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676

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Beginners' mistakes

« on: June 22, 2016, 12:00:34 pm »

When I play games with my boyfriend, most of these guidelines are unnecessary.  We are already accountable to each other--we are in a relationship.  Playing quickly is a higher priority.

However, with beginners, we ask them to be more careful and accountable so we can make sure they're playing according to correct rules.  And of course, we give them more leeway to play slowly.  In general the biggest issue we've had is when beginners play cards directly to their discard pile.

677

Dominion General Discussion / Re: jamfamsam's art ranking by committee

« on: June 21, 2016, 07:40:53 pm »

From what I've seen so far, I disagree with a lot of these art rankings.  But I think the problem might not be in the rankings, but in my own perspective: I think most of the art is above average.

This view is perhaps colored by the fact that I really like Dominion.

678

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Qvist Rankings and Empires

« on: June 20, 2016, 08:49:16 pm »

The most compelling argument for ranking split piles separately is that people have already done it that way in the threads discussing impressions and power predictions, without even thinking about it.  Apparently most people find that to be intuitive.

Of course, most people in those threads are also mixing cards of different costs, and also using ratings rather than rankings.

679

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Neat and potentially useful card interactions

« on: June 20, 2016, 02:24:16 pm »

Stonemason + Groundskeeper

Ordinarily, trashing a province for two duchies isn't so great, but when you have five Groundskeepers in play, it nets you 10 VP.  And it didn't cost you anything, so now you can buy another duchy for 8 VP.  Also, Stonemason overpay is a good way to get all those Groundskeepers in the first place.

680

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Neat and potentially useful card interactions

« on: June 17, 2016, 02:11:46 pm »

Treasure Map + Triumph

On the turn that you hit two Treasure Maps, buy Triumph.  You can easily pay off the debt next turn and still have plenty left over.

681

Dominion General Discussion / Re: jamfamsam's art ranking by committee

« on: June 17, 2016, 01:41:19 am »

My least favorite Dominion art are actually the ones that are too dark.  Bridge Troll is the worst.  Also don't like Catacombs or Laboratory.  For the longest time I thought Laboratory was a picture of a door with a window until I realized that it was actually an arch with a chandelier.

At least I can make fun of Harem, and that provides its own kind of special joy, but I just can't tell what's going on with Bridge Troll.  379/379.

682

Dominion General Discussion / Re: jamfamsam's art ranking by committee

« on: June 14, 2016, 08:10:08 pm »

Wikipedia tells me that "salt the earth" is an expression with no basis in fact.  So it's pretty hard to say how it should have been depicted.  Casually sprinkling the earth with salt from a bowl doesn't seem right though.

I don't think I agree that there is no basis in fact for salting the earth. (I know, I'm such an expert right?) The Romans allegedly did that to Carthage after the Third Punic War. Maybe it was just symbolic language, but the Romans really destroyed Carthage pretty badly in that third war.

More precisely, Wikipedia said it was something of a symbolic practice, but they didn't actually use so much salt as to prevent land use.  Hey, maybe the symbolic practice involved a woman casually sprinkling salt all over her toga while two soldiers stand at her side.

683

Dominion General Discussion / Re: jamfamsam's art ranking by committee

« on: June 14, 2016, 08:02:39 pm »

On the Z group...
The thing that most bothers me about Harem is the composition.  Imagine trying to reenact this in a photo--you stand right up next to the camera, and I'll stand partly behind you, looking at something behind your head.

Wikipedia tells me that "salt the earth" is an expression with no basis in fact.  So it's pretty hard to say how it should have been depicted.  Casually sprinkling the earth with salt from a bowl doesn't seem right though.

The thing that bothers me most about Minion is that the artist put a bright red curtain behind him for color contrast, but somehow lost confidence in it, and felt the need to also outline his frame as if he were glowing.

I disagree with the peasant line rankings.  I'm impressed with how, throughout his life, the guy always finds the right lighting to suit his mood.  I'm feeling kind of a blue right now, but the lights here are warm yellow.  It's like going to the fairgrounds and finding that the weather is just so dusty and gloomy.

