26
Simulation / Re: Is this a viable Strategy?
« on: December 04, 2011, 02:00:20 pm »
Nifty. It really calls to the inner Johnny in me (MTG terminology, sorry).
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27
Game Reports / Pirate Ship? Justr try to pillage my deck! :P
« on: December 03, 2011, 03:37:12 pm »
A couple interesting items came up in my game just now. Thought I'd share.
This was a Colony game, with Pirate Ship. Both my opponent and I bought ourselves some Pirates ... but mine were much more effective (early on due to luck, later on due to no treasure in my deck). This opened up a very cool strategy for me in the end, thanks to Native Village and Bishop.
Game record http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/03/game-20111203-122410-76ecd7d7.html
Long story short, I bought all 8 colonies and finished the game with 5 cards in hand: Native Village, Bishop, Pirate Ship (10 coin tokens), Colony, Colony.
This was a Colony game, with Pirate Ship. Both my opponent and I bought ourselves some Pirates ... but mine were much more effective (early on due to luck, later on due to no treasure in my deck). This opened up a very cool strategy for me in the end, thanks to Native Village and Bishop.
Game record http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201112/03/game-20111203-122410-76ecd7d7.html
Long story short, I bought all 8 colonies and finished the game with 5 cards in hand: Native Village, Bishop, Pirate Ship (10 coin tokens), Colony, Colony.
28
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Analyzing a board
« on: December 01, 2011, 03:17:27 pm »
As another player just getting the hang of strategy, there's one other aspect of board analysis that seems to be missing here, that has hurt me a number of times ... if you've identified a strategy or combo to play, before you buy, take one last look at the kingdom looking for cards that counter your strategy.
A recent Duke/Duchy game I tried to play, not realizing that Swindlers was on the board (which can pretty effectively thrash a Duke/Duchy strategy all on its own): http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111130-214052-591ba2d1.html
Note that I'm still not a great player, so I was likely on my way to losing anyways, but just illustrating one more aspect of board analysis that I think I'm going to have to pay attention to more myself.
A recent Duke/Duchy game I tried to play, not realizing that Swindlers was on the board (which can pretty effectively thrash a Duke/Duchy strategy all on its own): http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111130-214052-591ba2d1.html
Note that I'm still not a great player, so I was likely on my way to losing anyways, but just illustrating one more aspect of board analysis that I think I'm going to have to pay attention to more myself.
29
Game Reports / Re: Fun with IGG
« on: November 29, 2011, 11:41:01 pm »
Well, I'm not exactly a top player, but IGG just worked for me:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201111/29/game-20111129-203754-09412445.html
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201111/29/game-20111129-203754-09412445.html
30
Game Reports / A Bridge Too Far ...
« on: November 28, 2011, 06:38:48 pm »
I probably should have posted numerous Games already, as I'm trying to improve, but I don't want to spam this board endlessly. I already play this game too much.
Anyways, here is a recently played game. I won, but all advice is welcome; I'm sure my play will make stronger players cringe. Instead, I was thinking about asking how my opponent could have played to take this game away from me.
Game Log here: http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111127-222532-58abe632.html
Some questions ...
Opening - Was Potion a decent opening buy for this game?
Turns 7/8 - Should I have used one of these buys to pick up my Margrave? I was concentrating on getting more buying power, since the Golem was frustratingly slow to come ...
Turn 12 - Was this purchase a mistake? I could have started on the Provinces instead, but I thought I might need a couple more targets for my Golems
Turn 13 - Opposite question from Turn 12. Is this too early to get into the provinces?
Turns 14/16 - Was my spamming the Conspirators a good idea? I thought it might be good to have a Three-Pile end option, and the Conspirators seem to work very well with Golem. I also thought maybe a couple WW might be useful, though I never did get anything extra off them.
(Extra) Turns 17+ - Any comments on my Endgame play?
===============================================================================================
This ain't no top-player game, but here's my own analysis. You can skip it if you're not interested, but if you do read it, please correct any of the thoughts I've put down here. I found that going through the game like this helped me decide what I wanted to ask.
Bridge, Conspirator, Golem, Margrave, Merchant Ship, Nobles, Outpost, Potion, Salvager, Scout, and Wishing Well
My Opening: Silver/Potion
My Opponent's Opening: Silver/Bridge
Opponent plays first.
With the opening buys, I'm pretty sure my opponent is going to try and build some sort of multi-Bridge engine. When I considered that myself, I thought it would be pretty hard to do since the only village effect available was the Nobles (if you don't count the Golem). I want the Golem, which is more versatile in my opinion. In addition, I can buy a couple of bridges later Golem can activate them for me. I thought this would be a better strategy, especially since I think there's a better way to get multiple buys on the board: Margrave. (Side Note: To be honest, I missed the fact that Salvager was there. That might be a better opening, but I don't know ...)
