Dominion Strategy Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length

Show Posts

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.

Topics - Young Nick

Filter to certain boards:

Pages: [1]
1
Help! / Help Me Untangle This Board
« on: August 26, 2013, 10:50:11 pm »
I played this board recently. The key players here are Rebuild, Knights, Duke, and Feodum. There's other stuff, namely Lab and Stables, but here's my problem:

I don't really understand Rebuild/Duke interactions.
I don't really understand Rebuild/Feodum interactions.
I don't really understand Rebuild/Knights interactions.
I don't really understand Knights/Alt VP interactions.

So yeah, help me out. I ended up going for Knights hoping to trash yed's Rebuilds and Duchies, but he picked up enough Feoda(sp?) that it wasn't an issue for him. I figured I could trash enough of his stuff that Rebuild wouldn't be fast enough and I could pick up enough VP's via Dukes to stay competitive. It didn't end up working out that way.

What's the best strategy? It seems like a whole bunch of RPS here so what opening would leave me most flexible? I would guess Storeroom/Silver but maybe Silver/Silver would be better considering that 5 is a key price point and Storeroom's terminal draw isn't good here.

2
Game Reports / The Joys of Teaching Others
« on: April 27, 2013, 07:27:58 pm »
It's been a while since I've played Dominion, I'll admit.

First was the New Year's Resolution to leave f.DS. Though it wasn't an easy decision, it was the right one. However, as a result, Dominion was out of sight, and thus out of mind. I didn't even know Isotropic was shutting down until just a handful of days beforehand. I never gave the site its proper farewell.

What with being a couple thousand miles away from my friends and family in DC that I usually play Dominion with in-person, I have not played with physical cards too often while at college. The one partner I had, dondon, happened to graduate early. Though I was certainly happy for him - graduating early with one of the toughest degrees to obtain at the school - I couldn't help but be bittersweet that I no longer had someone to play with...

Until last night, that is. A few of my friends had showed interest in learning the game, so I introduced Dominion to a friend of mine last night. After I taught him the mechanics of the game, we played one round where I coached him on some strategy as we played. With a kingdom featuring Moat, Tunnel, Oasis, Village, Smithy, Throne Room, Milita, Market, Festival, and Mine, he quickly caught on. It wasn't long before he recognized some of the subtleties of the game like playing a Village before a Festival if they are the only actions in hand or playing an Oasis after drawing cards if it means there's a better chance of pairing a Tunnel with it.

Words can't explain the joy I felt watching him draw all but two cards in his deck, begging the question, "What happens if there's nothing left for me to draw?"

Of course, I didn't let him win (I'm not THAT nice!), but he certainly put up a fight and is hooked. At his request, I will not offer him more strategy heading forward (BMU and trashing are still unknown to him), but I suspect it won't be long until I consider him a worthy opponent.

I had been afraid for the past couple of weeks that without Isotropic, the Dominion-stage of my life was coming to a close. Last night reminded me that all it takes is a bright-minded, eager-to-learn friend to change that. It may not have been the same as playing one-on-one's with dondon (and getting my butt handed to me), but it was equally as fun.

Go teach a friend Dominion. His mastering of the game will be a gift that keeps giving back.

3
General Discussion / An Attempt at Farewell
« on: December 16, 2012, 01:43:18 am »
This board has been great to me, it truly has. I love Dominion. I love the analysis of Dominion. I love the soon-to-come-back Councilroom.com. I love Isotropic.

However it is time that I move on. The internet, it is too much for me. I am at the computer too much. As the new year approaches and I think of potential resolutions, internet usage always is the first thing that pops into my head. For my studies, for my extracurricular commitments, for my friendships, I think it is best that I stop by f.DS less often.

Don't worry, I am not cutting everything out. If ibgtennis still wants to do a mafia game, I'll come back for that, and I'll pop in for Dominion analysis from time to time, but for the time being, I will stick to Isotropic.

Thanks to all for teaching me oh so much about this fantastic game.

Sincerely,

Jesse

4
Help! / What Went Wrong?
« on: December 15, 2012, 02:06:53 pm »
I just played this game.

My opponent opened with a TR. My god.

