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Messages - Asklepios

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26
Game Reports / Re: apothecary, then alchemist
« on: October 29, 2012, 06:29:02 am »
Good play! I'd say that baron for the extra buy was an important piece of the puzzle. I'd also normally take an extra potion. 2 buys + 2 potions = a better chance of the alchemist chain coming together with sufficient tempo to be dominant, and apothecary is just a nice bonus on that

27
Game Reports / Re: Cellar/Conspirator
« on: October 29, 2012, 06:19:17 am »
You're right about Cellar going well with Conspirator, and sure, in general Warehouse is better than Cellar for this purpose, but Cellar can be of greater benefit over Warehouse if you are running large +cards beforehand.

I'd also say you're right about too much treasure. Hoard rarely works well for Colony games at the best of times.

I would have approached it something like this:

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201210/29/game-20121029-031724-81edd809.html

Onviously as a solo game it doesn't apply precisely - in all likelihood in areal game I'd be aiming for a three pile as soon as I was ahead on points, but certainly Talisman -> Conspirators and Workers Villages, plus Council Room for draw would have been my preference.

28
Game Reports / Re: I ignore City in a three-pile rush
« on: October 29, 2012, 06:01:44 am »
Well played.

I'd say that the actual key to your victory here was your choice of Silver/Bishop over Loan/Bishop.
Your opponent kept himself off $5 on Turn 3 AND Turn 5 from that choice, and that was critical.

In contrast, your money meant you had a good chance of getting the early Witch, which was the key way to breaking the Highway cascade, and also meant a better chance of getting more Highways faster.

29
General Discussion / Re: Winter
« on: October 29, 2012, 05:41:33 am »
So it's 15.2 celsius (59 fahrenheit for those of you who don't know the metric system, as a side note you should learn it)  INSIDE here, don't even want to think what it's like outside (probably not that cold, no idea why they aren't heating this place at all).

WINTER, SUCKITUDE. DISCUSS.

Wait, you consider 15.2 C to be COLD?

Thats a nice mild temperature for those of us in the UK.

Still, at least I'm not somewhere really cold, with proper snow and ice and stuff in October.

30
General Discussion / Re: What's your username mean
« on: October 29, 2012, 05:35:14 am »
I used to play Warhammer back in the day. Skaven was the coolest around, so I played those. I met some friends who had ideas for a campaign where you'd create a character that was basically based on you. So we had a super nerfed vampire fledgeling named after one of my friends, a super nerfed skaven engineer based on me and a super buffed High Elf mage who took on armies himself based on the guy who modded the campaign. Now, my name is Kettil, which doesn't sound very skaven-like, so I messed around with the letters, changed the two t's to to k's and Lekkit was born. I've been using the name ever since, and I haven't met anyone who has contested the name.

Cool! I always thought your name sounded Skavenish, and I'm glad to hear it is intentionally so!

31
General Discussion / Re: What's your username mean
« on: October 26, 2012, 05:25:47 pm »
I'm a doctor, and geek for Greek mythology.

Chiron was taken on the forums I was frequenting, so I went for his pupil.

32
Potion bought just for Transmute? I'm not sure I would have done this.

And when Inn is the only "village" you need good card drawing to stop the deck stalling from lack of hand.

I think my choice here would have been either Baron/Warehouse to try and get early gold, or Ambassador/Silver for the long slog to BM with mild pseudotrashing/attacking.

33
Game Reports / Re: What's the best strategy for this?
« on: October 20, 2012, 05:19:53 am »
I would, however, be slightly wary of the three pile ending in a Native Village / Bridge game that has four players.

Not to say that you shouldn't play that strategy, rather that you should be aware that you may need to make your VP rush on cards other than provinces, and create that 3 pile ending simultaneously.

34
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Grand Market vs Platinum
« on: October 20, 2012, 05:03:56 am »
Platinum > Grand Market, always, unless you desperately need +buy.

Or unless you're playing a +1 action chain like Conspirators, or a Scrying Pool deck, or a Minion deck.

Or you're in the lead and can 3-pile.

Or, it depends on the kingdom, strategy, circumstance, etc.

35
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Hoard in Colony games
« on: October 20, 2012, 04:57:09 am »
Davio knows what he's talking about!

Incidentally, at a tangent, do you think there's room for Hoard in a Vineyards game? Difficult to speak generically I know, but what's your broad analysis on this?

36
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Open With Estate in Apprentice Game?
« on: October 20, 2012, 04:43:12 am »
*Trashing a Province for 8 cards might well be good enough to buy you another Province in addition to what you would have bought anyway. This can let it act like Remodel, Salvager, and the various other cards which can trash and replace a Province to accelerate the game end.

People seriusly underuse this option, I think. Trashing a Province in a game where you have access to +buy in your deck often means buying a Province and a Duchy, or even two Provinces. I often feel tha many players are too cautious with Apprentice.

