501
Dominion League / Re: Season 13 - Results
« on: March 07, 2016, 10:30:30 pm »
D2:
aku chi 3 : 3 MtMagus
aku chi 3 : 3 MtMagus
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502
Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Events: Mission
« on: March 04, 2016, 10:37:10 am »
Like the Travellers, Urchin and Hermit can benefit from Mission turns. With Urchin, you just want to get to Mercenary ASAP. With Hermit, a Mission turn is a perfect opportunity to get a Madman and gain a 3-cost card.
It can feel like cheating when Mission is on the same board as Ball, Seaway, Summon, or Alms (and there are 4- cost cards worth grabbing).
I believe Mission is a pretty high-skill event. It rewards deck-tracking and accurately evaluating the value of buying a card vs. other stuff.
It can feel like cheating when Mission is on the same board as Ball, Seaway, Summon, or Alms (and there are 4- cost cards worth grabbing).
I believe Mission is a pretty high-skill event. It rewards deck-tracking and accurately evaluating the value of buying a card vs. other stuff.
503
Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Magpie
« on: March 01, 2016, 02:05:27 pm »
Because Magpie gains copies of itself, it does really well with the +bonus tokens and trash for benefit. Magpie also benefits from deep topdeck inspection/arrangement (e.g. Cartographer, Apothecary, Secret Chamber Reaction, Opponents' Ghost Ship) and treasure discarding with overdraw (e.g. Stables, Plaza).
Putting those factors aside aside, how valuable it is depends on how many additional copies it gains, your deck's treasure density, and your deck's average treasure value.
Inputs:
M - Number of additional Magpies gained.
D - Density of treasure cards in deck (number of treasure cards / number of total cards).
T - Average value of all treasures in deck (e.g. 7 coppers, 4 Silvers, 1 Gold : T = 18 / 12 = 1.5).
Outputs:
N - Expected number of cards drawn by Magpie (and the Magpies it gained) in one trip through your deck.
V - Expected monetary value gained by Magpie (and the Magpies it gained) in one trip through your deck.
N = (1 + M) * D
V = N * T
Examples:
Low-Treasure Deck
M = 4
D = 0.2
T = 2.5
---
N = 1
V = 2.5
---
A single purchased Magpie that gained four additional copies of itself in a deck with a treasure density of 0.2 and an average treasure value of 2.5 would be expected to draw one treasure with an expected value of 2.5.
Moderate-Treasure Deck
M = 3
D = 0.5
T = 2
---
N = 2
V = 4
---
A single purchased Magpie that gained three additional copies of itself in a deck with a treasure density of 0.5 and an average treasure value of 2 would be expected to draw two treasures with an expected value of 4.
Conclusion:
Even in a deck with a low treasure density, Magpie can be valuable if uncontested. If both players realize this, they will contest Magpie, at which point it won't be super valuable (excepting tokens and trash-for-benefit). In a mixed action/treasure engine, Magpie is very valuable. Strong silver gainers (Jack of All Trades, Amulet), gold gainers (Governor, Hero), and kingdom treasures (Counterfeit, Treasure Trove, Relic, Bank) encourage such decks.
Putting those factors aside aside, how valuable it is depends on how many additional copies it gains, your deck's treasure density, and your deck's average treasure value.
Inputs:
M - Number of additional Magpies gained.
D - Density of treasure cards in deck (number of treasure cards / number of total cards).
T - Average value of all treasures in deck (e.g. 7 coppers, 4 Silvers, 1 Gold : T = 18 / 12 = 1.5).
Outputs:
N - Expected number of cards drawn by Magpie (and the Magpies it gained) in one trip through your deck.
V - Expected monetary value gained by Magpie (and the Magpies it gained) in one trip through your deck.
N = (1 + M) * D
V = N * T
Examples:
Low-Treasure Deck
M = 4
D = 0.2
T = 2.5
---
N = 1
V = 2.5
---
A single purchased Magpie that gained four additional copies of itself in a deck with a treasure density of 0.2 and an average treasure value of 2.5 would be expected to draw one treasure with an expected value of 2.5.
Moderate-Treasure Deck
M = 3
D = 0.5
T = 2
---
N = 2
V = 4
---
A single purchased Magpie that gained three additional copies of itself in a deck with a treasure density of 0.5 and an average treasure value of 2 would be expected to draw two treasures with an expected value of 4.
Conclusion:
Even in a deck with a low treasure density, Magpie can be valuable if uncontested. If both players realize this, they will contest Magpie, at which point it won't be super valuable (excepting tokens and trash-for-benefit). In a mixed action/treasure engine, Magpie is very valuable. Strong silver gainers (Jack of All Trades, Amulet), gold gainers (Governor, Hero), and kingdom treasures (Counterfeit, Treasure Trove, Relic, Bank) encourage such decks.
