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376

Dominion Isotropic / Re: veto mode stats

« on: September 14, 2011, 08:14:07 pm »

As a newb, I like vetoing, for one thing, it really helps me come to understand which cards work and do not work together. I've only played a few veto games, but I like them.

For the record, I tend to veto cards that reward card hoarding, and tend to want to keep any card that lets me trash. I like dense decks and really dislike garden-chases and the like. I like it when I can card count.

377

Dominion General Discussion / Re: From Base Set Noob to Intrigue Noob

« on: September 13, 2011, 05:27:40 pm »

Thanks for the feedback!

Seems like I didn't keep my deck dense enough for the Minion chain I tried. There were no trashers in the game...and I was buying money too, which I think ruins the whole strategy. I'll know better next time.

Thanks for the advice on Saboteur...in the game I played, Lab and Throne were on the board...so he was drawing lots and playing them twice...and I was losing Minions left and right. Look forward to learning the set more!

378

Dominion General Discussion / From Base Set Noob to Intrigue Noob

« on: September 13, 2011, 01:05:12 pm »

I posted a few weeks back about how my wife and I have started playing Dominion and love it. I read the strategy here on this site about the base set and found the advice excellent. I then posted a thread on this forum about additional advice and got a superb set of insight on how to play, where to play online and how to practice. I then taught my wife some of the tricks I learned...and we're both pretty good at base set now.

Now, this weekend, I make the purchase of Intrigue. I've been playing  Base+Intrigue online a little this week to try and learn the set.

What an exciting time to be discovering a brand new game, one expansion at a time!

I read all the "card recaps" for Intrigue and found them interesting. One of them, I could not get to work well. The "Minion chain" that is preached in one of the articles, did not work for me. In particular, the Saboteur was ruining my chain and then I couldn't get the draw to keep the chain going. It was also really hard to judge how much money to buy and when with the strategy.

Is Minion really the strongest card in the set? Is there a more in-depth article on how to make Minion work?

The card article on Saboteur makes it seems like the card is pretty random and only useful early, but the card was killing me and seems like the Witch, as in, if it is on the board, you better buy two and try to attack more often than your opponent. Torturer of course, is the same way right? I won an online game by spamming Torturer a lot. It seems like the best defense against Torturer is to do it against your opponent too? Then maybe Library? Any advice on when Torturer is a "must by"?

Are there more in-depth articles about Intrigue+Base Set games?

My thanks in advance for any advice here you care to share about Intrigue. It looks like a great expansion!

379

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Noob question: Silver vs. Woodcutter

« on: September 09, 2011, 04:13:49 pm »

I am a total noob myself. I've learned that for most basic games and other rookie opponents that Woodcutter is useful for games with Gardens in play, but not usually a good buy beyond that. The three-pile, Gardens tactic is extremely powerful in a basic game though. I've won with it a few times now.

380

Rules Questions / Re: Garden Question from a noob

« on: August 30, 2011, 05:42:03 pm »

I am new too, so I understand your reaction to the Gardens card. As a new player, here's what I'm learning:

1. For the most part, any set of cards that has the Witch in it, means you must buy and play the Witch. You don't need all of them, just try and get a few as early as possible you can hand out the curses (and enjoy the card draw).

2. If Gardens is in the set AND there's a card that helps you with additional buys/acquires (like say Woodcutter or Workshop), then buy Gardens and buy Estates. Try to 3-pile as fast as you can. That is to say try to pick 3 cards that will run out before your opponents buy provinces. Gardens + Estate + 1 other pile is usually the focus (that third pile could Woodcutter or Workshop, which help you acquire cards, or make additional buys).

3. MONEY. If you are lost on what to do. Here's a simple formula to follow: When you get 3, 4 or 5 buy silver. 6, 7 buy gold. 8 buy a province. If there is a Mine and/or a Smithy buy just ONE of each (as soon as you can), but the rest just focus on improving your money. It's simple, but it defeats most "newb" strategies 80% of the time. You'll be amazed at how quickly you're looking at 9, 10 copper per turn and chewing up Provinces faster than your opponent. In fact, this strategy on really fails when someone is playing Gardens (item 2). In that case, its possible he 3-piles the set before you consume enough provinces to beat him.