I opened Loan/Masquerade. Despite this, I ended the game with 4 Coppers and an Estate after 20 turns. I want to say bad shuffle luck. I only hit Copper with 1/5 Loan plays.

Was this the issue, shuffle luck, or is there a different cause I am missing.

5
Dominion Strategy Wiki Feedback / Malware?
« on: November 01, 2012, 01:38:20 pm »
My Google Chrome keeps telling me that the Wiki isn't a safe site to use and that as a result, f.DS isn't a safe site to use. Has anyone else encountered this? Did a spambot gain access somehow?

6
Game Reports / Taking the Road Less Traveled
« on: October 10, 2012, 01:45:09 am »
Here I present to you two games in which I went after a rather unorthodox strategy. One ended with a win, the other a loss. I am not sure what the optimal strategy was for either, but I sure as hell had fun going after what will look like strange strategies.

Game 1: YN 29 - 45 Mergus. Cards in supply: Cache, Caravan, Crossroads, Golem, Herbalist, Mine, Moat, Potion, Stash, Tribute, and University.

I see this and think of how weak the board is. I end up going for Universities to gain Mines and Caravans and to get Golem for support. Mergus (with a 5/2 split) goes for Mine/Caravan/Tribute/Crossroads and doesn't buy a treasure the whole game. I don't know how he did it, but he was one Mined Silver away from turning all of his initial Copper into Golds.

I wanted to have my Golems hunt for Mines, but dipped into Caravans a bit too hard to make that realistically possible. Also, more Golems would have been necessary. I do believe my ideal strategy (not the one executed) would have been better. I doubt there is anything much better than either of our strategies. This game wasn't innately exotic, but felt most peculiar.

Game 2: YN 42 - 30 noon. Cards in supply: Coppersmith, Fishing Village, Haven, Jester, Mining Village, Philosopher's Stone, Potion, Tactician, Vault, Venture, and Wishing Well.

I know what you are thinking: "Young Nick, Vault/Tactician is best here. I swear. Havens help to set-up the combo, too!" I here you. But that's not what I did. And what I did was awesome. With a Wishing Well/Coppersmith opening, I picked up some more of those and a few Tacticians. Coppersmith loves the big Tactician hand which allows for one to play two Coppersmiths and purchase two Provinces. Unlike Mergus in the last game, I did buy some treasure. However, the only ones I bought were a few Copper so that I had enough. noon went for the more conventional strategy, but got into the Vault business a bit too late for my liking. He also did not buy any treasure in this game.

Anyway, 17 turns later, I was looking at 6 Provinces and a Duchy. Could have I done a bit better? Probably. But part of Dominion is taking the road less traveled, which is what I did in these two unorthodox games.

7
Game Reports / Overcoming Adversity
« on: September 30, 2012, 05:08:15 pm »
I played a game yesterday against The Laughing Storm. The kingdom was Bank, Baron, Cellar, Familiar, Fishing Village, Mandarin, Outpost, Potion, Spy, Tribute, and Woodcutter.

Going second in a Familiar game is bad enough as is. We both opened Fishing Village/Potion, which in retrospect probably should have been Silver/Potion. My Potion came turn 5, so I already knew I was in trouble. Knowing this, I figure that if I am looking at 5 Coppers on turn 4, I ought to pick up an Outpost to help cycle my deck faster to make up for the late Familiar. For similar reasons, I pick up three Cellars by the start of my seventh turn.

Still, though, my deck is noticeably worse due to his turn 8 Bank. Yet with dedicated Cellar cycling and Outpost play, I manage to win the Curse split 6-4. Still, his economy is so much better. He gets his two Gold on turns 10 and 11, while mine are on 16 and 18.

Somehow, through all of this, I come out with the win. Fishing Villages piled out early (he took 8(!) of them) and VP piles started to run. I see this, and have to screw around with the PDR and even the PER (acronyms = PPR for lesser VP cards) to avoid ending the game with fewer VP's on my turn. Luckily, he does not attack the Estates as aggressively as he should.

