Okay this is getting a bit ridiculous... I never said that pure Highway/University was a thing. In fact I said that was the thing that I agreed with you on multiple times. All I said was that saying it is a nombo is going too far. Nothing that you have said has really addressed that. Like you're obviously aiming these posts at me because I'm the one who keeps disagreeing with you, but the content of your posts seems to be aimed at someone who is saying that pure Uni/Highway is a combo or something (which nobody ever said - not even the original poster). Here is the relevant quote.
Right, I am an idiot. University specifies 'action'. I was looking for a non-terminal anything gainer to combo with Highway for gaining several Provinces each turn. Artificer requires either a lot of Highways or a lot of discards, Vampire works, but Bat doesn't gain, Devil's Workshop only lets you do it once each turn, Cobbler is played at start-of-turn, Wish is hard to get.
Obviously he made a mistake, but that has been cleared up now.
Right, but nobody said that University is good at gaining Highways quickly
The original poster listed "University + Highway" as a NaPUCI. There can be no other possible interpretation. Highway doesn't need the +actions.
Well I just proved that wrong. I interpreted it as "Highway reduces costs so it lets Uni gain actions that cost more than $5." Because that is actually a neat and potentially useful interaction! I'd love to see how you approach boards with Grand Market or Kings Court along with the two cards in question.
this isn't an interaction between University and Highway specifically, it's just how Uni works. Repeat this simulation with other $5's and you'll see what I mean.
Done. And you're only sometimes right. University + Groundskeeper gains 5 Groundskeepers faster. Double-silver opening takes 11.1 turns to do so on average. So University is only slower when gaining cards that don't give economy. That's part of the redundancy: Highways already help you get more highways.
Ah so how about Treasury, Baker or Market? The ones which I've already compared Highway to in this scenario. I should have been more clear that that's what I was talking about, sorry. Also I think you mean University is only faster when gaining cards that don't give economy.
in a real game there will be a possibility that University will be the fastest way gain Highways.
A possibility. But a probability? In a real game, there is likely to be +buy or you might skip Highway altogether, and with +buy and cost reduction, you could be getting $5s by the handful. University is still likely to slow you down.
In fact, I'll offer that as a challenge: Show me a simulation where University is, in fact, the fastest way to gain Highways in a kingdom. Can you do it without making University the only source of +Actions?
I'm pretty confident that any trashing, strong cycling or attacks that make it hard to hit $5 will make Uni way better than Silvers. I don't much care for simulations myself, I've always found that they are very misleading - this is an example of such a situation.
It is also ignoring the other utility that University provides.
Correct. The original post was not "Highway + University + other cool stuff." It listed only Highway + University as a NaPUCI. I am saying that it is not. It is...let's see...an anti-synergy?
Oh yeah because it's not like there's at least 8 other cool things that are guaranteed to be in every game with with Highway+University. I find your tone very patronising and not particularly pleasant here, which I'm a bit surprised about because this seemed like a friendly enough discussion so far...
Like I could post a simulation showing that Mandarin/Capital beats Travelling Fair/Counting House 90% (made up number) of the time but that doesn't make Travelling Fair/Counting House a "potentially harmful" interaction.
I said nothing about which simulation wins. I never simulated getting points. I only simulated getting Highways in order to demonstrate that University + Highway isn't a thing. Sure, you might gain a Highway with a University that you have in your deck for other reasons, on your way to a big engine. That doesn't make it a thing.
I just proxied the Highways for Provinces - it's exactly the same principle (fastest to get Highways in your case, fastest to get Provinces in mine) and ultimately they're both pretty meaningless. You contrived an unrealistic situation to try and prove something that nobody even disagreed with in the first place, so I contrived an unrealistic situation to do the same thing, to make a point.
I agree with you about this not being a particularly "neat" interaction.
This isn't reason enough to go for University on it's own, but it's certainly not a nombo and might be enough to tip you in the direction of University if it's a close call.
I never said it was a thing! Even the guy who said it was a thing has now said that he made a mistake! I suggest you actually read the thread before you post. (My turn to be patronising
)
Anyway I'd be happy to play some games with you featuring both University and Highway so we can how differently we approach those boards and potentially both learn something, rather than continuing to argue in circles.