or greater than the total cost of all Victory cards in their hand.  If they are unable to, they must instead return Victory cards to the supply until the total cost of Victory cards in their hand is less than or equal to the total value of the Treasure cards they have discarded.

-----

Setup:  Shout "The rent's too damn high!" as loud as you can before the game begins.

25
Game Reports / Re: Dear My Opponent: I am Sorry
« on: February 18, 2012, 11:39:11 am »
Dear domination:

I am sorry that you felt it necessary to berate me for my stupid buys and mistakes throughout this game.
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120217-132458-f3e67ce2.html

I am also sorry that you felt that I won due to "luck" since we had the "exact same cards," which apparently were so "stupid" that you mimicked them.  But really Trading Post over Library in a Fishing Village game?

Mostly I am sorry that you won't be playing against me again. Because it would be fun to dominate you some other time, but I don't like the rudeness.
Looking for this thread ;) ?

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