504
Dominion League / Re: Season 13 - Results
« on: February 29, 2016, 11:46:12 pm »
D2:
aku chi 4.5 : 1.5 microman
aku chi 4.5 : 1.5 microman
505
Dominion League / Re: Season 13 - Results
« on: February 29, 2016, 09:35:21 pm »
D2:
aku chi 3.5 : 2.5 Asher Howarth
aku chi 3.5 : 2.5 Asher Howarth
506
Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Events: Lost Arts
« on: February 28, 2016, 03:02:30 pm »My guess is that on most random boards this will be the most useful token event. There are definitely boards in which the +1 card or +1 buy may be more valuable, but I feel this is much less common than the amazing utility of making a terminal action non-terminal.I disagree. Lost Arts is only bonkers in the presence of terminal draw. Terminal draw is present in 50-70% of kingdoms, depending on how far you want to stretch the category (is Witch terminal draw? Is Watchtower?). In the remaining kingdoms, ~70% have action splitters. There probably exist some boards with villages but without terminal draw where it is worth it to get Lost Arts (Stables + Bridge, for example), but I think these are in the minority. While Lost Arts is usually a must-buy in the presence of terminal draw, this isn't always the case. I recently played an game with Lost Arts, Nobles, and Fishing Village. One of my opponents got Lost Arts on Nobles, but the rest of us got Fishing Villages and Nobles and skipped Lost Arts. Neither approach dominated the other.
On the other hand, Pathfinding is good on almost every board: it turns any cantrip+ into a Lab+. ~25% of all kingdom cards are cantrip+, so there is almost always at least one in the kingdom. Indeed, there is usually more than one cantrip worth buying; so it's more likely that you (and your opponent) can acquire more than 5 copies of your Pathfinding target. 8 coins is much harder to spike, but it is trivial to add cantrips to your deck while you build up to 8 coins. Then, you spike 8 midgame and immediately increase your deck's nonterminal draw by 5+ cards. There are some boards where Pathfinding might not be worth it: VP rushes and some slogs, but it is worth a purchase more often than Lost Arts, IMO.
I think Lost Arts is the better card, though, because of how game-warping it can be with cards like Ranger, Smithy, Margrave, and Torturer.
507
Dominion Articles / Re: Wandering Winder's new Gardens article
« on: February 24, 2016, 09:20:11 am »
I recently played a league game where I rushed Gardens with Candlestick Maker: http://gokosalvager.com/static/logprettifier.html?http://dominion-game-logs.s3.amazonaws.com/game_logs/20160219/log.0.1455849542454.txt.
The only cards I purchased were Monument, Candlestick Maker, Gardens, Copper, and Estates. I won on turn 16. Candlestick Maker, Gardens, and Estates were empty. I deemed that the rest of the board was pretty weak. My opponent decided to build up some with Salvager, but ended up contesting me a little on Gardens.
When evaluating Candlestick Maker as a Gardens enabler, I think it's important to recognize that you have room for 2-4 terminals in your deck, and there is almost always a 3-4 cost card that provides $2 and some benefit that is worth picking up. Monument is hardly the best card in a Gardens rush, but it was enough to keep my economy solid and grab a few extra VP.
The only cards I purchased were Monument, Candlestick Maker, Gardens, Copper, and Estates. I won on turn 16. Candlestick Maker, Gardens, and Estates were empty. I deemed that the rest of the board was pretty weak. My opponent decided to build up some with Salvager, but ended up contesting me a little on Gardens.
When evaluating Candlestick Maker as a Gardens enabler, I think it's important to recognize that you have room for 2-4 terminals in your deck, and there is almost always a 3-4 cost card that provides $2 and some benefit that is worth picking up. Monument is hardly the best card in a Gardens rush, but it was enough to keep my economy solid and grab a few extra VP.
508
Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures EVENTS: BALL
« on: February 19, 2016, 12:05:53 pm »Ball's gaining isn't conditional on taking the -$1 token, so you can buy multiple Balls on the same turn without taking the -$1 token after the first purchase of the event.Oh, yeah. I forgot about this (even though I used it recently). When Ball is good, a double Ball with 10 coins and an extra buy is really good. I think I picked up four Advisors with this in a recent game to win the split.
509
Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures EVENTS: BALL
« on: February 19, 2016, 11:53:25 am »
Ball is better than I initially gave it credit for. Ball is best used to gain 4-cost engine pieces that you want in the midgame, like Throne Room, Conspirator, Procession, Herald, and Advisor. Of course, Ball is more valuable if there is no other way to gain multiple cards per turn. It is a useless event on a sizable fraction of boards, though.
510
Dominion League / Re: Season 13 - Results
« on: February 18, 2016, 10:24:05 pm »
D2
aku chi 3:3 amoffett11
aku chi 3:3 amoffett11
511
Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Alms
« on: February 18, 2016, 03:52:48 pm »
Here is some previous discussion of Alms in the 2015 Card Rating thread.
My thoughts reposted:
Alms usually has a pretty big impact on the optimal deck-building strategy. It might be my favorite event.
My thoughts reposted:
Here is why I think [Alms is] one of the cards with the highest impact:
- Alms dramatically changes opening buy/gains.
- Alms makes heavy trashing less costly.
- Alms makes early gainers more valuable.
- Alms makes early coin less valuable.
- Alms makes virtual money decks with +buy more viable.
- Alms reduces the effectiveness of early attacks like Militia and Cutpurse by providing a floor on the worst possible hand.
