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Messages - JacquesTheBard

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1
It might be balanced at .

So, like Port then?

It would be worse than Port, but it would be fine at $5.

Just goes to show how good Port is. I think it’s legit better than Wandering Minstrel.

2
Okay, we are being WAY too hard on Jack.

3
Dominion: Nocturne Previews / Re: Nocturne Initial Impressions
« on: November 21, 2017, 06:20:52 pm »
A few players find engines far less explosive in Nocturne. This isn't the only reason that comes to mind, but does anyone think weaker payload has something to do with it? The most powerful engines will usually have something better than Gold. Bridge, Horn of Plenty, a LOT of Prosperity cards, Highways, Hagglers, Merchant Guilds, Market Square tricks (technically gold but obscene amounts all at once) Bridge Trolls, Fortune. There are plenty of expansions where the deck has stronger payloads available than treasure. In Nocturne, the best thing available is still Gold, though (once you're drawing the deck, obviously). Seaside is an exception to this, but given the raw power of cards like Ambassador and Wharf, the engines are still memorable even if they only go up to double province.

Payload is probably the least important part of an engine. Trashing, draw, buys, and usually actions are all more important for making one work. But it IS the factor that turns "my deck is coming together" into "I can pick up 8 provinces this turn."

4
Having anything in S for nocturne is blasphemy.

This, honestly. It’s a balanced expansion, and I don’t think the average board is going to be “weak,” but the good cards are almost all in A or B range. There’s nothing here on the level of the Travellers, Donate, KC, Chapel. Masquerade, Ambassador, or Fortune.
Thank you, I do my best. I certainly never think, "now, let's make a broken card."

Oh, by no means was I complaining! I love all of the above cards, and find they make for very fun games. Especially Peasant. Peasant is brilliant.

5
Having anything in S for nocturne is blasphemy.

This, honestly. It’s a balanced expansion, and I don’t think the average board is going to be “weak,” but the good cards are almost all in A or B range. There’s nothing here on the level of the Travellers, Donate, KC, Chapel. Masquerade, Ambassador, or Fortune.

6
Dominion General Discussion / Another "How to Play This Board" Thread
« on: October 03, 2017, 06:06:53 pm »
I know there's a lot of these lately, but this one is sorta driving me crazy.

No Colonies or shelters.

Bandit, Poacher, Market, Bridge, Pirate Ship, Scrying Pool, Counting House, Baker, Peasant, Magpie.

Event: Donate.

Donate boards give you a ludicrous amount of control. Shuffle luck can cease to be a factor entirely if you get your deck to the ideal size. There's no limit to how far ahead you can plan. Somehow, though, I can't find the optimal strategy here. Obviously getting to Teacher as quickly as possible can win you the game, seeing as the +Action token enables a Bridge Megaturn that will crush your opponent. The importance of the race to Teacher seems to imply you want a Peasant / Donate opening to guarantee you'll always be able to play the Peasant line cards. On the other hand, doing this leaves you with very little economy to pay off the debt. You want to be able to pick up a few other actions in the few turns where you're waiting for Teacher to arrive. Without that, you won't be able to take full advantage of the tokens when they become available. But keeping enough coppers around to quickly pay off the debt and still play your Peasant means you can't add any more stop cards like Bridge. That's a considerable disadvantage, since Bridge seems like an ideal card to have access to once Teacher comes online. You can pick up some stuff like Scrying Pool to help with draw, but I'm concerned about when to incorporate the potion. Magpie is here, but doesn't draw you anything if all the remaining coppers are in your hand.

Enough of my rambling. How would you approach this board?

7
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Best Dominion moments 2017
« on: August 23, 2017, 12:56:26 pm »
I just opened Travelling Fair/Chapel/Alms/Tournament.

Like, on two turns back to back, or in 1 turn?

8
Game Reports / Re: Dear My Opponent: I am Sorry
« on: August 22, 2017, 12:28:53 am »
I'm sorry that I found fortune in the black market and could afford it. I'm sorry that on turn 13 I could counterfeit my fortune and buy 6 provinces and 3 duchies.

I presume you Counterfeited it for the +Buy?

9
Just played a semi-interesting game, will attempt to describe via limerick

Opponent bought sea hag to curse
Some upgrades I bought to trash curse
Oh no, look there's poor house
Wait, Obelisk'd poor house
3 piles with upgrade and curse

Rhyming a word with itself is generally frowned upon.

You literally did this on every line in the limerick.

10
Has anyone mentioned Baron / Bonfire?

Bonfire trashes very quickly, with the downside that your deck has less overall economy and still has estates floating around. Baron in a deck that's been reduced mostly to estates is perfect for hitting $5 after you've successfully thinned with bonfire.

