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1

Dominion General Discussion / Watchtower + Trail (+ WotM Lurker)

« on: November 07, 2022, 01:38:07 pm »

Not sure if this has been noted already, or if I've missed something which means it doesn't work, but this seems like a fun infinite loop.

When you gain a Trail, if you reveal a Watchtower from your hand to trash the Trail, you can then play Trail twice. Have I got that right?

Now if you're playing with Way of the Mouse, with Lurker set aside, and there's a Trail in the trash and a Watchtower in your hand, you can make an infinite loop, enough to gain every Action card from the Supply, then draw and play them all in a single turn.

I think.

Play a card as Lurker, gaining the Trail (1) from the trash.
React to (1) with Watchtower to trash the Trail (2)
React to (1) with Trail to play the Trail (but it doesn't move into play), as Lurker, gaining the Trail (3) from the trash
React to (3) with Watchtower to trash the Trail (4)
React to (3) with Trail to play the Trail (but it doesn't move into play), as Lurker, gaining the Trail (5) from the trash
React to (5) with Watchtower to trash the Trail (6)
React to (5) with Trail to play the Trail (but it doesn't move into play), as Lurker, gaining the Trail (7) from the trash

etc...

React to (2n-1) with Watchtower to trash the Trail (2n)
React to (2n-1) with Trail to play the Trail (but it doesn't move into play), as Lurker, gaining the Trail (2n+1) from the trash.

So the single Trail has just been gained and trashed lots of times, as many as you like. But the fun bit is that you haven't resolved any of the "when you trash this" triggers of Trail yet.

Now you can react to (2), (4), (6), ... (2n) with Trail to play the Trail n times, where n is as large as you like. First play it as itself enough times to draw your deck, then play it as Lurker twice and itself once, to trash, gain and draw an Action card from the Supply, repeating for each Action card in the Supply.

All the Action cards are in your hand and you have something like 2n Actions so you can play them all.

2

Weekly Design Contest / Weekly Design Contest #154: And another thing...

« on: June 04, 2022, 04:11:43 am »

The contest this week is to design a new Artifact and whatever is needed to bring it into the game.

(I had a quick check and couldn't see an Artifact contest before - if it has already been done let me know.)

Here's the inspiration - Donald X himself thinks he should have come up with more / better ones:

For Renaissance, the Artifacts did not work out so great. Maybe the best move there is to save them for the next set and see if I improve them. ... I like Flag Bearer and Swashbuckler; so, two cards, not really enough, save Artifacts for when I have more.

Clarifications:

• An Artifact is something that only one player can have at a time, unlike States which generally have a copy for each player. Eg "Lost in the Woods" functions as an Artifact even though it is a State.
• You will probably need to design some card(s) or landscape(s) in addition to the Artifact, in order to bring the Artifact into the game. And I am ok with an entry that introduces 2 Artifacts (like Border Guard does). However I would prefer entries to consist of no more than 3 things total (including the Artifact(s)).
• Added 5th June I'll be attempting to judge not just the Artifact but the whole package of the Artifact + whatever cards/landmarks bring it into the game.
  

Until next week, good luck!

3

Variants and Fan Cards / In honour of so much new Dominion content in 2022

« on: May 23, 2022, 10:39:54 am »

Allies, second editions of Seaside and Prosperity, and now...

the fall expansion (fall expansion?)

Here's an Allies-style split pile; 4 copies of each of Allies, Seaside 2E, Prosperity 2E and Fall:



Allies features three Allies themes: Favors, rotating piles and recursion.
Seaside 2E is obviously a duration. It magically updates everyone's cards without you needing to wait for that parcel to arrive in the post.
Prosperity 2E is of course a kingdom Treasure, with +Buy and VP tokens. And it tells you where to put the Trade Route stuff (surely that's going?).
And Fall, well, who knows what that will bring? If you do, you win.