So, my plan was to go for the Golem and Margrave, maybe picking up a Bridge along the way.
(I discovered the TABLE tag after doing all the manual formatting; something to remember for the future)
Having to wait until turn 9 to get my first Golem was a bit painful. I couldn't even afford a Margrave until Turn 7, but by then I opted to continue with Big Money until I could get the first Golem. I figured the one Bridge would be enough of a hit for now in case I drew the Golem early.
As for Turns 7 and 8, I had enough to purchase Gold, so I skipped the Margrave purchase for now. The +3 Cards and +1 Buy are only useful if I have enough Treasure to make my buys worthwhile.
On to my opponent's buys ...
Deck Problem:
Opponent purchases almost exclusively Action cards, and only Nobles can make them work together, which isn't always useful. As early as Turn 7 and Turn 8, my opponent had unused actions in hand (a Bridge on both turns, dead in the hand). Part of the problem is too few Treasures, as both these turns were with hands containing only $2 worth of Treasure.
Lesson:
Money is king. If there's not enough in your deck (or you can't get to it fast enough), your opponent will be at an advantage. Even in this Kingdom, where many of my opponent's cards are effectively Silvers (+$2), being able to play only 1 or 2 of these at a time is not as effective as being able to lay out all your treasure.
I think the Nobles my opponent purchased on Turn 3 was a mistake. With $6 on Turn 3, a Gold would have been good for my opponent. If my opponent had bought the Gold instead, his/her hand on Turn 6 could have been: 2x Bridge, Gold, Silver, Estate. Even though the Bridges have collided, it doesn't affect the purchasing power. My opponent could still buy a Nobles (or another Gold), and would not have been slowed at all.
On with the game:
My deck is finally off the ground, and I begin to go green, as I asked above:
1) Is it too early to start going for Provinces? If so, why? or;
2) Should I have begun a turn earlier instead of picking up a couple more targets for my Golem?
As for my opponent, all of his/her numerous actions are still making it hard to keep buying. There will be a lot of catching up to do, and not enough time to do it. A couple of early Gold buys would have made the game much easier on him.
The rest of the game is pretty much endgame. I wonder whether my multiple Conspirator buys in the late game were a good idea or not (as asked above).
New players, let me know if
I already play this game too much.Anyways, here is a recently played game. I won, but all advice is welcome; I'm sure my play will make stronger players cringe. Instead, I was thinking about asking how my opponent could have played to take this game away from me.
Game Log here: http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111127-222532-58abe632.html
Some questions ...
Opening - Was Potion a decent opening buy for this game?
Turns 7/8 - Should I have used one of these buys to pick up my Margrave? I was concentrating on getting more buying power, since the Golem was frustratingly slow to come ...
Turn 12 - Was this purchase a mistake? I could have started on the Provinces instead, but I thought I might need a couple more targets for my Golems
Turn 13 - Opposite question from Turn 12. Is this too early to get into the provinces?
Turns 14/16 - Was my spamming the Conspirators a good idea? I thought it might be good to have a Three-Pile end option, and the Conspirators seem to work very well with Golem. I also thought maybe a couple WW might be useful, though I never did get anything extra off them.
(Extra) Turns 17+ - Any comments on my Endgame play?
===============================================================================================
This ain't no top-player game, but here's my own analysis. You can skip it if you're not interested, but if you do read it, please correct any of the thoughts I've put down here. I found that going through the game like this helped me decide what I wanted to ask.
Bridge, Conspirator, Golem, Margrave, Merchant Ship, Nobles, Outpost, Potion, Salvager, Scout, and Wishing Well
My Opening: Silver/Potion
My Opponent's Opening: Silver/Bridge
Opponent plays first.
With the opening buys, I'm pretty sure my opponent is going to try and build some sort of multi-Bridge engine. When I considered that myself, I thought it would be pretty hard to do since the only village effect available was the Nobles (if you don't count the Golem). I want the Golem, which is more versatile in my opinion. In addition, I can buy a couple of bridges later Golem can activate them for me. I thought this would be a better strategy, especially since I think there's a better way to get multiple buys on the board: Margrave. (Side Note: To be honest, I missed the fact that Salvager was there. That might be a better opening, but I don't know ...)
So, my plan was to go for the Golem and Margrave, maybe picking up a Bridge along the way.
