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[AndrewisFTTW]

I'm on a ridiculous losing streak and it's starting to get really frustrating. I don't want to spam this section of the forum but I might as well get some help. I'm clearly not playing nearly as well as I used to to. My rating has dropped significantly and I'm losing a lot more than I'm winning. I'm sure there are some finer points that I've forgotten somehow and hopefully you guys can clear them up for me.

This one was really close but I know that if I played a little differently I would've had the win. Maybe I could've gotten more goons? Skipped fools gold? Gotten madmen? I don't know. Are there any cards that work especially well together here? How do I know what to buy and what to skip? Obviously I'm very confused.

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.516ddc20e4b082c74d7cbc04.1392931972224.txt

Code: [Select]

Fool's Gold, Moat, Hermit, Shanty Town, Smugglers, Moneylender, Duke, Embassy, Mystic, Goons

[shark_bait]

It's going to be a 3-pile game for sure.  You can't solitaire this game because the ending is so dependent on your opponents buys.  The best strategy will involve Goons.  How you cash out depends on whether your opponent is A) Going for Provinces B) Going Duchy/Duke with Hermit Support or C)  Going Goons/Madman megaturn

If opponent is A, you build up the Goons/Madman megaturn using FG to get to $6 and look to cash out when you can finish the Province pile.

If opponent is B, you build up the Goons/Madman megaturn using FG to get to $6 and only cash your Madman when you can end the game on most likely Duchies/Hermit/FG piles.

If opponent is C, you play the mirror, know the limits of buys in your opponents deck and look to 3-pile on the contested piles before your opponent does.  This will be a very intricate dance.

All in all, this is a tough set to play right.

[AndrewisFTTW]

So generally you think madman plays a big roles here? What about shanty town? How does hermit support duchy/duke?

[SCSN]

When Madman is the only way to play multiple Goons, Hermit/Goons will dominate, but here there are other ways (Shanty Town, Embassy), so you won't be working towards one mega turn with Madmen but several somewhat smaller multi-Goons turns (with Shanty Town and Embassy you should be able to have multiple triple Goons turns), and you can use Madman to get even bigger ones. I'd probably open Moneylender/Hermit, I'd want at least 2-3 Embassies and as many Goons and Shanty Towns as I can get.

Getting FGs with Hermit is good, but I wouldn't want more than 3 of them because Shanty Towns to support multiple Goons are more important.

And definitely stay away from any green cards except maybe on your last turn or when all the Goons and Shanty Towns are already gone. Multiple Goons should give you all the points you'll need, so never buy a Province over a Goons. A good rule of thumb for engine building: Yellow = Green = Purple.

[dondon151]

One card to consider here that is usually underestimated is Moat. Moat is actually quite an asset in the mirror match, since both players will be playing Goons every turn after the earlygame. There are three reasons why it's good here:

1. Shanty Town doesn't draw (usually), so it's hard to get started from a 3-card hand.
2. Moat nets the same handsize increase as Embassy, but it's much cheaper and can thus be gained by Hermit.
3. If it blocks an attack, there is a much greater payoff on your subsequent turn with Madman (it's +4 cards instead of +2 cards).

Note that Madman is the only reliable way to increase handsize in this kingdom. ST loses you a card and Moat/Embassy net you a card. So a Moat defense, at least in my opinion, is pretty important.

[AndrewisFTTW]

Thanks for the input, hopefully I can try a couple more games with this kingdom using your advice and post the results.

[AndrewisFTTW]

Ok here's the first one. It took me forever to get my first and second goons and thus the game was pretty close but I pulled it off. I think madman was essential in kickstarting the deck building process, and I should probably have gotten a couple more throughout the course of the game. I preferred embassy to moat (although I did get one moat) just because of cycling although for the next game I want to try more moat. I had a couple misplays, most notably on turn 21 where I discarded a goons because I'm dumb but all in all not bad I think. What do you guys think?

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.516ddc20e4b082c74d7cbc04.1392965541463.txt

[AndrewisFTTW]

And here's one where I didn't get an embassy. I played against a bot because nobody else seemed interested. I probably could've picked up one embassy but I think I only got one or two 5s and I know with one of them I decided to get a madman. This didn't go so well and I think it's because embassy is just superior here. Blocking goons attacks can be good but with shanty town as the village, sometimes discarding an action or two is good so the shanty towns can be activated, and with embassy the sifting is so good that if the deck is thin enough, a discard attack shouldn't matter that much. Does any of this sound right?

http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20140220/log.516ddc20e4b082c74d7cbc04.1392966459653.txt