- Alms smooths out bad hands early due to shuffle luck.
- If you use Alms, you don't play any of your treasures, so you deny information to your opponent(s).
Alms usually has a pretty big impact on the optimal deck-building strategy. It might be my favorite event.
512
Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Ferry
« on: February 17, 2016, 06:44:28 pm »
Ferry is fantastic.
I can imagine a board where it doesn't make sense to open Ferry on 3/4 (no +buy, no 5+ cost cards worth having in bulk), but I've never played such a board (I've probably played with Ferry ~10 times). There are a few cards that make Ferry especially bonkers: Stonemason, Goons, and Grand Market come to mind. The interaction with Goons is a little unfortunate; a player who opens 3/4 (as opposed to 4/3) has a significant advantage.
I expect that Ferry + Workshop can be a trap sometimes. Suppose there's a board where Margrave is the only source of draw (and there are other components to make an engine). I would definitely prefer to open Ferry + Margrave over even Ferry + Ironworks. The early Margrave can help you spike a double Margrave turn almost as much as Ironworks, it cycles you faster, and it attacks. On the other hand, Ferry + Grand Market is greatly aided by a Workshop-style gainer. Then there are a bunch of cases that are less clear.
Moving your Ferry later (after the first pile is empty) is often correct, I'd say; especially in the presence of +buy. It only takes two purchases of the new card before you've made your money back (and more).
Ferry is super powerful, but it doesn't do anything by itself. Like Chapel and King's Court, it empowers the other cards in the kingdom. The only time I've been sad that Ferry is in the kingdom is when it further powered a game-warping card (e.g. Rebuild, Cultist).
Aside: I guess I'll have to create the thread for Alms later this week, lest everybody forget it and the three other skipped events.
I can imagine a board where it doesn't make sense to open Ferry on 3/4 (no +buy, no 5+ cost cards worth having in bulk), but I've never played such a board (I've probably played with Ferry ~10 times). There are a few cards that make Ferry especially bonkers: Stonemason, Goons, and Grand Market come to mind. The interaction with Goons is a little unfortunate; a player who opens 3/4 (as opposed to 4/3) has a significant advantage.
I expect that Ferry + Workshop can be a trap sometimes. Suppose there's a board where Margrave is the only source of draw (and there are other components to make an engine). I would definitely prefer to open Ferry + Margrave over even Ferry + Ironworks. The early Margrave can help you spike a double Margrave turn almost as much as Ironworks, it cycles you faster, and it attacks. On the other hand, Ferry + Grand Market is greatly aided by a Workshop-style gainer. Then there are a bunch of cases that are less clear.
Moving your Ferry later (after the first pile is empty) is often correct, I'd say; especially in the presence of +buy. It only takes two purchases of the new card before you've made your money back (and more).
Ferry is super powerful, but it doesn't do anything by itself. Like Chapel and King's Court, it empowers the other cards in the kingdom. The only time I've been sad that Ferry is in the kingdom is when it further powered a game-warping card (e.g. Rebuild, Cultist).
Aside: I guess I'll have to create the thread for Alms later this week, lest everybody forget it and the three other skipped events.
513
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Neat and potentially useful card interactions
« on: February 15, 2016, 09:01:08 am »
Urchin/Mercenary + Save
Open Urchin/Urchin. If you only see one Urchin on turn 3, save it for a very good chance of having a Mercenary in your second reshuffle. With Save, it shouldn't be necessary to get a third Urchin. Save also helps pair your second Urchin with Mercenary, and your junk with Mercenary. Unfortunately, Save doesn't play nicely with your opponents' discard attacks.
Open Urchin/Urchin. If you only see one Urchin on turn 3, save it for a very good chance of having a Mercenary in your second reshuffle. With Save, it shouldn't be necessary to get a third Urchin. Save also helps pair your second Urchin with Mercenary, and your junk with Mercenary. Unfortunately, Save doesn't play nicely with your opponents' discard attacks.
514
Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Expedition
« on: February 11, 2016, 10:18:44 pm »
It should be noted that Expedition draws cards immediately, and is therefore significantly less valuable in the presence of discard-to-X style attacks. Approximately 22% of kingdoms include at least one of: Minion, Ghost Ship, Militia, Goons, Margrave, or Urchin/Mercenary. An additional ~11% of kingdoms include at least one of: Tournament (Followers), Knights (Sir Michael), Peasant (Soldier), or Taxman.
An aside on procedure: If events were intended to be included in this alphabetical exploration of Adventures cards, the following were skipped: Alms, Ball, Bonfire, and Borrow.
An aside on procedure: If events were intended to be included in this alphabetical exploration of Adventures cards, the following were skipped: Alms, Ball, Bonfire, and Borrow.
515
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Strategy in Base Act 1, Game 7
« on: February 07, 2016, 12:33:10 am »
Village + Council Room + Militia is a powerful combo. Use Villages and Council Rooms to draw your deck and make the opponent discard down to three with Militia. BM strategies really struggle against consistent Militia play. So, I would go for that. Getting an early Council Room is important for the +buy. I would probably open with Council Room / nothing on 5/2, though Festival / Moat seems decent. On 4/3, I would probably go Militia / Silver and aim to pick up a Council Room and Festival or Village on turns 3 + 4. From that point on, aim to keep your villages and terminals (all Council Rooms after the first buy) at approximately even ratios. Favor double Village over Festival. Once you're consistently drawing your deck, you can starting greening and/or increasing purchasing power (Festival is probably better than Gold for this).