37
Dominion Articles / Re: Embargo 2.0
« on: October 20, 2012, 04:18:14 am »
Exactly, I agree.

In fact, I'd say playing Embargo on Familiar then buying the first Familiar would be a good move if your opponent is trying to acquire familiars too (which he ought to be), as it speeds the split without changing the ratio, thus upping the tempo of the game, which is to your favour if you are running faster.

38
Game Reports / Re: I buy Explorer and Scout, my opponent doesn't, I win
« on: October 20, 2012, 03:56:28 am »
Nicely done!

My preference here would have been Nomad Camp / Silver, then buying Hunting Parties whenever possible, and silver when not, with no other non-province buys.

39
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Dethroned
« on: October 19, 2012, 02:32:51 pm »
Village Idiot
$6 Action
+20 actions, +10 buys
Draw your deck. You may not play any action cards after playing this card.
I will get this and now play all the treasures in my deck. Also, what if I King's Courted Golem and revealed this and a Workshop the first time? (It was hard to make a specific case that still worked)

Good point! Better make it cost $11. :)

40
Dominion Articles / Re: Request: Countering Ill-Gotten Gains?
« on: October 19, 2012, 07:09:44 am »
IGG rushes are a lot more sophisticated than people give them credit for. They also make some small, stupid cards matter more often, like Coppersmith, Counting House, Remodel, Navigator, for instance.

I agree.

The right path to $5 matters too. Salvager and Horse Traders are smart ways to get that first $5, for example, for their benefit in getting the first IGG, and for their later game benefits - Salvager to turn the IGG into more IGGs or VP, and Horse Traders to turn a lightly curse laden hand into a Duchy buying hand.

41
Dominion Articles / Re: Embargo 2.0
« on: October 19, 2012, 06:09:46 am »
Or at least, it strongly discourages it.

In a strong Vineyards set (say one with Ironworks) I'd be inclined to see Embargoes on Vineyards as just another route to the game ending three-pile.

42
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: A card idea I've been working on
« on: October 19, 2012, 05:46:11 am »
I agree that its a little too easy, because of the +buy.

4/3 split, buy this action and a silver. Each time it comes up, buy two different treasures (even copper). Hitting a deck full of $8 draw should take barely any time at all, though I think simulation would be needed to see just how fast it is. It'd also be another card that feeeds the Feodum madness.

On the other hand, I don't think it'd be significantly better than say Jack of All Trades and is probably only slightly ahead of Bureaucrat, so I wouldn't say its overpowered, just a little too straightforward to make the game more rather than less interesting. I suppose its interesting in the sense that on the turn you gain it you're probably adding four treasure cards with three of them being silvers, but the sort of games that produces are not terribly interesting to me.

I'd also agree though that gaining to the bottom of your deck is an idea that Dominion hasn't really explored yet, and is actually very interesting.

To me, simpler and more interesting would be a $6 action that just says "gain a gold to the bottom of your deck".

43
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Dethroned
« on: October 19, 2012, 05:12:00 am »
Hurry Up
$2 Action, Duration
Start a stopwatch. Say "Hurry Up" fifteen times. Stop the stopwatch.
The amount of time on the stopwatch is the longest any player can take on their turn while this card is in play. If that time is exceeded, that player's turn immediately ends.
If multiple "Hurry Up" cards are in play, the shortest time applies.

---

Village Idiot
$6 Action
+20 actions, +10 buys
Draw your deck. You may not play any action cards after playing this card.

---

Hurry up is inherently self limiting. Village Idiot combos with diadem and stash, and probably does something else. Probably. But you should have bought gold.

44
Dominion Articles / Re: Request: Black Market
« on: October 19, 2012, 05:00:57 am »
Good one Titandrake!

I'd also add to the "works well with" list:

Menagerie, Library, Watchtower, Jack of All Trades, if there is a +2 or more actions card as well (Native Village being a great choice).

Reason being that you can use the Black Market to shrink your hand while storing that money for later use, then those cards to draw back up. Even better if you can find a way to trash the non-treasure non-action stuff (like your starting estates).

Not so much a combo as a basis for an engine, but Black Market + decent drawing that needs small hands + buys + actions = a solid engine.

45
Dominion Articles / Re: Embargo 2.0
« on: October 19, 2012, 04:01:37 am »
I don't think I've ever found embargoing Victory cards when behind to be a winning strategy in the absence of alt VP or VP tokens. Obviously such situations may exist, but when you need Provinces to win and your opponent has received fewer Curses than you have from buying Provinces, you are not going to come from behind that way.

I'ev not seen it happen either, but I can see it happening if you're 4:3 provinces up, but your opponent is first player. In that case putting an embargo would be just enough to force him to delay a turn to buy estate before buying province, so theoretically its there.

46
Dominion Articles / Re: Embargo 2.0
« on: October 17, 2012, 03:43:08 pm »
Cards that Gain

Embargo has a unique interaction with the gain/buy distinction.  The curse is only gained when you buy the card, not when you gain it.  Using things like Workshop, Remodel, HoP, etc. to gain cards rather than buy them allows you to plan ahead for a gain based strategy and Embargo the key piles.  In such a way, you can lock out your opponent from obtaining these cards.

