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Messages - HockeyHippo

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1
Game Reports / Re: A game you're proud of, and a game you're not.
« on: August 22, 2011, 05:17:14 pm »
Well done, it looked like he had the advantage the entire game.

2
Game Reports / Re: Chapel / Bishop
« on: August 22, 2011, 12:47:55 pm »
I like it in the province game but not in the Colony game. In the Colony game, your opponent didn't buy a Silver or Silver equivalent until turn 8.

I think against a stronger opponent this strategy would have failed.

Ending a Colonies game in 16 turns is[/is] fast. But I think Opening Bishop/Silver getting another Bishop and then going BM would have been more effective.

3
Game Reports / Re: Gray's Game Help 3
« on: August 19, 2011, 05:16:50 pm »
Expanding Peddlers into Colonies?

4
Rules Questions / Re: New to the game
« on: August 19, 2011, 10:55:33 am »
I can't believe someone hasn't just spelled this out for him, probably would have been a lot easier. Throne Rooming something just makes you play a card twice.

So TR(Throne Room)-> TM(Treasure Map)

You play TM twice:
First time: You trash the TM and another TM from your hand, if you have one. Gaining 4 Gold on the top of your deck because you trashed both the TM in play and the one from your hand.
Second: You play the TM a second time but since it is already trashed you cannot trash it again, you could trash another TM from your hand if you wish but it will not get you any gold since you did not trash the original TM (because it was already trashed from the first time you played it).

Same thing happens with King's Court. Just to further drill it in, I'll show you King's Court(KC)-> Feast.

KC-> Feast

First time: Trash Feast, gain a card costing up to $5.
Second time: Trash Feast(can't), gain a card costing up to $5.
Third time: Trash Feast(can't), gain a card costing up to $5.

So in this case you trash one copy of Feast and you gain 3 cards up to $5 each.

The difference is in the wording. TM only allows you to gain the 4xGold if you have both trashed the TM in play and one from your hand. While Feast tells you to trash this card and gain a card. There is no requirement about gaining the card and trashing the original Feast, allowing you to gain 3 cards.

The rule of thumb for Dominion Rules is to do everything top to bottom, and do as much as you can. For example, if you were to play a Village but did not have a deck to draw from it does not prevent you from getting the +2 actions from the Village.

Only lack of actions can prevent you from playing an action card.

5
Game Reports / Re: Dear My Opponent: I am Sorry
« on: August 18, 2011, 11:13:26 am »
Here's another one I have a lot to be sorry for.

Double tactician? Check.
King's courting bridges? Check.
Swindling his bridge into a curse? Check
Remaking coppers into golds and golds into provinces? Check and check.

Very nice

6
General Discussion / Re: Dominion addiction interfering with life
« on: August 16, 2011, 03:33:10 pm »
When it starts effecting your sleeping patterns, eating habits, your working life, studies, or your exercise routine, then you're playing too much. If you're seriously addicted you need to find something to fill the void of this when you try to get off it. All the best.

7
Dominion Articles / Re: Request: Remodel
« on: August 16, 2011, 02:54:24 pm »
When playing with only the base set I find Remodel to be a very powerful card. As far as my strategy goes. I'll typically open Remodel/Silver. I'll attempt to get as many remodels as fast as possible. This means Remodeling my Estates to Remodels and Buying Remodels as well. I haven't had much success Remodeling Coppers. I find it takes to long and the 2$ card clutters your deck more. When I start drawing 2 or 3 Remodels in the same hand I'll start Remodeling Remodels to Gold, buy Remodels when available. Keep this cylce going till you have a couple of Golds then start Remodeling Golds into Provinces. When the Provinces start getting low, Remodel and buy anything you can into VP. Coppers -> Estates, Silvers/4$/5$ cards into Dutchys. Since you only need a Remodel and Gold to get a Province the extra clutter will hurt you less than it would had you been going for a Draw Engine or Big money.

That's just how I play it, I've had some success with it. Especially against lower tier players who don't see the Gold-> Province coming.

@DG The link your article is not working, is it fixable? I'd love to see that Game Log.

8
Oh... I see. Seems very counter intuitive to me.

9
Quote
When Colonies are out, it is very rare for Province depletion to end the game, and should almost never be planned for.  But when Colonies aren't out, the default is to assume that the game will end with Province depletion, unless you see a strong reason to believe there will be a three pile depletion.