516
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Neat and potentially useful card interactions
« on: February 07, 2016, 12:21:14 am »
Transmogrify + Rats
Trash your starting cards (and curses/ruins) with Rats, and turn Rats into 5-cost cards with Transmogrify.
I just played a game with this recently. It's a lot like Upgrade + Rats, but without the pile-emptying degenerate strategies. Transmogrify is a little slower to play, but it puts the 5-cost card right into your 6-card hand. It's especially strong with situational 5-cost cards. This strategy can be a little dangerous with other sources of card draw; you need the Rats to be in your starting hand to trash them. I believe this is one of the most powerful Rat synergies.
Trash your starting cards (and curses/ruins) with Rats, and turn Rats into 5-cost cards with Transmogrify.
I just played a game with this recently. It's a lot like Upgrade + Rats, but without the pile-emptying degenerate strategies. Transmogrify is a little slower to play, but it puts the 5-cost card right into your 6-card hand. It's especially strong with situational 5-cost cards. This strategy can be a little dangerous with other sources of card draw; you need the Rats to be in your starting hand to trash them. I believe this is one of the most powerful Rat synergies.
517
Dominion Articles / Re: Best Traveller Accelerators
« on: February 02, 2016, 11:50:24 pm »From the description of the first game you should have gotten a courtyard to topdeck a unwanted Smithy to almost greater kicking off.That would have been useful. Cartographer and Scavenger were also useful for setting up the next turn post-Champion.
Was there any significant terminals in the second game?Just Stonemason and Butcher, I think. All of the draw was non-terminal. I certainly don't regret skipping Page. There was a great, fast engine without Champion.
If not I doubt you need page.
Hmmmm... You really want to gain golds with governor and play them with storyteller for draw.Yup. And then trash the Golds for more components/Duchies with Stonemason. On the last turn, you can use Governor for draw to save your Golds for Stonemason and Governor remodel. 'twas a fun game.
518
Dominion Articles / Re: Best Traveller Accelerators
« on: February 02, 2016, 10:37:28 pm »I would suggest organizing this a bit differently. Rather than have 6ish categories of cards I'd rank them in tiers of which do the best job in getting you to Champion/Teacher fastest.
Unfortunately, I believe myself to be unqualified to do this. I've played with, at most, half of these cards (with Travellers). Despite playing with Adventures weekly for eight months, I simply haven't played enough. As AdamH might say, this is a Level 1 article. Turning it into a Level 2 article is not possible with my experience. I fear that simulation data won't be very helpful in shedding light on the relative merits of these Traveller accelerators; there is an unconventional goal and non-trivial play decisions. I could make some educated guesses with the data and experience I do have, but I would rather not misrepresent my confidence level.
I hope this article isn't useless though. I know that I learned some things in the process of thinking about this topic (like the effect of a turn 2 Doctor overbuy). It certainly takes less time to read this article than it took to write it, so I figure I can spread some of the low-hanging fruit from the tree of knowledge. And I hope that this triggers some more non-trivial thoughts from other denizens of DominionStrategy. Are there any great Traveller accelerators that I missed? Do you disagree with any of my thoughts on the featured Traveller accelerators? Do you have some data points that highlight how good a particular accelerator is? Or how important or unimportant acceleration is for the Travellers?
Answering my own third question, I recently played two 3-player games with Page.
The first game featured Scavenger, Cartographer, and Raze as accelerators! Smithy was in the kingdom, and villages were not, so Champion was very valuable. There was no +buy, alternate gaining, or attacks (except Warrior), so the engine payload was weak. We all opened with Scavenger and Page. From there, I ended up gaining a Raze, two Cartographers, a Throne Room, and four Smithies. I started on Provinces on turn 10, the same turn I played my Champion (top-decked with Scavenger the previous turn). My chief rival (going second after me) gained a second Scavenger, a Raze, three Cartographers, and two Smithies. He managed to play his Champion on turn 9, but wasn't able to buy a Province that turn (he picked up his second Smithy). My deck missed on turn 12. My opponent's missed on turn 14. I grabbed my fifth (and the last) Province on turn 15 to win the game. Courtyard and Treasure Trove were on the board, and I now regret that I didn't attempt a money strategy with those two cards. I think it stood a chance to beat the Champion engine on that board.