684

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Probably inaccurate power predictions

« on: June 13, 2016, 10:56:40 pm »

I don't think Empires trashing is weaker than average. It has Donate for crying out loud. I would argue though that Adventures and DA have a lot of strong trashers, but otherwise, the trashing in Empires seems stronger than pretty much all other expansions.

Yeah, but we've been including 2 events/landmarks, and 3 Empires cards in each game.  Any given card is far more likely to show up than any given event.  All three trashers (Temple, Catapult, Sacrifice) are terminals (with the occasional exception of Sacrifice), and Temple is the only one that trashes more than one card at a time.  It seems comparable to the trashing in Base.

685

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Probably inaccurate power predictions

« on: June 13, 2016, 08:04:52 pm »

Having played a bunch of games over the weekend, I mostly agree with a lot of the predictions.  Here are a few things that I think were wrong though:

Legionary - the attack did not hurt as much as I thought it would.  If you really need to collide two cards, it can actually help, similar to Margrave.  It's still solid, but not 10/10.

Catapult/Rocks - I think Catapult was overrated, Rocks underrated.  Catapult is a very weak trasher, and the attack only hits hardest when you trash the cards you least want to trash.  Catapult is a poor defense against itself.  In three games, we only emptied catapult once, and the person who bought several performed poorly.  In that game, Rocks were great, especially when I could gain them midturn (with Engineer and Graverobber), or trash them midturn (with Catapult).

Archive - Archive is fine.  Choosing the order of cards you draw really helps even out turns and reliably collide cards.

Gladiator - This turns into a terminal gold really quickly.  It helps you hit high numbers, which is good for both buying and using Fortune.

Encampment - I still don't know how good this is.  Once I reveal Plunder, either I lose Encampments right when I want them the most, or else everybody gets access to Plunder.  It seems so terrible, but I keep on buying them, what am I doing with my life?

My general impression of Empires is that we played a lot of sloggy games.  Part of this is that trashing seems weaker on average.  But also, I think my group might be overreacting to landmarks, ruining our decks for points.  We sure had some high-scoring games.

686

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Castles

« on: June 12, 2016, 02:43:53 pm »

My first impression of Castles (based on playing with it) is that it's a slog card, like most alt-VP.  If only one person goes for them, the self-synergy poses a significant challenge for a Province player to beat.  The Province player can steal a few Castles to weaken the Castle strategy, but they have to do it at the right time, possibly early on, junking their deck.  If players mirror each other, then everyone junks their deck and it's a slog.

687

Simulation / Re: Mountain Pass: guess the bid

« on: June 09, 2016, 01:47:54 pm »

10.  Hope the rest of you enjoy your debt.

688

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Empires Rulebook

« on: June 09, 2016, 01:00:50 pm »

The blurry aesthetic is cool, really draws the set together, like the bald theme in Guilds.

689

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Mountain Pass Bidding Strategy

« on: June 08, 2016, 04:30:15 pm »

The game theory is easier if there are enough players that you don't care how the VP/debt affect other players.  First you calculate the value of 8 VP to each player (ie the amount such that if they bid more it would actually hurt them to win).  Then the player who values it the most should bid just enough to beat the player who values it second most.

690

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Mountain Pass Bidding Strategy

« on: June 08, 2016, 04:21:07 pm »

The nash equilibrium with two players is simple.  The first player bids such an amount that the second player has two choices that are of approximately equal value.  Second player should pass about 50% of the time.

In theory this gives the first bidder a slight advantage.  Say that both players value 8 VP at 10.5 debt.  Well either the first player gets it for 10, or the second player gets it for 11.

But three players, ouch!  The game theory is too hard.

691

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Favourite Card/Event/Landmark?

« on: June 07, 2016, 01:04:01 pm »

Card: Encampment/Plunder.  I look forward to buying a plunder and then hiding further plunder by covering it with encampment.  Even if that's not very good.

Event: Tax.  I love playing Embargo in asymmetric games, but Tax could be good even in mirrors.

