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.

376

Game Reports / Crazy green set

« on: January 20, 2012, 06:48:11 pm »

Just finished this:

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201201/20/game-20120120-154048-a034664f.html

What an odd set! I figured the best thing would probably just be Island + BM, but one time when I had 5 I figured it couldn't really hurt to pick up a Saboteur since I had no other actions I wanted to play. But then my opponent chose Saboteur as well... and from there it just spiraled into madness. He played Saboteur a total of 16 times throughout the game, sometimes with the help of Golem. Towards the end, I started to get lucky, and his Saboteurs started helping me almost every time he played them... gaining me extra VP with every trash!

I don't think either of us necessarily played optimally, but it was quite an interesting setup!

377

Other Games / Played Kingdom Builder

« on: January 16, 2012, 09:56:14 am »

So I had a chance to play Kingdom Builder this weekend... absolute win! Another great game by Donald X. Like Dominion, you have many different possible setups, each that change the dominate strategies available. I seem to be pretty good at it, because I won both of the games I played, in 4-player games with 2 people who had played before. Definitely one that I want to add to my collection!

378

Help! / Pirate Ship beats double Jack???

« on: January 14, 2012, 09:06:41 pm »

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120113-220158-45765bd3.html

Ok, so my opponent opens Pearl Diver / Pirate Ship (on a 3/4). "Yay, easy victory for me!" I think. 13 turns later, he buys his 4th and final Province to beat me by his Estates.

So what the heck happened here? Did I just get horrible luck, or was Pirate Ship actually strong on this board? I mean, I've seen Pirate Ship be great if you have +Actions, +Buys, and especially Tactician... purchasing 3 or 4 and playing several per turn. But we had none of those thing!

I should mention that I don't know how to play double Jack. I've never seen any articles talking about it specifically, such as when to trash one Jack with the other, etc. But even so...

379

Puzzles and Challenges / Deadly Border Village

« on: January 12, 2012, 03:08:27 pm »

Sarah's back, having finally gotten over King's Courting her Golem.

This time, she's in a game where she's already winning. It's her turn, 2 piles are already gone, and there's only 1 Border Village left. And no, there are no Embargo tokens on Border Village. So of course she buys the final Border Village for the win.

But... suddenly, she finds that she's lost the game! What happened?

 

380

Puzzles and Challenges / Free points!

« on: January 09, 2012, 04:59:20 pm »

I'm not completely sure if this counts as a puzzle, because I have no idea what the answer is, but would like to get people's thoughts... based on the last post in this thread, it seems that taking a free Colony every turn could still lose to an awesome strategy + awesome luck. So...

New house rule: at the start of the game, you are allowed to add between 0 and 4 Provinces to your deck before you start playing (before you shuffle and draw for turn 1 even). Your opponent does not also get this same choice; he is playing by normal rules. What is the optimal play?

My instinct is to say that grabbing 4 Provinces is the right move more often then not. You will lose the equivalent of a few turns, but I think you would make up for it. On the other hand, your opponent could build a strong engine that grabs 4 Provinces + a few Duchies before you've had a chance to build up enough to do much of anything.

Surely it is a board-dependent question. A weak board where BM is better will probably mean you want more Provinces. But maybe only take 2 or 3 instead of 4. A board with mega-turn possibilities, take less. A board with Crossroads, Scout, Island, or Bishop, take all 4!

Does the answer change if your option is for taking Colonies instead?

381

Game Reports / Games where you were SURE you'd lost

« on: January 05, 2012, 01:34:03 pm »

... and then won. I'm sure this has happened to others.

I've had at least few of these... I posted one a while ago under a different topic here.

Last night I had this one: http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120104-212932-8c233dd9.html.

I was absolutely sure that the game was over in his favor. He bought 3 Colonies before I had any, plus far more points from Monument than I did. I chugged along buying points and giving Curses when I could, just waiting for the game to end in my defeat.... and to my surprise, I won by 1 point!