The second game featured Storyteller as the only significant Traveller accelerator. One of my opponents (going first) opened with Plan (on Stonemason) and Stonemason (overbuying by $2 to gain two Pages). I decided not to pursue Page and opened with Salvager and Silver. My second opponent opened with Page and Salvager. My opponents mostly got Storytellers when they could (Caravan or Page when they couldn't), occasionally getting Stonemason + $5 overbuy for Storyteller x2 or Storyteller + Festival, or Storyteller + Butcher. I got myself an even mix of Governors and Storytellers (sometimes with Stonemason overbuys), and Caravans when I missed $5. I always used Governors for the Gold gaining, which slowed my opponents down a little (not a lot, because of their Storytellers). In the end, Stonemason and Governor won it for me, I ended the game on three piles (Storytellers, Stonemasons, and Governors) on turn 11 before either opponent had played their Champions (they both had them in their decks at this point). The most amusing moment of the game occurred on turn 10 when the opponent to my left gained 10 Silvers from his Treasure Hunter. If the opponent to my right also had a Treasure Hunter to play, the Silver pile would have emptied.
519
Dominion Articles / Best Traveller Accelerators
« on: February 02, 2016, 12:04:38 am »
Page and Peasant: the Travellers. These unique $2 cards get exchanged up to four times - upgrading themselves each step of the way. The last steps in the chain, Champion and Teacher, are game-changing cards that you usually want as soon as possible. It's worth considering, then, what other kingdom cards and events help accelerate your Traveller exchange.
In what follows, I reflect on the best Traveller accelerators. The baseline card-to-beat is Ironmonger. Ironmonger lets you look at two additional cards (rarely three) and play one (rarely two). This is pretty good, but all of the following can be more powerful Traveller accelerators. Sometimes, these cards are more limited than Ironmonger, or are otherwise inferior at helping your economy. Often, I will speak of turns 3 and 4 - assuming you purchase a Traveller and accelerator on turns 1 and 2. Know that the logic for turns 3 and 4 is also likely to apply to future turns, but in a less controlled way.
Play Traveller on Turn 2
Playing a Traveller on turn 3 or 4 is the norm, but it is actually possible to play a Traveller on turn 2 with these two events. Great start!
Travelling Fair
If you open with $4+, you can purchase Travelling Fair + Traveller and top-deck the Traveller. Then, you will have a Treasure Hunter or Soldier in your first reshuffle. Great deal! Subsequently, you can use Travelling Fair to top-deck additional Travellers. Consider top-decking a couple Pages before you play your Warrior.
Summon
If you open with $5+, you can purchase Summon and gain a Traveller. It will be played on turn 2. This is especially useful with Peasant, because Soldier will make it into your first reshuffle. Summon is less good with Page.
Find Traveller in Deck
Once you have a Traveller, the best thing to do is find it in your deck (or discard pile) - wherever it is! There are a couple of cards that can do just that.
Sage
Sage can't help you find your $2 Traveller, but it will help you reliably find your $3+ Travellers - as long as you have no other non-Sage cards that cost $3+. So, this is a very powerful, but very restrictive accelerator. It works well when there are other good $2- cards in the kingdom. Sage works especially well with Peasant. A deckful of Sages looks a lot less bad when they have a +1 card token from Teacher! Opening with Sage is a little risky. It's fantastic if you draw your Traveller on turn 3 and your Sage on turn 4, it's good if you draw both on turn 3 (playing Sage will discard your entire deck), but terrible if you draw Sage on turn 3 and your Traveller on turn 4.
Hunting Party
Hunting Party can reliably find your Travellers - if you have a small amount of diversity in your deck. Opening Traveller + Hunting Party is fantastic. Otherwise, focusing on either buying just Silver or a single spammable $4- card might be ideal. Hunting Party is better with Peasant for a few reasons: (a) Peasant and Soldier are a little better at helping you reach $5, (b) Treasure Hunter and Hero will add other cards to your deck, (c) Disciple can gain more Hunting Parties, and (d) Teacher super-powers a Hunting Party stack with +card or +coin.
Draw More Cards
Sometimes you need to find your Traveller the traditional way: drawing more cards (which you may or may not keep).
Warehouse
Warehouse is cheap and lets you draw 3 additional cards per play. It's a great Traveller accelerator.
Dungeon
Like most situations, Dungeon is comparable to Warehouse, but probably a little worse on net.
Cellar
As a Traveller accelerator, Cellar is better than Warehouse! You can draw four cards with Cellar. You can also choose to draw fewer cards to avoid triggering undesirable shuffles.
Storyteller
Even with just Copper, Storyteller can draw four new cards. With Silver or Gold (conveniently provided by Treasure Hunter and Hero), Storyteller can draw even more cards. Storyteller is a top-notch Traveller accelerator.
Minion
Like Cellar, Minion can also draw four more cards. It stacks better and provides better economy, but it's more difficult to acquire. Slightly better with Peasant.
Stables
Stables draws three cards, so it's comparable to Warehouse as a Traveller accelerator. It is more costly, but it provides more economy.
Take More Turns
Taking additional turns is similar to drawing more cards, but better; you might get to exchange the same Traveller twice!
Mission
With Mission, you can exchange your Travellers twice as fast as usual. And... possibly do nothing else. So, it's tricky to decide how often to use Mission when Traveller is on the board. Mission is better when there are ways to gain cards other than buying them. It's better with the Page line, because Treasure Hunter and Hero will gain cards themselves. Disciple also gains a card, but only if you can pair it with an action - a challenge if you use Mission frequently.