I assume this is a type or unintentional mistake. 'When Colonies are [not in the kingdom], it is very rare for Province depletion to end the game'

I believe you mean in, not out.

10
I'm going to answer this more generically than specifically.

Well if you're both racing for a powerful $5 card, be it labs, minions, cities, or whatever. I believe it depends on the level of the supply. If the supply has only 2 gone, then I would take the gold at 6. I would almost always take the KC at 7. However, if the supply is getting low then I would be more inclined to buy the $5 card. This also depends on if I had bought a Gold before, or if my opponent has the ability to buy multiples of them.

As far as Duke/Dutchy strategy, it's usually better to go for the Dutchy, unless the game is ending soon. If the game is not close to ending, then buying a Dutchy not only limits the power of his Dukes, but also increases the power of yours. If you have the time, it's better to power your Dukes as much as possible first. Pretty basic strategy, if the game is close to completion maximize your VPs, if not, maximize your potential.

11
Dominion General Discussion / Which card takes the longest to play?
« on: August 11, 2011, 05:40:10 pm »
I'm a pretty fast player(maybe not to by benefit) but I have a couple of IRL friends that are a bit slower than me. Especially with a couple of cards that make them sit there and think. Forge comes to mind.

Which card, do you find, takes the longest to play?

I haven't played Cornucopia IRL, but I can imagine KC-> Hunting Party must take a nice chunk of time.

12
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Can you beat the Lucky Chancellor ?
« on: August 11, 2011, 05:22:49 pm »
EDIT:

Just re-read the OP
Quote
No matter how lucky is your opponent, and how unlucky you are, you win.

Well that rules out my solution because I used perfect shuffling. Sigh

I believe you can get it set up, with perfect shuffling. Check my solution though please.

Turn 1: C/C/C/C/E -> Buy Quarry       
Turn 2: C/C/C/E/E -> Buy Chapel   Deck: (7xCopper, 3 Estates, 1Q, 1Ch)
Reshuffle
Turn 3: C/C/C/C/Q -> Buy KC
Turn 4: E/E/E/C/Ch -> Chapel 3xEstate, 1xCopper     Deck:(2xC) Discard:(KC/Chapel/Q/4xCopper)
Turn5: C/C/(reshuffle)C/Ch/KC -> Chapel 3x Copper      Deck: (C/C/C/Q) Discard:(KC/Chapel)
Turn 6: C/C/C/Q/(reshuffle)Ch -> Buy Goons  Deck: (KC) Discard: (C/C/C/Q/Ch/Goons)
Turn 7: KC(reshuffle)/Goons/Q/Copper/Copper: KC-Goons +3 from Q +2C = 9$ Buy KC + Masq Deck: (Chapel/Copper) Discard: (KC/Goons/Q/2xC/KC/Masq)
Turn 8: Chapel/Copper/KC/KC/Masq: KC->KC->Masqx3(picking up deck)->Goonsx3 Give Chapel/Copper/Copper Trash incoming cards and Buy Monument
Deck:() Discard: (KC/KC/Goons/Monument/Masq/C/Q)
Turn 9: KC/KC/Goons/Monument/Masq Picking up and passing C/Q Trash incoming cards
Turn 10: Implement KC/KC/Goons/Monument/Masq strategy and trash opponent's deck. Once they have nothing left buy remaining provinces to win the game.

I think that works, but I definitely need to check it over. 1 pair of eyes is not enough!





13
Game Reports / Re: Gray's Game Help 2
« on: August 11, 2011, 10:58:05 am »
I have 0 experience with Stash Courtyard so I won't even attempt to make a strategy for that.

If it were me, I would open Lab/Courtyard. However I wouldn't stop for Worker's Villages / Markets for a while. The +Buy will take some time to be useful and it will get in the way of getting to 6. At the start of the game with < 5 I would get Silver, with 5 I would get a Lab and with 6 a Gold. Until I have 2 Gold, then working for straight labs till I can draw my deck. Mint 5+ coppers and them probably grab a Worker's Village over Market because I would rather have the +Action to be able to pick up the Mint'd Golds in the same turn.