In my penultimate turn, I take the second-to-last Estate with $6 and play an Outpost. Down five, I know I can't simply take the last Duchy and lose. Even if I buy the Estate and buy a Duchy on the Outpost turn, I still will lose by one. So I figure I have to play for the Province:

(Young Nick drains the jumper as he draws: a Province, a Cellar, and an Estate.)

 — Young Nick drains the jumper as he's extra turn (from Outpost) —
   Young Nick drains the jumper as he plays a Cellar.
   ... getting +1 action.
   ... discarding 2 cards.
   ... drawing 2 cards.
   Young Nick drains the jumper as he plays a Gold and a Silver.
   Young Nick drains the jumper as he buys a Mandarin.
   ... putting a Gold and a Silver back on the deck (in some order).
   (Young Nick drains the jumper as he draws: a Gold, 2 Silvers, and 2 Coppers.)

The Mandarin purchase pays off as well as it could, as long as my opponent can't muster the final Estate and 3-pile. Fittingly, he had just $1 and did nothing as I bought the last Province for a stunning come-from-behind victory.

PPE: Yeah, I guess buying that penultimate Estate didn't help me at all, seeing as I needed the Province either way and it could have allowed for the 3-pile loss, but that is not the point. The point is using Mandarin effectively and super-cycling to win the Curse split.

8
Variants and Fan Cards / Spoils-related card ideas
« on: September 07, 2012, 10:27:08 pm »
When explaining Bandit Camp to my father today, we got to talking about how similar it is to buying a Village and a Gold. This got me thinking about how Spoils vs. Gold define the way that economy works in Dominion: you don't lose money when you spend it. However this is not true with Spoils. Anyway, I was thinking about the concept and came up with the following card ideas. Don't expect them to be play tested or properly formatted, especially since I'm posting this from an iPad. Instead, think about the concept of one-shot money and it's implications on the game.

Gold Rush
Cost: $7
Type: treasure
$0
Gain a Spoils, putting it into your hand.

This is basically a Gold, but you can save a Spoils if you don't need it.
I figured this would be too good, but also too similar to Gold. So I thought of a nerf:

Expedition
Cost: $6 (or $7)
Type: treasure
$1
Gain a [one-shot Silver], putting it into your hand.

Similar thought, but definitely worse. This got me thinking to a more conventional card:

Token
Cost: $5
Type: treasure
$2
Gain a Silver.

Obviously, this draws comparisons to Explorer and is not different enough to ever be produced, but is still interesting.

The first two cards are more at the heart of what I was getting at: imaging Dominion economy as a more realistic economy. Thoughts on the concept, more so than the card themselves, would be appreciated.

9
Dominion General Discussion / Not Another Storage Solution Thread!
« on: September 02, 2012, 03:06:20 pm »
But yeah, that's exactly what this is. I need to efficiently store Dominion. I've decided that BCW baseball card boxes are my best bet. I figure I have a few options and would like some help in terms of deciding my best bet.

Option A) 5 660-card boxes. The lay-out would be as follows:
  1. Base, Cornucopia
  2. Intrigue, Alchemy
  3. Seaside, Prosperity
  4. Hinterlands, Promos, (Base Cards)
  5. Dark Ages, (Guilds)

Pros: Lots of boxes make set-up/clean-up faster. I can only bring one or two boxes if I so desire.
Cons: 5 boxes is kind of hard to carry. It's just awkward.

Option B) 2 1600-card boxes. The lay-out is as follows:
  1. Base, Seaside, Hinterlands, Promos, (Base Cards)
  2. Intrigue, Prosperity, Dark Ages, (Guilds)

Pros: Only two boxes.
Cons: Boxes are heavy. Top can fall off during transportation (doesn't do well when inverted).

Option C) 1 enourmous 3200-card box.

Pros: Well, it's hard to forget and leave some of the cards behind.
Cons: It's huge and heavy. You have to take all of the cards. It has a top, and thus the same issues as the 1600-card boxes.

Option D) Several smaller boxes. Each expansion would get it's own box, possibly with Base's and Intrigue's Base Cards separated into their own boxes.