Outpost
Outpost will also provide another turn, but with only three cards. So, it's generally a little better than Warehouse and Stables as it concerns Traveller acceleration (but it isn't stackable and misses more shuffles). Outpost works better with the non-terminal Travellers, of course, but it's not obvious which line that favors.
Skip Past Non-Traveller Cards
These cards aren't much help getting a Traveller into your hand when you play them, but they let you see your Travellers more often by sifting through non-Traveller cards.
Scouting Party
For just $2 (no additional buy needed), you can discard three non-Traveller cards. You should buy Scouting Party often when you're trying to upgrade a Traveller.
Navigator
Each play, Navigator can discard five non-Traveller cards! But, if the next five cards contains a Traveller, you don't get much benefit. Navigator is better with Page, because it and Treasure Hunter are non-terminal.
Messenger/Chancellor
If, when you play Messenger/Chancellor, your deck doesn't contain a Traveller, you can discard all of those cards. Great! Better with Page, because it and Treasure Hunter are non-terminal. Consider opening Page + Messenger/Chancellor. If you get them both on turn 3, it's fantastic. In any other case, Messenger/Chancellor is, at best, only slightly more useful than a terminal Silver. Messenger has additional synergy by making it easy to acquire additional Travellers - either with its on-buy ability or +buy on play. Scavenger can be used like Messenger/Chancellor, but it has additional utility, and so is mentioned in a separate entry later.
Tactician
At its best, Tactician is discarding non-Traveller cards and drawing five additional cards for the next turn. If your Traveller is non-terminal, you aren't even concered about collisions.
Guide
When Guide is on your tavern mat, you can skip the next five-card hand that doesn't include a Traveller. Huge acceleration! Guide is non-terminal, so it never gets in the way of playing your Travellers.
Wandering Minstrel
What do all of the Travellers have in common? They are all action cards. So, Wandering Minstrel will never discard them. Instead it discards ~2 other cards you don't care about. It's non-terminal and easily chainable. Better with Peasant, because Champion has no need for villages.
Cartographer
The most flexible sifter. It replaces itself and can discard up to four non-Travellers. It never conflicts with Travellers.
Apothecary
Unlike the other cards in this category, Apothecary skips past non-Traveller cards by drawing them to hand. Without trashing, Apothecary is likely to draw approximately three additional cards. Apothecary is difficult to acquire, but boosts one's economy. Slightly better with Peasant.
Bring a Traveller from Discard to Deck
These cards don't help much when your Traveller is in your deck, but it can place a recently exchanged Traveller on or in your deck, to let it be exchanged again.
Scavenger
Almost strictly more useful than Messenger/Chancellor. It's great if you draw both Traveller + Scavenger on turn 3, but it's also great if you draw Traveller on turn 3 and Scavenger on turn 4; you can ensure another exchange on turn 5. Works better with Page, because it and Treasure Hunter are non-terminal.
Herald
The overbuy effect is the real attraction. If your have a Traveller in the discard pile and $5+ coins, you can exchange it again next turn. Otherwise, Herald synergizes better with the Peasant line.
Inn
The on-gain effect is very helpful, but the on-play effect is also helpful to dig for your Travellers. Shuffling Inn and Traveller into a deck of fewer than ten cards provides pretty good odds of playing the Traveller next turn. Inn synergizes better with the Peasant line; Champion has no need for villages.
Trash Non-Traveller Cards
Last, but not least, we can exchange Travellers faster by thinning our deck of non-Traveller cards. Some of these cards share qualities with the other categories of Traveller enablers, but also thin one's deck.
Raze
Raze will remove an Estate (or itself) and let you look at two additional cards. If one of them is your Traveller, you can play it that turn. Fantastic.
Spice Merchant
Trash a Copper and draw two cards. If one of them is your Traveller, you can play it that turn. Also fantastic.
Lookout
Look at three additional cards. Trash one and discard another. Definitely helps you get to your Travellers faster. It's non-terminal, so it doesn't conflict with terminal Travellers in hand.
Apprentice
Apprentice can trash Estates and draws two cards non-terminally. However, if you don't collide with an Estate you'll need to find something else to trash. Apprentice works well with the Page line, because Treasure Hunter and Hero provide good fuel for Apprentice.
Doctor
If you open with a Doctor overbuy on turn 2, you can guarantee that your Traveller is drawn on your third turn. The on-play effect is also useful. You're likely to be able to trash two cards from your deck, and if a Traveller is revealed, it will be placed safely back on top of your deck. Because Doctor is terminal, it conflicts with Peasant and Soldier, but Peasant works slightly better with a Doctor overbuy on turn 2 (trash exactly one card and you can immediately shuffle the Soldier in after turn 3).
Steward
Steward trashes two cards from hand. It works a lot better with Page for a few reasons: (a) Page and Treasure Hunter are non-terminal, (b) gaining extra Pages after a Steward trash is helpful, (c) Treasure Hunter and Hero gain treasures to replace lost Copper, and (d) post-Champion, Steward becomes a Laboratory.
Chapel
Nothing fancy. Just trash four cards from hand. Needless to say, this speeds up your Traveller exchange. Chapel is significantly better with Page for most of the same reasons as Steward.