Also, if you play with this pile you will of course need an Ally. How about Donald X himself:

4

Variants and Fan Cards / Fan Mechanics Week #37: The Best Things come in Threes

« on: May 13, 2022, 07:13:26 am »

This week's Fan Mechanics contest uses a new mechanism I've come up with called Trefoils, described here.

Your challenge is to design a Trefoil.

Things that I'll be thinking about in judging include:

• Does it encourage you to make interesting decisions, or prioritise different things from normal?
• How often would it either dominate games or have no impact?
• Are there particular cards or situations which would make it completely broken?
• Does it make sense referring to 3 piles, or might it just as well refer to only 1 pile?
• Thematic flavour.

Contest will close next Friday. Good luck!

Any feedback, questions or comments on the mechanism itself are welcome, either here or in the Trefoils thread. And I reserve the right to tweak the mechanism in response to feedback, but I'll post something clearly if I do!

5

Variants and Fan Cards / Trefoils

« on: May 13, 2022, 06:51:46 am »

A new fan mechanism idea: Trefoils - symbols of three interrelated things.

Trefoils are like Landmarks and they refer to Action cards from 3 Supply piles, randomly selected each game.

Setup: In games using a Trefoil, put trefoil tokens on 3 randomly selected Action Supply piles. (These piles should be selected after any extra piles such as Bane or Ruins have been added to the Supply.)
Do not use more than one Trefoil per game.

Terminology that may be useful for Trefoils to refer to:

• "trefoil pile" - an Action Supply pile with a trefoil token on it.
• "Trefoil card" - any card from a trefoil pile.
• "complete set of Trefoil cards" - three Trefoil cards, one from each trefoil pile.

Note that if a trefoil pile is a split pile, all cards from that pile are Trefoil cards; we should not assume that all Trefoil cards are Action cards.

The colour scheme for Trefoils is pale yellow - R:2 G:1.6 B:1.1
Suggested naming for Trefoils is things that come in threes, or things with three components.

A couple of examples:

Musketeers
When you play a Trefoil card, first each other player with 5 or more cards in hand discards a Trefoil card (or reveals a hand without any).

Three-Legged Race
Trefoil
When you discard a complete set of Trefoil cards from play, take 2VP from here.
----
Setup: Put 6VP here per player.

I'll leave it at just those two examples for now, because I'm using this for Fan Mechanics contest week #37. After that is done, let's add more here. In the meantime, I'd welcome any comments or feedback on this mechanism.

EDIT 13th May: Changed Three-Legged Race (previously you discarded from your hand, which is like Arena but much worse, and I didn't have any limit on the number of times you could get +2VP that way).

6

Variants and Fan Cards / Inspired by Flavor Text

« on: May 11, 2022, 05:35:38 am »

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to invent cards, landscapes or mechanisms which imitate pieces of expansion flavour text.

The flavour texts are funny. "All you ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. And someone who knows how to steer ships using stars." Ok, so I think we need a card called "Tall Ship", maybe in a split pile along with "Star". But they're both pretty useless until you also get "Someone Who Knows How To Steer Ships Using Stars", which might be another card in the split pile, or a Project. Or maybe "Star" should be a Landmark, that might be appropriate.

Let's really go for flavour here, and maybe humour. Or flavor and humor if you prefer. If you end up with a well-balanced card or mechanism that's a bonus.

7

Variants and Fan Cards / Holidays

« on: April 22, 2022, 09:40:53 am »

A new mechanism idea: Holidays. You can go on holiday and take your favourite cards with you!

Once per game you may take a Holiday turn instead of a regular turn. You get to choose which cards are in your deck for your Holiday turn.

The Holiday itself is a landscape with special effects which apply on your Holiday turn. It is like a Landmark or free Project that applies for just one turn.
In the card generator I am using a lovely lilac colour: R 1.2, G 1.1, B 1.5.

