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.

951

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Cards we love! (and why)

« on: October 19, 2011, 12:24:04 am »

my favorite card is gardens, hands down.

i try to play a garden strategy (almost) every time i see them.  according to councilroom, i buy and gain a total of 5.07 gardens per game. this is my second/first place for all cards in buys/gains per game. i wouldn't know how to check this, but i'm gonna go out on a limb and say this is the highest (or close to it) of any player out there.

952

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Win Prob, how does it work?

« on: October 18, 2011, 10:35:02 am »

i think the original poster was referring to the win probability graph present at the end of the game logs, not the win rate metrics you can find on your council room player pages.

953

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Blooki's Puzzle #7 - Savvy Shopper

« on: October 14, 2011, 01:00:20 pm »

my best. it does not utilize all $11, but it does it require use of 10 kingdom cards. feel free to correct any errors i missed.

kingdom cards utilized - (colony set) black market (bridge, throne room, kings court, trader), border village, talisman, duke, island, vineyard, gardens, fairgrounds, horn of plenty, embargo
points gained in the buy phase - 232

my first idea is to use 10 maxed out horn of plenties and then buy a single border village with the conditions:
- you have a throned bridge in play
- 30 embargo tokens on border villages
- the border village is bought with ten talismans
- you have a trader in hand
- you gain 8 islands and 2 duchies with your BV gains

this could lead to point gains of -
- +48 points if you had 8 vineyards (+18 actions)
- +40 points if you had 8 gardens (+50 cards, 30 silver, 10 BV, 10 island)
- +16 points from the islands
- +16 points if you had 8 fairgrounds and this pushed you to 10/15/20 different cards
- +80 points (8 colonies) from 8 maxed out horn of plenties
- +32 points (4 dukes) from 2 horn of plenties and 2 BV gains if you had 8 duchies already

954

Game Reports / Re: Finishing in Style

« on: October 07, 2011, 11:31:25 am »

This is one of the best game-ending turns I've ever seen.

Agreed. Greatexpectations, when did you make the decision to go for the Curses pile ending?

thanks guys.  i had originally bought the embargos with the purpose of blocking the torturer and conspirators i figured he was going for next. 

once he got his second tactician, i figured he would just run a double tactician with his conspirators. i knew that if i didn't end it quick at that point i was going to lose.  as soon as he bought the torturers i thought that just taking the curses might be my best option.

i admittedly got quite lucky with my final tactician draw, as well as the fact that he kept running the double tactician. if he does one more double province turn i was toast.  he definitely had the better engine, i just got a good opportunity and went with it. 

955

Dominion General Discussion / Re: veto strategy

« on: October 06, 2011, 10:52:31 pm »

in my mind, veto mode would be perfect if the default mode was a random card selection. 

<rant>
without it, veto mode is just a meta-game that in my mind is not too far from the crap Paralyzed pulls.  you are consciously manipulating the game to give yourself an advantage over the other player.  more skilled players will do this via the method described by the OP, while newer/worse players might tend towards vetoing cards they have seen more skilled players use effectively.

from an enjoyment of dominion standpoint, i fail to see how veto mode is worth it, as the cards and combos you enjoy will be vetoed just as often as the cards you dislike are. i am a huge fan of messy mountebank games, but mountebank is one of the most vetoed cards. i don't like conspirator games, but conspirator is one of the least vetoed cards out there.

from a competitive/ladder standpoint, the system seems biased, allowing people to pick and choose whether to play to their strengths or avoiding there weaknesses.
</rant>

956

Dominion General Discussion / Re: veto strategy

« on: October 06, 2011, 07:54:11 pm »

this post is precisely why i have zero interest in ever playing in veto mode.

957

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Why's it called a cantrip?

« on: October 05, 2011, 03:24:15 pm »

But why not use a word that an outsider could reasonably guess the meaning of like serial, chainable or spamable.

if they are bothering to frequent these forums they have plenty of dominion language to learn anyway.  cantrip is nothing compared to many of the other terms tossed around here. 

958

Game Reports / Re: Finishing in Style

« on: October 05, 2011, 11:54:16 am »

i haven't ever feasted for a curse, but yesterday i placed an embargo on curses and then bought three to finish the pile and steal an undeserved win.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111004-153245-59a37b06.html

959

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Playing the Gardens strategy

« on: October 04, 2011, 06:23:32 pm »

- personally, the only time i would gain village cards is if i had a few ironworks in hand.  i dont think i would want to include them early as part of my strategy. 
- this one is tricky.  i think the key to going green is making sure that you keep up in the garden split.  i would consider starting to go green as soon as you would be able to take an advantage by getting multiple gardens in one turn.
-i would try to make sure i had a little bit of buying power myself.  if you are both rushing gardens, they will rarely be worth more than a 3 points. set yourself up so that you can grab a few duchies and let them worry about draining the rest of the piles. picking up a card like secret chamber or vault can help make a difference.

thats my two cents.

