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Goko Dominion Online / The Campaign mode: what it's good for
« on: August 17, 2012, 01:52:03 pm »
I just played the first 3 campaign levels on my lunchbreak.  Man, are they slo-o-ow for experienced players!  The opponent starts at a handicap (the first one has 5 copper/5 curse!). You use the base set, and they introduce one new card at a time.  Not so exciting -- but there is one thing they do better than anything before.

The campaigns are the best way to introduce someone to Dominion.

You don't need multiple players.  You learn [new] cards one at a time.  And, it's free!

This is the slow, gentle introduction Dominion never had.  Kudos to Goko for bringing this to the community!

2
Try using the lid from the box for trash.  It becomes very obvious which pile is the trash.  Also, since order doesn't matter, this lets you sort the cards as you go.  In games with Chapel, Remake, Bishop, Forge, etc. this saves a ton of time at the end of the game... and lets you start the next game that much more quickly!

3
Council Room Feedback / Wot, no Megaturn?
« on: March 07, 2012, 03:32:11 pm »
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120302-083352-7d32e416.html

Turn 15, I gain all 8 starting Provinces.  Did I miss Megaturn because Colonies were available?  Or because I didn't "buy" the Provinces?

4
Game Reports / When to ignore Sea Hag (?)
« on: March 02, 2012, 06:13:50 am »
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120301-131714-add74c9c.html

cards in supply: Apothecary, Bank, Council Room, Hamlet, Highway, Lookout, Philosopher's Stone, Potion, Sea Hag, Wharf, and Woodcutter

So, I see Lookout on the board, and I remember it's a great Sea Hag counter.  And then I see Apothecary, and I think... screw it, I'm doing something different here!  Opponent opens Lookout, I open Potion, and then she buys a Sea Hag as I get my Lookout.

Turn 3 is textbook: she plays Sea Hag, I play Lookout.  Then I start getting Apothecary and Wharf, with some Hamlets thrown in, continuing to deal with the curses pretty well.  (Apothecary + Lookout is a nice combo too!  Unfortunately, I discover Wharf + Lookout is a bit of a nombo; it draws the top-decked curses into my hand at the start of my turn).

Things start picking up around Turn 10: I buy 2 Highways, 2 Hamlets, and another Apothecary.  Now I'm starting to get an engine which laughs at Sea Hags, despite the fact my opponent bought a second Hag the turn before.  Turn 13, I buy 2 Highways and 2 Wharves.  Nice!

With Hamlets, I haven't been discarding for Buys, due to the Wharf.  Soon though, I realize all those Highways give me plenty of purchasing power, so I'd better have the Buys for it!  I end it on Turn 15 by buying 3 Provinces and 6 free cards: 2 Duchies, 2 Hamlets, and yes, 2 Curses.  That empties the latter two piles to end the game.

It's always very satisfying to ignore a power attack and win (and also to win by emptying Curses).  4 Provinces in 15 turns is respectable, especially vs. Cursing attacks.  In this case, I think my opponent may have erred by never buying a single Wharf.  Maybe the Sea Hags were hurting her early purchasing power, and also using up her terminal actions?

Finally: why didn't this earn PileDriver for curses?  I had all 10, and I won.  Other cards give PileDriver even if you trash them later on, right?

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Game Reports / Torture me... please!
« on: January 28, 2012, 06:39:07 am »
Here was a fun game with Border Village/Torturer on the board.  I like how it highlights different responses to Torturer chains, and why it's often desirable to take the curse.
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120121-000534-6915b222.html

First Four Turns:
My opponent opens three Silvers and a Cartographer; I go for Silver/Smithy/Native Village and am the first to get a Border Village/Torturer.

Turns 5-8:
Opponent follows suit by buying BV/Torturer three times, and Torturer the fourth.  This is not looking good!  She is also the first to play Torturer, which she does on turns 7 and 8.  Meanwhile, I pick up a Native Village, Silver, Border Village, and 2 Torturers.

Looking back, this is where my opponent's stronger money/Cartographer opening started to shine.  I probably should have skipped the Smithy, since I was going for a deck full of Torturers, right?

Turns 9-12
Now the fun begins.  She tortures me 3 times on Turn 9 (I take 2 curses), and picks up another BV/Torturer.  I fire right back with 3 attacks and a BV/Torturer pickup of my own.  She strongly prefers the discard option, so she's left with just one good card when her turn starts.  Unfortunately, it's a BV, which digs down to a Torturer and pulls off another 3-Torturer turn.  I manage a double-Torturer in response, and we each pause to pick up a Trading Post to deal with all the Curses.

