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26

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Dominion: Empires Announced!

« on: May 04, 2016, 04:54:58 pm »

"Someone dropped his, her, their, nir, or xir glasses" just sounds like you're taking the piss. "A pair of glasses have been dropped (by someone)"?

27

Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / Re: Creating Dominion

« on: May 04, 2016, 08:30:14 am »

Tl;dr: What MF did was overcharge for a service that might only last a year. Not illegal.

28

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Early Adventures Impressions

« on: May 04, 2016, 08:27:45 am »

4/3 openings on a chapel and travelling fair deck are neat. Chapel before the first shuffle is a treat.

29

Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / Re: Creating Dominion

« on: May 04, 2016, 07:38:34 am »

Please, stop with these legal arguments. There's no point, because the clause means nothing until it's used, and only then can it be said to be fair or unfair.

The rights are reserved for the case of losing money from a product or service and no longer wanting to offer it, or being no longer legally capable. If a company used it to turn off a profitable service, their customers would have a reasonable case against the company, since the clause means nothing once it's applied unfairly. These clauses exist so that the firm can pull the plug on unprofitable services.

The legal case that would surround an unprofitable company turning off a product is zero - unless they've made false presentation when selling a product. Namely, they knew they were going to cease the product and didn't inform customers a reasonable time after they knew. (Say they knew in January their product would cease in June, but didn't tell people until May).

The legal case against a company which is making money from a product that ceases a product would vary on the why. If they're receiving expensive legal action against them for copyright, that'd be acceptable. If their contract is up, it becomes about false presentation. If they've shut it down for no reason, they'd have to demonstrate that it's reasonable to have shut it down over keep the servers running and mothballing the staffing of the product (maybe by removing moderated features, and having a disclaimer that the product was no longer being maintained) - and, again they have to demonstrate they let customers know a reasonable time after they did.

Contract law has rules of fair play. I am 90% certain the above holds for English law, it's been a while since I've touched this kind of law, though. What someone does has to be reasonable, and on a whim ending of services isn't reasonable.

If you want an example of how a real world terminating of services might look, basically look at what happened when gamespy shut down.

And the only thing that MF has possibly done is in their selling of the product, but even then I don't feel that they've made false presentation about it.

30

Goko Dominion Online / Re: What I've learnt from Adventures online...

« on: May 03, 2016, 05:54:25 pm »

The main thing I've learned is: guide synergises with everything.

Miser, ratcatcher, key cards without a village, thin deck of 7/8 cards, a large deck which needs lots of cycling, the travellers, an engine which needs two opening cards in collision, when greening, when building, and opponent discard attacks (particularly ghost ship)
The only thing it doesn't synergise with is itself, because you need other cards. But my god is that card fun.

Also fun: transmogrifying peddlers, treasure trove.

31

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Port

« on: May 03, 2016, 09:41:16 am »

I do. It gives me time to do things between moves.

32

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Adventures Cards: Port

« on: May 03, 2016, 07:34:13 am »

The super annoying thing is that because people are so excited by them, you need to spend a couple of early buys before you need them before you're stuck with only 2.

33

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Alchemy Cards: Scrying Pool

« on: April 28, 2016, 08:26:07 am »

This is one of the single most un-fun Dominion cards for me.

My criticisms are:
 - it's way too cheap (2P is about 4.5, is this card really worse than a 5? Is it really worse than familiar?);
 - it's slow;
 - it dominates games;
 - the attack.

The slowness is the worst. The domination of games is really bad, but maybe it only feels so bad because of the slowness, as that's my main criticism of Goons - it turns games into a boring slog. Even so, this card has more nuance than goons. It encourages people to buy cards like spy and pearl diver than never see much use. Downside: these cards are often the slow ones.

It's the only card that I have removed from my randomiser pile.

34

Dominion General Discussion / Re: When did you start playing Dominion

« on: April 27, 2016, 02:35:28 pm »

I got invited on a date, he was a bit of a dork, he brought it with him, I fell in love with the wrong thing.

