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26

Dominion FAQ / Re: Dominion Lingo Dictionary

« on: July 12, 2011, 04:40:00 pm »

Some wonderful person over in this thread suggested that Dominion lingo could take some getting used to, and that there were abbreviations etc. used that aren't immediately obvious to the novice coming to our board. 

I'd like to protest: I'm not remotely wonderful.

All I did was put an idea forward, rather than actually do anything to solve the problem myself.

I can only see one thing that is not defined so far: Isotropic.

I'm sure that 99.9% of people here have been on Isotropic first, but there is always one awkward customer who insists on playing the real thing

Isotropic: An online implementation of the game Dominion (and all its various expansions). You can play against other people on the internet (there's no AI) located at http://dominion.isotropic.org/

The definition could be expanded further by explaining that the game has permission from Donald X and uses unofficial art... but it's getting into the realm of unecessary text.

27

Dominion General Discussion / Re: what is a terminal?

« on: July 12, 2011, 01:14:42 am »

It's easy to get lost in the lingo. I think every forum needs a dictionary to explain the commonly used terms.

A 'terminal' is referring to an action card (you may see the phrase 'terminal action').

Basically it is a card that does not give you another action to play. You will also see variations such as 'terminal silver'. An example of this is Chancellor: +$2. You may immediately put your deck into your discard pile.

So this card is a terminal action because it gives no further action points to play but also gives you the equivalent of a Silver.

28

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Jester

« on: July 07, 2011, 06:14:41 am »

I dont know, what you all have against Jester...

Of course it is no Witch or Mountebank, but this is not an argument against Jester!

Most common scenarios in beginning : hitting coppers/estate=strong attack, hitting there action card=very strong (at least against reasonable players).

In midgame you give them silvers etc. We all know, that silver clogs their deck.

I would also say to get a own Jester, cards like Moat are not very useful...

This seems very strange for a Dominion card, to have an attack for which there is no effective counter measure. You can change your buying strategy to neutralise certain cards (even Posession).

I would disagree with most replies, I believe Jester to be a powerful attack card. You either clog up their deck or improve your own and get $2 spending money.

29

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Decline of civility on isotropic?

« on: July 06, 2011, 10:10:21 pm »

I swear, I'm going to start making a list of people who just plain don't talk during a game.  At least acknowledge you're not a damned robot!

Actually spam bots can talk.

I do know exactly what you mean though, sure I can understand you don't want a conversation but some form of "hello" and "goodbye" really isn't much to expect.

But then you have to remind yourself that it's not the end of the world. Insults and agressive behavior are more of a concern, I have not experienced any myself and it sounds like it is a tiny minority on Isotropic.

I think all we can do is keep being as polite as possible and just stay silent when someone starts the trash talk.

30

Dominion General Discussion / Jester

« on: July 06, 2011, 09:44:26 pm »

I would like to ask for suggestions on how to effectively counter Jester.

As far as I can tell the only way to truly defend against it is a Moat.

Any defence that lets you re-order what is on the top of your deck will either present your opponent with a good card that they will discard and then gain a copy of, or gives them a bad card which they will give you a copy of.

Oh and as a bonus it will hand out curses on occasion. But wait, there is more! It also gives you 2 dollars to spend. For a 5 dollar card this seems an absolute bargain.

So when my opponent opens 5/2... what can I do to counter a Jester based deck?

31

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Transmute

« on: July 04, 2011, 05:25:16 pm »

I can see it as a defence against Pirate Ship: Transmute coppers into Transmutes and then Transmute Transmutes into Duchy's and aim to win by depleting Piles. This would require some cheap cards to be available for purchase, however.

It would be useful in the absence of any other way to trash cards; converting your estates into golds early on is win-win.

I suspect the reason it's only bought 30% of the time is because if it's the only potion card in the deck you probably don't want to buy a potion just so you can buy a Transmute. Picking up a "free" transmute with a +buy would be useful during the mid game so you can start converting your action cards into Duchy's.

