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jimjam

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Dominion: Battlegrounds
« on: February 01, 2012, 06:25:37 pm »
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The theme of this expansion is deck control, since in warfare, maneuvering is everything. The reason I'm making it is
mostly a thought experiment on balancing new cards, so please comment on whether the pricing/mechanics seem fair. I apologize in advance for way too many Victory cards/VP gainers involved. Also apologies if some of these cards have been invented before, since some of them are rather elementary.

Guerrilla
$3 Action-Attack
+$2
For each other player, you may choose a card from their discard pile.
They shuffle it into their deck.

Pillager
$3 Action-Attack
+$2
Each other player must gain a curse, or reveal their hand and discard all Victory cards.

Comments: Useless in some games.


Collapsed Mine
$4 Victory-Treasure-Reaction
$1
2 VP
When another player plays an attack, you may discard this.
When you discard this other than during a Clean-up phase you may reveal it.
If you do, trash a treasure from your hand. Each other player gains a copper.

Horse
$4 Treasure
$2
When you discard this during your Action phase, you may reveal it.
If you do, play it immediately.

Comments: Just for laughs, since it combos with Horse Traders and Stables.
Also it passes the Silver test :P

Consolidate
$4 Action-Duration
+1 Action
Set aside any number of victory or curse cards from your hand.
At the start of your next turn:
Draw a card for each card you set aside.
When you clean this up, discard the set-aside cards.

Comments: Like a Cellar, but if you can time the reshuffle this is good.

War-torn Village
$4 Action-Reaction
+1 card
+2 action
Discard a card

When another player plays an Attack card, you may set this aside from your hand.
If you do, then at the start of your next turn, +1 Card and return this to your hand.

Comments: Horse Traders variant, obviously. I'm afraid it may be OP without the discard, though now it may be a little weak.


Stockpile
$5 Victory
Worth 1 VP for each card name you have at least 5 of.

Comments: Likely very situational.

Counterfeit
$5 Treasure
+$1
The player to your left reveals their hand. If they reveal any treasures,
choose one, +$x where x is half the value of the chosen treasure, rounded up.

Comments: A venture variant. Silver, Gold, and Platinum give their proper value.
The dependence on the opponent's strategy may make this too unfavorable.

Retreat
$5 Action
+$2
You may trash an Action card from your hand. If you do, +2 VP tokens.

Comments: Likely to thrive in the same environment as with Vineyard.

Fortification
$5 Victory, Green-backed
4 VP
When you reshuffle, you must place Fortifications on top.
If a card is played that will reveal this from your deck,
you may place this in your discard immediately.

Comments: Late game Duchy alternative. The last condition might make the
drawback too weak in practice.


Siege(v1)
$5 Action-Duration
+1 card
+1 action
Next Turn: +1 VP token. During clean-up, if you played a Siege this turn, you may leave this in play.

Siege(v2)
$5 Action-Duration
+1 card
+1 action
Next Turn: +1 VP token. Whenever you play a Siege, +$1.

Comments: The idea is to pace your sieges. Which one do you like better?
Should it be $6 in either case? If one gets a slick engine with a majority of these, time will run out fast for the other players, which is thematically correct but of course that's no excuse for making it OP.


Strategic Position
$6 Victory
When you gain this, +3 VP tokens
1 VP

Capital
$6 Victory-Action
Set a Victory card from your hand onto the Island mat. If you do, +1 VP token.
2 VP

Comments: I guess it's kind of like taking Bishop and tacking on 2 VP, like Nobles and Harem.
You won't want as many though. If it's too weak, maybe:
Set a card on the Island mat: If it's a Victory card, +1 VP token
If it's a Treasure, gain a Silver
If it's an Action, gain an Action card costing at most $1 more than it.
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ftl

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Re: Dominion: Battlegrounds
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2012, 08:26:32 pm »
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Minor comment for Guerilla - in order to make it play faster, you should probably say something like "for each other player, name a card. They search their discard pile for one card with that name and shuffle it into their deck". This makes it so each opponent searches their own discard rather than you looking through every other player's discard piles, probably speeding the game up with no discernible change in card power.
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jimjam

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Re: Dominion: Battlegrounds
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2012, 09:36:06 pm »
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Hmm, I forgot about the principle of not normally being able to see the discard. Your solution is probably the best, though I imagine at some points you may have to guess which Victory cards they have in discard. It's thematically correct, though, since guerrillas need to know what they're attacking.
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Diving Pikachu

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Re: Dominion: Battlegrounds
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2012, 12:45:33 am »
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Quote
Guerrilla
$3 Action-Attack
+$2
For each other player, you may choose a card from their discard pile.
They shuffle it into their deck.

I would word the text as "Look through each other player's discard pile, and choose one card for each player. They shuffle the chosen card into their deck." I know it's not exactly the same effect as yours, since it's no longer optional, but that was the most elegant wording I could think of. You would risk helping your opponent if all they had was good cards in their discard. In any case, this has good potential for slowing down other players' engines, while not being such a direct attack.

