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Topics - Beyond Awesome

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General Discussion / Need Your Help! Thinking of Creating A Pseudonym

« on: August 21, 2014, 11:42:39 pm »

Hi everyone,

So, lately, I have been thinking of creating an online pen name because my real name is hard to spell, and I want people to find me more easily online, especially after my books are published. My real name is Arman Khodaei. Spelling my last name, good luck with that. Many people also misspell my first name by adding a d at the end or changing it to Armin or Armon Armond or Armand, etc.

So, my first thought of a name was Seth Lucas because I think it sounds cool and no way will people misspell it. Someone suggested Aaron Kody to Americanize my name. Someone else suggested Arman Kody, just changing my last name.

My first book will be a memoir, so a couple of people on my FB voiced concerns over using a pseudonym. But, the purpose is not to mislead, but to make it easier for people to find my books and find me online. I plan on creating a twitter account, YT channel and FB name with the new name and use it going forward online. My next book after my memoir is a fiction novel, and I also plan to use the same pseudonym.

Anyway, I want to know what all of your thoughts are. Going forward with this will be a pretty big change, but I think will be worth it in the long run.

Dominion General Discussion / Dominion Sets Amazon Sales Rank

« on: July 09, 2014, 12:17:46 am »

So, I was poking around on Amazon and looking at how well Dominion expansions currently sell, and the results might be somewhat interesting. So, what do you guys think of the sales rankings. Are you surprised by any of the results.

These are sales in Toys and Games on Amazon

1. Dominion- Around 300
2. Intrigue- 1400+
3. Prosperity- 3500+
4. Seaside- 4K+
5. Big Box- 4K+
6. Dark Ages- 7K+
7. Hinterlands- 9K+
8. Guilds- 9K+
9. Alchemy- 11K+
10. Base Cards- 14K+
11. Cornucopia- 22K+

Now, for me, I am really shocked that Cornucopia sells so poorly. It also looks like smaller expansions aren't as popular as bigger sets.

Dominion General Discussion / Elegant Storage Solution: Card Binders

« on: July 08, 2014, 11:58:22 pm »

So, just recently I completed my irl collection of Dominion. Obviously hauling around 9 boxes is a challenge, so I was shopping at Target and noticed trading card binder pages. I bought a pack and my sleeved cards fit nicely in them. I need to get a couple of large binders though. And, as far as the rules and accessories, those can all be put in some random Dominion expansion box. I haven't decided what one yet. Has anyone else tried this storage idea?

Goko Dominion Online / Load Screen Stuck

« on: July 08, 2014, 12:40:37 am »

Is this happening to anyone else? I have lost 4 games now because the game is not loading up for me.

Tournaments and Events / Any Tournaments in Southern California

« on: June 18, 2014, 06:25:33 pm »

In all my years playing Dominion, not once have I seen a tournament offered in Southern California. Does anyone know of any tournaments in the area? If so, please post them in this thread.

Goko Dominion Online / Black Screen

« on: March 06, 2014, 11:18:50 pm »

Anyone else getting this. A game yesterday and another today, I had it where a game started, but instead of loading on my end, I get a black screen which I guess times me out for a loss.

Dominion Articles / Request: Soothsayer

« on: September 03, 2013, 02:15:15 am »

Seriously, I just don't understand this attack. Some games, it is just very weak and helps your opponent more than it helps you. Other games, it is worth buying over Witch. Now, I have won a fair share of Soothsayer games, but when it comes to attacks, I feel this is one of them that I understand the least.

Game Reports / Vault BM beats Rebuild

« on: August 31, 2013, 07:45:50 pm »

I just played this game. It is a shelters game. Rebuild is on the board, and I notice Vault and figure that Shelters can slow Rebuild down fast enough for Vault to win, and I was right. My opponent goes for Rebuild, and I win. Here is the log. http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130831/log.5136e2dee4b07cef820a1126.1377992595056.txt

Goko Dominion Online / Extension Suggestion

« on: August 24, 2013, 10:45:32 pm »

With GokoDom II going on, I have become annoyed at how often I have to reset player order. I was wondering if anything could be done to try and remember who won the previous game when facing off against the same opponent more than one time in a row. Maybe it can even work out like iso if you won your last game and you play against someone that lost their previous game they would go first and you would go second. Is there anyway to make this work, AI or michaeljb?