Though of course you need to make sure that you have a monopoly on the "gain" cards by Embargoing those as soon as you have one. All in all, a multistep process that can take too long.

For me the number one use of embargo is...

Impairing the strategy you're not using, but your opponent is.

This takes a little pattern recognition and experience, but often you can predict the route your opponent is planning to take by watching his first two turns buys. If you take a different route, and get embargoes early, you might be able to embargo cards that are key to your opponent's strategy but not to yours.

For example, consider a board where the strongest startegy looks to be BM + 2 Smithies, but where there is an engine based approach that is only slightly inferior, and which doesn't involve Smithies.

He opens Smithy+Silver, telegraphing his intentions. You open (engine component) + embargo (e.g. Bridge + Embargo). On the third turn you play Embargo on the gold, and thus make the BM+X game weaker.

This is a very specific case, I know, but this is meant as an example of the sort of game when you could play this strategy rather than an exclusive case.


The number 2 strongest use for embargo for me is...

Protecting an early luck-based advantage

I say luck-based, as generally you need to be skilful AND lucky to get the advantage first, and then to get the embargo on fast enough.

The 5/2 split example is a good example of this, but there are other early luck-based advantages that can be worth protecting. For example, if a kingdom looks to need money, and you get gold before your opponent does, putting an embargo on gold will give you a massive advantage.

Similarly if King's Court (or some other excellent action card) is in play, and you get the first one, you can put an embargo on King's Court to make sure that your opponent has to suffer to get one as well. If you get REALLY lucky, you could even King's Court the Embargo on King's Court, and make it extremely likely you'll have the only King's Court of the game!



Also, I'd emphasise that embargo is a high skill card, which takes a lot of thought about consequences, and that you should never assume that embargoing a card means that a card becomes impossible to buy: it just makes it less attractive. Also, it may be worth mentioning that in slow games, or games with cursers, embargoes may become redundant when the curses run out.

47
Game Reports / Re: Taking the Road Less Traveled
« on: October 17, 2012, 04:01:53 am »
Hmmm, Haven does seem very useful in that context.

48
Game Reports / Re: Taking the Road Less Traveled
« on: October 16, 2012, 07:48:34 am »
Good point, I guess Coppersmith is actually a pretty nice way to get the $5 too...

I'd be curious to see this simulated, as I remain unconvinced that Coppersmith/Tactician is stronger than Vault/Tactician in this kingdom, or almost any kingdom. I guess the addition of Black Market might swing it in Coppersmith's favour, but otherwise the every-other-turn thing makes it a no-go for me.

Also, I wonder where a combination of both fits in? Coppersmith to get that early $5 and to capitalise on the first Tactician play, then transition to Vault/Tactician?

49
Game Reports / Re: In which I empty 7 piles.
« on: October 16, 2012, 07:34:25 am »
Pretty cool! Highway and any +buy can generally lead to very fast pile emptying.

However, I'd observe you were showboating a bit here, and didn't actually need to empty 7 piles, or even start on the cities. Steward + Highway + Grand Market is a powerhouse all by itself, with maybe 1 Farming Village to allow a second terminal, be it a Steward or a Haggler, depending on whether you prefer faster trashing or faster building. Either way, pretty fast, and no need for cities at all.

Steward/Steward and rush to Highway/GM:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201210/16/game-20121016-042600-09613a62.html

Slightly more complex, incorporating haggler, and going Steward/Silver to minimise number of terminals:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201210/16/game-20121016-043305-7d1eb5d7.html

Of course both of the above are solo games, with no competition for Highways or Grand Markets, but the key is certainly to rush those two cards as efficiently as possible, and if the piles of those empty, then there's probably a sneaky 3-pile ending available early anyway, such as taking the duchies or just a little VP and three-piling the Farming Villages.

Regardless, I wouldn't have opened Farming Village or Loan, as neither help get that critical early $5, and neither thin the deck quickly, both of which being the key to tempo here.

50
Game Reports / Re: Firsts
« on: October 16, 2012, 07:17:25 am »
After having played over 3000 games on Iso, every once and a while I still run into something I'm doing for the first time.

Just a couple of minutes ago, I played a game with University and Vineyards. There was another interesting card: Remodel. To win the Vineyards split 6-2 and end the game, I remodeled a University down to a Vineyards. I don't remember ever Remodeling a Potion card down to a Vineyards before, but it was certainly a neat trick. Remodeling down doesn't happen very often and this may have been my first at that too.

It just amazes me that after so many games, there are still things I do for the first time.

What are some of your memorable firsts? Obviously beginning players will have a lot more firsts, but feel free to post anything that you found interesting.

:O

For some reason it never occurred to me that you might go University -> Vineyard on a remodel. Really clever.

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