Rules:

• Once per game, before the start of your turn, you may choose to take a Holiday turn instead of whatever turn you were going to take (whether it was going to be a regular turn, or an Outpost/Voyage/Possession/Mission etc turn).
• This choice happens after anything that triggers after the previous turn (like determining what type of turn it is) but before anything that triggers at the start of your turn.
• A Holiday turn is the same as whatever turn it is replacing except:
• At the start of your turn, you do the Going on Holiday effect. If other things also trigger at the start of your turn (including any special effects on the Holiday card itself), you choose the order.
• At the end of your turn (after Clean-up), you do the Returning Home effect. If other things also trigger at the end of your turn (including any special effects on the Holiday card itself), you choose the order.
• The special effects on the Holiday card apply.

Going on Holiday effect:

• Put your deck into your discard pile.
• Look through your discard pile and set-aside any number of cards, putting them under the Holiday card.

Returning Home effect:

• Put your hand and deck into your discard pile.
• Take the cards you set aside under the Holiday card and put them into your discard pile.
• Shuffle your discard pile and draw 5 cards.

My thoughts on power level / interest:

A generic holiday with no special effects is already a good thing, and free, so it would probably be used by each player at some point in the game.
I think this is ok - it is only once per game, and the decision of when to take the holiday should always be an interesting one.
The special effects on the holiday should be not too strong; they could even be negative. They should certainly be situational, and increase the interest in when (or if) the holiday should be taken.

Feedback appreciated.
I'll put some example Holidays in the next post.

EDITED 27th April: Changed the "Going on Holiday" effect to leave your current hand untouched. Removed the rule against taking a holiday in your first 2 turns.

8

Variants and Fan Cards / ReAlly?

« on: March 04, 2022, 06:30:02 am »

So these could go in the RBCI thread. But to go in this thread your Ally has to end in "-ally".

EventuAlly: When you play a Lich, you may spend a Favor to replay it. Repeat as desired.

BrutAlly: At the start of Clean-up, you may spend a Favor to gain a Possession from the Supply or the box.

ActuAlly: You may spend a Favor to undo your last decision.

GlobAlly: At the start of your turn, you may spend a Favor to have the number of Actions, Coins and Buys that the player to your right had at the end of their last buy phase.

TAlly: At the start of the game, you may spend a Favor to keep track of your score on your belly with their own blood this game.

9

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Dominion Quardle

« on: February 24, 2022, 04:26:39 am »

Wordle led to Quordle, where there are four words to be guessed.
So Dominion Cardle leads to Dominion Quardle!

Four cards at once? Not quite - a bit more interactive.

• Each player picks a card: In Quordle, there are four words to be identified. Here, there are many cards to be identified - each other player has picked one.
• Choose your own properties for scoring: When you pick a card, you should also choose 5 properties that you will use for scoring. See next post for some suggestions.
• One guess per day: Each day you may guess a card. Then each other player (when they get round to it) will score your guess against their card, using their chosen properties.
• Score-and-guess: Before making a new guess, you must score everyone else's guesses against the card you picked.
• The game rolls on: When someone has identified your card, say well done and pick a new one.

I think it will feel like Quordle, where your guesses are contributing to finding several different words/cards at once. But once it is rolling, there will hopefully always be cards at different stages - some "almost complete" and some fairly new. So in your single guess each day there should be a card that you have a good chance of identifying, which should be quite satisfying I think.

Some clarifications:

• Official cards only, and no landscapes (for now).
• When you pick a card, try to avoid anything anyone has guessed recently.
• When you pick a new card, you can stick with the same scoring properties you used last time, or change them.
• You can score other people's guesses more than once a day if you like (and that might be helpful to get the game started), but you can't make more than one guess per day.
• You can join the game any time. Just announce that you've picked a card, announce your properties for scoring and make a guess to try and identify the other players' cards.

EDIT 16th March 2022: Simplified, modified, rewritten!

10

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Cardle

« on: February 15, 2022, 05:28:33 am »

With the recent popularity in Wordle (Nerdle, Worldle, Birdle), why don't we start playing Cardle?