The tip I would give you is that you need to evaluate your deck and what you need at that time. Buying a Worker's Village at turn 3 was probably a bad choice since you only had 1 terminal action at that point and you had no need for the +Buy. A silver would have been a much better choice in my opinion. A worker's village is helpful to this deck, but not at that time.

14
Tournaments and Events / Re: Any GenCon or WBC news?
« on: August 09, 2011, 05:56:27 pm »
This is sad.

With hundreds of entrants, the organizers should have expected players to drop, and even if players "are not allowed" to drop. It is not unreasonable to assume, for example, that player to may get ill or simply leaving inappropriately, and the organizer should plan for that.

I must say Rio Grande dropped the ball here. They must cater to their customers; most notably, they must understand that most people that play Dominion also play other games, and if they are going to hold a tournament at a convention with thousands of other things their customers might want to do, they should expect and prepare that players are going to leave and they should not take it personally.

Sounds like we have a ways to go before Dominion tournaments get really going.
Any suggestions?

I agree about Rio dropping the ball.

Anyways, yeah let's start another thread with people interested in starting a tournament.

15
Tournaments and Events / Re: Any GenCon or WBC news?
« on: August 09, 2011, 05:01:28 pm »
I don't think a 4p Dominion tournament is a very good idea. I'm sure it was a lot of fun, but there is much more RNG in 4p that it would take way too many games to determine who the real best 4p Dominion player truly was.

I've played 250+ 2p Dominion games on Iso with about a 60% winning percentage and I play two 4p Dominion games every weekday(lunch break with coworkers). I'd estimate I've played about 120 4p Dominion games. So I'm at least a reasonably knowledgeable hybrid.

After playing online so much I thought I would destroy my opponents because of my experience. And much like you theory, I would cringe as I lost to players who only use Chapel for Estates. I noticed a few major differences between 4p and 2p.

Firstly, you can't take it seriously. It's a lot of fun, but you only win 25% of the time and there is way too much RNG. We play everyday and keep a leader board of the wins per month but it's casual and more fun that way.

Secondly,(I think this is known) attacks are way more effective in 4p. Bureaucrat can actually really hurt a Chapel strategy as you can go consecutive turns having your estates take away from your Chapel. Thief and Chapel is a very fun an interesting set up. It creates an interesting paradigm. Basically everyone is forced to open with Chapel because if you don't you'll be pretty far behind. But Thief then becomes an amazing card where you can actually receive 3 golds with one Thief. I once created a brilliant(self proclaimed :P) deck where I could draw my deck, play Thief a couple of times(taking some Golds) and then use a couple of drawers to pick them up immediately.

As a result of this, Reaction cards, especially against Curse givers, are far more viable since the Curse pile will still be decreasing even if you play your Reaction card.

Third, engines don't work nearly as well. Creating an engine is hindered more by Attack cards and there are less cards per player. The number of action cards does not increase in a 4p games compared to a 2p game so trying to build epic engines usually does not end very well.

Also, this kind of ties in with the last point. Many know this but the average VP card per player is less than it is in 2p. 8 Provinces/Colonys in 2p = 4 per person while in a 4 player game there are 12 Colonies resulting in 3 Colonies per player. This means you have less time to build your engine and  less time to use it. I guess this is a compensation for the increased number of Attacks played.

This is not to say strategies don't work. I played a Bishop/Minion game the other day which was only further accelerated by opponents Bishops and I won by a long shot. However I have played games where I've received 6 Coppers and 6 Curses in one round(double KC Montebank). 

Also something to note, playing a lot of 4 player games and 2 player games, does make you a better 3p player :P. One of our players has been away on vacation and I'm 6-2 in those 8 3p games.

Anyways, I think tournaments are very interesting and I'd love to compete in one. Even an online one!

16
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Any Gossip About Fall 2011 Expansion?
« on: August 09, 2011, 03:45:56 pm »
No, it hasn't been confirmed, and I'm pretty sure it was either a) a wild guess; or b) a joke. I'd be shocked if this were 'the dice expansion', as I don't think there WILL be a dice expansion - maybe a dice spin-off

Ah, yes it is the gossip thread after all :P. I just had a feeling that from the confirmations that Donald was doing that it was a legitimate post.

Back to guessing themes/cards!