960

Dominion Articles / Re: Gardens and Embargo

« on: October 04, 2011, 02:06:40 pm »

I am unsure why every gardens strategy has to be a rush. Again, I might be wrong on this point, but I do recognize a bias in this direction. What is true, however, is that a gardens strategy tries to end the game on 3 piles empty. This is not at all the same thing as rushing when embargo is on the board.

gardens is not at all about rushing.  it is about having full control over the ending of the game.  sometimes this will mean rushing piles, yes. but sometimes it will be about stalling the game and forcing your opponent to end it or sometimes it will be a delayed rush.  it depends heavily not only on the set but what your opponents strategy seems to be.

961

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Decline of civility on isotropic?

« on: September 20, 2011, 01:58:32 pm »

One thing I have noticed, though, is the lack of humanity on Isotropic. Over the last 10 games I've played, over half the people didn't say a single word. And then when the game is over, they immediately return to the lobby. What is the point of playing dominion if I'm not allowed to talk about the game that just happened?!?

The biggest reason I play dominion online is to improve my skills for multiplayer on my home set. I enjoy being beat by high-lvl opponents, especially when they explain what happened during the game. Instead, I keep getting Automatched with people who don't have personalities. It's like I'm playing an AI.

i think part of this is the typical one and done nature of most of the gaming on isotropic.  you play someone and then move on to someone new next game. you really don't have time for much conversation in that setting, unless either one of the participants forces conversation or unless a curiosity of the game necessitates it.

i have found that the better conversations i have had are usually the result of requesting a second match/best of 3 with someone i enjoyed playing with. for that matter, i think the same can be said for getting matched up with the same person a few games in a row via automatch.  familiarity and more time spent is enough to spark some conversation in many cases.

as an extension of this, maybe a new feature to request on isotropic would be a preference for either a single match or a best of n set against the player.

962

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Was this game over by turn 7?

« on: September 10, 2011, 12:58:45 am »

My opponent goes first, gets 5/2, and opens Mountebank

it isn't showing up in my game logs anywhere that i can see but..

i had a game a couple days ago where i opened with 5 copper and bought a witch.  my opponent played 3 coppers turn 1 and then resigned.  it might not have been because of the open, but i thought it was amusing/relevant.

963

Dominion Articles / Re: Upgrade

« on: September 10, 2011, 12:44:18 am »

- upgrade peddlers into platinum
- upgrade a chapel/remake to a useful endgame card after heavier early trashing
- estates into great halls
- duchy/duke (http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20110720-185005-eaf7bedd.html) and *theoretically* silver-> gardens
- not only grand markets but cities too
- perfect counter to sea hag
- upgrade/ambassador and upgrade/warehouse are nice uses too

964

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Navigator

« on: September 08, 2011, 08:25:44 am »

I don't think so. For Gardens, as a $4 buy, it conflicts with other stuff you can be buying (i.e. Gardens itself, horse traders, ironworks, etc), it doesn't contribute +buy, and with your fat gardens decks it's highly unlikely you will be using it more than once. And in the one time you do use it, it merely potentially skips a turn where you can buy copper anyway. For Duke/duchy... well, I don't really do those very often, but I can't see it being that helpful.

obviously ironworks or horse traders are preferable.  if we precluded listing all potential uses of a card by other cards that did the job better, we would get ourselves nowhere.  a navigator does however provide half of the cost for buying a gardens in the current turn, and it lets you look at your next hand to help ensure that you can draw $4+ again next turn. as someone who will try a garden strategy 90% of the time i see them, i think that this ability is useful in a deck clogged with green.

i opened navigator in both of these garden games.  it was a useful card each time, though the strategy might not work as well against elite opponents.
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20110706-184029-626dfa98.html
http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20110531-202530-123327d4.html

965

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Navigator

« on: September 07, 2011, 03:29:10 pm »

i think navigator is useful in garden/duke decks, where you will have a lot of green mucking up your hands and you just need to hit 4/5 each turn.

966

Feedback / Re: Cursing on the dominion strategy forum

« on: September 07, 2011, 03:09:19 pm »

it took me far too long to realize that this post was about language

967

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Optimizing your level

« on: September 06, 2011, 11:10:02 am »

i love that the new veto mode binds you into playing a game with an opponent without seeing the cards. i really don't like that the mode allows the two cards to be vetoed.  just seems to me to be too much control by the players in shaping the game they want to play. 

i think that the veto mode is just going to serve to remove all of the interesting cards and attacks from the game. i am not sure if the data is logged anywhere, but i would bet that the cards that are always being vetoed are the attacks, gardens/dukes, and higher variance cards like tournament/kings court.

968

Game Reports / Re: Goons vs. Venture

« on: September 05, 2011, 03:54:55 pm »

thanks for the love guys. 

if i may have a chance to defend myself ... i was actually setting myself up to end on gardens. i will freely admit that it was likely not the best strategy, but i have an affinity for gardens and will try to work a garden strategy just about every time i see them.  flipping through my game logs should reveal that.

anyway, i was looking to end the game on shanty town, gardens, and goons/estates, setting up my deck to clear the piles out in one pass through my deck. personally, i think i had a good chance if graystripe had played for colonies, as it would have given me more turns to finish out my plan. i was pinning him to 3 cards almost every turn and was hoping to get gardens to 5+. trouble was he adjusted his strategy and i couldnt adapt.

and of course, as i discussed with graystripe after the game, buying provinces was likely an erroneous panic move.