Pros: With 3+ players, set-up and clean-up are much faster. You only bring what is necessary, nothing more.
Cons: Like with the 5-box option, it might be awkward to transport, and easy to inadvertently leave something behind.

Also, is it worthwhile to purchases official dividers, or would index cards be sufficient?

I acknowledge that no matter what I do, transportation will indeed be heavy and awkward. Right now, I'd say that I would rank them A, B, D, C from best to worst. What do you think? I'd love to hear what everyone else has to say.
 
Thanks it advanced, fam.


10
Dominion Isotropic / Isotropic Avatars
« on: August 11, 2012, 12:34:29 pm »
I saw someone whose avatar was the Isotropic picture of Goons. I suggest that someone who has enough free time and computer knowledge make avatars of all the Isotropic cards before it goes away. Then, as a Tribute (always with a capital T), we change our avatars to Isotropic ones as a farewell to the website. Maybe we all take the corresponding Isotropic avatars of our current Dominion-art avatars (so I would take Iso-Wharf). This obviously does not pertain to those with Dark Ages art.

Off the top of my head, I would probably take Contraband. Maybe Duke.

Many, but not all, of the Iso images can be seen here.

11
Game Reports / Dirty, Dirty (Combo) Deck
« on: August 05, 2012, 10:44:08 am »
I forgot to grab the log, but yesterday I played against a guy named Sky (maybe it was Spy?). He was level 27, so I was surprised when he opened Potion seeing as the only Potion card on the board was Golem. "Huh," I said to myself. "This game is probably just about over on turn one. What a n00b. How'd he get to be lvl 27 anyway?"

I then proceeded to get crushed and was forced to resign. I can't even remember the last time I resigned because I was so hopelessly getting crushed. His deck: Golem, Golem, Scheme, Scheme, Ghost Ship, Witch. He top-decks two Golems each turn and plays Ghost Ship and Witch with both Schemes. I guess it could have stalled if he had draw both terminals with the first Golem, but that never happened. It was unstoppable. I watched as my Silver/Silver opening for the early Witch proved to be helpless. Curses were pumped into my deck so quickly, not that I saw them, because I never reshuffled thanks to the Ghost Ship.

He just bought money and VP's as I watched, cursing at my terrible three-card hands. On that day, a single tear slid down my face for I had seen the most elegant deck Dominion has showed me, yet I had not created it myself.

Edit: Making sense.

12
Dominion General Discussion / He Lives!
« on: August 02, 2012, 09:54:20 pm »
So, I was partaking in my guilty pleasure (please don't judge me) and saw a most peculiar twitter name:



Mean Mr. Mustard lives!

He hasn't been active here in over two months and mysteriously disappeared without warning. There is no way anyone else would have such a strange name.

Here's the link. Note the handle is @Nandor690 if anyone wants to try to contact.

13
Dominion Articles / Request: Rabble
« on: June 15, 2012, 10:39:51 pm »
It's pretty simple, I would love to learn about how to use this card properly. In my mind, it is almost always not going to be effective enough to justify purchasing more than one (the only way it is truly effective). Having said that, it sucks to be consistently drawing 2 or so Victory cards.

I just question that it's that good of a card, especially when comparing against Margrave, Torturer, or Ghost Ship.

14
Dominion General Discussion / Dominion-Inspired Art
« on: June 06, 2012, 03:59:58 pm »
Sometimes you fall in love with a board game. Other times, you are lucky enough to take a Ceramics & Sculpture class with a teacher who allows you to pursue individual projects. When these two "sometimes" intersect, you get the following:

The plan was to make one for each expansion, and even the Promos if I was feeling ambitious. Clearly I wasn't, seeing as this is the only plate I got around to doing.

15
Council Room Feedback / Merging Council Room Accounts
« on: May 24, 2012, 09:35:25 pm »
So I was wondering if rrenaud or anyone else could implement a feature on Council Room to allow you to merge accounts. To prevent abuse, maybe this could be limited to games from the same log-in, but with different names.
For example, you may have seen me as Young Nick, Tha Trillest Young Nick, The Real ~~**Young Nick**~~, or any number of other stupid things. It adds some flavor to the game to switch up names for a week or two, I guess.

