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Author Topic: lucky Pirate Ships vs. or mis-played Grand Markets?  (Read 1459 times)

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meow

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lucky Pirate Ships vs. or mis-played Grand Markets?
« on: July 14, 2012, 10:42:41 pm »
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http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/14/game-20120714-181329-051e7577.html

board is:
Adventurer, Chancellor, City, Grand Market, Menagerie, Oasis, Pirate Ship, Shanty Town, Stables, and Village with me going first.

I enjoy defeating Pirate Ships, so decide not to buy any myself.  His ships hit copper 6 straight times.  Good for me because he didn't get lucky to hit a silver or gold I needed to get my first GM.  Good for him because he never missed entirely despite me only buying 3 treasures.  In his defense he was smart enough to buy 3 almost as fast as possible rather than just 1 or 2.

Turn 4 I wasn't sure what to buy with $5.  Went with a city thinking the GM and City piles might ultimately run down.  Now I'm thinking a 2nd Stables may have been the way to go (silver, 2nd chancellor, or shift into pirate ships seem main other options ... maybe shanty town or oasis, but both seem a stretch)?

For turn 5 I caught the worst possible ... (SpaceSquirrel draws: a Chancellor, a Stables, and 3 Estates.) is the mere possibility of that draw an argument for silver over chancellor on turn 3?  At any rate it lead to nothing on turn 5 and another "wasted" $5 on turn 6 which went to silver (is 2nd Stables, chancellor, or city any better?)

I think I did OK on turn 7,8, & 9 (gold, 2nd Chancellor, 2nd gold).  Turn 10 gave me $6 with copper.  My opponent had just bought his 3rd Pirate Ship, so I was reluctant to buy a 3rd gold, so I went with a 2nd City.  Similar case on turn 11 with $5+2coppers.  Thinking now I should have "committed" to cities by buying a 3rd.  risking a 3rd gold doesn't feel right at all, but in retrospect, Adventurer feels like a mistake as well (possibly an even bigger one especially since his ships were already at $5, so he probably won't attack with them much more).

12 and 13 brought obvious Grand Markets.  14 could have been Province + city/duchy, but pretty sure 2 Grand Markets makes sense.  15 is kind of similar.  Could have been Province + $3, but went with my 5th GM + 1st Menagerie.

I'm thinking turn 16 may have been the key.  There were 2 Grand Markets left at this point (my 5 to his 3).  I had $18 with no copper or $19 with copper.  My opponent had bought his 1st Province on his turn 14 on 2nd City (4th overall) on turn 15.  I went with 2xProvince+2nd Menagerie, but now am thinking 2xGM + City would be better (and even better still if I had bought City rather Adventurer on turn 11).  I don't think I noticed at the time that I was about to reshuffle.

After turn 17 I have another horrible ... (SpaceSquirrel draws: a Copper, 3 Estates, and a Province.)

Turn 19 is another potentially interesting one.  Started with:
(SpaceSquirrel draws: 4 Grand Markets and a Menagerie.)
1 of the 1st 3 Grand Markets drew another.  I can't remember exaclty what the other 3 "1st 4 of 5" Grand Markets drew (the logs show exactly what you drew at the end of a turn, why don't they show exactly what you draw during a turn?).  I'm pretty sure it was 2 Chancellors and the Stables, so let's go with that.  I play the 5th GM, hoping for a city (and wishing I had bought a village or shanty rather then the 2nd menagerie on turn 16) and draw a gold.  At that point I could Chancellor for $15, but instead I Stable the gold, again hoping to be able to fully activate the menagerie, and knowing at least I have some hope of Adventurer re-drawing the gold which is what happened). 

I end up with $19 and 6 buys.  Looking back, it seems opponent has 3 Provinces, 3 Estates, 0 Duchies, and I have 2 Provinces, 0 Duchies, and 0 Estates.  I was afraid he was likely to be able to double Province or Province + Duchy (which would beat my Province + Estate).  Maybe 2xProvince+Estate (hoping he can't Prov+Duchy) or Province+2Duchy(hoping he can't double Province) and pray are best.  Even if I don't want to "risk" those, now I'm thinking 2xDuchy+City+$3 may be better than 3xDuchy+$3?  I'm pretty sure I didn't realize at the time I was about to shuffle (which may have influenced my choice).  Is 2xCity + duchy or even 3xCity worth considering?

After committing to the greening, I really blew it on the final turn 22.  Glanced at the log and thought (incorrectly) it indicated he went first, so i thought "I'll take a tie" and bought the last Province to lose.

I welcome any comments or suggestions (and apologize for any typos or confusing bits ... re-wrote sections, but am too inebriated to to bother with a careful proofread ;)

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hdu88

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Re: lucky Pirate Ships vs. or mis-played Grand Markets?
« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2012, 12:10:16 am »
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Early Cities don't do much for you; you can always buy a bunch of them after you get some Grand Markets.

I think Shanty Town is better than Chancellor here; there are no strong terminals, so a single Shanty Town is effectively the same as a Level 1 City. I would have picked one up after getting two Silvers or so.

Turn 11: Adventurer might be the right buy, as crazy as that sounds.

Turn 20: Doing nothing is preferable to shuffling 4 greens and a terminal silver into your deck.
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meow

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Re: lucky Pirate Ships vs. or mis-played Grand Markets?
« Reply #2 on: July 15, 2012, 01:27:02 am »
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Thanks for the input, and good catch / point on turn 20.  When I saw that draw I obviously wasn't thinking clearly on flipping with that Chancellor (may have even aimed for no and hit yes instead).
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DG

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Re: lucky Pirate Ships vs. or mis-played Grand Markets?
« Reply #3 on: July 15, 2012, 07:25:08 am »
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I think both of you missed the oasis. It would have been particularly good for your opponent since it combines well with the stables, leaves the terminal actions free for the adventurer, and can help prepare a hand for a menagerie as well.
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