Mint
Buying Mint lets you trash five Coppers. If you open with Mint + Traveller, you have 71.4% chance of seeing your Traveller on turn 3. Even with a $3/$4 opening, it might be valuable to buy Mint on turn 3/4 if you can trash 4-5 Coppers. Missing 5 Coppers from the get-go definitely hurts one's economy, but thankfully Treasure Hunter and Soldier provide economy that can get you out of the 2 Copper hole of an early Mint. Before you play Treasure Hunter and Soldier, you will likely have turns when you can buy additional Peasants or Pages. The Page-line has additional synergy with Mint, because Mint can duplicate the treasure gained with Hero.
There you have it: 32 cards and events that are, at least situationally, very good Traveller accelerators. If any of these kingdom cards are present in conjunction with a Traveller, you should strongly consider purchasing them. If a Traveller is in the kingdom, the conditional probability that one of these accelerators is also in the kingdom is ~67%.
Edit 1: Added Storyteller and Apprentice. How could I forget!?
Edit 2: Added Mint. Seems strong enough. I'm on the fence about Bonfire; the trashing is valuable, but the opportunity cost is multiple additional Travellers (at the very least).
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Dominion General Discussion / Re: Super old quotes
« on: January 28, 2016, 02:09:43 pm »
Another important factor in increasing engine-ness of kingdoms over time is the number of non-terminal actions. Even when a kingdom includes trashing, draw, +gain/buy, and payload, an engine won't be viable if all of those components are terminal and there are no villages. The later sets introduced a lot of non-terminal actions (and treasures) that help you construct an engine.
Dominion: 16 terminal, 9 non-terminal (including Throne Room)
Seaside: 16 terminal (including Tactician), 10 non-terminal
Prosperity: 12 terminal, 13 non-terminal (including King's Court and the kingdom treasures)
Dark Ages: 17 terminal (including Cultist, Knights), 17 non-terminal (including Squire, Procession, Band of Misfits, Counterfeit)
(Correction for WanderingWinter: Intrigue also has Shanty Town as a village. Granted, it is a poor one.)
Dominion: 16 terminal, 9 non-terminal (including Throne Room)
Seaside: 16 terminal (including Tactician), 10 non-terminal
Prosperity: 12 terminal, 13 non-terminal (including King's Court and the kingdom treasures)
Dark Ages: 17 terminal (including Cultist, Knights), 17 non-terminal (including Squire, Procession, Band of Misfits, Counterfeit)
(Correction for WanderingWinter: Intrigue also has Shanty Town as a village. Granted, it is a poor one.)
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Dominion General Discussion / Re: Neat and potentially useful card interactions
« on: January 26, 2016, 06:02:11 pm »
Haven + Treasure Map
Haven might be the best Treasure Map enabler. A Haven or two makes it very likely that you can match up your two Treasure Maps, but the synergy doesn't end there. Haven also helps you smooth out your four Gold economy - especially in a single-buy kingdom.
I recently lost to an opponent that demonstrated the power of this synergy. To be sure, there wasn't a whole lot going on in the kingdom otherwise*, so it was the ideal situation for Treasure Map.
* I tried for a thin single-Tactician deck to buy a Province and play Ambassador every 2-3 turns. Our other opponent did not get an Ambassador and tried to spike Provinces occasionally with Warehouse + terminal Library. It was a Shelters game, so Ambassador wasn't too dominant.
Haven might be the best Treasure Map enabler. A Haven or two makes it very likely that you can match up your two Treasure Maps, but the synergy doesn't end there. Haven also helps you smooth out your four Gold economy - especially in a single-buy kingdom.
I recently lost to an opponent that demonstrated the power of this synergy. To be sure, there wasn't a whole lot going on in the kingdom otherwise*, so it was the ideal situation for Treasure Map.
* I tried for a thin single-Tactician deck to buy a Province and play Ambassador every 2-3 turns. Our other opponent did not get an Ambassador and tried to spike Provinces occasionally with Warehouse + terminal Library. It was a Shelters game, so Ambassador wasn't too dominant.
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Dominion General Discussion / Re: Key card or gainer first?
« on: January 26, 2016, 05:26:21 pm »
I recently played a 3-player game IRL where I was very conflicted about opening with a gainer.
Kingdom: Fishing Village, Armory, Cultist, Margrave, Dungeon, Young Witch, Silk Road, Graverobber, Moat, Secret Chamber
Fishing Village was the bane. I don't remember the 11th kingdom card, but nobody purchased it.
No trashing. Fishing Village as the only village. I figured winning the Fishing Village split would be very important. But, with Cultist and Margrave, getting to $5 early was also really important. So, opening 3/4, my dilemma was Fishing Village + Armory or double Fishing Village.
I ended up going with Armory, because I figured that it would be worth gaining several Dungeons with Armory after Fishing Villages were gone. I gained one Fishing Village with Armory and won the split 4/3/3. One of my opponents got a Cultist faster, the other ignored Cultists for Margraves. I got a Margrave and a couple Cultists (I was in the middle of a 10/6/4 Ruins split, I believe). The game turned into a long slog, so the Dungeons from Armory came in handy. I also gained a Young Witch mid-game, once my opponents' decks became bloated with non-bane cards (neither followed). I ended up winning by going heavy green into Silk Roads.