32

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Opening of the Day #1 (Strategy Discussion)

« on: June 30, 2011, 04:44:57 pm »

I think I overuse alchemist, since I have fun drawing my own deck. Interesting that big money is so much better in this case

This has been educational

I'm also in a phase of learning when to buy money instead of improving my engine. I'm also attempting to learn when to buy nothing from the mid game onwards

33

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Game Selection

« on: June 29, 2011, 04:38:06 pm »

I don't think you should even be able to decline an auto-match.  It shouldn't even show you the cards, it should just put you in the game.  If you then want to quit because you don't like the cards, you should eat the loss.  When you're clicking auto-match, you are basically saying "Instead of choosing my cards and opponent, I want a random game against a random opponent," you shouldn't be going on to say "...except I don't want to play against that guy, or that card, or that card."

I play automatch all the time, and I will play any card set, with anyone that pops up, even if they are unregistered. It's really annoying when I get declined several games in a row. 

Absolutely agree 100%

I keep saying it (and I will say it again) if you don't like that automatch will select a random opponent and a random set of cards then manually select your games or ask in the text box.

We'd all love to see new features for game, with automatch being able to match you to similar level players. Until then just enjoy the feature for what it is.

34

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Game Selection

« on: June 29, 2011, 08:08:56 am »

There are negative levels, but anything lower than 1 won't be displayed to other players.

Don't know whether negative levels are displayed to the user himself. To find out for sure, check the leaderboard (through the isotropic FAQ), the level is obtained by subtracting the standard deviation (plus-minus) from the expected value (first figure).

Levels also change just once per day.

I'm the 1129th Level 0 player.... isn't it going to take me a good long time to achieve level 1?

Level 0 doesn't seem to differentiate between newbie and those with a low to moderate play level.

35

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Game Selection

« on: June 29, 2011, 06:49:15 am »

I played earlier today and was subjected to six auto match rejects in a row (mostly the same 2 players). From my perspective I feel like rejections are on the rise, I have a suspicion it is because I'm a Level 0 and players don't want to waste their time against someone who won't improve their precious ranking.

Seriously, what is the point in using this feature when you dont want a random game against any opponent who has selected an automatch?

Automatch is too useful to give up, especially as it's the only realistic way to start a 3+ player game. (I only use it for 3p and 4p.) But I've had enough bad experiences with level-0 players that I simply will not bother playing in a game where I am the only non-zero player. I apologize for the matches I've declined because of this.

You're on this forum, so you have all the information you need to get off of level 0. Play a few games with the Big Money strategy (buy money and Provinces, add Duchies and Estates as the game gets closer to the end, add a single Smithy if it's an option), and you will certainly get to level 1.

And once you're at level 1, I'll play against you. Seriously. I don't want to be elitist, I just want to have an opponent who at least cares which card he's clicking.

To be honest I have no idea why I'm at level 0 still... I have won several games against higher ranked players and never seem to get above 0.

I'm not disagreeing with the reasons people are giving, but that just means that automatch is not the tool for you.

You can always put requests in your status or use the chat box to ask for a specific type of player or game.

36

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Game Selection

« on: June 28, 2011, 09:37:29 pm »

I played earlier today and was subjected to six auto match rejects in a row (mostly the same 2 players). From my perspective I feel like rejections are on the rise, I have a suspicion it is because I'm a Level 0 and players don't want to waste their time against someone who won't improve their precious ranking.

Seriously, what is the point in using this feature when you dont want a random game against any opponent who has selected an automatch?

37

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Make up your own card?

« on: June 26, 2011, 11:00:01 pm »

I'd say the 2 different types of cards that I believe could be incorporated into Dominion are:

1) Cards that cost more than 1 action to play. You could have cards that cost 2 actions to play or a +buy. The difficulty to play these cards could be balanced out by a low cost to buy them. I'd see them as consipirator type cards; you need chains of cards before you can activate them.

2) Cards that inflict some sort of penalty on the user, perhaps some kind of supernatural pact? The penatlies could either be gaining curses or in terms of harming your next turn (like the opposite of tactician).