Landmark: Obelisk.  Basically every time we play with it, it will modify a card we've never seen it modify before.

692

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Empires Rulebook

« on: June 07, 2016, 02:41:04 am »

Oh!  Archive lets you choose the order that you draw the cards.  So you can leave the bad cards out of your deck for longer, and draw the best of three immediately.  Probably not as bad in a draw your deck engine as people are saying.

693

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Question about Donate

« on: June 06, 2016, 09:47:16 pm »

When are the end-game conditions checked relative to Donate (or Mountain Pass)?  Which of these strategies work?

1. I empty 3 piles, and buy Donate.  I trash my deck, getting all the points from Tomb.

2. I buy donate, trash all my Hunting Grounds.  I empty Estates, which are the third pile, ending the game.

These could be winning moves if they work, but I'm guessing that neither works.  The end-game conditions are only checked at the end of each turn.

694

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Empires Rulebook

« on: June 06, 2016, 09:09:20 pm »

OMG

Obelisk/Scout is the Scout combo we've all been waiting for!

Tax is the comeuppance that the first player has long been asking for!

Donate is an alternative to conceding!

695

Dominion: Empires Previews / Re: Empires Previews #2: Split Piles

« on: June 02, 2016, 07:17:39 pm »

I just realized that Gladiator (as well as several other preview cards) showcase the new use of "they" pronouns.  People in my household are pretty hyped about the pronoun change.

696

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Empires speculation

« on: June 02, 2016, 05:25:56 pm »

Oh no, the rule book might appear at any moment and I haven't made enough speculations!

I think there will be a split pile where the top card can trash things from the supply, and the bottom card has an on-trash bonus.  For example:

$2 Action
+2 cards
Trash a kingdom card from the supply.

$4 Action-Victory
Trash a card from your hand.
2 VP
When you trash this, +2 VP.

697

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Rebuild Revolution!

« on: June 01, 2016, 02:29:05 am »

Isn't the most effective way to mill duchies to use rebuild yourself?

698

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Dark Ages: Count

« on: May 24, 2016, 07:17:35 pm »

The way I see it, there are three variants on Chapel in Dominion.  Chapel costs $2, Forge costs $7, and Count costs $5.

Chapel is the version that is extremely underpriced, so that its strength can at least be equal-opportunity.

Forge is the version that is slightly overpriced to make sure nobody gets it for the first few shuffles.  Forge's ability has a slight edge over Chapel so it doesn't feel like you're being ripped off, but I think it would be balanced if it were identical to Chapel.

Count is priced in the mid-range, where players might get access to it in first, second, or third shuffle depending on their luck.  This makes it the hardest to balance.  So as not to make the game unfair, Count's trashing ability is slightly weaker, often thinning by only three cards, and then ending your turn.  But this trashing ability by itself might not be interesting enough to compete with other $5s, so Count can do other stuff too.

699

Dominion Articles / Re: Who's who in Adventures Events?

« on: May 24, 2016, 02:16:21 pm »

I feel like Plan should go in the same category as Pathfinding/Lost Arts/Training/Ferry.  All of these events encourage you to run for a pile, possibly competing with other players.  This is particularly interesting with 3+ players, because you might want to place your token on a suboptimal pile if it means you don't have to compete with the other players.

Early on, I made the mistake of thinking it would be good to place tokens on expensive cards.  Wouldn't Grand Market be brokenly awesome if it were also a lab?  But often you just want to place the token on something cheap and spammable that you can get a lot of.  For instance, Hamlet.

Seaway, well, it won't cause you to run a pile, what do you need all that +Buy for anyway?

700

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Events: Raid

« on: May 23, 2016, 03:52:08 pm »

Silver floods are good at countering junk.  So, if you're playing with junkers without trashers.  Or if you're going for alt-vp, or duchies.  Storyteller and Feodum are special cases because those are just two cards after all.

As far as silver gainers go, Raid feels weak to me.  Early on, it just doesn't get you many silvers.  Later on, it feels like duchy > raid, because aren't you supposed to green early in a silver flood strategy?