Alternatively, perhaps Guerrilla could top-deck or bottom-deck the chosen card instead. To me that seems more elegant and direct than shuffling. Although the accumulated effect of multiple alternate Guerrillas would be far too disruptive... Perhaps it needs the Sea Hag solution.

Quote
Pillager
$3 Action-Attack
+$2
Each other player must gain a curse, or reveal their hand and discard all Victory cards.

Comments: Useless in some games.

This certainly is useless in most games.

Quote
Collapsed Mine
$4 Victory-Treasure-Reaction
$1
2 VP
When another player plays an attack, you may discard this.
When you discard this other than during a Clean-up phase you may reveal it.
If you do, trash a treasure from your hand. Each other player gains a copper.

Interesting reaction, but I think that allowing it to also be discarded during a non handsize-reducing attack is too much. Even if there were only Spies or Bureaucrats or Oracles being used, everyone would be swimming in coppers by turn 12.

Quote
Horse
$4 Treasure
$2
When you discard this during your Action phase, you may reveal it.
If you do, play it immediately.

Vault and Secret Chamber would turn this into a Gold, essentially. Minion and Tactician would make this a "+1 Action +$2" Action card, essentially--which is a Minion whenever you don't use it to attack. And discard-cards-for-more-cards cards would make this a Minion that draws you an extra card as well. With all this considered, I would price this at $5, if not $6.

Quote
Consolidate
$4 Action-Duration
+1 Action
Set aside any number of victory or curse cards from your hand.
At the start of your next turn:
Draw a card for each card you set aside.
When you clean this up, discard the set-aside cards.

Comments: Like a Cellar, but if you can time the reshuffle this is good.

You should allow the player to set aside any cards that they decide they don't need, and would like to possibly miss the reshuffle.... It could make for an interesting, flexible pseudo-Tactician. In which case it would need to be non-terminal, and cost $5.

Quote
War-torn Village
$4 Action-Reaction
+1 card
+2 action
Discard a card

When another player plays an Attack card, you may set this aside from your hand.
If you do, then at the start of your next turn, +1 Card and return this to your hand.

Comments: Horse Traders variant, obviously. I'm afraid it may be OP without the discard, though now it may be a little weak.

It's just fine without the discard, IMO. On the player's turn, its still a vanilla Village, and those are very weak.

Quote
Stockpile
$5 Victory
Worth 1 VP for each card name you have at least 5 of.

Comments: Likely very situational.

Unfeasible in multiplayer. Yet still intriguing for 2p.

Quote
Counterfeit
$5 Treasure
+$1
The player to your left reveals their hand. If they reveal any treasures,
choose one, +$x where x is half the value of the chosen treasure, rounded up.

Comments: A venture variant. Silver, Gold, and Platinum give their proper value.
The dependence on the opponent's strategy may make this too unfavorable.

You need to think of how to account for IGG, Fool's Gold, Talisman, Quarry, Potion, Philosopher's Stone, and Bank. You could have it generate half of the coins that a single play of the chosen treasure would create if you played that treasure yourself in that moment of your turn... but how could you word such a command?

Quote
Retreat
$5 Action
+$2
You may trash an Action card from your hand. If you do, +2 VP tokens.

Comments: Likely to thrive in the same environment as with Vineyard.

Workable, I guess.

Quote
Fortification
$5 Victory, Green-backed
4 VP
When you reshuffle, you must place Fortifications on top.
If a card is played that will reveal this from your deck,
you may place this in your discard immediately.

Comments: Late game Duchy alternative. The last condition might make the
drawback too weak in practice.

This creates a fundamental rule change outside itself, so you need to word the card accordingly:

"In games using this, when a player reshuffles, they must place any Fortifications on top of their deck."

Plenty of revealing effects will discard the revealed cards afterwards, anyways, so I don't think it would affect the drawback too much. But the drawback itself is pretty weak anyways, especially during the late game where you might not even see your next reshuffle, which is when you'd be picking up Duchies in the first place. Perhaps you need some sort of restriction during buying.

Quote
Siege(v1)
$5 Action-Duration
+1 card
+1 action
Next Turn: +1 VP token. During clean-up, if you played a Siege this turn, you may leave this in play.

Siege(v2)
$5 Action-Duration
+1 card
+1 action
Next Turn: +1 VP token. Whenever you play a Siege, +$1.

Comments: The idea is to pace your sieges. Which one do you like better?
Should it be $6 in either case? If one gets a slick engine with a majority of these, time will run out fast for the other players, which is thematically correct but of course that's no excuse for making it OP.

This would slow the game far too much.

Quote
Strategic Position
$6 Victory
When you gain this, +3 VP tokens
1 VP

Ok, if a bit boring.

Quote
Capital
$6 Victory-Action
Set a Victory card from your hand onto the Island mat. If you do, +1 VP token.
2 VP

Comments: I guess it's kind of like taking Bishop and tacking on 2 VP, like Nobles and Harem.
You won't want as many though. If it's too weak, maybe:
Set a card on the Island mat: If it's a Victory card, +1 VP token
If it's a Treasure, gain a Silver
If it's an Action, gain an Action card costing at most $1 more than it.

Interesting, but needs to be playtested for sure.
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