Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

1

Game Reports / I am the dickiest dick who ever dicked

« on: March 18, 2012, 04:39:16 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201203/18/game-20120318-133052-4ecff810.html

A 37-turn grindfest. It's not like I thought my strategy was optimal, but I was surprised he came out so many provinces ahead before I got my squeeze on. Once it's applied, though... should he resign? Should I? Or should we both just keep clicking?

I think he should've started buying estates/duchy earlier, or bought a trade route when he had the chance.

Relevant chat snippets:
16:18 buzzmcnab: are you just being dickish for the sake of being dickish, or do you actually have a plan to win this game that involves you having an $12 pirate ship mat?
16:18 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…: haha
16:18 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…: Kinda!
16:19 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…: I have to kill all your money real good to have a chance though
16:26 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…: I guess a better answer to your question would be
16:26 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…: No, I have a plan to win this game that involves a $30 pirate mat

Followed by the crucial:

16:30 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…: looks like $26 will do it
16:31 buzzmcnab: you are the dickiest dick who ever dicked

(Not typically a dominion asshole, I swear! Ignore the isotropic handle.)

2

2011 / Re: Schedule and Results, Part II

« on: December 21, 2011, 01:58:33 am »

Gardens round 4: chwhite (seed 1) vs. Exclams (seed

A hotly contested eight(!!)-game series

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/20/game-20111220-200603-407fcf33.html
We both ignore hamlet/library. chwhite opens silver/courtyard to snatch a turn 3 ghost ship. My first five buys are FG, hoping they'll provide some ship resistance. We both buy a ship on turn 7, and then it's just money and VP for the rest of the game. I win by a very slim margin, arguably due to my turn 16 FG->gold trash. Seems like a game that the simulator could optimize. Did we make good choices?

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/20/game-20111220-201427-b9885244.html
Colony game with lousy trashing, lousy draw, no +actions, and no +buy. I get my first platinum on turn 10, and also buy platinum on turns 16, 17, and 18. He doesn't get his first platinum til turn 15, and doesn't get a second one til turn 26. I'm not sure either of us made very different decisions. Again, I win by a very slim margin, with split colonies, split provinces, and a duchy in my favor. Was this game decided by anything other than me lucking into earlier platinum?

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/20/game-20111220-202328-1123b41a.html
A nice harmonious engine by chwhite, which matures on turn 6 and buys provinces on turns 7-11 and 13. In his first five turns, chwhite gains 6 different cards and trashes his estates, setting up a very menagerie-friendly situation supported by inn, stables, and courtyard. I miss that inn is a great menagerie enabler, which may have decided the game. I fall behind, and my farmland shenanigans don't make up the difference.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/20/game-20111220-203339-31d8cf9f.html
I feel dumb for missing the strong governor/margrave combo. Instead I tried for a FV/envoy/money engine. My engine is sitll pretty fast! At the end of turn 13, I'm leading 4 provinces to 1, with two islands and a duchy for good measure. However, in his final megaturn, chwhite governor-trashes three golds to provinces and an estate to an island. I hoped that I could co-trash to keep my lead, but despite gaining two islands and a duchy on his last turn, I fall behind. Fun game. I imagine governor megaturns are hard to simulate, but I'm interested if anyone can say which engine is favored here.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/20/game-20111220-204231-5f2dddd2.html
Not proud of this one. I'm sure treasure map/haven has its place, but probably not on a tactician/minion board. When my TMs go off on turn 8, he's already got two minions, apprentice, and a tactician, and he promptly minions away my 4-gold hand into c-vp-vp-vp. I pick up 16 VP in a big tactician turn, and farmland lets me squeeze out another province, but mostly I sit idle while he gobbles up minions. I'm downright shocked when the game ends in a tie.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/20/game-20111220-205312-c771633c.html
You know it's an unusual game when you both open duchess. I was haaaalf tempted to skip potion and open upgrade, but I bet the experienced folks here are clucking their tongues at that notion. Lots of trashing to take the edge of familiar, but still a bit of a slog. I won, but I'm not real clear if I did anything different in an important way. Avoided transmute and FV? Shuffle luck again?

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/20/game-20111220-210141-1cabeb2d.html
I thought chwhite's play here was very smooth and clean. University/Apprentice is an obvious combo, but using his first play of apprentice to mint away 7 coppers? Pretty slick, especially considering he only had two silvers remaining. Anyhow, by turn 11 he's buying GMs, and I give up hope. chwhite, what motivated early spies over silver? I guess digging for apprentices is more important than purchasing power?