(This is the better story, but I'm torn as to whether he showed me isotropic first)

35

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Alchemy Cards: Philosopher's Stone

« on: April 26, 2016, 01:39:29 am »

We use dice to count the deck and discard size during philosopher stone games. A few 20 sided dice work a treat. Other things which could speed up the process:

 - An abacus
 - A good memory
 - Playing online
 - Not using it

Adventures synergy? What adventures synergy? Reserve cards are actively bad for a card that counts those in deck.

36

Dominion General Discussion / Re: When do you not go for Familiar/witch/sea hag

« on: April 24, 2016, 11:49:20 am »

Here's one I can never tell: on which boards is torturer better than witch? Torturer is clearly a better big money card, but a worse curser. (Not least the curse goes in hand)

So?

37

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's discuss Alchemy cards: Apothecary

« on: April 21, 2016, 05:29:14 am »

One problem I run into is what to do on the early hands without a potion or the later hands where I miss $8.  Is it a good idea to add other good cantrips (say, Caravan or Ironmonger) to an Apothecary deck, or do they clog it up too much?

Simply, yes. Ironmonger is the perfect card to add since after the play of an apothecary you can discard your victory card and draw a second card. Ironmonger is best when you have deck sorting abilities. Herald is another good addition.

Caravan is okay, it's no better than normal. Maybe worse? (Thinking out loud:)
You leave behind a silt of estates on top of your deck. Your next hand has three estates and a copper and a wishing well (benefits from top decking), adding a card due to caravan to a disappointing hand is going to do little, if you get a key card (say goons) you could be left disappointed with a lacklustre 3/4 buy. Every Soften it'll kick start an engine, but you'd need a few to ensure that, and that might cause a troubled turn just as easily. And another wishing well would be way more useful.
Is it the worst? No, but I'd be stretched to pick it first if other cantrips were around. Cellar might even be more useful.

It is rare that apothecary is the backbone of an engine, but it's a great enabler. Apothecaries without enabling choke up without assistance.

38

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Dominion: Empires Announced!

« on: April 21, 2016, 02:21:44 am »

I have my email alert set up so I can order it when it arrives. All I need now is someone to blackmail into playing with me.

39

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Really bad card ideas

« on: April 18, 2016, 10:11:05 pm »

Scholarship Fund Event $2

+1 Buy
Trash a Treasure you have in play. Gain a Treasure costing up to $3 more than the trashed Treasure, putting it on top of your deck.
--------------------

When this is in the kingdom, you may not trash any Action cards that have the word 'Treasure' in their card text.

(Because a Mine is a terrible thing to waste).

I've thought about this idea a lot. It's not a terrible idea, except for its price and its weird you can't trash condition (banning treasures makes more sense)

40

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Cards you forget exist

« on: April 17, 2016, 02:40:37 am »

Cartographer is well priced at 5. It can certainly be a better buy than lab, but not always. Crudely, it's a good buy when your median card value is lower than your mean. Which is most of the game, and that's not including the value you get from ordering cards. Cartographer also works well with mine,

41

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Scout in Intrigue

« on: April 15, 2016, 10:13:54 am »

Slogs benefit most from scouts. I don't think I've bought it except in a duke/duchy slog.

42

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Base Set Cards: Mine

« on: April 12, 2016, 06:01:56 pm »

From the new set, only guide and story teller jump out as new enablers. Guide is certainly good for cycling, and mine and storyteller seem made for each other. Storytelling gets better with better treasures, mine gets better with better cycling.

I think CoTR isn't an enabler, but certainly a temptress. I can't see it being valid often though, In engine boards where there's no readily available +1 buy, this could help win the village split, but engines need +1 buy though - so perhaps boards where buy comes the form of travelling fair, a city, or from a teacher.

43

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What does everyone think is the best village 2.0

« on: April 08, 2016, 01:39:26 pm »

1,12,21,29

44

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Base Set Cards: Laboratory

« on: April 08, 2016, 01:36:19 pm »

Labs also teach you "just because you can draw your deck every turn doesn't mean it'll win". They're nice, they cycle the deck fast. They work in most engines. But they still need some payload.

Advantage: they don't penalise players for buying too many (just opportunity cost)

It has the usual caveats of drawing cards versus discard attacks (and ghost ship by similar argument) of having no idea what you could be drawing. But then, that's the same for any drawer, so.

