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101
Help! / Hunting Party tactics problems
« on: April 18, 2015, 03:15:52 am »


Code: [Select]
Apothecary, Develop, Sage, Watchtower, Gardens, Monument, Nomad Camp, Hunting Party, Library, Soothsayer
I think the basic idea is clear: you want to get as many hunting parties as possible so as to play soothsayer as often as possible. Beyond that, I didn't know what I was doing.

1) do you want a develop to deal with the curses?

2) drawing develop with a curse or an estate, should you develop the curse or the estate? (my instinct was that I should get the 3 estates out of my deck first, but by the time I did that, it was so late in the game that it was almost time to start buying estates.)

3) if you draw develop and soothsayer together, at what point do you want to stop playing the soothsayer and develop it into, say, gold gardens or gold nomad camp instead?

log here:
http://www.gokosalvager.com/static/logprettifier.html?20150418/log.548965cbe4b0aae55522735d.1429340746597.txt

102
General Discussion / reality tv
« on: March 31, 2015, 12:28:34 pm »
is anyone else into reality tv? specifically Hoarders or Intervention?

103
This discussion is currently half-happening in the Adventures Preview thread but it might be more useful to separate it from that.

My general thought is: discard attacks make cantrips significantly worse, where significantly is vague but means something like "don't let it stop you from buying baker over silver, but let it stop you from buying pearl diver over nothing." However, it seems lots of people disagree. People who disagree: do you think there's a fallacy in the reasoning below, or am I just overestimating the impacts?

The argument is that the information of knowing what card the cantrip "would draw if you chose not to discard it" [which you trivially get by not buying the cantrip in the first place] is often more valuable than whatever the cantrip is doing for you.

You can construct lots of example scenarios, but just for one,

GreatHall NativeVillage Silver Silver Estate

If the top card is a smithy, you'd prefer to drop a silver. If it's a copper, you'd prefer to drop the native village. If it's another native village that you might draw with my Smithy next turn, you'd prefer to drop the great hall.

In all of these cases, just "not having that great hall in my deck so that I have a 100% chance instead of a 40ish% chance of guessing right" is probably worth more than 1VP at the end of the game.

104
Dominion General Discussion / looking for old video
« on: March 21, 2015, 07:23:02 am »
there is an old video -- robz vs. wanderingwinder... featuring king's court and wharf and an unexpected turn of events. Does anyone know where to find it ? I think it's isotropic era.

105
Dominion FAQ / looking for old video
« on: March 21, 2015, 07:22:33 am »
there is an old video -- robz vs. wanderingwinder... featuring king's court and wharf and an unexpected turn of events. Does anyone know where to find it ? I think it's isotropic era.

106
When I play innovation on isotropic from my apartment (I have a fast connection but it's via a SIM card hotspot and not a modem), I constantly get the "you've reconnected from another browser window" error. Eventually, the game loses patience and kicks me off for taking too many refreshes.

This never happens when I play from a WiFi connection. I also remember this happening when I used to play isotropic Dominion on my smartphone. Does anyone else have this or am I insane?

107
Variants and Fan Cards / crazy nerf
« on: March 08, 2015, 03:11:49 pm »
Change the cultist on trash line to:
When you trash this, discard down to three cards in hand.

108
Game Reports / wait, what are they doing?
« on: March 07, 2015, 11:59:31 am »
my opponent wins on turn 6. by the time anything makes sense it is way too late.

http://logs.prod.dominion.makingfun.com//20150307/log.50e86751e4b0d990e88ce76f.1425747511205.txt

109
Dominion General Discussion / small but useful tactics tips
« on: March 07, 2015, 09:13:57 am »
it's been a while since we've had one of these threads.

If you're using count to trash your hand early, and you draw a fistful of junk, gain a copper rather than topdecking a copper.

110
Variants and Fan Cards / crazy buff
« on: March 07, 2015, 04:11:49 am »
what if transmute gave a province for trashing an action instead of a duchy

111
Dominion General Discussion / farmlanding a nobles into a province
« on: March 03, 2015, 06:42:41 pm »
not such a good move.

exceptions?