4. Read the basic strategy guide on this site. It is platinum. It really explains well what cards/combos to look for in a board. Learn to love Chapel and how to use it if it is there. Learn to Witch before your players do and avoid over-indulging in Villages/Labs without buying money. In fact, unless the board is extremely tilted (and it rarely is in basic set), always buy money at least 50% of the time. If you are unsure...the safest thing to do is buy money.

These are very BASIC sets of advice, the better players here can add/refine this advice, but those 4 tips have really, really helped me.

381

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Newb Questions

« on: August 29, 2011, 01:47:16 pm »

Thank you both, I'll be sure to test the simulator and report back. I'm passing what I am learning here to my wife too, she's getting good as well. Yesterday's game was this huge race for the Witch, she beat me by one point...it was a great game. Almost ready for Intrigue I think, I'll probably buy it after Labor Day.

What a great game this is.

382

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Newb Questions

« on: August 26, 2011, 08:28:19 pm »

Following the three-pile strategy described here was awesome advice, I can clear every Estate / Workshop / Gardens off the board in 18 turns and wind up with over 40 points. That pretty much trained me on Gardens decks (at least to intermediate level). Thanks guys!

I'll change new tests of sets to acquire 4 provinces. I'll test BM first as a baseline then see what strategies can beat it.

Won my first head to head ever too on  a 8 base / 2 intrigue blend...I played JUST big money as described (with a single Council purchase as Smithy was not available). The player was rookie too (12 games it looked like) and although he was drawing lots of cards and getting decent money, I was still faster. It really is true that Big Money is a simple algorithm that will defeat most new players, especially when there's no major attacks on the board.

What I am finding is not only do you guys really know your stuff, but the advice in the base set columns is PRECISELY right. Cheers!

383

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Dominion Vault iPhone Randomizer

« on: August 26, 2011, 07:43:04 pm »

I'll look for it, thanks Buggz!

384

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Newb Questions

« on: August 26, 2011, 07:40:12 pm »

Learning, learning, thanks to you guys. I solo'd this set for about 10-12 games:

Adventurer, Chapel, Council Room, Gardens, Library, Market, Moat, Village, Woodcutter, Workshop

My goal was to acquire all provinces (all 8 of them) as fast as possible. The fastest I could initially come up with, was a BM strategy as described above, using a Chapel to think out the deck just a little. I could get all 8 provinces in about 24 turns.

Can you come up with a faster way?

One way I could beat BM was Gardens. By turn 24 I can collect about 56 points or so using Gardens / Workshop / Market (I used the market for the extra buys).

It seems given the above set, Gardens is the way to go, buying Dutchies from time to time, and even Estates when extra buys and 2$ are left over.

So after 10 solo simulations, I think a Garden strategy for the above set would work best. It was a simple Garden strategy, buy two silver to open, then purchasing Markets / Workshop, using Workshop to acquire Gardens...using Markets to add buys and draws...and bought as many cards as I could. I'd buy gold sometimes (usually if I had 6 or 7$ and only 1 buy).

I think it would win in this set.

Should I be testing this on a shorter set of turns? As in, test BM out to the 4 province (or 5 province mark) and seeing if I can get the Gardens to get past 33 points in an equal (or lesser) number of turns?

It seems to me, just like the base strategy article describes, that if Workshop / Gardens are in play and you have a +buy card to purchase, Gardens are hard to beat in base set (especially with Witch not in play).

385

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Newb Questions

« on: August 26, 2011, 05:28:10 pm »

Thank you all for the great answers and advice, in particular not to get too practiced, or risk losing my wife's interest in the game! I think ultimately the social aspect of gaming is more valuable than one's skill at it. Of course, I could always hamstring myself if I get too good, as in "try to win without ever buying gold, or try to win by only 3 provinces, or something like that".