My turn 11, things get interesting.  I quadruple-Torturer my opponent, and she never takes a Curse.  I think this is usually a mistake, especially with Trading Post available to kill 2 Curses at a time, and Torturer increasing handsize to bring them all together.  This Curse-Averseness on her part will come to define the rest of the game.

Oh, and I also pick up a Duchy, starting to think about the endgame.

Final four turns:
She recovers from her missed turn, and plays a triple-Torturer attack; I take 2 Curses and she keeps pace with a Duchy of her own.  By keeping my handsize intact, I can fire back with four Torturers, turn those Curses into a Silver, and pick up a Colony (note there is no +Buy).  Next turn is the same story: four Torturers, trash a Curse, gain a Colony.

Both times, she never takes a curse, preferring instead to discard her whole hand.  I think this was the key mistake where the game was lost.  In a 16-turn game, you can't afford to throw away three of those turns entirely.

Now one thing I've picked up from these forums is that good players look for 3-pile opportunities when they have a solid lead -- I'd say 2 Colonies with no +Buy qualifies!  I notice there is 1 Border Village and 2 Curses left -- sounds like a plan.  I take the last BV on Turn 15, and pick up a Curse with it (I love doing that!).

Now I'm grinning, just waiting for my opponent to play a hand for the first time in 3 Turns.  She's got 6 Torturers and no other strong draw -- surely she can't resist "attacking" me!  Sure enough, the Torturers come, and I gleefully gain a Curse in hand to empty the third pile.

And that's how I won a game by my opponent playing a Torturer.

Final thoughts:
I think she had the stronger opening in retrospect, and she had more Torturers.  During the game, I certainly felt like I was getting hammered worse than I was dishing it out, so it was very satisfying to outlast it and emerge victorious.  I think this game highlights the importance of taking Curses sometimes during multiple-Torturer onslaughts; losing a whole turn just hurts too much.

Also, I'm just now noticing this was a Colony game with no treasures higher than Silver involved.  Interesting.

It is also extremely fun to win by emptying the Curses.  In retrospect, it would have been smarter to take a Duchy with the Border Village, since I could expect multiple Torturers on her turn.  But grabbing a Curse with my BV was too fun to pass up.

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Game Reports / Comeback after opponent gets first 4 Provinces
« on: January 11, 2012, 09:52:49 am »
I was pretty proud of this one, even though I nearly bungled the last turn (it was quite late at night; give me a break :) ).

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120110-225256-f1b6a87a.html

We built dueling Alchemist stacks on a board with strong trashing (me: Chapel, him: Steward).  So we were each drawing our whole decks.

I had unthinkingly Chapeled all my coppers, when on Turn 10 he buys a Province with his.  Crap!  Now he's guaranteed one every turn, and all I've got is one Gold and Silver.

Then I get a Horn of Plenty.  I see that it's worth $7, so I follow it up with a Festival to get it to $8.  Then I HoP two more HoP's, just in time to watch him buy the 4th Province.

I slipped up on the last turn, playing my first HoP before my treasures so it was only worth $5, getting me a Duchy.  Luckily I hadn't bought anything yet, so I could still play the Treasures and nab all Provinces with the rest of them.

Looking back, I probably could have improved my mid-to-endgame play, e.g. delaying my Festival to get more HoP, which could get even more HoP/engine cards more quickly.  But I was also proud that I remembered I could play my Chapel and trash no cards, getting the HoP up to that critical $8.

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Dominion Isotropic / Discuss: etiquette for leaving games early
« on: January 10, 2012, 10:46:49 am »
Recently I had a dream opening: a 5/2 split on a Chapel/Vault/Grand Market/Highway board:
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120108-210325-373d8cd6.html

I had a 17-card deck with 8 Grand Markets and 5 Highways after 12 turns.  My opponent then said gg and promptly left.

Two more turns and I would have been virtually guaranteed the coveted MegaTurn achievement on CouncilRoom (with Colonies, no less).  I can understand leaving early in a KC-Masq-Goons pin game, or any unwinnable drawn-out slugfest.  But this board was lightning-fast.  Was it really that important for him to get to the next game?

What do you think are good etiquette guidelines for leaving games early?

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Council Room Feedback / Council room not updating?
« on: December 26, 2011, 05:41:14 am »
I played a ton of games Christmas Eve morning when I was sick.  Some of them were really interesting -- I had a Chapel/City/Saboteur deck where Develop actually helped me win, and a Familiar game where Inn let me shuffle a bunch back into the deck for a brutal multi-curse attack.  Unfortunately, it's been 2 days and they haven't showed up on my CouncilRoom page!  Is the site taking a break for Christmas?

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