382

Simulation / Request: Trader, Treasure Map

« on: January 03, 2012, 03:12:53 pm »

2 separate requests... In this discussion I brought up the possibility of only using 1 of your buys with a 4/3 opening. Most likely it is never a good idea, but I thought of two possibilities where it might be a slight benefit over taking an extra Silver:

BM + Treasure Maps (Less cards in deck = better chance for Treasure Maps to collide. Also might be hard to buy second Treasure Map).

BP + Trader (You plan to get 6 Silver from Estates; you don't want more than that because Golds will be better).

I'm sure both are pretty weak strategies, but I'm wondering if each strategy is better by opening X/Silver or X/nothing. Could someone add that to a BM simulator? I haven't used the simulator before. Thanks!

383

Game Reports / My first super-mega turn

« on: January 03, 2012, 12:02:41 pm »

I know there's a lot of similar things posted, but I've never come close to pulling off something like this before:

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120102-201224-11db3e85.html

Turn 13, I buy all 8 Colonies and 3 Provinces. I played 2 Pawns that turn for money, which could have been for +buy instead, which would have given me 5 Provinces.

384

Game Reports / Bishop insanity + who would have won?

« on: January 02, 2012, 10:50:43 pm »

So I was disconnected from a great game last night, and it's driving me nuts not knowing how it ends! So 2 purposes to this thread: I wanted to get people's opinions on who would have won, also I wanted to show an insane Bishop turn I had.

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120101-233600-ba33902e.html

Part of turn 17:

Code: [Select]

GendoIkari plays a Bishop.
... getting +$1 and +1 ▼.
... GendoIkari trashes a Bishop and gets +2 ▼.
... RRR trashes nothing.
GendoIkari plays a Bishop.
... getting +$1 and +1 ▼.
... GendoIkari trashes a Bishop and gets +2 ▼.
... RRR trashes nothing.
GendoIkari plays a Bishop.
... getting +$1 and +1 ▼.
... GendoIkari trashes a Bishop and gets +2 ▼.
... RRR trashes nothing.

So I had 35 points from Bishops (across 6 turns only!). I think given the way the game was progressing, I would have been slightly favored to win... but not by much.

385

Game Reports / Ok, I'm proud of this

« on: January 02, 2012, 06:26:50 pm »

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20120101-224124-4afe7ee3.html

Not the game itself; I lost. But, on turn 9, my opponent gets the first Grand Market. I think "Oh no! I don't have enough money for one, or a Smugglers to steal one. And he'll be getting a second, third, etc, quickly, while I'm struggling for my first!" But then it hits me:

Code: [Select]

--- GendoIkari's turn 9 ---
GendoIkari plays an Outpost.
GendoIkari plays a Copper and a Silver.
GendoIkari buys a Smugglers.
... revealing a Watchtower.
... putting the Smugglers on the deck.
(GendoIkari draws: a Copper, a Smugglers, and an Estate.)


--- GendoIkari's extra turn (from Outpost) ---
GendoIkari plays a Smugglers.
... gaining a Grand Market.
(GendoIkari reshuffles.)
(GendoIkari draws: 2 Coppers, a Smugglers, a Silver, and an Estate.)
Even my opponent told me "nice play."

386

Dominion Isotropic / Noooooooooooooooooooo

« on: January 02, 2012, 02:40:49 am »

I just got disconnected in the middle of an awesome and close game. The worst part is, I going to lose serious sleep wondering who would have ended up winning!!! 

387

Help! / Did I HAVE to buy City?

« on: December 31, 2011, 04:36:53 pm »

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111230-155421-6dbf0b40.html

In this game, I thought that because my Apothecaries were running through my deck so well; I would be able to get half of the points before my opponent managed to grab all 10 Cities. Obviously, I was wrong. My question is, should I have been able to take a look at that board and just known that I would have to buy Cities to win? Are Cities always dominate in a Colony game? Or could I have done something else differently? Once my opponent bought a couple Cities, I didn't want to start buying them because I knew he'd be ahead, and I would just help him run out a pile faster.