Dominion General Discussion / Best Randomizer App?

« on: August 01, 2013, 06:20:08 pm »

I just got a Smart Phone, and now I want to use an app to randomize whenever I go out to play Dominion irl. What have you guys found to be the best app for this?

Goko Dominion Online / Black Market + Stash now for purchase with Gokoins

« on: July 27, 2013, 07:36:51 am »

Just bought them both with 20 Gokoins or 10 Gokoins for one. Glad, I didn't reach 100 VP tokens. I am at 82, soon will get 100 and then I can have Walled Village, and I already have the other promos. I am surprised they are not selling the other three individually just yet

Dominion General Discussion / Ranking the Expansions

« on: July 06, 2013, 03:06:18 am »

Now that all sets are out, I figured it is time to once more analyze the expansions, and decide which ones we like best. You can use any criteria you choose. With that said, let the games begin!

From what I consider weakest to best.

10. Promos--Not really a set, but these 5 cards are nice to have. Now, if only Goko would actually make it possible to get them.
9. Alchemy--This set makes long games. And, getting $2P on a familiar board is often game over. Also, a lot of people hate Possession, and I think that card turns off casual players which isn't good for the game.
8. Guilds--I like this set, don't get me wrong. I also probably don't have enough experience with it. But, it just seems to add cards to fill up plot holes more than anything else. I do like the cards in the set and the concept of coin tokens, but I feel it adds the least amount of value out of all the expansions.
7. Cornucopia--I love HoP. One of my favorite cards of all time. This set has a lot of amazing cards, but Tournament really brings this set down in my eyes. It is just too swingy of a card.
6. Intrigue--It has some of my favorite cards. But, I feel Torturer chains and Minions are too harsh for the more casual gamer. Me personally, I don't mind those cards. But, as a standalone, I think those two cards should have been exchanged for two lesser attacks, or at least one of them should have been exchanged. It also has Saboteur which a lot of casual players hate as well.
5. Hinterlands--I like a lot of the cards, and I think the set adds a lot of strategy, but it seems to be lacking something that other expansions seem to have.
4. Dark Ages--Despite what Donald X. says, I think this expansion adds the most strategy to the game. It has two of the most powerful cards, Cultist and Rebuild. It also seems to have more dud cards. Graverobber and Rogue rarely shine. Procession requires the right board. There are just too many cards that's usage are limited to speciality boards. I do think this expansion goes all out. I love Shelters. I love Spoils. I like the idea of upgrading into new cards. Lots of cool concepts. However, I think this set is not casual friendly at all. This is the last Dominion expansion I would show to someone getting into the game.
3. Seaside--Durations are awesome. Sadly, this set offers little strategic value. I means, yes, you have Embargo and Ambassador, but is it really that hard to figure out when to buy Wharf and Fishing Village and Sea Hag. By the way, Fishing Village is my second favorite card in the game.
2. Prosperity--I love King's Court. It's my favorite card. I think the treasure theme is overdone. Loan and Royal Seal are kind of boring cards. But, Colonies and other concepts make this what I consider the best expansion.
1. Dominion--Yes, the base game gets the first rank. Now, that I have become much better at this game, I realize BM is usually the best strategy to go with. But, this introduced me to the game and got me hooked. I think this serves as an excellent starting point for most people. It really simplifies things and introduces the concept of Dominion well. I played many base games before moving and on and discovering other expansions. Since this started the whole thing and was a success, I give base Dominion first place.

And, for the record, I am not a casual player, but I did take into consideration how a more casual person may view and experience this game when ranking it. If I were to go from a pure strategic perspective DA would get first place.

General Discussion / Anyone going to Origins

« on: June 10, 2013, 02:06:33 am »

We know that Guilds will be out at Origins, and my thinking is that with this being the last planned expansion, there will likely be a promo card out as well. If not for Origins, I suspect Gen Con. So, if anyone is going to Origins, and they do release a new promo card, do you think it would be possible to also pick me a copy up as well. It would be very much appreciated.

Goko Dominion Online / Swindler/IGG bug

« on: May 17, 2013, 09:50:44 pm »

I posted this to getsatisfaction. Here is the game log. http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130517/log.5065ddf0a2e6f4356e5c0681.1368841476492.txt

On turn 19, my opponent swindles my card into an IGG, now instead of him gaining a curse, I gain a curse. Unless I have a deep misunderstanding on how IGG works, since I gained IGG, he should have gained the curse. Just giving a heads up until Goko fixes this.