17
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Any Gossip About Fall 2011 Expansion?
« on: August 09, 2011, 03:23:00 pm »
Dice. Hinterlands is the dice expansion.

Is this confirmed? My first impression is that I don't like this idea. Obviously I need to see some of the cards to create my opinion, we'll see.

I think I could see this being good if the dice had only had 2 or 3 options.

I guess it's the same way I feel about tribute, it can be very good, but it can be very bad as well(+4 actions with no actions in hand).

18
Game Reports / Re: One epic turn
« on: August 09, 2011, 02:32:43 pm »
That's a nice one, but you can get much crazier turns in dominion!

My craziest turn I've ever played :

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20110720-201807-01ed7b07.html#HockeyHippo-show-turn-21

Gaining more than 200 VP in one turn :P

The main thing that is crazy about the turn is that for some reason you elected not to end the game.

In retrospect I know I should have. I knew I had won already and should have ended it there. But I got the exact amount of money I needed for 6 colonies(66$) and couldn't pass them up :P

19
Game Reports / Re: One epic turn
« on: August 09, 2011, 12:19:17 pm »
That's a nice one, but you can get much crazier turns in dominion!

My craziest turn I've ever played :

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20110720-201807-01ed7b07.html#HockeyHippo-show-turn-21

Gaining more than 200 VP in one turn :P

20
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Master of Disguise
« on: August 09, 2011, 12:06:43 pm »
Magic Mirror
Action $6

Choose an action card from the supply costing at least 1 less than Magic Mirror. Play this card as if it were the chosen card.


I really don't think you can make this card a duration card because it would be a horrible card in that case. Firstly you would need two copies of this card for it to do anything. Secondly you would have to play them in subsequent turns in order for it to have any use.

21
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Master of Disguise
« on: August 09, 2011, 11:59:09 am »
Doppelganger
$6
Action

Choose an Action card with a cost lower than the cost of Doppelganger from the supply.  Play that card.
(Place the chosen card in front of you until the end of the turn.  Return it to the Supply during your Clean-up phase.)


edit: funny interaction, if you play too many Bridges or Talismans, you can't play any cards with Doppelganger
also Duration cards don't work well with it because they must go back to the supply

I believe you Quarries, even though you cannot play treasure cards during the Buy phase, unless of course you use Black Market.

22
Game Reports / Re: Thrown away
« on: August 08, 2011, 04:22:52 pm »
You also need to pay attention to your opponent's buys.

If he is ahead, you need to leave at least X cards in the supply, where X is his Buys - 1.

In this case, you may have been better off buying some Provinces and or Colonies.

And don't forget: Emptying the KC pile turbocharges his Cities too!

Don't you mean X = His Buys + 1?

23
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Swindler troubles
« on: August 05, 2011, 12:52:50 pm »
If you see your opponent opening with swindler, you need to adjust your strategy. You knew you would have a fairly clean deck so your minions would get trashed easily. I would have just gone big money since there would be nothing to trash your golds into, besides other golds.

Also, if you can't beat em join em. Swindler is a pretty strong opening, in both games you neglect its power.

24
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Blooki's Puzzle #4 - Covert Curses
« on: July 29, 2011, 11:09:21 am »
I love these puzzles! I'm pretty bad at them, just at first glances though. I haven't sat down and really tried hard to figure them out, but I love reading the answers! :P

25
Game Reports / Re: A game you're proud of, and a game you're not.
« on: July 27, 2011, 02:46:20 pm »
If he is higher ranked than you doesn't mean he knows what he is doing. Quarry-silver opening without +buys or fast trashing? Not that you would want fast KC without trashing or many action cards in your deck (especially duration cards that are probably already in play from last turn). Not that it would be critical to get torturers or upgrades by all means, there are nice 4-costing cards caravans that will improve your deck. Remember that quarry is only $1 better than silver as to buying action cards.

With all of the powerful action cards in this Kingdom I think we wanted to ensure we had strong buying power in turns 3-5. I believe that's what prompted the Quarry buy. I would love to replay this game and try out Remake/Silver, see how much the extra thinning paid off in the end.

Quote
Getting your deck trimmed ASAP is however critical this time, and while he wakes up buying late remake you never wake up.

I did actually get a Remake (turn 5) but never went into Upgrades, which I feel, was my biggest mistake.

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