(I discovered the TABLE tag after doing all the manual formatting; something to remember for the future)
Code: [Select]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
loraleigh Marcus316
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 3 | Bridge | $3P -> Silver
| $5 -> Nobles |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 4 | $4 -> Bridge (shuffle) | $4 -> Bridge (shuffle)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 5 | $3 -> Silver | $3P -> Silver
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 6 | Nobles (2 Actions) | $3 -> Silver (shuffle)
| Bridge |
| Bridge |
| $5 -> Nobles (shuffle) |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 7 | $4 -> Conspirator | Bridge
| | $6 -> Gold
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 8 | Nobles (3 Cards) | $6 -> Gold
| $5 -> Merchant Ship (shuffle) |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 9 | Conspirator | $4P -> Golem (shuffle)
| $4 -> Salvager |
Having to wait until turn 9 to get my first Golem was a bit painful. I couldn't even afford a Margrave until Turn 7, but by then I opted to continue with Big Money until I could get the first Golem. I figured the one Bridge would be enough of a hit for now in case I drew the Golem early.
As for Turns 7 and 8, I had enough to purchase Gold, so I skipped the Margrave purchase for now. The +3 Cards and +1 Buy are only useful if I have enough Treasure to make my buys worthwhile.
On to my opponent's buys ...
Deck Problem:
Opponent purchases almost exclusively Action cards, and only Nobles can make them work together, which isn't always useful. As early as Turn 7 and Turn 8, my opponent had unused actions in hand (a Bridge on both turns, dead in the hand). Part of the problem is too few Treasures, as both these turns were with hands containing only $2 worth of Treasure.
Lesson:
Money is king. If there's not enough in your deck (or you can't get to it fast enough), your opponent will be at an advantage. Even in this Kingdom, where many of my opponent's cards are effectively Silvers (+$2), being able to play only 1 or 2 of these at a time is not as effective as being able to lay out all your treasure.
I think the Nobles my opponent purchased on Turn 3 was a mistake. With $6 on Turn 3, a Gold would have been good for my opponent. If my opponent had bought the Gold instead, his/her hand on Turn 6 could have been: 2x Bridge, Gold, Silver, Estate. Even though the Bridges have collided, it doesn't affect the purchasing power. My opponent could still buy a Nobles (or another Gold), and would not have been slowed at all.
On with the game:
Code: [Select]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
loraleigh Marcus316
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 10 | Nobles (3 Cards) | $5 -> Margrave
| $6 -> Nobles |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 11 | Nobles (3 Cards) (shuffle) | $5P -> Golem
| $6 -> Nobles |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 12 | Bridge | (shuffle) Golem (Bridge, Margrave)
| $4 -> Potion | $8P -> Nobles, Bridge (shuffle)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 13 | Nobles (2 Actions) | $9 -> Province
| Nobles (3 Cards) |
| Merchant Ship |
| $3 -> Silver |My deck is finally off the ground, and I begin to go green, as I asked above:
1) Is it too early to start going for Provinces? If so, why? or;
2) Should I have begun a turn earlier instead of picking up a couple more targets for my Golem?
As for my opponent, all of his/her numerous actions are still making it hard to keep buying. There will be a lot of catching up to do, and not enough time to do it. A couple of early Gold buys would have made the game much easier on him.
The rest of the game is pretty much endgame. I wonder whether my multiple Conspirator buys in the late game were a good idea or not (as asked above).
New players, let me know if
31
Game Reports / Re: Dear My Opponent: I am Sorry
« on: November 27, 2011, 01:14:27 am »
Dear carebear,
I'm sorry. Despite Native Village is just not fast enough when my entire deck at turn 6 is Copperx2, Silver, Chapel, Governor. That kind of consistent advantage made the game rather lopsided. Please remember this game as an example of how powerful Chapel can be (I know I will remember).
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201111/26/game-20111126-214516-d5cd7d65.html
Ok, so maybe I posted this because I felt proud to have decided on a strategy before the first buy ... that's a major leap for me.
I'm sorry. Despite Native Village is just not fast enough when my entire deck at turn 6 is Copperx2, Silver, Chapel, Governor. That kind of consistent advantage made the game rather lopsided. Please remember this game as an example of how powerful Chapel can be (I know I will remember).
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201111/26/game-20111126-214516-d5cd7d65.html
Ok, so maybe I posted this because I felt proud to have decided on a strategy before the first buy ... that's a major leap for me.
32
Dominion Isotropic / Re: Leaderboard change
« on: November 24, 2011, 11:31:13 am »
Hmmm ... seems like there are a lot of theories about how the leader board should work. I'll throw in my thoughts ...
