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[sherwinpr]

I finally found a kingdom, where I think not only is ignoring all kingdom cards the optimal strategy, but having these cards in your hands never makes you better off than not having them, nor do on gain bonuses offer anything extra.  The only time gaining these cards makes you better off is if you need to run out a supply pile, which should never happen with a competently playing opponent. 

Here it is:

University
Scheme
Village
Fortress
Quarry
Rats
Throne Room
Walled Village
Band of Misfits
Border Village

This is the only such Kingdom I've been able to come up with.  There were two other cards that could almost make it in a Kingdom like this, but can offer small bonuses by themselves or in conjunction with some other cards in this Kingdom: Procession and Wandering Minstrel.

Can you think of any such other Kingdoms (or exhaustively prove that they don't exist)?

[WanderingWinder]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'having these cards in your hands never makes you better off than not having them' - I mean, I will definitely take a bunch of free cantrips, thanks, because if you get down to where there's no cards in your draw deck and you've got, like, scheme-scheme-gold-gold-silver, well you don't play the schemes, and that's probably a boon for you. Being able to not play something can be an advantage. And there are loads of other cards that aren't at all worth getting - scout, golem.....

[sherwinpr]

Yes, I actually considered that the cantrips give you some marginal flexibility, in that they allow you to not play them to not trigger a reshuffle, cycle slower, etc. when your hand is already strong.  I guess I meant none of these cards give you a tangible bonus outside of this minor cantrip effect, though you're certainly right.  Scout and Golem are also not worth getting, but Golem can give you 6 card hands (yay for +2 cards), or even larger hands by playing multiples, and Scout can, well... do what Scout is supposed to do.

[Powerman]

How about this for a kingdom that is useless?:

Village
Hamlet
Worker's Village
Border Village
Native Village
Walled Village
Golem
Oasis
Throne Room
Scheme

Lol.

[sherwinpr]

How about this for a kingdom that is useless?:

Village
Hamlet
Worker's Village
Border Village
Native Village
Walled Village
Golem
Oasis
Throne Room
Scheme

Lol.

I guess I meant a Kingdom that has no bonuses (as in no ability to get 6+ card hands, +buys, +coins from Kingdom cards, potentially useful gains, attacks, etc.), but as WW pointed out, I am sort of flawed in claiming my Kingdom offers no bonuses, since the cantrips offer some minor control benefits, so when you want a pick up a Duchy with $6 or $7 you probably are better off taking the Border's Village and gaining the Duchy with that.  In your kingdom, Golem, Hamlet, Worker's Village, Native Village, and Oasis offer these benefits.

[WanderingWinder]

I guess I don't get the point of looking for a kingdom 'with no bonuses', as such things just aren't going to exist, really, as the game is designed too well for that. Also, just having a kingdom where you never ever want to buy anything but basic cards seems fully adequate for having a 'useless kingdom' to me...

[sherwinpr]

Fair enough, but I guess I was always looking to make such a Kingdom, and couldn't until Dark Ages came out.

[werothegreat]

This made me think - there are now 11 $6 cost cards (not counting Possession).  What would you do in this setup:

Adventurer
Nobles
Harem
Grand Market
Goons
Hoard
Fairgrounds
Border Village
Altar
Hunting Grounds

EDIT: Obviously, this would be a Colony game.

[eHalcyon]

This made me think - there are now 11 $6 cost cards (not counting Possession).  What would you do in this setup:

Adventurer
Nobles
Harem
Grand Market
Goons
Hoard
Fairgrounds
Border Village
Altar
Hunting Grounds

EDIT: Obviously, this would be a Colony game.

Slowly work towards Nobles+Goons, maybe...

[sherwinpr]

This made me think - there are now 11 $6 cost cards (not counting Possession).  What would you do in this setup:

Adventurer
Nobles
Harem
Grand Market
Goons
Hoard
Fairgrounds
Border Village
Altar
Hunting Grounds

EDIT: Obviously, this would be a Colony game.

Probably BM+Goons, no?  Or BM+Hunting Grounds?  The Goons engine is tempting, but who wants to pay $6 for villages, so it's probably not fast enough.  Also, by this point you've probably had to buy so many treasures to afford these consistently, that your deck isn't trim at all, so you can't hit a high Density of Goons (and Altar is obviously too slow at trashing).  Hunting Grounds has nice draw though.

[RichardNixon]

I feel like a silver/gold would be virtually always preferable to a cantrip.

Would rats/fortress be able to do anything worthwhile in your kingdom though?

[Grujah]

Hoard/Adventurer!

[sherwinpr]

I feel like a silver/gold would be virtually always preferable to a cantrip.

Would rats/fortress be able to do anything worthwhile in your kingdom though?

The Rats would eat a card already in your hand (Fortress), then give it back, changing nothing in your current hand (except that a card would replace the Rats, of course), so you're still left with a 5 card hand.  Essentially, all this does is give you an extra Rats "for free."  But Rats are useless anyway.

The only time you might take a cantrip though would be Border Village when you want a Duchy, so I guess it's not totally useless.