Having said that, it is painful to look up my stats and see numbers based on only 20 games played with an account when it is really the same good ol' Young Nick that y'all have come to know and love. If I could combine these together, that'd be cool.

So yeah, I'd like to see that. Maybe it's impossible, but also maybe it is super easy. Maybe this will inspire more goofy name changes.

Also worth noting: It might be strategic for people to change their names on a regular basis so that their opposition will not know who they are/remember their play styles. It probably has no result, but, hey, I'll do whatever I can to win!

16
Simulation / Cache as an Opener
« on: April 18, 2012, 01:44:17 pm »
Could someone kindly run a quick simulation to see exactly how much Cache/- (or with any $2, like Embargo, for that matter) sucks as an opener. I imagine it would be pretty poor, seeing as opening Cache/-  gives you $12/13 cards, which is definitely worse than Silver/Silver. There was some discussion in the "Cache Use" thread, but without any numbers, I don't know what to think. Obviously, the game is more important than turns 3 and 4, but I am curious, nonetheless.
Related thread: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=2186.25

Also, I am sure the associated combinatorics aren't too difficult for someone to do without simulating, but I am no good at that. Beyond the fact that there are 13!/9!3! different ways to arrange your newly shuffled deck, I am unsure.

While on the topic of asking for simulations, would anyone be willing to do the Potion/Silver vs. Potion/Warehouse for me? I already asked in this thread: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=2271.new#new

Thanks a bunch in advance!

17
Help! / How Would You Play This Attack-Ridden Board?
« on: April 15, 2012, 06:55:09 pm »
In the following game, I played against Rabid. The notable Actions were University, Apprentice, Counting House, Jester, Mountebank, Stables, Sea Hag, and Moneylender. To confound things further, Platinum and Colonies were in play.

At first glance, a lot of stuff seemed to have counters. Rabid and I each settled on Potion/Silver and I seemed to get ahead with University purchases on turns 4 and 5. From there, I picked up 2 Mountebanks. Later, I picked up Stables, Apprentices, and Jesters for the +cards, trimming, and virtual money, respectively. Rabid, on the other hand, went for a lone Sea Hag and used his Universities to pick up Stables and Counting Houses for the most part. I feel like my strategy was better than his, and I ultimately pulled out the W by draining Curses, Stables, and Apprentices with a one Colony advantage.

My question to the readers are, How would you have played this? I feel that my strategy was superior to Rabid's, but doubt that either of us were correct. Comments from all levels included.

Log: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201204/15/game-20120415-154707-f95dc5b2.html

18
Rules Questions / From BGG: Identifying rules-bending combos
« on: March 08, 2012, 01:24:32 pm »
A BGG frequenter (who play tests Dominion if I remember correctly) has asked for rules-bending combos. Y'all should feel free to check it out. A) It might help play testing. B) It's nice to help a fellow out. C) It would be nice to have a running list of the most confusing Dominion interactions, maybe a feature on Dominionstrategy.com. Here's the link:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/775400/identifying-rules-bending-combos

19
Help! / Winning Without Touching Gardens/Workshop
« on: March 01, 2012, 11:42:36 pm »
I see Monument on the board and no crazy engine. With my $4...I buy Monument assuming a boring BMU+2Monument sort of game. My opponent Mic Qsenoch plays $4 and opens Workshop.

My first thought? What a fool, why would you ever open Workshop. Then I see Gardens. I'm not one to quit out prematurely, but well, this one is a forgone conclusion, is it not?

Apparently not as I keep to my strategy, snag 3 Workshops and 3 Provinces and relatively coast to a surprising victory. With Islands in play, the game ends on piles with Gardens, Islands and Estates.

My question is, How bad was my strategy? Could opening something like that perform reasonably? Did my opponent play sub-optimally? Basically, how did I win, especially so comfortably? Log: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201203/01/game-20120301-203623-ab200393.html

Edit: Formatting and grammar.