113
Dominion General Discussion / taxman
« on: February 12, 2015, 03:05:06 pm »
it's just the best when you taxman a silver and it works

114
Game Reports / a 3 card combo
« on: February 10, 2015, 12:38:04 pm »

115
Warning: this article is for beginning-to-intermediate Dominion players and has nothing new to offer you if you've been around the block a few times. I wrote it because I've noticed some newer folks on Goko don't have the knack of it quite yet.


We've all been there: you're all set up for a megaturn. You've trashed, you've got a good village/smithy engine going; you have +buy, cost reduction, but then, eh, you could use a little more. Your deck is set up to buy a province and a gold -- but with a few more bridges it might reliably triple province. So you use one more turn to buy a couple bridges. Wait, uh... that means there's only one bridge left. But as your opponent's turn starts, you notice there's also only one smithy and two villages. OK, that's fine... hopefully your opponent won't be able to buy them all, and ... uh-oh, that's the third bridge he's played... so 4 buys, well ok, but he can't buy them all and still buy points.... did he trash all his est---

How do you avoid this embarrassing loss, or, better, how do you make it happen to somebody else instead?

The obvious answer is, of course, you should be paying more attention to the piles. Fine, but why do good players seem to be able to pull a three-pile out of thin air?

This article is about tips in this direction.

1. It's not enough to know your own deck. You also have to know your opponent's. How many extra buys does she have? Whatever that number is, if she has plentiful money and you don't have points, you must leave at least two extra cards on the board. If you can't, you're unsafe (see tip 2 for what to do when unsafe). Does she have dangerous gainers, especially trash-for-benefit style gainers like Forge or Expand ? You often have to calculate these things carefully.

2. If you're unsafe, then sometimes you have to buy a province, even when your engine is incomplete. There's no hamlets left, only two grand markets and 3 smithies? It's tempting, with 12, to get those last two grand markets, but then your opponent only needs to snatch up three smithies and an estate for the win. Instead, you have to get a province, then maybe get a smithy and hope your opponent foolishly empties the grand market pile next turn instead of tying the score with you. This is game-theoretically very similar to the [often misquoted] "penultimate province rule" and similar exceptions apply.

The most important exception: if you're screwed (e.g. imagine your opponent has several highways and ALL the other grand markets, so she'd likely be able to get all these piles next turn and still enough green to beat you, and, even if not, she'll have a multi-province turn and your deck is set up for at most one a turn). In this case, you can go ahead and empty that grand market pile, not because it's likely a winning strategy, but for the 10% of the time that your opponent will have a dud turn next turn and you'll be able to sneak out a cheap win.

3. You should play an engine, if things are close, especially with 3+ players. If you aren't reliably playing +buy cards or gainers,  you won't be able to control the ending of the game. A card like University is often a trap, and it's difficult to know when to go for it. As a tiebreaker, if a three-pile looks possible, you're going to be the one who has control over whether it happens or not, and University is great for that. Again, this is a tiebreaker. If there's no card draw, then it's probably just not an engine board. University is still a trap, and it doesn't matter if you have the ability to cause a three-pile ending if you won't be ahead when that ending happens.

4. You shouldn't try to three-pile in more than one turn if you are winning, assuming the reason you are winning is because you currently have a better deck than your opponent. This is a tempting and common mistake. You have 9 and four buys and are a couple provinces ahead. Hamlets and wharves are gone, and you played a wharf this turn, so next turn is probably going to be pretty good. You plan to buy four duchesses, then get the last three hopefully next turn -- even if not, you're way ahead, right? Usually, this is right. The problem is that, when you have terrible luck and wind up with 6 with 2 buys next turn, right after your opponent improbably has a starting hand with her ONLY two villages and wharves and double provinces, you will lose some games you didn't have to. (Worse -- after your opponent gets lucky and ties it up, you've sabotaged your deck with Duchesses -- so that now it's you that has to get lucky to have a chance of winning.) If your deck is better and you're in ahead on the province-buying phase, just keep buying green.

This rule is only if "you are winning because you have a better deck than your opponent." Sometimes, you are winning because your deck got set up faster than your opponent's, but your deck isn't better anymore. If you're drowning in green while he's bishopping golds, but you're still 20 points ahead, then by all means try to three-pile on cheap junk over the course of a few turns.