Specifically, Dominion Cardle.

Pick a Dominion card (let's start with just cards, if it works we can try events, landmarks etc later) and choose 5 attributes of it. Tell everyone what attributes you've chosen, but not what value your card has for each one.

For example, if I pick Smithy, I could pick the following attributes and values:

• Cards (drawing, discarding or topdecking): +3 Cards
• Cost: $4
• Types: Action
• Coins/Coffers: 0
• Effect on other players: None

Then other people try to guess the card. For each guess, you score it against the attributes you chose. Green if it matches, Red if it doesn't, Orange if it's close.

For example, if someone guesses Torturer, I'd say:
Torturer: Cards; Cost; Types; Coins/Coffers; Effect on others

The difference between Red and Orange could be a bit subjective, but just do what you think is best. Maybe for cost I would give an Orange if the cost was 4* or 4P.

The aim is to guess a card which scores green on all five categories. Probably this will be the originally chosen card. If it isn't then reveal the chosen card anyway. Then start the next round!

11

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Codename Select

« on: January 24, 2022, 10:20:22 am »

Here is a new game suggestion for forum play, derived from the Codenames that we all know and love.

It is not playtested, but I'd be thrilled if you're up for trying it out and seeing how it rolls.
Feel free to provide feedback before / during / after the game.

If you're interested, please /in.
It is also possible to join mid-game (crazy, huh?), but I won't start it unless there are a few indications of interest.

The game should work fine without any external moderation, but I intend to sit out for now so I can do any clarifying or moderating if needed. Hopefully it'll work well enough to run again and I can join in

The game description and rules... are in the next post.

12

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Anti-Necro Games II

« on: October 11, 2021, 08:56:09 am »

Let's try another Anti-Necro Game thread.

tl;dr The aim is to have the second-shortest time interval in a sequence of decreasing time intervals, without double-posting.

Here's the formal rule set.

Terminology:
An "Anti-Necro Sequence" is a sequence of three or more consecutive posts in this thread in which:

• the time intervals between successive posts are strictly decreasing, and
• there isn't a pair of consecutive posts by the same player.

A "Game" is an Anti-Necro Sequence which is not a subsequence of a longer Anti-Necro Sequence.
A "Completed Game" is a Game which has a post after it.

Winning:
Each Completed Game is won by the player who made the penultimate post in it.

Clarifications:

• A player may post more than once in the same Game, so long as their posts are not consecutive.
• It is possible for the last post of a Completed Game to also be the first post of the next Game.
• Time intervals are calculated according to forum timestamps (in seconds).
• Games can be easily referred to using the reply# of the first post of the Game; Complete Games can also be referred to using the reply#s of the first and last posts of the Game.

Have fun.

[Edited to clarify clarification 4, and add a Hall of Fame.]
[Edited again to change clarification 4. It seems clarification 4 is confusing.]
[Edited to have another go at clarification 4.]

Hall of fame:
Game 1-3 won by faust
Game 4-6 won by infangthief
Game 7-10 won by MiX
Game 10-12 won by infangthief
Game 12-17 won by faust
Game 17-19 won by MiX
Game 20-22 won by MiX
Game 24-27 won by MiX
Game 30-32 won by MiX
Game 34-38 won by Awaclus
Game 40-43 won by Awaclus
Game 44-48 won by MiX
Game 50-52 won by infangthief

13

Non-Mafia Game Threads / The Anti-Necro Game

« on: October 09, 2021, 03:10:03 am »

The rules:

• The aim is to have the second-shortest necro when the game ends.
• The game ends when someone makes a post which is not the shortest necro so far.
• No double-posting (i.e. two consecutive posts).

14

Rules Questions / New Trader with Black Market

« on: March 15, 2021, 04:25:02 pm »

I've had a look and can't see this clarified anywhere so...

With the new (2020) Trader wording, what happens if you buy a card from the Black Market, gain it and reveal Trader from your hand?