11
Dominion is full of glorious edge-cases. Obviously I can see picking up cards that give benefits other than trashing. Getting Steward for draw, for example. I can also see the addition of trash for benefit cards. Maybe a single trasher to activate Market Squares mid-turn. But cards where thinning is the whole point, like Chapel? They're borderline obsolete.

12
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Least thematic card?
« on: July 11, 2017, 03:39:45 pm »
Thematically speaking, I don't really see how throne room and kings court would let you play something twice.  It's just a room

Well, "you" are, according to the theming of dominion, a king / queen / nonbinary monarch. So anything with a "Royal" flavor affects the playing of actions, the thing where you are most involved. Not just Throne Room and King's Court, but Royal Carriage, Crown, and Prince. Not sure if Procession counts, and Disciple and Herald don't have that theme at all, but it's clearly a running motif.

13
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Dominion song parodies
« on: July 01, 2017, 12:26:35 am »
I just randomly revisited this, and it's been like four years, so I thought it could use an update. Here's the full song:


"I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserable


There was a time when players were kind
When their decks were slow
And their economies underproducing
There was a time when the game was simple
And action chains weren't long
And the coin wasn't virtual
There was a time

Then he added more expansions

I Schemed a Scheme in turns gone by
When hope was high
And hands worth playing
I Schemed so my deck would never die!
I Schemed so shuffle luck would be forgiving

Then I was young and low in rankings
And alt-VP sat unused and wasted
There was no GG to be said
No combo untried, no Wine Merchant discarded

But the Curses come left and right
With their clogging worse than Looters
As they tear your deck apart
And they cause your engine to fail

He played the end-game by my side
He filled my logs with endless chatter
He took my undo in his stride
But he tripled Goons-ed me when the three-pile came

And still I dream he'll auto-match with me
That we will play a game together
But there are livestreams that cannot be
And there are rage quits we cannot weather

I played a Scheme so my hand would be
So different from this junk I'm holding!
So different now from what I Schemed
Now Minion has killed the Scheme
I Schemed

Robz, your original "I Dreamed A Dream" post was the greatest dominion song parody of all time, and this is a worthy followup. You are a muse.

14
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: An "Empty the Supply" Variant
« on: June 28, 2017, 05:15:04 pm »
Here is a 6 turn solution for Alchemy. This uses that you ruled that possession turns do not count and that in a single player game you are the "player to your left". Then it boils down to setting up Golem + 2x Possession, which gives you infinite turns and hence allows you to empty the supply.

T1/2 open potion + herbalist
T3 Herb EECP -> Apothecary (put P back)
T4 CCCCP -> Golem
rest of deck is ECC, so we reshuffle to draw the Golem
T5 ECC + Golem Apothecary
- play Apothecary to draw CCCP
- play Golem to play the Herbalist and discard the deck
- buy Possession
T6 We play the first possession and buy another one, using Golem and Apothecary for sufficient draw and to discard the deck.
T6 (possessed) We have a deck containing Golem and 2 Possessions that we can play indefinitely to increase the number of turns.

It didn't occur to me that you could possess yourself. That's quite an impressive trick! I might double check the rules on that one, but honestly I'm relieved we were able to get this appalling expansion out of the way so quickly!

15
That opening isn't as common as it used to be, but is still a respectable move on weak boards or boards with dominant 5-costs.

16
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: An "Empty the Supply" Variant
« on: June 24, 2017, 05:38:50 pm »
I'm working on a solution to base dominion now just to see how long the "normal" expansions can take. Might take a few days, I suspect. In the meantime... is anyone still interested in this thing? It's not getting many responses. :/

17
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: An "Empty the Supply" Variant
« on: June 17, 2017, 12:57:58 am »
It's time.

My solution is probably not perfect. I don't know if I formatted it in a way that's easy to follow. With apologies out of the way:

In a solitaire game of Adventures, with only 2 events, we can empty the supply in 8 turns.

The Kingdom:
Artificer (A)
Bridge Troll (B)
Coin of the Realm (Cotr)
Magpie (Mag)
Messenger (Mess)
Miser (Mis)
Royal Carriage (R)
Storyteller (S)
Treasure Trove (T)
The last one doesn't matter. My solution only involves the first nine.


Copper is abbreviated as C; Estate as E.