38

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Make up your own card?

« on: June 26, 2011, 10:49:35 pm »

Here's a simple one...

Card Name: Beggar
Type: Action
Cost: 2
+1 Coin, +1 Buy
You may gain any card in the trash.

This is a fairly meaningless card, unless there's a trash-for-benefit card in the game, in which case it could be rather powerful.

If you had just swindled or saboteured someone there could be some delicious cards in the trash.

It could also be coupled with Ambassador to replenish the curse piles, or any pile for that matter to reduce the power of a City.

39

Other Games / Re: What other games do you enjoy playing?

« on: June 26, 2011, 08:48:06 pm »

My childhood dalliance into 'unusual' board games (basically, not monopoly etc) began with Hero Quest.

I didn't rediscover my board game passion until my 20's when I played Fury of Dracula at a friends house and later he introduced me to Arkham Horror. I consider both of them to be excellent thematical board games.

Another game I have not seen mentioned yet is Pandemic. It's not my favourite game but it is a relatively short co-op game that is good fun on those occasions when I don't have the 4 hours it takes to play Arkham Horror.

40

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: 2x2 team game

« on: June 26, 2011, 08:21:54 pm »

It sounds like you need some kind of interation between team mates other than not attacking.

I can only think of card specific rules, like Pirate ship tokens being shared. Perhaps you can play an Island for one action in your turn and then your opponent can put something on the Island for one action of their turn (must be the next turn).

I'm sure others can do better...

41

Dominion Isotropic / Re: Decline of civility on isotropic?

« on: June 26, 2011, 06:08:13 am »

People tend to overestimate their opponents' good luck and their own bad luck, and underestimate their opponents' bad luck and their own good luck.

It's very obvious when you draw two clashing terminals, but it's not as obvious when it happens to your opponent, since you only see him play one of them.

I actually go out of my way to acknowledge when I have been lucky.

Luck is a factor in Dominion but in the long run better players win.

42

Dominion Isotropic / Registering to play

« on: June 26, 2011, 04:18:50 am »

Are there any plans to create a way of registering for Isotropic Dominion without having to sign up for either gmail or yahoo?

I realise that it doesn't take forever to get an account with one of these providers but it is still a barrier to players registering.

43

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Wishing Well/Scout Combo

« on: June 23, 2011, 09:44:22 pm »

I don't believe any card is "crappy". Some just have limited uses.

Pearl Diver (Ironically the card under your name as I type this) would like to have a word with you.

I played a game recently where King's Courted Pearl Divers were the only source of +Actions.

They're also sometimes worth picking up as cheap fodder to power Peddlers, Conspirators, and Scrying Pools.

Thief, on the other hand, now that's a crappy card.  Maybe I'd buy one in a set consisting of nothing but Chapel, Thief, and Treasure Kingdom cards.  That's about it.

I'll buy Thief for a Fairgrounds game.  But only if I have to.  Even then, I've put it on an Island.

Sending criminals away to remote islands? I think we shall call this the Australian Fairground Strategy.

44

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Cards we love! (and why)

« on: June 23, 2011, 09:36:31 pm »

I'm finding it hard to name a specific card, but I would say I enjoy cards that give you a dilemma.

Take Council Room, you will draw four cards but also help your opponent(s) in most cases (except when you can follow up with a hand reducing attack of course).

45

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Game Selection

« on: June 23, 2011, 09:08:10 pm »

There are also boards which are simply very high variance.  It's not much fun to lose in a board with Mountebank, KC, Chapel because your opponent went first and started 5/2.

This very thing happened to me today, my opponent had a 5/2 split with Mountebank. But those are your breaks in Dominion. At some stage in the futue it would be lovely to see an interface where I could ask to be matched to a game and there was an option of Yes, No and Negotiate. Negotiate simply meaning "I want a game but I'd like to discuss the deck" - perhaps each player can select a card they would like to change?