Presumably Trader does nothing here? You gain the card you bought from the Black Market, and can't exchange it for a Silver because it has no pile to go back to?

15

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Self-referential quiz

« on: April 08, 2019, 05:09:44 am »

Here is a quiz a devised a couple of years ago.
I've seen enough references on this site to logic and paradoxes that I think this might go down well with some of you.

There are six questions. The tricky thing is that the questions are about your answers (or, in the case of question 6, about all possible 6-tuples of answers).

There may, or may not, be a way to answer all six questions correctly. The aim is to find a 6-tuple which maximises the number of correct answers.

Each answer must be a decimal integer (in simplest form).

Now for the questions:

1. How many times does the digit ‘1’ occur in your answers?

2. Which question number has your (strictly) lowest answer?

3. What is double the median of your answers?

4. What is the range of your answers?

5. What is the result of subtracting your answer to Q1 from your answer to Q2?

6. How many ways are there of answering all six questions correctly?

Good luck.

16

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Dominion Boggle

« on: January 10, 2019, 05:02:54 am »

What is the smallest grid of letters in which you can find a given set of Dominion items, Boggle style?

Some clarifications:
1. Ignore spaces and punctuation. Eg KINGSCOURT, WILLOWISP etc.
2. Grids are 2-D rectangles of any dimensions.
3. For each item in the set you can start on any grid square.
4. Move between adjacent grid squares horizontally, vertically or diagonally, collecting the letters in order as you go.
5. You cannot use the same grid square more than once in each item.

The challenge is to find the smallest possible grid (by area) for a given set.
Don't use spoilers, just post your grid. Anyone else can attempt to improve on it, or try a different set.

For example I still sometimes play Boggle.

17

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Zendo Questions 2

« on: December 17, 2018, 05:04:00 pm »

Welcome to Zendo Questions 2!

Would you like to play this game? Yes
Is it fun? Yes
Can you join any time? Yes
Can you guess the rule? Yes
Is your guess correct? No

Play on...

This post is mostly copied from mafiascum: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=23946

Those of you familiar with both Twenty Questions and Zendo already know the rules. For everyone else, let me break it down.

• Each round, there is one Oracle and a flock of Petitioners.
• At the beginning of the round, the Oracle invents a secret rule, completely mechanical, based on - and solely on - the exact wording of the questions asked. This rule will, given the exact wording of a question, tell the Oracle to reply either "Yes" or "No". You must be able to answer the same question the same way, regardless of the context of the question. Examples include:
  • Any question with an even number of words, reply "Yes"; otherwise, reply "No".
  • Any question beginning with a consonant, reply "Yes"; otherwise, reply "No".
• Bear in mind that, first, any overly-complicated rule (e.g. "Any question whose SHA-1 hash ends with an even number, say 'No'; otherwise, say 'Yes'") will get you mocked and shunned; second, every rule is more complicated than it initially appears; and third, if you screw up three times, you must concede (and thereby become an object of pity and lose 1d6 points of respect).
• During the round, any Petitioner (i.e. anyone other than the Oracle) may either ask questions, or attempt to guess the rule. Each question asked shall be answered in order by the Oracle, according to the rule. Guesses the Oracle shall deal with in one of exactly two ways:
  • By conceding, and revealing the rule that had been used.
  • By replying with a question whose answer is different under the actual rule than according to the guess.
  • For example: if the rule is "beginning with a consonant = yes" and someone guesses "beginning with a W = yes", the Oracle might say, "Had it the ability, would a woodchuck chuck wood?"
• The Oracle shall include in each post answering questions and responding to guesses a list of all prior questions, answers, guesses, and responses.
• If the Oracle takes longer than 72 hours to answer a question, the Oracle shall forfeit. If no Petitioners have submitted questions or guesses for 96 hours, then any Petitioner may ask the Oracle to reveal the rule and step down.
• The Petitioner who first guesses correctly shall become the next Oracle. If there is no such petitioner (such as after an Oracle is forced to forfeit) [edit: or if said petitioner does not choose a rule within a reasonable timespan], the first poster to so choose may become the next Oracle.