The Events around which everything hinges:

Traveling Fair
Inheritance


The solution itself:

Turn 1: CCCCE. Buy Mess, gain Mag with it.
Turn 2: CCCEE. Buy Cotr.
Turn 3: MessMagCCCotr. Play Mag, draw E and reveal E. Gain a Mag.
Play Mess, discard deck. Play treasure and put Cotr on the tavern mat. Buy B and C.
Turn 4: MessBMagMagC. Play both Mags, draw CCCC. Play B, call Cotr, Play Mess and discard deck.
We have $7, 3 buys, and cost reduction. Buy Inheritance and choose Royal Carriage. Buy CC.
Turn 5: EEEMagMess. Play Mag1, draw Mag2 and reveal C. Play Mag2, draw C and reveal Cotr.
Hand is EEEMessCCCotr. Play all E as R. Play Mess and call E 3 times. Discard deck.
We have $11, 6 buys, and cost reduction. Buy Mess and gain B. Buy B. Buy 4xE.
Our deck is now: 10xC, 7xE, 2xMag, 2xMess, 3xB, Cotr (on mat)

Turn 6: 4xEMag. Play all 4xE. Play Mag, call all E. The deck is: MagMessEEEB.
We draw MagMessEEE, and gain 5xMag. Play Mess and discard deck.
Play 3xE. Play Mag and call 3E for four Mag plays. We draw 4xMag, and reveal 4xC.
Play another Mag, draw Mag#7 (the last one) and reveal C.
Play all 4 remaining Mag, drawing BBBMess and revealing 4xC.
Our hand is 3xB, Mess, 9xC. Play all actions, discard remainder of deck.
We have $13, 6 buys, and cost reduction x3. Buy last 4xE in supply. Buy Mess, gain B.
$12 and 1 buy remain. Buy Travelling Fair 3 times: $6 and 4 buys. Buy RRACotr.
Our deck: 11xE, 10xC, 3xMess, 7xMag, 5xB (3 are in play), 2xCotr (1 on mat), 2xR, A.

Turn 7: BBMagMagMag. Top of deck has ACotrEEE. Play BB, call Cotr, Play 3xMag. Draw A, reveal Cotr, draw EE, gain 2xMag.
Play EE. Play A and call EE.
For the next part, we will be numbering the cards so as not to lose track.
Draw E, gain and draw A#2 and R#3, gain R#4.
Play E and R#3. Play A#2 and call on it. Draw R#4, gain and draw A#3 and R#5, gain R#6.
A#3, call R4 and R5 on it, draw R6, gain/draw A4 R7, gain R8.
A4, call R6 and R7 on it, draw R8, gain/draw R9 (the last one due to Inheritance) and A5. Gain A6.
Note that at this point, our hand is Cotr, R8, R9, A5. We’ve made 12 coins via artificer.
A5, call R8/R9. Draw A6, draw/gain A7 A8, gain S. 15 coins.
Play A7, draw S gain T. Play A8, draw T gain A9. 17 coins.
Play Storyteller, targeting Cotr and T. Spend a total of 21 coins. Draw 21 cards.
Put Cotr on mat, gain C and G.
Our deck (not yet played) includes 3xMess, 8xE, 11C, R1 and R2, A9, 6xMag, G.
We draw 8xE, R1, R2, A9, 6xMag, 3xMess, G. Remaining deck is 11C.
Play R1, R2, and 8xE. Play A9 and call it 8 times. Each time, gain Miser.
We draw C and 8 Misers, Leaving 1 Miser on deck.
Play Magpie. Draw Miser, reveal C.
Remaining Magpies draw remaining C.
Our hand is now 9xMiser, 11xC, G, 3xMess, and 2 Royal Carriages on mat.
Play Misers and call remaining Rs on them to put 11 C on the mat.
Play 3xMess and G. We have $9 from the last Artificer.
$18 and 9 buys. Buy Travelling Fair 9 times for 18 buys.
Buy Mess (gain S), 6xCotr, 6xT, 5xS

Current deck: 11xC (on mat), 8 Cotr (1 on mat), 7xT, 7xS, 5xB (2 in play), 9xMis, 4xMess, 9xMag,
11xE, 9xR, 9xA, G.

