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

Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / Re: Suggestion regarding undos

« on: September 01, 2022, 12:41:02 pm »

That's why I'm thinking to make it a table setting and automatch setting. You can select which types of undo rules you are OK with, and then be matched to other players who are OK with the same rules. So, like today, in Automatch, you can select Rated, Unrated, both, or neither. Same thing with "Extra 2nd Edition" and "Player count".

To refine my suggestion, something like this:

Automatch
Rated games                 (Rated) (Unrated)
Extra 2nd Edition           (Yes) (No)
Player Count                 (2P) (3P)
Undo's Allowed?            (Ask) (Auto) (None)

An "Ask" game works just like today. A "None" game will not allow undos to be requested (but remember you'd both have to allow that as an option to be matched up). And "Auto" would auto-approve when no new information has been revealed, and ask in other circumstances.

2

Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / Re: How to optimize player level?

« on: September 01, 2022, 10:13:05 am »

OK, thanks, everybody. Yes, I should have stipulated that the most likely answer is that I'm not nearly as good as I think I am, or perhaps I'm not nearly as good as I used to be.

I don't remember the number of ranked players on Isotropic, but I'm pretty confident I was easily in the top 1% if I was in the top 50 players. Now, I'm struggling to get into the top 3% (assuming there are about 150,000 total players from what I can find out). Although I do wonder if there could be more inactive players on dominion.games than back in the Isotropic days -- so perhaps I'm even lower than I think, percentile-wise.

The most likely answer is all of the new cards -- there are even many new cards in the core set. Since I don't have a subscription, I mostly play with the core set, which for now, I think is good, so I can fine-tune my skill on those cards. But when I play with somebody with a subscription, the challenge level goes way up, and I tend to lose more often when surprised by newer cards I don't know. But I think that's ultimately a good way to learn.

3

Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / How to optimize player level?

« on: September 01, 2022, 01:09:24 am »

Back in the isotropic days, I was in the top 100 players, and in fact, I think perhaps the top 50 at one point. Well, 12 years later, once I found out that Goku was dead, I tried dominion.games. It isn't isotropic but it's pretty nice, and of course, there are a whole lot more cards out there.

PS - WanderingWinder was in the top 10 back then too, right? I remember the name, and playing against them in some games.

Well, now I'm bothered by my level -- I have got pretty close to 47 a few times, and then start falling back down to 46. I am having trouble figuring out how the system really works. I don't have hard numbers, but here are my impressions:

• If I play a significantly higher-ranked player, and lose two and win one, my level goes down.
• If I play a lower-ranked player, when I win my level goes up slowly, but if I lose just once it drops pretty quickly.

What do I need to do to improve my level? Playing lower-level players seems pretty risky -- if you lose here and there it really hurts your level. But playing higher-level players also doesn't seem to really improve my level much either, given that I'm going to lose some of the time.

4

Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / Suggestion regarding undos

« on: September 01, 2022, 01:01:54 am »

I don't find many people who deny undo requests, but I find it very annoying to play with those who do. If a simple undo is denied, I slow down my play out of necessity, I turn off autobuy and pre-moves, etc. I explain in chat that I'm going to have to play slower and more carefully if you won't allow any undos. And then I block the person after the game is over because that's not how I like to play.

One bad example -- there were two Duchies left and it would be the third pile. I have 10 to spend and I have two buys. I click and autobuy plays half of my money. The opponent won't let me undo it. So I only get one Duchy, and then on their turn, they buy the other one and win. It's annoying because it would never happen if playing the game physically, nor if I turned off autobuy.

But it got me thinking -- why not make the undo situation part of the settings for the match and the automatch? You could set "Undos allowed?" to "No, Auto, or Ask". With "No" you can't even request them. With "Auto" it will automatically approve as long as no new information was revealed. And then "Ask" is how it works now.

5

Dominion Isotropic / Why does my level keep dropping when I'm not playing?

« on: May 11, 2012, 09:20:10 am »

I admit I don't fully understand the TrueSkill system, but as I understand it, Isotropic no longer ignores games older than 30 days like it did at some point.

What I don't understand is a few weeks ago I was level 30, and now I'm level 25, and I have hardly played any games during that time (especially not compared to how many games I was playing when I was level 30).

Username is "kirkbauer".

6

Goko Dominion Online / Re: Where's the official app?

« on: May 11, 2012, 09:18:14 am »

The isotropic backend is written in Python. Python (though I love it very much) is about as slow as it gets. Attribute isotropic's scalability to implementer skill and not choice of programming language.