969

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Optimizing your level

« on: September 02, 2011, 01:16:08 pm »

my thoughts on the issue...
- play regularly. helps keep your dominion skillz sharp. when i play less my level seems to drop fast.
- play fast opponents.  i don't know about the rest of you guys, but i zone out against slow players or against players with ridiculous engines and/or slow turns. that is when i pop open some other tabs and i lose more games.
- keep your style fresh and don't over rely on good cards (or bad ones). i think we all have our favorite cards, and i think we tend to use them even if it might not be prudent. i like (and probably overuse) shanty towns and islands, and i will play a garden strategy every single time i see them. i think it is more fun (and challenging) but it probably doesn't help in the rankings.
- talk to other players. you can get a sense of their styles and both offer critiques and be critiqued. i've definitely gotten tips from other players before.
- watch other players turns. this goes back a bit to my second comment. you can learn a lot about the game and your opponent by watching them play their turn.  what their strategy is, nifty card combos, when they start greening, etc.  i will never forget the first time i saw someone run a goons engine and then watchtower-trash all the extra copper buys. ditto watchtower/talisman/treasure map.
- take breaks.  this one might just apply to me, but i tend to lose in streaks. i get frustrated and play "just one more" to end on a win and my play gets really lazy.

970

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Am I reading this board correctly?

« on: August 31, 2011, 04:19:59 pm »

if i am around i would love to play a game or two.

as a side note, this got me thinking of an idea for another lobby in isotropic.  basically, say once a week a new kingdom/board (preferably with a few divergent strategies) would be chosen and it would be the only board allowed in that lobby. players could try their hand at their preferred strategy and then we could all come back here and discuss.  similar to those annotated games featured on the blog. 

maybe a whole new lobby is too much. perhaps just a recurring thread in the forums?

thoughts?

971

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Am I reading this board correctly?

« on: August 31, 2011, 03:28:13 pm »

I haven't found that bishop really counters IW/G that hard, as long as the IW/G player knows how to finesse it properly. In fact, I'm quite sure that in 2P, this is the dominant strategy. Adding the extra player(s) might change something, but I'd guess a straight city/goons is too slow unless maybe somebody else is bishopping.

i agree on bishop vs. IW/G.  i think a key factor of the advantage is that the IW/G player controls the pace of the game. 

having a bishop player in 3+ would help out the city player a lot, especially with the presence of a moneylender.  no idea how it would play out though.

972

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Am I reading this board correctly?

« on: August 31, 2011, 02:30:36 pm »

Yep, bishop trashing gardens nets 3VP, probably the same #of points that a gardens player is going to get if the game ends early, and even just 1 double Goons turn with activated cities will probably sink a pure gardens rush.  (Brotip: don't let the other person get all 8 gardens)  And, the biggest weakness of bishop (that the opponent gets to trash cards too) doesn't even matter!

it should be noted that a clever gardens player can play the same trick though. naturally, you need to react well to what your opponent does. if your opponent is running a bishop strategy and they let you get most of the IW, just grab a bishop or two before the reshuffle. using bishop on an IW is better than using the IW to grab an estate. similarly, you can bishop estates to meet the 2/4/5 money you are aiming for.

973

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Am I reading this board correctly?

« on: August 31, 2011, 02:03:43 pm »

Ironworks + Gardens, I assume, is golden here.

agreed.  by yourself, you should be able to drain IW/gardens/estates by yourself in about 15 turns.  this *should* be early enough that the goons engine won't be running full speed.  the goons attack might be pesky mid game, but should not matter at all in your last 4-5 turns. 

if you both go for ironworks/gardens, , ensure you get a minimum of 3 gardens and then take a step back and look at the game. once gardens are gone, so many players will just rush to end piles and will scramble to grab estates.  pay attention to your reshuffle and IW a few silver (or in this game maybe even a smithy) and try to grab a duchy or two. 

974

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: How many niches for village-types are left? Can you think of any new ones?

« on: August 30, 2011, 04:39:06 pm »

re: the logging village idea...

how about making the 3rd action a choice? so, you would get +2 actions, but then you could choose either +1 card or +action.  or perhaps choose between +action this turn or +action next turn.

or for that matter, just make an upgraded pawn that gives you +1 action and then the usual pawn 'choose two'.

975

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Compare the Villages

« on: August 29, 2011, 10:14:44 pm »

Shanty town isn't so bad as an opening depending on the board but you are probably better off opening silver/silver most of the time.

ST/silver actually proves to be a slightly stronger open in a BM/witch game. 

i must apologize for my comments before though, i got a little excited trying to make a case for a personal favorite card.  ST/silver is not a guaranteed $5+ because of course the shanty town can miss the reshuffle. it is still quite likely though, and if you do draw the ST you will trigger a reshuffle which includes your new $5 card.