First, concerning gaming the system: I'm only just starting to read through details about TS, but it seems to me that perhaps the goal definition for the algorithm should be more complex than who wins, perhaps taking into account some sort of priority of goals (in the simplest case, winning by pile depletion vs winning by resign). A game played to the end is far more reliable a judge of skill over a win by resign. Is TS flexible enough to make the distinction ... and does the game log data provide enough detail to recalculate based on the two different end-states? I think this is far more likely to help with Resign-bot cheating.
Second, concerning stale skill vs current hot players: there's no easy answer. On some of the Go servers I play on, the last 6 months worth of games are taken into account, and there's a large diminish in relevance as a game falls back in months. Overly active players still have issues with stale ranking, but it usually clears up if they sow down for a week or two. The other item that helps is to provide an option for playing non-ranked games with ranked opponents, allowing two additional benefits: 1) players don't have to stop playing to ease the staleness of their rank; 2) high-ranked players can freely choose to play non-ranked games against other high-ranked payers in order to experiment with new or crazy strategies, or just to relax with a friend.
Just my few thoughts.
First, concerning gaming the system: I'm only just starting to read through details about TS, but it seems to me that perhaps the goal definition for the algorithm should be more complex than who wins, perhaps taking into account some sort of priority of goals (in the simplest case, winning by pile depletion vs winning by resign). A game played to the end is far more reliable a judge of skill over a win by resign. Is TS flexible enough to make the distinction ... and does the game log data provide enough detail to recalculate based on the two different end-states? I think this is far more likely to help with Resign-bot cheating.
Second, concerning stale skill vs current hot players: there's no easy answer. On some of the Go servers I play on, the last 6 months worth of games are taken into account, and there's a large diminish in relevance as a game falls back in months. Overly active players still have issues with stale ranking, but it usually clears up if they sow down for a week or two. The other item that helps is to provide an option for playing non-ranked games with ranked opponents, allowing two additional benefits: 1) players don't have to stop playing to ease the staleness of their rank; 2) high-ranked players can freely choose to play non-ranked games against other high-ranked payers in order to experiment with new or crazy strategies, or just to relax with a friend.
Just my few thoughts.
33
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Nothing like online play to prove how bad I am ...
« on: November 24, 2011, 09:49:11 am »
Thanks for the pointers! Reading through some of them now.
Was there any more of the "Making it to Level 42" series beyond Level 10? I only found up to there.
The engine article clarified a bunch of items that I was suspecting, too.
Was there any more of the "Making it to Level 42" series beyond Level 10? I only found up to there.
The engine article clarified a bunch of items that I was suspecting, too.
34
Game Reports / Re: I'm sure you've all seen this type of board before ...
« on: November 24, 2011, 09:47:11 am »
Thanks for the comments. Gotta get better about my tunnel vision on turn one ("Oh, hey! I see cards I recognize and have done well with! Let's get going! ... wait, what's this Torturer my opponent bought so many of?").
I'll also pay more attention when Torturer and Witch come up in my games.
I'll also also have to look at the KC+Militia+Masq pin thing ... so much to learn. Not quite like MTG, but similar ideas, anyways.
I'll also pay more attention when Torturer and Witch come up in my games.
I'll also also have to look at the KC+Militia+Masq pin thing ... so much to learn. Not quite like MTG, but similar ideas, anyways.
35
Game Reports / I'm sure you've all seen this type of board before ...
« on: November 24, 2011, 01:04:29 am »
Forgive my newness, but here's the first time I ran up against KC+Torturer ... and just to make things more painful, add a few Golems ... and Wharf, of course.
Obviously, I haven't played too many games with Torturer in the Kingdom, so the danger didn't occur to me until it was too late. I think I put up a valiant effort before I got thrashed at the end.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201111/23/game-20111123-215327-f17d0834.html
Any advice for the poor new player would be appreciated, if anyone cares to comment.
Obviously, I haven't played too many games with Torturer in the Kingdom, so the danger didn't occur to me until it was too late. I think I put up a valiant effort before I got thrashed at the end.
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201111/23/game-20111123-215327-f17d0834.html
Any advice for the poor new player would be appreciated, if anyone cares to comment.
36
Dominion General Discussion / Nothing like online play to prove how bad I am ...
« on: November 24, 2011, 12:27:25 am »
Hello folks! Figured I'd post here.
Love Dominion, but I'm just starting to get a feel for strategy. There is a lot of info on this site and in the forums ... but for a complete n00b like me, where should I start? Do you guys have a "New Players start here" thread somewhere?
Love Dominion, but I'm just starting to get a feel for strategy. There is a lot of info on this site and in the forums ... but for a complete n00b like me, where should I start? Do you guys have a "New Players start here" thread somewhere?
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