388

Dominion Isotropic / Messaging system

« on: December 28, 2011, 11:43:22 pm »

How does the messaging work on Iso? I know that while you are in a game, you can talk to the person you are playing and vice-versa. But I randomly see messages from other random players sometimes. How can you send a message to a person that you are not playing with? Can I post something to another specific person in the lobby, or to the public? Thanks.

389

Game Reports / Non-stop Goons

« on: December 28, 2011, 11:38:20 pm »

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/28/game-20111228-202847-19f34a3d.html

Turn 9 I play a Scheme and a Goons. From that turn on, all the way until the game ends on turn 24, I play that same Goons each and every turn, no exception. In the middle I really thought I was going to lose, as my opponent bought up 8 Grand Markets and a Platinum, while I had very little economy. However, with his 3 card hands every turn, he had troubles getting much, so my 1 VP chip per turn proved enough. I think he could have beaten me by buying Duchies/Dukes.

390

Dominion General Discussion / Woodcutter vs Nomad Camp

« on: December 22, 2011, 12:42:33 pm »

So, on a board that has both of these cards, when do you purchase a Woodcutter with $4 to spend? I think this is more general discussion than puzzle, because I don't think there's a specific correct answer here. But I'm willing to bet there are cases where Woodcutter is the stronger buy.

391

Puzzles and Challenges / Most money in your deck on your first turn

« on: December 21, 2011, 11:52:55 am »

So what's the most amount of money you can get into your deck by the time you start your first turn? Allow any number of players. I think I have the answer.

Similarly, what is the largest deck you can have by the time you start your first turn?

392

Dominion General Discussion / Farmland vs Silver

« on: December 19, 2011, 01:00:37 pm »

So why is Farmland better than Silver? Everyone has talked about how you can Farmland a Farmland into a Province. That requires having $6 to spend, plus a Farmland in hand. Well, if you had $6 to spend, plus a Silver in hand, you'd have a Province anyway. The only difference is you have an extra card for an extra 2 points. I feel like if you never use Farmland for anything other than Farmland to Province, you'd be better off with a Silver.

Of course, the first Farmland you buy can't be used for that, so you should get some benefit from that first Farmland purchase. Anyway, here's a sample game where I dominated with Farmland:

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111218-125055-2425fe2e.html

A couple notes:

• Crossroads is great with Farmland.
• On turn 14, I buy 2 Farmlands to turn 2 other Farmlands into 2 Provinces. But again, if each of those Farmlands had been Silver, I could have bought 2 Provinces.
• I used Farmlands to trash my Estates also. There was no cost 4 on the boards, which helped.
• On turn 10, I bought Farmland and trashed an Estate, assuming that I gained nothing, because there were no cost 4 cards. I was very confused when later in the game I had a Peddler in my hand. Because I had played exactly 2 actions, Peddler had cost $4.

I'm sure this game isn't typical because of all the Ghost Ships. But in general, what makes Farmland better than Silver? Not to mention the fact that you could be buying Gold instead.

393

Variants and Fan Cards / Thought experiment: No treasure

« on: December 19, 2011, 10:15:30 am »

So treasure cards are almost exactly like action cards, except you play them during the buy phase. They take up a card slot in your hand, but don't take up an action. So, what if all treasure cards were just regular action cards, and "buy phase" was just the phase when you buy a card, nothing else?

Also, let's say that cards that reference treasure cards (Bank, Loan, Mine, Mint, etc) still work the same... perhaps the new treasure actions have a subtype treasure... this subtype doesn't change anything, but it allows other cards to reference them.

Copper: +1 action, +1 $
Silver: +1 action, +2 $
Gold: +1 action, +3 $

So what would be different? Just a few things off the top of my head:

• Tactician would be way more powerful.
• Terminal card drawers in general would be pretty bad.
• Adventurer would be worse.
• Mandarin would be more powerful... basically all the tricks that you could only do with Black Market can be done always now.
• Conspirator would be brokenly awesome.
• Shanty Town would be worse.
• King's Court and Throne room would be insane.