I don't know whether my opening was optimal. What do you guys think?
Kingdom: Fishing Village, Armory, Cultist, Margrave, Dungeon, Young Witch, Silk Road, Graverobber, Moat, Secret Chamber
Fishing Village was the bane. I don't remember the 11th kingdom card, but nobody purchased it.
No trashing. Fishing Village as the only village. I figured winning the Fishing Village split would be very important. But, with Cultist and Margrave, getting to $5 early was also really important. So, opening 3/4, my dilemma was Fishing Village + Armory or double Fishing Village.
I ended up going with Armory, because I figured that it would be worth gaining several Dungeons with Armory after Fishing Villages were gone. I gained one Fishing Village with Armory and won the split 4/3/3. One of my opponents got a Cultist faster, the other ignored Cultists for Margraves. I got a Margrave and a couple Cultists (I was in the middle of a 10/6/4 Ruins split, I believe). The game turned into a long slog, so the Dungeons from Armory came in handy. I also gained a Young Witch mid-game, once my opponents' decks became bloated with non-bane cards (neither followed). I ended up winning by going heavy green into Silk Roads.
I don't know whether my opening was optimal. What do you guys think?
523
Dominion League / Re: Season 12 - Results
« on: January 18, 2016, 11:22:00 pm »
E1: aku chi 4 - 2 tadpole
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Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Coin of the Realm
« on: January 12, 2016, 09:16:30 am »
A really nifty card; I like the design.
I'm not very experienced with this card; my biggest take-aways from werothegreat's article and ensuing discussion is that Coin of the Realm is most valuable in the presence of terminal draw and +buy. It works better than any other village with terminal draw, because you don't need to play it before you play the terminal draw. It works best with +buy because it costs two coins (this is both very obvious and very important). I suspect that on some boards with strong terminal draw and +buy, Coin of the Realm will be more valuable than any other village.
I'm not very experienced with this card; my biggest take-aways from werothegreat's article and ensuing discussion is that Coin of the Realm is most valuable in the presence of terminal draw and +buy. It works better than any other village with terminal draw, because you don't need to play it before you play the terminal draw. It works best with +buy because it costs two coins (this is both very obvious and very important). I suspect that on some boards with strong terminal draw and +buy, Coin of the Realm will be more valuable than any other village.
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Dominion General Discussion / Re: Buying cards based on expected value of later hands in a shuffle
« on: January 12, 2016, 08:59:54 am »
I figured other people played this way, which is why I lose more often on money-ish boards than on engine boards. 
I understand cognitively that this is the optimal way to play, but I often lack the diligence to keep track of all the data I need (the total money capacity in my deck, how much of that money I've seen since the last shuffle, and how much money missed the shuffle). It probably isn't much more difficult than tracking the exact contents of my deck in a deck-drawing engine, but it's more work for a lower payoff.
I find that this kind of tracking is easiest and most rewarding in big money deck with some reliability: like Gear and Courtyard. With Gear big money, it's optimal to open Gear + Silver, because that results in 9 total coins in deck that can be drawn in two turns: Gear + Gold before the next shuffle is the goal. Gear + Gold is guaranteed if you draw your Gear on turn 3, or have exactly 3 or 6 coins on turn 3. Gear + Gold results in 12 coins in deck that you can draw in 2 turns. If you have a Gear on turn 5, you have a good chance of getting Gold + Gold into your shuffle after turn 6. The challenge occurs when this best-case plan doesn't manifest. Then, to play optimally, you need to keep track of where all of your money and Gears are. And if there is a 5-cost card worth getting (there often will be), that's an additional variable to keep track of. Courtyard and, especially, Gear reward this kind of thinking because of how much control you have over: (a) distributing coins between hands in a given shuffle and (b) determining what misses the shuffle.
I understand cognitively that this is the optimal way to play, but I often lack the diligence to keep track of all the data I need (the total money capacity in my deck, how much of that money I've seen since the last shuffle, and how much money missed the shuffle). It probably isn't much more difficult than tracking the exact contents of my deck in a deck-drawing engine, but it's more work for a lower payoff.
I find that this kind of tracking is easiest and most rewarding in big money deck with some reliability: like Gear and Courtyard. With Gear big money, it's optimal to open Gear + Silver, because that results in 9 total coins in deck that can be drawn in two turns: Gear + Gold before the next shuffle is the goal. Gear + Gold is guaranteed if you draw your Gear on turn 3, or have exactly 3 or 6 coins on turn 3. Gear + Gold results in 12 coins in deck that you can draw in 2 turns. If you have a Gear on turn 5, you have a good chance of getting Gold + Gold into your shuffle after turn 6. The challenge occurs when this best-case plan doesn't manifest. Then, to play optimally, you need to keep track of where all of your money and Gears are. And if there is a 5-cost card worth getting (there often will be), that's an additional variable to keep track of. Courtyard and, especially, Gear reward this kind of thinking because of how much control you have over: (a) distributing coins between hands in a given shuffle and (b) determining what misses the shuffle.