I admit that I have not used Python, however I have extensive experience with Perl (a similar interpreted language) and I can say that (surprisingly) it outperforms Java.  I say surprisingly because Java is compiled into psedo-machine language which should theoretically be faster to execute than a purely interpreted language.  I am not surprised that Python is more responsive than Java.

I think Isotropic is fast for a number of reasons:
1) Server is running Linux and not Windows
2) Web server is Apache and not bloated IIS or some big Java servlet engine
3) Python implementation is well-done
4) Interface (including Javascript) is simple and not bloated
5) Chrome makes it especially fast

I suspect that the commercial app will not be as efficient, however it may be possible for them to throw money at the problem to increase performance (more hardware, etc).

7

Dominion Isotropic / Re: People to avoid on isotropic

« on: March 29, 2012, 10:00:01 am »

Even if you do have the game pretty much won (which I am not denying), saying "gg" at that point just comes off so arrogant.

I agree 100%.  In my opinion, when you just bought the 5th Province it is annoying/arrogant, but saying it on turn 6 is just plain wrong.  If I was playing with you I probably would have resigned shortly after that with a "f you"... and avoided playing with you again.

8

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Is resigning considered rude?

« on: March 21, 2012, 07:56:13 pm »

Your quote is misattributed.  That was Thisisnotasmile's post.

Sorry, I messed up the original post and then messed up fixing it, corrected now, thanks.

9

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Is resigning considered rude?

« on: March 21, 2012, 04:05:51 pm »

The only thing that really bothers me (besides people timing out instead of resigning) is people who win and then just leave without a word.  If the game was close then I think a "gg" is in order (I even usually say "gg, close one" to respect the fact that either of us could have won).  If they mutilated me then at least a "thanks for the game", or "tx", or even "sorry for the miserable triple-torturer chain!" would be nice.  Because it bothers me so much, my goal is to usually return to lobby before they can so I am not annoyed by what they do or don't say.

You don't like when people end the game and instantly return to the lobby without saying anything. Your solution is to instantly return to the lobby after games without saying anything. I guess that makes sense 

I should have been more clear: when I win, I say "gg" or something else pleasant.  When I lose I usually leave before the person who won can leave, because if I don't and they just run off it will irritate me.

10

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Is resigning considered rude?

« on: March 19, 2012, 10:38:58 am »

I will generally resign once there is no possible way for me to win (for example, I am behind 20 points, cursing is not a factor, and there is only one Province and one Duchy left).  The exception is if the game is almost over anyways and then I'll just let it finish its natural course.  I will give a "gg" if I think they played well, or say nothing if I think luck was the major factor.

I once had a guy say "gg" to me when he was winning.  He had 3 provinces, I had 1.  He was clearly doing better, but as we all know things can turn around.  I said "gg?".  He said, "I don't see any way you can win, so gg".  I said "So do you expect me to resign or something?".  He said "I would resign if I were you, but you can do whatever you want".  I think it came across as fairly un-sportsmanlike.  I told him as much, he said something about it being the way it is done in chess.  Of course in chess there is no chance that luck will turn the game in your favor. 

The only thing that really bothers me (besides people timing out instead of resigning) is people who win and then just leave without a word.  If the game was close then I think a "gg" is in order (I even usually say "gg, close one" to respect the fact that either of us could have won).  If they mutilated me then at least a "thanks for the game", or "tx", or even "sorry for the miserable triple-torturer chain!" would be nice.  Because it bothers me so much, my goal is to usually return to lobby before they can so I am not annoyed by what they do or don't say.

One guy just left and we played another game and I said "just my opinion, but I think winning and running is kind of rude".  His reply was "f*** your opinion, I f*** your opinions for a living and I make a lot of money".  Must have been in junior high or something?  Or was I being a bit annoying?

11

Dominion Isotropic / Winning vs. Winning

« on: March 18, 2012, 02:11:25 pm »

I was wondering today what would happen if your leaderboard rank on Isotropic was based not just on winning/losing but also by the amount of points you won/lost by.  It would probably really reduce 3-pile endings, leaving in the middle of the game, etc.  Thoughts?

12

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Official replacement for Isotropic

« on: March 14, 2012, 09:51:26 pm »

I did look through the long thread but I didn't feel this was all addressed exactly.  Perhaps I'm wrong or I found the wrong thread.  I did look quite a bit, but again I'm fairly new here so sorry if I missed anything.