Isotropic is great, now that I know how to solo (thank you for that), it is fascinating to test stuff. Actually so far, I'm learning that a simple Big Money algorithm is a superb base to test against. Often, strategies I think will be great, simply can't compete with the simple algorithm posted on this site. So now I test big money on a set a few times and get an idea of a baseline to beat. And it is not easy. I have been restricting to base set, which helps a lot. I'll move to Base+Intrigue when I am ready.

Fascinating that all of you concede how powerful Witch is and that it must be acquired and used, in almost all base set circumstances.

Now that I know how to restrict sets, I'll tinker with Isotrope more, and get to a reasonable level but not so frightening that I am passing out all the curses by turn 3! I don't want to scare my wife away entirely.

I'll come back with another set of questions after some testing, I can be found on Isotropic as ChaosRed.

386

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Dominion Vault iPhone Randomizer

« on: August 26, 2011, 01:49:51 pm »

Went looking for this on Android and didn't find it. I assume it is iPhone only, no compatible version for the Droid yet?

387

Dominion General Discussion / Newb Questions

« on: August 26, 2011, 01:47:23 pm »

Hello,

I am very new to DOMINION. I bought the game last Saturday and my wife and I loved it so much, we've played a game (or two) just about every day since we bought it. I've also been practicing (a little) on Isotropic and BoardGameArena (and getting thrashed thoroughly on both sites).

I have some newb questions. If you have the inclination to answer, one, some or all of these questions, I would be very grateful. Most of my questions refer to base set only. I do not intend to buy Intrigue until I really get a handle on Base, but on BoardGameArena, I play Base+Intrigue.

1. I think I figured out reasonable strategies for all of the basic deck types, the basic set ships with, except the one marked "Village Square". There were so many options, I could pick the right one. What's the best strategy? I went with Remodel mostly and really suffered. Is the best three cards to focus on in this set, Village, Throne Room, Market? Here's the list, if you've forgotten the set... http://dominiondeck.com/games/village-square

2. I love games with Chapel in them and really prefer dense, tight decks. I get burned with the thief on them a lot, or any game where there's an attack and no defense. Is a Chapel deck not worth it, if the Witch or Thief is in play, and there's no defense to it.

3. I win a lot with the Witch, but now my wife is learning fast and giving me a taste of my own medicine. If there's no Chapel or Moat, it seems like its a race to acquire and play Witch as much as possible. Does this seem right?

4. I recently played a Lab vs. Chapel game. It was about the most fun I've had. My opponent bought a ton of labs and other cards, I went chapel with just one lab and a smithy and tried to keep the deck dense as I could. I added Great Hall and Nobles at the end, as I acquired Provinces. I won, but barely. I know it depends on the other cards in the set, but in general does a dense deck tend to beat a deck that's wide but has a prolific engine (Lab deck)?

5. I find a LOT of games, come down to the last few hands. I run into 3-3 province splits a lot, (especially with my wife or on BoardGameArena). Then it becomes a dance of Duthies and having the guts to buy the penultimate province, and most especially getting the perfect draw on those last two or three hands. Is this common? It seems like one unfortunate draw near the end is often the difference.

6. Isotropic murders me. Murder. Not even close. It's because the sets are so varied and stuff like potions and colonies mess me up pretty badly (not to mention any Saboteur game, I LOATHE that card). I choose "base" as a bias, but often still get cards from various expansion. Also I seem to always get matched with players who KICK my ass...do not want to chat...and seem not only unsympathetic to newbies, but enjoy kicking them hard. I had heard the opposite, that Isotropic was full of great players who not only enjoy the game, but enjoy being an evangelist and supporter for it to new players.

My question on Isotropic is:

a) I had heard there was a way to solo (practice) on the site, but couldn't find a button or outlet to do it. Is it true? How does one do that?
b) Is there a way to constrain the auto-match to players of your level?

Thanks in advance for any answers and also for reading. I have read the main article on base set strategy, if there are others out there, (or better yet if you've written one about base set), I'd love to read it. I was thinking of writing an article on a newb's experience with the game, not as a strategy article, more of a "here's how to get hooked on a great game" kind of article.