5. Just because two piles are empty doesn't mean a third will empty any time soon. The curses are gone in a witch game, and the two of you couldn't resist the temptation to empty the menagerie pile together during the sloggy mid-game instead of just buying silver like a decent person would. Are we in crisis mode? No. Don't be a bot. It depends on the other piles. If you think reaching 8 in the next century is hopeless, you might try for duchies, but if your opponent trashes curses slowly and doesn't help you empty the duchy pile, you may find yourself in a one-way slog.

6. Don't forget curses, estates, and ruins. With a bunch of +buy, you can empty these piles quickly. Estates are particularly nice in games with lots of +buy and money floating around, because emptying the estate pile and ending the game will cause you a win even if your opponent has a province and you don't. Of course, you lose a point per curse you buy.

7. You should know the specific cards that are often cause the game to end in three-piling. It would take too much space to list them all, but some of the most dangerous are here. In general, cheap cards that have little risk of hurting your deck are highly associated with three-piles, especially those with +buy on them. Cursers and Looters cause 3-piles because the curses or ruins are gone. In addition to these general principles, pay special attention to:

Stonemason: This is the worst, for a few separate reasons; first, it forces you to recalculate how many buys it takes to empty the pile for all piles, not just the stonemason pile itself. Speaking of the stonemason pile, 4 coin and 1 buy takes 3 stonemasons away from the stonemason pile. Also, if there are already stonemasons in your opponent's deck, he may be able to stonemason e.g. a gold into two farming villages.

Grand Market: Often players fight over the grand market deck until it is empty. This creates an unstable situation where a three-pile is highly likely. Even if you evenly split them, five grand markets and a little external source of buy and money is often enough to empty the estate pile, which results in a win even if the opponent already has a province.

Gainers and remodel variants: This is obvious, but don't forget to count these in with your opponent's +buys.

Hamlet: Everyone loves these things, they're cheap, and they give you the +buy you need to get lots of them. They almost invariably empty. Similarly for Fishing Village, which doesn't have a +buy but still usually finds itself getting emptied.

Bridge: This is especially true with more than two players. Not only is bridge itself popular, but it encourages more buying of cheap cantrips in the early game.

City: Again, this one's worse in multiplayer. Once two piles are empty, cities don't just get crazy good. They also get crazy good at helping you three-pile. And whoever's buying the cities is going to be making sure piles are getting empty.

Ill-Gotten Gains: Emptying the Ill-Gotten Gains pile empties two piles at once, putting the game in an immediate sort of overtime phase. These merit their own strategy article, which, fortunately, they have!

116
it's a weird phenomenon. it's happened to me 3 or 4 times, always when i join a game, think it's not going to start, and leave it for another game; then goko lets both players start. the screen toggles back and forth, but one game is dominant and the other player just is presumably getting frustrated till i am autobooted.

117
Game Reports / Butcher is really good!
« on: February 07, 2015, 07:17:16 am »
I got my fifth province on turn 11 in this game with no buy, thanks to Butcher and Peddler.

http://logs.prod.dominion.makingfun.com//20150207/log.505d9a600cf2ef979299a4e0.1423311351000.txt

118
Dominion Articles / request: algorithm for rebuild/duke
« on: November 22, 2014, 10:42:11 pm »
Suppose I am uncreative and only play Dominion to win, late at night, when there isn't an ounce of soul left in my body but only the bleeding tiredness and the dryness, the Dominion because it is there, because it is something in a universe of nothing.

Um, anyway, how do I play rebuild when Duke is on the board? I keep getting really confused. I think there's some math involved.

119
Game Reports / adventurer board!
« on: October 24, 2014, 08:04:50 am »


Code: [Select]
Squire, Doctor, Hermit, Bishop, Bureaucrat, Contraband, Festival, Junk Dealer, Soothsayer, Adventurer

This board has everything adventurer needs: colonies, good copper trashing, and no alternative draw/big payload. I think it's close to a must-buy. But I could be wrong, since Madman can provide draw too. What do yall think?

http://logs.prod.dominion.makingfun.com//20141024/log.50ae3f02e4b0258f50b26079.1414151697612.txt

120
Dominion Articles / Top 3 cards beginning with the letter U
« on: October 21, 2014, 09:40:05 am »
3. University: (Alchemy, 2P): A fine card in its own right, this can be a trap, especially in decks with poor draw. It does, however, combo well with other cards starting with U, in that it allows you to gain free Upgrades. Being the only card starting with U that costs a potion, however, hurts University somewhat.