What else would become great? What else would become crap?

394

Dominion General Discussion / Ignoring actions

« on: December 15, 2011, 04:13:25 pm »

So we all know that BMU is a pretty strong baseline strategy, but also that it won't generally win against good players playing either a good engine, or a good enhanced BMU strategy. Recently I had this game:

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111213-150818-7f3694c0.html

Because I opened with 5, I bought Venture / Embargo, but other than that I played almost pure big money. Only exception was when I bought a Nobels at one point to add a little card-draw when I thought I had more than enough Gold.

So I'm wondering, are there Kingdoms out there for which BMU is the predominant strategy (Never buy any single Kingdom card throughout the game), or is there always at least 1 card that will at least slightly improve on BMU? What would such a Kingdom look like?

As a somewhat obvious note, this Kingdom couldn't have a single $3 or $4 or $5 card that is strictly superior to Silver. So basically not a single terminal Silver + bonus card.

395

General Discussion / Man, this forum is changing my speech patterns.

« on: December 13, 2011, 03:44:28 pm »

I've been finding myself typing "man," a lot before I say stuff online now. I'm quite sure it's because of reading so many of Donald's posts and his use of the phrase.

396

Dominion General Discussion / When to buy Explorer

« on: December 13, 2011, 12:25:22 pm »

Looking for answers other than "never." I don't remember every buying this card, though Council Room says I did 3 times. I don't know if I trust that, because it also says I bought each of the prizes 2.08 times... and you can't ever buy prizes.

So, under what circumstance is this card worth it? Gardens possibly?

397

Variants and Fan Cards / Thought experiment: Curses

« on: December 12, 2011, 03:21:09 pm »

This thread: http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=1156.0 got me thinking. What if the rule were that when you purchase a curse, you can place it into your opponent's discard pile? What does this do to strategy? Obviously +buy cards become way stronger. But when you don't have +buy, when is this the right move? My guess is that if you have $3 or more to spend, it is almost never a good idea to buy a curse. Compare it to Sea Hag (by itself)... give your opponent a curse, do nothing else with your action phase. Buying a curse is give your opponent a curse, skip your entire turn.

I think cards like Witch would still be good. Draw cards, give your opponents a curse, still have your buy available!

Of course, this also makes for targeted attacks when playing with more than 2 people.

Thoughts?

Also, how would I put the link above such that the words "this thread" are the link?

398

Game Reports / In which I use Chapel to trash 2 Provinces

« on: December 09, 2011, 04:10:29 pm »

http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111208-164248-c5f8b0eb.html

I want to know what people think about my turn 16 here. I think my opponent made a big mistake by going Pirate Ship on this board, but once he did, I had a great thing going where I was getting 8 money every turn, but in a very small deck. This meant that I knew I would start drawing those Provinces instead of my 8 money, so I figured I would just trash a couple, and easily collect the rest.

I got a little worried when he immediately responded by buying a Province; I thought his deck would be incapable of doing that. Also, I had 3 Provinces in my hand along with that Chapel, so I could have actually trashed all 3. So did I make the right move here? It obviously worked, but would you ever see yourself doing something similar in a game?

399

Feedback / Feature request: Respect info

« on: December 08, 2011, 02:59:51 pm »

It would be nice if there were a way to see which posts of yours have been voted up. I can't help but be curious which things I've said that people have up-voted!

400

Puzzles and Challenges / Largest possible starting hand / unlimited Tacticians.

« on: December 08, 2011, 01:36:44 pm »

So we all know now how you can successfully play 2 Tacticians in a turn so that next turn you'll get +10 cards, +2 actions, and +2 buys. So, can you find a way to play 3? And then, what's the most you can play on one turn? Can you play all 10, for +50 cards, + 10 actions, and + 10 buys on your next turn?

Part 2:

Perhaps drawing 50 cards just isn't enough, so lets play other durations to add to it. What is the most number of cards you can start your turn with (after you draw from durations)?

A) Solitaire game
B) With help from opponents