18

Rules Questions / What do Sewers and Tomb do when you trash multiple cards?

« on: September 28, 2018, 03:54:17 am »

I understand that trashing cards is not done one at a time, but all at once.

Eg you play Steward, you choose to trash 2 cards, then you trash them both together, then resolve any abilities that have been triggered.

So, in that Steward example, how many times has 'when you trash a card' been triggered? Once or twice? Does Tomb give you 1VP or 2VP? Does Sewers allow you to trash one or two more cards?

I mean, intuitively, I'm sure the answer ought to be 'twice'. But I feel that may be inconsistent with the rule that you don't trash cards one at a time.

19

Variants and Fan Cards / Ruined cards

« on: June 27, 2018, 05:18:36 am »

I noticed some alternative ruins being suggested in the interview with Donald X thread. Some serious, some humorous.

The ruins are already a bit of a joke, and I think there is more fun to be had:

If you were going to have Ruins that directly played cards rather than giving you +Action, you could have had Ruined Throne Room. "You may play an Action card from your hand once."

Ruined Feast: "Trash this card."
Ruined Cellar: "Discard any number of cards."
Ruined Sauna: "You may play a Ruined Avanto from your hand."
Ruined Avanto: "You may play a Ruined Sauna from your hand."
...

20

Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / High score by the AI

« on: January 03, 2018, 04:05:43 am »

In my experience Lord Rattington does not seem to favour cards which give VP tokens. Also in Colony games he seems to be satisfied with Provinces and rarely builds up to Colonies.

The other day I was impressed to see him reach a score of 85 (5 Colonies, 4 Provinces, 1 Duchy, 5 Estates, 1 Gardens (3pt) I think); rest assured I got 86.

What is the highest score you have seen him achieve?

21

Dominion General Discussion / Anti-Dominion

« on: October 06, 2017, 11:46:39 am »

What about Anti-Dominion? (Game end conditions same as normal, but player with lowest score wins; player with fewest turns wins if scores are tied.)
I'm fairly sure that this just would not work on most boards; maybe opening Remodel/Curse stands a chance of beating Curse/Curse, I'm not sure.

But with the right board, does it have the potential to become interesting? How about this one?

Estates/Provinces
Hamlet, Stonemason, Smugglers, Swindler, Gardens, Messenger, Temple, Worker's Village, Highway, Hunting Grounds
Landmark: Wolf Den

If you like the idea, feel free to suggest strategies for this board, or other 'neat and potentially useful card interactions'.
And I'd recommend you don't try this just before your league game...

22

Feedback / I just became obsolete

« on: September 29, 2017, 10:12:27 am »

The card name associated with my username just changed to 'Chancellor'.

I like the way users get associated with card name people, but maybe it's time to let the 1st edition folk retire.

While we're on the subject, is it a strict hierarchy, I mean at the very top once you've made thousands of posts do you get 'stuck' as the same guy forevermore?

23

Introductions / Hello!

« on: August 02, 2017, 01:44:41 am »

Hello,

I've been perusing the forum and the wiki for maybe a year, and maybe it's high time I joined. I'm fed up of seeing '0 users and 1 guest are reading this' on every topic.

I love Dominion because... well firstly because it seems such a simple, elegant concept: your deck of cards is everything, and you just discard everything at the end of your turn. Seems like it was an idea waiting to be found. (Thanks Donald for finding it!)

But, maybe more importantly, I love the breadth of strategic and tactical considerations. Trashing, shuffle timing, pile control, card interactions.

My friends and family don't want to go so deep into a single game, so it's nice to find an online community and playing site. I find time for about 1 game per day online, a nice pace, allowing time to reflect on what went wrong each time!

See you around.