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/20/game-20111220-211314-c2993891.html
Game point! All tied up, plus a draw. My hands are shaking, and the board looks action-packed. I get lucky right off the bat; my cards are drawing harmoniously, and by turn 5 I have the makings of a nice little engine (2 wharves, crossroads, remake, bridge, warehouse, and tunnel). I also get another kind of luck; I think chwhite opening wharf/embargo over wharf/crossroads may have decided the game. Card-harmony continues to shine on me, and on turn 8 I luck into a warehouse/tunnel/bridge/remake situation to trash two coppers and net two golds, three great halls and two embargoed crossroads, curse-free. I miss that my great halls will make chwhite's tributes beefy, but my deck is playing itself at this point, and I win.

There's no question chwhite is a stronger player. I'm very proud to have played well enough for variance to tip in my favor. I apologize again for my tardiness to our game, and appreciate your patience and sportsmanship, chwhite.

If anybody wants to give pointers on these games, I'm all ears. They're burned into my memory at this point.

3

2011 / Re: Schedule and Results: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships

« on: December 19, 2011, 02:27:06 am »

Gardens division, round 3: papaHav (1) vs. Exclams (4)

Exclams (41) papaHav(16): http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/18/game-20111218-140203-a1d498c2.html
We both open with remodel. I go for FG, he aims for HP/GM. The only thinking I did past the opening decision was picking up a single library on turn 9. My FGs connected a lot, and I have four provinces and a duchy before his engine is full strength. Was I insanely lucky, or is FG/remodel always this fast?

papaHav (68) Exclams (51): http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/18/game-20111218-213823-fa3f0804.html
Colony game, with no overpowering attacks or obvious engine. He opens with cutpurse, and I don't. That'll teach me to ignore attacks! Turns 4 and 6 I'm cutpursed, and buy courtyards I probably should have skipped. I imagined myself balancing this out with villages, but there's no +buy and other purchases (peddlers??) always seem more tempting. While I'm messing around with actions, papaHav buys money, a single vault, and colonies. I never catch up.

Exclams (29) papaHav (25): http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/18/game-20111218-214600-b6af5078.html
We both open chapel/baron. I grab an early crossroads (if I'm going to have estates and terminals anyway) and start an alchemist chain. He smartly embargoes the alchemists and buys money, provinces, and a few crossroads later. My crossroads and baron find estates fairly reliably, my alchemists find the potion frequently, and I take the curses with my alchemists, hoping chapel will save me. My engine matures on turn 12, and I just barely catch up. Again, I suspect good shuffle luck had more to do with my victory than sound choices.

Exclams (49) papaHav (40): http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/18/game-20111218-215217-fa0354ea.html
Colony game with all the flavors (attack, actions, draw, buy, trashing). We both open with remake, and we both pick up a mountebank before our second shuffles. As usual, I fiddle with actions while he focuses more on money. When we start buying colonies, I have a bunch of bazaars and a council room, and he has a bunch of platinum. We each buy a colony every turn for a while, til I choke on the final colony. Luckily for me he chokes in return, and I finish on my next turn; between remake and council room, I've scraped up enough spare VP to win.

Exclams (26) papaHav (22): http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/18/game-20111218-220319-8f90b754.html
Familiar game with no trashing. I open courtyard/potion, he follows silver/potion with a second potion buy. We both pick up familiar on turn 4, and we split curses while accumulating hamlets, rabbles, silver, and courtyards. Our buying power is extremely erratic; I'm not sure why I won here. I buy more hamlets, an extra rabble, and start buying estates towards the end. He buys lots of silver and avoids the estates. Shuffle luck again?

Overall an enjoyable series, although I'm not sure how much credit to give me for these wins. Any simulators care to comment?

4

2011 / Re: Nomad Camp: a place for people to find their opponents

« on: December 17, 2011, 04:33:51 pm »

I'm having trouble getting in touch with papaHav. No response to messages so far. Anyone know if he's on a trip? Maybe an admin could send him an email?

5

2011 / Re: Schedule and Results: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships

« on: December 11, 2011, 07:39:48 pm »

Gardens, round 2: Exclams beats Jorbles 4-3 in a very, very close match. Well played, Jorbles.