To WanderingWinder: I do think Isotropic covers #10 to some degree.  I didn't assume anything, I said I'm worried that I won't like it, not that I won't like it, or that it will be terrible.  I'm worried only because I like so many things about Isotropic that aren't found in other online games, and since Doug is not involved, and since I expect it will be more "slick and flashy", I would say it is likely we will lose things we love from Isotropic.  But I can't say for sure.  I also think waiting until it comes out to voice my concerns would miss any opportunity to influence the development process.  Note that I'm not complaining, I'm saying what I do want.  I seem to have struck a nerve with you that doesn't seem warranted based on the content of my post.  I just want this official version to be at least as good as Isotropic and, if not, I'd love to have an Isotropic option in parallel.

13

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Official replacement for Isotropic

« on: March 14, 2012, 07:22:26 pm »

I did have an interesting idea, though (I don't know if DougZ reads this forum or not).  Isotropic could be converted into only fan expansions (no original Kingdom cards at all).  You can come up with a system where the players can vote on cost adjustments for the cards since we'd be doing the playtesting basically.

I guess it would be a lot of work for Doug depending on how hard the cards are to program (I haven't seen his code obviously).  But it would be neat to build an entire game of fan expansions.

Or maybe Doug could be convinced to open-source the code after removing all Dominion specifics so others can build their own games out of it.

Just some thoughts.

14

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Official replacement for Isotropic

« on: March 14, 2012, 07:15:34 pm »

"I also don't have any problem paying for Dominion (I own everything published to date and that will be published in the future).  I also will be buying the official iPad and Android versions to play while out and about."

followed by

"For the official version, if you want me as a customer, you will need:"

Lets face it, 95% of people who like Dominion enough to read these forums and play Isotropic are going to buy it within a day of it coming out anyway....

I'm not clear on how the pricing would be: will it be monthly, one-time fee, do you have to add expansions, etc?  I will certainly try it out, but if it isn't at least as good as Isotropic I will probably just stop playing (not paying for future months, not buying future expansions, etc).  I would still buy the printed future expansions though.

15

Dominion Isotropic / Official replacement for Isotropic

« on: March 14, 2012, 06:58:43 pm »

I'm a fairly recent member of this forum and just found out about the official online version of Dominion coming out and the stated retirement of Isotropic at that time.  I am also a recent Isotropic addict.  I saw there has been a lot of discussion in the past and I don't want to start this whole thing over again, but I didn't see anybody with my exact thoughts on this and felt that I should share them.

First of all, I appreciate all of Donald's support and tolerance of Isotropic.  I also don't have any problem paying for Dominion (I own everything published to date and that will be published in the future).  I also will be buying the official iPad and Android versions to play while out and about.

But I am worried that I will not enjoy the official online version anywhere near as much as I enjoy playing on Isotropic which will likely be the end of my online Dominion play.  If you want to keep me engaged as a Dominion customer, you should consider allowing Isotropic to remain online for the same cost as the official version (with the proper copyright holders getting their proper percentage) if Doug is so inclined.  This would give us the choice.

For the official version, if you want me as a customer, you will need:
1. Every card out there (I can't go back to a small subset of the cards)
2. Very quick bug fixes
3. Integrated player ranking system
4. Vibrant community of good, active players
5. Logs of games for future analysis
6. Web-based interface that I can use from Linux
7. Text-based interface (good for quicker play, and good for play at work)
8. Efficient gameplay (don't make me choose which cards to discard for Horse Traders when I only have 2 cards in my hand, for example), adjusting prices for Bridge and Highway, etc.
9. Point-counter options like we have via Dominion Point Counter (including card tracking)
10. Ways to prevent players from playing slow, etc, to get me to leave the game.
11. Ability to close and re-launch browser and resume game if there are computer/network problems.

These are features that Isotropic has provided that I haven't seen for just about every other online game I have played and they will be sorely missed if they aren't available one day.  To close I want to be clear: I have no problem paying to play Dominion online, but I will not start paying for something that is inferior to what I play today for free.  I would happily pay for Isotropic right now if that was an option.

16

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Simultaneity

« on: March 14, 2012, 02:59:34 pm »

Sadly, it's also untrackable in the logs, in the current implementation of isotropic.  I hope the official version corrects this oversight, so the logs will let us fully reconstruct the game state at all times.

I'm new to these forums so I'm not sure if I have missed something, but what is this about an official version of Isotropic?  Can you point me to any information on the topic?