Dominion General Discussion / What is your favorite village?

« on: April 25, 2013, 02:14:57 am »

I'm not a village idiot, but I love villages. Chaining actions is a lot of fun. So, I thought I would make a thread asking what everyone's favorite village is.

My favorite is Fishing Village. It is a bit overpowered for a village, if you ask me, but there is no doubt it is the ultimate engine building card.

Bandit Camp and Wandering Minstrel get honorable mentions. I love the spoils gaining of Bandit Camp, and I love how in some games this can actually be detrimental. For Wandering Minstrel, it offers both shifting and plus action. If you have no form of trashing, Minstrel is a decent substitute.

So, what is everyone's favorite village?

General Discussion / I am in a Documentary

« on: April 19, 2013, 08:59:11 pm »

Hi everyone,

I wanted to let everyone know that I am in a documentary called Autism in Love. If you watch the preview, I am the guy with the rose. Right now, they need some help to complete the film. They have started a Kickstarter and have raised $11,000 so far, but need $100,000 to meet their goal. So, if you guys can support this film by sharing about it and Tweeting and whatnot, that would super appreciated. Every bit of help makes a difference. Here is the Kickstarter. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/autisminlove/autism-in-love-0

Goko Dominion Online / Rating System Upgrades

« on: April 15, 2013, 03:30:47 pm »

From Getsatisfaction. https://getsatisfaction.com/goko/topics/score_keeps_dropping_without_play

"Everybody's rating is supposed to drop, even though they have not played. In fact, the longer you don't play, the faster you'll see it drop. You can think of it like King of the Hill, in that you have to fight a little to keep your position on the leaderboard.

Why is it happening? From a theoretical point of view, what's really happening is that when you aren't playing, the rating system is becoming a little less sure of what your true skill level is and, the rating being a conservative estimate of that skill, is adjusting your rating accordingly. In other words, it wants to make sure you absolutely deserve the rating that's displayed and, when you aren't playing, you may be getting a little rusty. Last week is not so long ago, but neither is 40 points so many points.

There's also one more thing going on. Some users achieved their rating and position on the leaderboard by cheating the system: quitting games they are losing. We've since put a damper on that behavior by making changes to treat quits as rated losses. Declining ratings mean that the abusers who don't belong at the top of the leaderboard will slide off. Unless, that is, they play and prove they are really that skilled. So, right now the sinking ratings are helping to make the leaderboard more fair, although it's possible that down the road, when the quitters no longer have inflated ratings, we'll turn the dial down on this effect."

Goko Dominion Online / Goko levels vs. iso levels

« on: March 24, 2013, 12:22:13 pm »

So, I was wondering what players here believe is the correlation between Goko levels and iso ranks. It is still hard to pinpoint an exact rank correlation, but here is my guess for now.

7000=Level 40/50 (if you did not cheat to get that rank)
6000=Level 30
5000=Level 20
4000=Level 10

Goko Dominion Online / Goko still not ready imo

« on: March 20, 2013, 04:06:36 am »

I was an early Goko adopter, playing there since September exclusively with the exception of the f.ds championships. But, I am sad that isotropic is down despite never playing on there. I am upset because I feel that Goko is not ready to officially 100% go public and yet that is what they are doing by pulling the plug on iso.

The reason I am starting this thread is actually because I frequent Goko's GetSatisfaction thing. A frequent thread that comes up is players posting about connection and reconnect problems. This problem should be imo solved for most users if you are calling this an official launch product. The reason this concerns me is because I can only imagine the players who do not check GetSatisfaction or these forums and who will never ever give Goko another chance. Let's face it, a lot of people were frustrated with Goko's failed launch in August and its current problems now are, well, problematic.

The second most thing that comes up is about being left hanging after an opponent "quits." There seem to be a lot of threads about this on GetSatisfaction, and a lot of players are confused and unhappy about this situation. It is a darn shame this wasn't taken care of before iso went down.

Now, I am not complaining about Goko. This thread was started because I am worried about them yet again leaving another negative impression and driving away more potential customers. I have actually gotten used to their interface and the occasional "opponent quits" that leaves the game hanging for 2 minutes or so.