20
Dominion Articles / Combo: Scheme/Trading Post
« on: January 11, 2012, 06:42:02 pm »
I just had a game (link included below) that featured Scheme and Trading Post. Laboratory helped move things along (when does it not?), but I felt like the core aspect of Trading Post and Scheme was fast enough in its own. Basically, the goal is to grab a Trading Post ASAP, even if it is after the first reshuffle. Grab schemes when you can and then proceed to playing Trading Post every turn, turning your deck into a bunch of Silver. The Laboratories helped make sure I had at least 4 Silver in hand, but felt unnecessary. Once the Coppers and Estates are cleared, any terminal Silver could be used so that it can be top-decked every turn. This game saw me grab 6 provinces in 16 turns. Additionally, the opening didn't go as planned - I opened with a Nomad Camp to try to get an early Trading Post, but failed to reach $5. If I had just opened Silver/Silver or Silver/Scheme, I probably would have been faster.

I have never done a combo or game log thread, so cut me some slack. Maybe it isn't as fast as I would imagine.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/11/game-20120111-153342-8de769c3.html

21
Puzzles and Challenges / Turn 2 Gold
« on: October 19, 2011, 07:59:05 pm »
As inspired from a thread at BGG (linked in the spoiler below), I would like to post a solution for all: In a standard two player game, how is it possible to get a turn 2 Gold?

If you know the answer because of the BGG thread, please don't ruin it for others!

Link: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/713360/turn-2-gold
Hint: Turn order matters.

Edit: Changed the color of the font for the link to spoiler thread.

22
Dominion General Discussion / The Purpose of Thief
« on: October 17, 2011, 09:28:56 pm »
In Donald's revealing of the spoiler cards, he mentions that Thief's purpose is not only to steal Silver and Gold from opponents. More than one person on BGG called him out on it, saying that if that is not the purpose, what is? I am equally confused, especially when Donald replied to that with: "Why would I ever buy a Chapel in a game without Witch, that's what I want to know." This thread is for the answering of that specific question.

The only thing I can come up with is if one were to try to make an engine that played multiple Thieves a turn to lock opponents out of treasure.

Editor's note: added link to Donald's post

23
Puzzles and Challenges / Reduce Opponents to 0-card Hands
« on: June 21, 2011, 11:59:00 am »
What type of deck must you build such that you can ensure your opponent continually has to play hands with 0 cards despite having 5 or more cards in his or her deck? That is to say, even though your opponent has purchased cards, they never play a hand with more than 0 cards.

Hint: It requires your opponent to draw an unusual hand to initiate the lockdown.
Bigger Hint: Your opponent must draw a 5 VP hand to start the combo.

Remember to not post correct answers in full size font, it ruins the puzzle for other people reading the comments.

PS: I began to discuss this in another topic that I posted in. Do not use that to cheat!

24
I had an Isotropic game today where I ruthlessly deployed the following strategy: Trim my deck to King's Court, King's Court, Bishop, Ghost Ship, Fodder $2/$3 Card. I then would go KC -> KC -> Ghost Ship -> Bishop (Trash fodder). This netted me 4 VPs per turn while my opponent was all but pinned. Later, I left this strategy to get a single Bureaucrat. I then would do the same thing, but play the Bureaucrat before the Ghost Ship, draw the 3 silver via the Ghost Ship and trash them all with Bishop. If I had realized this earlier, I could have pinned my opponent with 0-card hands if they had it. They draw 5 VP cards, they return 3 to the top of their deck from Bureaucrat and 2 from Ghost Ship. This never happened, but the game was still brutal. Credit to Honky for going the full 39 turns with me. The log is linked below, the chaos starts at 18 (4 cards combo) and 31 (5 card combo).
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201106/21/game-20110621-084051-ae92ecc7.html

Edit: The 0-card hand pin wouldn't work because I must play the Bureaucrat before the Ghost Ship. I imagine there is a way to get it to work, but I can't think of it now. Maybe a Dominion Strategy puzzle?

Pages: [1]

Page created in 0.051 seconds with 17 queries.