45

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Favorite basic treasure bracket

« on: April 08, 2016, 08:26:06 am »

14

Like you start with 7, they must be good.

46

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Favorite Alt-VP Bracket

« on: April 08, 2016, 02:09:40 am »

1. Goons
16. Great Hall - Goons dominate too many games - they go on forever.

3. Bishop
14. Harem

5. Duke
12. Tunnel - interesting reaction

7. Nobles
10. Silk Road

8. Fairgrounds
9. Gardens

6. Distant Lands
11. Island

4. Vineyard
13. Feodum

2. Monument
15. Farmland

47

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What does everyone think is the best village 2.0

« on: April 08, 2016, 02:03:29 am »

Crossroads
Plaza
Squire
Fishing Village
Shanty Town
Wandering minstrel
Border Village
CoTR

In response to above post CotR also allows for 3 terminals, though not only 3.

48

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What does everyone think is the best village 2.0

« on: April 06, 2016, 10:38:46 am »

I put the other cards in a rough order for a vote on favorite, rather than most powerful, man we have Qvist's polls for power level, just look at what order they ended up in if you want. Anyway favorite is more interesting to me so there you go.

I went for Donald's explanation. On the basis that his description seems legit.

49

Dominion General Discussion / Re: What does everyone think is the best village 2.0

« on: April 06, 2016, 09:00:44 am »

1 King's Court
2 Walled Village

3 Crossroads
4 Mining Village

5 Herald
6 Farming Village

7 Hamlet
8 Plaza

9 Royal Carriage
10 Village

11 Throne Room
12 Squire

13 Fortress
14 Festival

15 Fishing Village
16 Port

17 Procession
18 Shanty Town

19 Ironmonger
20 University

21 Wandering Minstrel
22 Bandit Camp

23 Inn
24 Lost City

25 Border Village
26 Bazaar

27 Golem
28 Nobles

29 City
30 Worker's Village

31 Native Village
32 Coin of the Realm

Match 1 (KC v Walled Village): More fun.
Match 2 (Crossroads v Mining Village): More fun
Match 3 (Herald v Farming Village: Herald is enjoyable when it hits, but man I hate the swinginess. Farming village is great.
Match 4 (Hamlet v Plaza: Easy choice for me.
Match 5 (Royal Carriage v Village): We state this without further justification.
Match 6 (Throne Room v Squire): Fun
Match 7 (Fortress v Festival): Festival is sweet.
Match 8 (Fishing Village v Port): Port is fun, FV is better.
Match 9 (Procession v Shanty Town): I like the idea of a draw that only occurs when a card is useless.
Match 10 (Ironmonger v University): University is a wonderful oxymoron, best in games without potions.
Match 11 (Wandering Minstrel v Bandit Camp): No justification.
Match 12 (Inn v Lost City): I like the village that can help drawing the deck. It's fun. The Inn I find strangely frustrating.
Match 13 (Border Village v Bazaar): Border Village allows you to ramp up an engine. I like Bazaar in games with new people, as it's a village that provides more than the 40 actions the new player can never use.
Match 14 (Golem v Nobles): Golem's are fun, Nobles are also fun.
Match 15 (City v Worker's Village): It's always enjoyable watching people try and empty the second pile after a 7-3 split with no assistance from you as you get ready to green.
Match 16 (CoTR v Native Village): I love Native Village, despite its swing - I love feeling like being like "The natives stole a province *shrugs*" then a turn later being angry they kidnapped a smithy. But I played a game with CoTR last week and it was pretty sweet.

Favourite is interesting. Strongest would certainly result in different answers, and less exciting ones.

50

Let's Discuss ... / Re: Let's Discuss Base Set Cards: Feast

« on: April 06, 2016, 08:33:08 am »

That's an interesting reason to open Feast, I think I would consider it in that scenario. But again, I could have Silver/Militia in my deck instead of Silver/Feast.

I think usually you are correct, with the presence of villages, you would certainly be. When there are no villages (or only expensive villages), it's felt like the correct play. I think the necessity of doing this as player 1 is low. You have a 100% chance of an unhindered first hand, and a 50% chance of an unhindered second. In position 2 (or the dreaded multiplayer) you have an 80% chance of one of them being hindered.