But until then I'll just take automatch games as they come with no complaints. It's a tad ungrateful for me to moan and whine about a system that is being provided for FREE and I can manually select my games if I dislike it.

46

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Wishing Well/Scout Combo

« on: June 23, 2011, 08:53:16 pm »

But wishing well isn't a crappy card!

Scout certainly is,

Scout is awesome is decks with action victory cards. Take nobles as an example: it would go into your hands and then you get to choose see which 3 cards you will be drawing. It can also be a good defence against cards that attack the top of your deck.

I don't believe any card is "crappy". Some just have limited uses.

47

Rules Questions / Re: Contraband+Tournament Prizes

« on: June 22, 2011, 04:52:20 pm »

Contraband: When you play this, the player to your left names a card. You can't buy that card this turn.

During tournament games Isotropic brings up extra options to prevent Tournament Prizes from being bought.

Tournament: Each player may reveal a Province from his hand. If you do, discard it and gain a Prize (from the Prize pile) or a Duchy.

Since the prize is gained and not bought, surely this option to name a tournament prize is unecessary or am I missing something?

It seems likely that there's simply one name-a-card algorithm in the program, and Doug used it everywhere. You can meaningfully Wish for a Princess, for example.

The rules do not specify if "name a card" lets you pick the 3 of Clubs or not, and I don't see a situation yet where they have to. In practice I expect most people infer that you must name a Dominion card. Naming a homemade card that says "if you name this you win" doesn't get you anywhere, outside of house ruled games, because Dominion has no such rule.

Yes I did come to this conclusion myself when I had thought about it some more, I'm guessing the same coding for Embargo is used for Contraband and meant for interaction with Black Market.

My initial reaction was "why did they bother to code Tournament prizes for naming with contraband?". This is what happens when you hastily post threads mid game..

48

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Game Selection

« on: June 22, 2011, 04:38:51 pm »

You can decline games with automatch? I guess I'll just keep on not using it then

I play random games, and the only benefit I can see for me in automatch (vs. just proposing to people as they enter the lobby) is if it could force a random game without the possibility of declining it. I really wish there were some way to do that on isotropic, like "we agree to play a randomly drawn game no matter what. now pick the cards." I've never declined an isotropic game based on the cards drawn, and if somebody else declines because of the cards I won't play a different game with them. I'm not interested in playing Dominion with constructed sets--and even if you decline one game in a hundred because you don't like that set, you're simply not playing random games--I'd prefer to learn how to take whatever board comes at me.

If that's not how other folks have fun playing, that's fine for them.

This is how I prefer to play, but I do use automatch because I find it that much easier to find games. In my experience, not that many people are declining auto-match games based on the board. Most people instantly accept and those that decline normally decline every game against me (I think they don't want to play against somebody significantly higher ranked than them). I would love an option that forced an auto-accept, though.

I'd go the other way and say if you sign up for auto match and then decline you have a 30 second "ban" from auto-match (it keeps you signed up but will not give you a new game for 30 seconds). The FAQ states:

No constraints are used for auto-match games, you always get the "default" selection (which is a random set of 10 chosen from all the available cards).

Either you want a random game or you don't.

49

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: What would you like to see in Dominion?

« on: June 22, 2011, 06:08:02 am »

the auto on iso to match me with players who can play fast for multi player games 

Same for me, i wish it could have player's speed preferences

A much easier system to implement would be an optional timer clock per action. I would add in a few "lives" to exceed the timer but it would surely be less coding than a system to track and compare playing speeds?

50

Rules Questions / Contraband+Tournament Prizes

« on: June 22, 2011, 05:00:39 am »

Contraband: When you play this, the player to your left names a card. You can't buy that card this turn.

During tournament games Isotropic brings up extra options to prevent Tournament Prizes from being bought.

Tournament: Each player may reveal a Province from his hand. If you do, discard it and gain a Prize (from the Prize pile) or a Duchy.

Since the prize is gained and not bought, surely this option to name a tournament prize is unecessary or am I missing something?