Turn 8: Start with 5xMag. Draw 4xMag and S, revealing Mag (to gain last Mag) 2xCotr, and 2xT.
Play 4xMag to draw 3xB and S. Reveal 5xT. Current hand is 7xT, 2xCotr, 2xS, and 3xB.
Play S on CotrCotrT. Gain GC, put 2xCotr on mat, draw SMess 3xA.
Play S on 3xT. Gain 3xG, 3xC, draw S 6xA. Hand: 2xS, 3xT, 9xA, Mess, 3xB.
Play S on 3xT. Gain 3xG, 3xC, draw 7xE. Hand: S, 9xA, Mess, 3xB, 7xE.
Play 3xB and call 2Cotr (1 left on mat). We have 2 actions.
Play A. Draw S, gain A. Play A, Draw A, gain T. Continue to play 8xA, drawing T, gaining AND          drawing T, 2xB, 2xCotr, 2xS. Gain, but do NOT draw Miser.
Hand is 2xT, 2xB, 2xCotr, 4xS, Mess, 7xE.
Play Mess, discard deck. Play S on TTCotr. Gain 2xC, 2xG, and draw (10+2+6) 19 cards.
So far, we have played 4xS, 9xT, 10xA, 9xMag, 3xB, 3xCotr (2 called, 2 on mat), Mess.
Remaining deck contains 9xC, 10xG, 4xE, 9xR, 10xMis, 3xMes, 2xB, Mag, 1xS, 6xCotr.
We draw: S, 5xCotr, Mag, 10xG, E. Hand is 5xS, 6xCotr, Mag, BB, 8xE, 10xG.
Remaining deck is 9xC, 3xE, 3xMess, 10xMis, 9xR.
Play Mag, draw E reveal C.
Play S on 3xCotr, draw 4C.
Play S on 3xCotr, draw 4C.
Play S on 3xG, draw EE 8xR
Play S on 3xG, draw R 9xMis
Play S on G, draw Mis 3xMess.
Our hand is now 9xC, 3xG, 2xB, 11xE, 9xR, 10xMis, 3xMess. There are 8 Cotr on the mat.
Play 9xMiser, putting 9xC on the mat. Call 5 Cotr for actions. We should have 2 actions now.
Play all E and R. Play last Miser and call them for 21 effective Miser plays. Choose coins.
With 20C on the tavern mat, this equates to $420.
Play 2xB and 3xMess, calling Cotr as needed. We have enough.
On our final buy phase, we have (420+6+9) $435. We have (7+4+1) 12 buys.
There are 7 Bridge Trolls in play.
Purchase Travelling Fair 213 times, leaving $9 for provinces.
Provinces cost 1, and everything else is free. We have 225 buys. Empty the Supply!


Edit: Literally right after I post this, I think "I wonder what would've happened if I'd done X instead" and accidentally come up with another solution that might be 1 turn faster. Oh well. At least I wrote up SOMETHING.

18
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: An "Empty the Supply" Variant
« on: June 15, 2017, 04:13:37 pm »
I can ALMOST get Prosperity on turn 8, so at the bare minimum it can be done in 9. And yes, normal endgame conditions apply.

I'll try to format and post my Adventures solution tonight.

Edit: I am TERRIBLE at formatting.

19
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: An "Empty the Supply" Variant
« on: June 13, 2017, 07:42:15 pm »
I've put in a little work on base. Calling it sloggy is an understatement, but it's far from the most difficult set to work with. Not sure if I use Mine, but interestingly the solutions for 1st and 2nd edition BOTH incorporate cards unique to their edition. At the very least, Artisan and Chancellor bring a lot to the table.

It occurs to me that I still haven't really decided on limitations like "number of players" or "number of events you can use in expansions with events." That's kind of a big deal! Honestly, though, pick whatever strategy you want. For now, I'm gonna solve for single player and 2 events, and maybe go for the more complex solution later.

Some thoughts on the challenges in each expansion:

Base: It's not too complicated, just really time consuming. Most of your gains ultimately come from buys or workshops. You won't get the kind of mega turns other expansions offer, but thanks to Cellar or Chancellor (your preference) you don't really get stuck either.

Intrigue: Bridge and Ironworks are awesome cards. The main challenge here is continuing to play your deck when you're finally forced to start going after the copper pile. Sifting isn't great in Intrigue.

Seaside: Haven't done much work here yet. You're gonna need a lot of Buys here. Luckily, you have Outpost. (Yes, I consider Outpost and Mission legitimate ways to reduce your overall turns)

Alchemy: Honestly, the sloggiest period. If you have 2 players and Possession, that might speed things up. Otherwise, you're out of luck. University doesn't help much, so you need to rely on Herbalist and Transmute. Alchemy sucks.

Prosperity: Probably one of the easiest to do! The only real question is what to prioritize. I'm still not sure whether to include Bank (for Income) or Hoard (to help empty the Gold pile.)

Cornucopia: super complicated. Gains and buys here tend to reduce your handsize, and the draw is Menagerie and Hunting Party. They're good draw, but they mean that you need to draw exactly the right cards in exactly the right order...

Hinterlands: The one thing I know for sure is you need Haggler. You REALLY need Haggler.

Dark Ages: ... I haven't even tried to solve this one. I'm sure you can do stuff fast here, I just don't know the best way to pull that off. There's SO MANY TRICKS HERE!