More than anything, I want to see Dominion successful, and I also want to see Goko successful since that is where I go to play Dominion, even before iso went down. It just saddens me to see so many frustrated threads on GS. Now, if people were writing threads to hate, my feelings would not be the same, but a lot of this is stuff Goko could have worked on having done before iso went down.

Ironically, Dark Ages seems a fitting name for our most recent expansion because right now, I do feel like we have entered the Dark Ages. I hope things get better soon. But, I don't know. To be honest, I actually like Goko for the most part. Maybe that is because of how much I love Dominion and also the interactions with DA cards.

But, at the same time, I am worried about the future of online Dominion. My wish is for nothing but the best and a great playing experience for the majority of the players.

General Discussion / I could use some help

« on: February 15, 2013, 11:37:19 pm »

Hey everyone,

I am not sure where to post this, and mods if you feel this post is inappropiate please feel free to lock.

Anyway, I am trying to reach out to as many channels as possible to get some help. Yesterday, my car broke down. It needs a new engine and that will cost $$$$ that I don't have. So, I am looking to get a used car. I can't offer much. I have very little income. But, if anyone knows of anyone wanting to get rid of a car and will be a little generous in their offer, I would forever be grateful. Also, I am the program director for a nonprofit. The work I do is all volunteer-basis, but because I need a car for my volunteer work, there is an extremely good chance that anyone interested could donate their vehicle as a tax write-off. So, that is another option. Any help is appreciated. If anyone knows anyone or anything, it is very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Beyond Awesome.

Game Reports / My first game report!

« on: January 19, 2013, 11:44:03 pm »

Well, I just played what to me is one of the weirdest games I ever played.

http://dominionlogs.goko.com//20130119/log.50612f220cf2d91d287a93b8.1358656657855.txt

Key cards are Chapel, Feodum, Hunting Party, and Knights. My opponent and I open Chapel Silver. My thoughts are to build a Hunting Party deck that plays a single Knight to pretty much destroy my opponents. Unfortunately, my opponent wins the Knight split and because my deck is so slim, anything I buy will end up being destroyed. So, I get the brilliant idea of buying Feodums. My thoughts are that when they are destroyed I will get 3 silvers which will boost my points for other Feoda, and I will get some buying power as well. One of my turns, I have three Feodums in my hand and Chapel them for 9 Silvers. And, from there, I make a comeback because my economy is much better and end up winning. I probably didn't play optimally, but I thought it was an interesting game to show.

Of note, this game makes me wonder if Feodum Chapel is actually a viable strategy. I think it might actually just be.

Dominion General Discussion / Last Night I had a dream about Dominion: The Movie and...

« on: January 04, 2013, 01:48:00 pm »

It was awful.

It was an animated movie based on the game. Weird stuff happened in it. There were talking vegetables and animals. There was a dinosaur with a zebra head. And, there was a vague concept of buying things for some purpose.

Goko Dominion Online / Crazy Thing You Can Do On Goko

« on: December 23, 2012, 03:49:36 am »

So, I just discovered this. I logged in and then opened a new tab and logged in again. I then started a three player game and had the me that just logged in join my game as well as another opponent. For the game, it said Beyond Awesome I and Beyond Awesome II. So, essentially, you can log in twice and play a game thus increasing your chances of winning said game. You can also play against yourself, but you don't gain or lose points.

Dominion General Discussion / Mega Pack on Goko

« on: December 21, 2012, 01:02:41 am »

Okay, I know a lot of you have mixed feelings about Goko, but I know some of you were holding off until all expansions were available. They are almost there. They only need half of Hinterlands and Alchemy and then they are set. However, for the time being, you can buy a Mega Pack which has all the expansions and some bonus coins and zaps... I believe the total cost is 450 Gokoins, so for $40, you should be able to get everything. It should be noted this offer does not include Guilds.

Goko Dominion Online / Cheater Thread

« on: December 08, 2012, 11:56:56 pm »

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, especially because it was so exploitable. Anyway, I brought it to the attention of Goko that someone could just refresh their browser and cause the game to crash and it won't count as a game lose against that player.

Anyway, player TLN, ranked number 2 on the pro board has been taking advantage of this. He was about to lose a game to me and obviously does the browser reset causing our game to crash. This is also being discussed on GetSatisfaction where others have played against him and encountered the same thing.