Logs:
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111210-194005-d71abbfd.html
Exclams wins, 6-1. Chapel enables an easy FV/Rabble engine, and BV/IGG makes it easy to run out stacks fast. I'm lucky enough to get a Rabble on turn 5. Jorbles trashes chapel early, which I think you can't do in this kind of IGG situation. On the other hand, he makes good use of Apprentice with IGG, which I fail to do.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111210-195131-60dae251.html
Exclams wins, 34-24. Another Chapel game. I foolishly imagined a lighthouse/watchtower engine, but with NV as the only +action and no +buy, it's not too compelling. I'm not sure either of our strategies was any faster than big money.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111210-195844-aee21b9c.html
Jorbles wins, 66-41. Joat/Colony game. I'm happy to pick up several early gold. I waste time with feast and governor, Jorbles buys money and colonies, apart from a second joat and a TP. Not sure any of our non-joat/non-money buys helped us.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111210-200801-10f5447f.html
Exclams wins, 33-19. Sea Hag/Steward with villages. Unclear to me if SH/steward is a good opening; we both suffer from terminal collisions. Perhaps SH/silver, then buy FVs and stewards later? I buy an early second steward and second FV, and do a lot more midgame trashing than him, which I think might have decided the game.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111210-201731-29a96c00.html
Jorbles wins, 21-(resigns). Jorbles gets a nice KC engine going, fast. We both open with potions, but I choose an early scrying pool/WW over alchemist. Jorbles chooses alchemist, which I think works much better with KC. We both pick up early KCs, but Jorbles top-decks his, and starts having big turns right away. His KC/alchemist on turn 11 probably decided the game, and top-decking the alchemist keeps his KCs useful.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111210-203130-09fbbb71.html
Jorbles wins, 30-(resigns). I score a turn 3 minion, but Jorbles buys unanswered minions on turns 5 through 10, and takes 8 of them by turn 13. My turn 8 Nobles is almost certainly a bad move. With minions depleted, Jorbles moves easily into cities and trade routes, and I give up hope.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111210-204727-12d22ad3.html
Exclams wins, 73-54. Colony game with lots of trashing (bishop, spice merchant, island, forge). Mirrorish match for a while. By turn 7, the only difference in our decks is his bishop and my island. My turn 12 forge gets played only once, on a colony, to end the game. However, my turn 11 ST is nice enough to collide with my turn 13 Envoy on turns 15 and 17, giving me the first two platinum and some nice actions. My early platinums buy a lot of colonies, and probably decide the game.

6

2011 / Re: Schedule and Results: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships

« on: December 02, 2011, 12:23:24 am »

The series between tom_servo (2 wins) and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!… (4 wins):

(Exclams wins 57-34)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201111/28/game-20111128-151714-2a9c4bb9.html
 Minion/mountebank board, I open with lighthouses, he opens with silver/MV. I luck into early mountebanks on turns 4 and 6. I land a few curses before his lighthouses start showing up, and even after they do, I am lucky enough to keep landing curses. With my curse advantage, minion/MV/mountebank/peddler/lighthouse synergize nicely to finish the game.

(Exclams wins 32-23)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/01/game-20111201-193334-98bdb3f9.html
Ghost ship/laboratory/university board, we open with similar play. However, we split the laboratories 7/3 and I end up playing GS more than twice as many times. I'm not sure why the lab split was so asymmetric. First turn advantage?

(Exclams wins 49-44)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/01/game-20111201-194607-65219bfa.html
My slow scrying pool engine barely catches up in time. We both open cutpurse/lookout in a colony game, and jockey for peddlers. By the time I pick up a potion and scrying pool, he has two platinums, and I'm worried scrying is too slow. Finally my engine starts firing, just in time. Both of us whiff once at the final colony, but we end up splitting, and my lone province decides the game.

(tom_servo wins 39-25)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/01/game-20111201-195328-1cd06698.html
Ambassador/scheme fight. I buy more schemes and fill him with copper, but he keeps drawing to $8 anyway with library. My fool's golds aren't enough, I never lead the province race, and he always has more points.

(tom_servo wins 32-24)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/01/game-20111201-200502-db306450.html
KC/lab/familiar board. I wrongly assume that winning the curse race is the key to victory. He skips familiar entirely in favor of a single trader (I eventually cooperate by pounding my first KC'd familiar into it). I miss my first familiar purchase, and he snags the first KC just as I finally get a familiar. I give him all 10 curses, but his high silver density lets him keep buying provinces. On turn 22, holding TR/KC/lab I almost typed 'gg', but whiff on the final province, which he buys easily to win.

(Exclams wins 64-29)
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/01/game-20111201-201629-521007d1.html
Minion/HT/peddler/worker's village in a colony game. An early HT helps me monopolize the minions, leaving me long lucrative action chains with multiple buys.

Thanks for the fun games, tom_servo. See you around.

7

2011 / Re: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships Registration

« on: November 26, 2011, 09:02:41 pm »

I'm the friend ackack mentioned.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!… (Level ~39)
Eastern Standard Time (UTC - 5 hours)