2. Urchin: (Dark Ages, 3): Urchin is difficult to rank, being the Peddler of cards starting with U. Indeed, just as you'd never pay 8 for Peddler, you'd never buy Urchin if you were trying to build a U-deck; rather, you buy Urchin to gain the powerful Mercenary, which starts with an M. Still, you can rarely ignore it, which merits its placing above University.
            
1. Upgrade: (Intrigue, 5): What can we say about this ancient card that was criminally underrated for so long that has not been said? If you're just using it for a copper trasher, watch out -- it may be too slow. A pro-tip: sometimes you have to stop buying upgrades and telling yourself you'll make them into golds on the next shuffle. Sometimes the time for gold is now.


121
Game Reports / yay for misfits
« on: October 09, 2014, 12:58:18 pm »


Code: [Select]
Embargo, Fishing Village, Great Hall, Smugglers, Village, Philosopher's Stone, Coppersmith, Spice Merchant, Band of Misfits, Possession

I enjoyed this board -- it's not often that Band of Misfits gets to be more than a novelty, but here, with nothing else competing at 5, and lots of highly situational <5's like Smugglers and Spice Merchant (and even coppersmith!), it was fantastic.

log: http://logs.prod.dominion.makingfun.com//20141009/log.516dfad2e4b082c74d7cf258.1412873609873.txt

122
Game Reports / i get destroyed by some unusual cards
« on: October 06, 2014, 03:47:41 pm »
Supply cards: Transmute, Hamlet, Feodum, Herald, Spy, Thief, Catacombs, Counterfeit, Border Village, Hunting Grounds, Copper, Silver, Gold, Estate, Duchy, Province, Curse, Potion

not much going on here. i split 5/2 so feeling good. After a while, silverspawn buys a thief. well, that's actually a kind of good move, because i've overtrashed my treasures. ok, i'll reciprocate. Well, he has the bigger engine, but i can pick up two provinces. then, after my thief gets a little luckier than his 4 thieves combined, i'm feeling safe. To be sure the 4-thief onslaught doesn't let him catch up, i destroy the treasure out of my deck. now both of us have to buy coppers... and ok, he has the bigger engine, but there's no way to quickly generate treasure on this board, right? right? uh-oh...

http://logs.prod.dominion.makingfun.com//20141006/log.5182cd42e4b05e4ebc88aeed.1412624679756.txt


123
Goko Dominion Online / stuck in two games at once?
« on: September 27, 2014, 11:02:16 am »
Has anyone ever had this happen? It is very odd.

Basically, join a game -- then, "at the same time" the other person hits start, join another game (did this by accident). You will enter both games. Cards from both flash back and forth, with one game (not sure which) "dominant" but accompanied by annoying flashing from the other game.

Eventually I resigned the dominant, hoping I would get stuck in the other, but instead, the lobby became the "dominant game" and the other persisted with its flickering. Eventually I was timed out of the other. Sorry for whoever the opponent was, who was "slowplayed from turn one" apparently. Also sorry I lost two games!

124
Game Reports / bunch of terminals, which one to go for?
« on: September 26, 2014, 01:24:17 pm »
Board:
 Steward, Trade Route, Horse Traders, Ghost Ship, Horn of Plenty, Margrave, Merchant Ship, Mountebank, Soothsayer, Witch

I had a good game just now. We ended up playing a mirror match in which I was luckier, but I doubt that our strategies were correct (we both opened horse traders/steward which can't be right with all the power 5s and no villages in sight). 

Anyway, the real question (I think) was which 5 dollar curser to buy -- Mountebank, Soothsayer, and Witch were available. I didn't know how to resolve this -- in a straight-up big money game, as this one more or less has to be, I prefer Witch to Mountebank. Soothsayer is still new (to me) and it seemed better than witch since I would be inevitably thinning out coppers with Steward. As I said, we both went in this direction. Any thoughts?

http://logs.prod.dominion.makingfun.com//20140926/log.5160dac4e4b05d3fb42496d8.1411751987979.txt

125
Goko Dominion Online / ugh the slowplay
« on: September 14, 2014, 02:44:22 pm »
I just logged onto Goko and was stoked about how much faster it is than it was the last time I played a few games. Unfortunately, my opponent is slowplaying (I guess to get me to resign?). Is there a systematic way to deal with this? (I don't have the extension because I don't use chrome).

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