Guilds: Boring. Stonemason is awesome, and Merchant Guild gives you all the money you want, but it's still a slog.

Adventures: I won't give away much because I actually HAVE a solution and I intend to post it. That said, the entire strategy here revolves around what Events you choose. I had to make hard decisions here. If I could use more events than 2, this would be FAST.

Empires: some NICE megaturns here! Fortune gives you all the money you need, City Quarter draws everything, and Villa is Villa.

20
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: An "Empty the Supply" Variant
« on: June 13, 2017, 02:05:37 am »
So I can DEFINITELY get Adventures (with one player) in 8 turns. I'm trying to optimize the solution, but in practical terms I'm just changing the amount of money I have on the final turn. The supply gets emptied on that turn no matter what. Should I sideline the whole optimization thing and just share what I have?

21
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: An "Empty the Supply" Variant
« on: June 10, 2017, 05:47:38 am »
Like I said, Alchemy is garbage. Most expansions surprise me, though. Remember that Hinterlands has Haggler, which is quite good for this sort of thing.

Cornucopia is probably the most frustrating to work on. Everything that gives buys or gains decreases your handsize, and all draw is Menagerie or Hunting Party, so you need to constantly keep in mind what your hand looks like to play optimally.

Dark Ages is incredibly intimidating. There are so many amazing ways to gain cards through Procession-Fortress chains, Market Square tricks, Trashing Feodums and Hunting Grounds, and Beggar for quick elimination of copper. I know it's there; I just can't put it together.

22
Puzzles and Challenges / An "Empty the Supply" Variant
« on: June 10, 2017, 01:40:18 am »
Am I allowed to submit a puzzle if I don't have my own solutions worked out yet?  A puzzle with 13 radically different variations?

Whatever, let's do this.

One of the most popular challenges on this subforum is the "Empty the Supply as quickly as possible" challenge. We have plenty of variants of it. Trying to reduce the number of needed turns, trying to carry out such a solution in Dominion online... one might consider this old problem thoroughly solved.

But I was bored and came up with a variant that makes it more challenging. What if you were only allowed to create your solution using cards / events from a single expansion? So far I've gotten close to developing an 8 turn solution for Adventures. I tried to do something similar for Prosperity and Empires, but couldn't quite get it to work.

If we count the 1st and 2nd editions of Dominion and Intrigue as expansions, we have 13 different expansions. 13 different solutions to the single-expansion supply emptying problem. As for special rules... I recommend we stick to only 2 events when finding solutions for Adventures or Empires. Everything else is fair game. Some expansions will have more interesting solutions than others (Alchemy in particular looks like a real slog), so only solve the ones you think would be particularly fun for you to try your hand at.

I hope you enjoy this challenge! Well... 13 challenges, technically.

23
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Forced Wins Training Sessions
« on: June 08, 2017, 03:40:59 am »
Procession: Butcher. Trash Butcher+ 3 coin tokens for province. Trash Loan + 3 coin tokens into hunting grounds.  Trash the played butcher and gain hunting grounds. 2 piles empty, 26 - 20.  Play Mountebank, curses empty.  Buy province, 26-25 win.

I feel bad responding to a post from so far back, but the Mountebank might not actually distribute the curse if the opponent can block it. So...
Procession on Butcher. Trash Province into Province and Mountebank into Province. Two Provinces in the Supply,
 and 3 coin tokens left. Play the final Butcher and spend 5 coin tokens to convert Loan into Province. With 4 Coppers, 2 Loans,
 and 2 pre-existing coins, we can buy the last province and win.


24
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Forced Wins Training Sessions
« on: June 08, 2017, 03:14:00 am »
An alternative way to play my last turn in one of my league matches against Lalight would lead to this:





The two cards in the deck are a Giant and a Stonemason, and the Magpie is the only card in the discard. Note that there´s also a -1 coin token from opponent´s Bridge Troll that is not showing...

With that final bit of information, here's what I've come up with:

Play Magpie, draw Giant, gain Magpie.
Hand is now Bridge Troll, Stonemason x2, Giant x2, Copper x2, and Silver. Stonemason both giants away to gain 4 Magpies.

Play Bridge Troll. Play Silver and Coppers for $3 total (due to -coin token). Buy Stonemason and overpay by 1, gaining the other Stonemason and a Chapel. Buy Estate.

Without the -coin token, we could've done another solution in which we played Stonemason on the silver and played the giants for $. This works too, though.

25
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Busy Beaver amount of Coin
« on: May 08, 2017, 12:49:21 am »
Does the +$ token from Training apply to Inherited Estates? I thought they didn't.

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