Dominion Strategy Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Pages: [1]

Author Topic: Custom Set Challenge #2  (Read 2924 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

nubs

  • Pearl Diver
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13
  • Respect: +3
    • View Profile
Custom Set Challenge #2
« on: August 14, 2011, 08:19:17 pm »
0

Design a set that has multiple balanced routes to victory with the following restrictions:
Each cost can only be represented on the board once for each type of card.
For example, there can only be one action card of each cost - one action card with 2 cost, one with 3, etc.
As all action cards are between 2-8, the remaining cards can be victory or treasure cards. Dual cards count the way you want them to. For example, Island can count as a victory or an action @ 4.
Action - Duration, Reaction, and Attack all count as Action cards.
Potion cards allowed.
Base cards do not count towards rule out - ie, copper, silver, gold, estate, duchy, province, curse, potion do not count.

Good luck and may the best set win!

« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 04:15:28 pm by nubs »
Logged

shark_bait

  • Saboteur
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1103
  • Shuffle iT Username: shark_bait
  • Luckyfin and Land of Hinter for iso aliases
  • Respect: +1868
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Set Challenge #2
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2011, 09:49:18 pm »
0

quick question... is an action - duration different than just a plain action card.  And the same question goes for an action - attack card.
Logged
Hello.  Name's Bruce.  It's all right.  I understand.  Why trust a shark, right?

Is quite curious - Who is the mystical "Celestial Chameleon"?

Thisisnotasmile

  • Saboteur
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1493
  • Respect: +676
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Set Challenge #2
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2011, 03:59:04 am »
0

Tip: Run these for a week and then put them in the poll for the next week's challenge. If not, I'm just going to vote for a random placeholder every week when I first see the topic and never look at the poll after real choices have actually been added because at that point the next challenge will be out.
Logged

nubs

  • Pearl Diver
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13
  • Respect: +3
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Set Challenge #2
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2011, 12:58:05 am »
0

Action attack and action duration all count as action cards.
And the poll next week is an excellent idea.

Thanks for your input guys! This is clearly a rusty idea that requires refinement.
Logged

sherwinpr

  • Spy
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 85
  • Respect: +31
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Set Challenge #2
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2011, 05:15:01 am »
0

I'm guessing all cards with potion costs are off limits?
Logged

Thisisnotasmile

  • Saboteur
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1493
  • Respect: +676
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Set Challenge #2
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2011, 06:01:16 am »
0

Okay, I'm gonna give this a go, although it may be pants:

(Colony/Platinum included)

$7
Forge

$6
Goons
Nobles

$5
Council Room
Horn of Plenty

$4
Tournament
Gardens
Talisman

$3
Shanty Town

$2
Secret Chamber


Okay, now for the explanation: "multiple balanced routes to victory" instantly screamed "Tournament in a Colony game" to me, although I can think of other ideas which I won't reveal in-case I make a second set to include them. So anyway, my $4 action was going to be Tournament from the start, to encourage the purchase of Provinces, and Colonies were always going to be included which means I must include at least 1 Prosperity card at some point. Next I need VP tokens. You can't have multiple paths to victory without VP tokens. Bishop and Monument are out because I've already got a $4 action, so this has to be Goons. That was easy. Goons also provides us with a nice hand-size reduction attack. Now, what else does every varied set need? That's right, a draw engine. Hello Council Room/Village. I thought about Torturer but I thought the +buy could go well with Goons, and it had to be one of these two because it had to cost $5. Not sure which village I wanted at this point but I eventually settled for Shanty Town because I don't want a Village/CR/Goons player having too much of an advantage, so I gave them the worst village. Goons is probably still dominant but w/e. Colonies are available after all so maybe not.

Then I've got my $2 and $7 actions left to pick and I had King's Court/Chapel for a while, but didn't like KC in there because we don't want Goons to dominate completely. This led me to swap my trasher from Chapel to Forge, which also provides an element of trash-for-benefit. I left my $2 slot blank for the moment. Now, I'm going to need at least one Kingdom VP card because we're looking at multiple paths to victory here. I went for Gardens because CR and Goons are already supplying some +buys. I threw Talisman in to help out the Gardens player while not boosting the power of Goons any further. Horn of Plenty is in for similar reasons (although it was Contraband for a while at first). Let's not forget at this point that Tournament is in, so there's also Princess available for +buys, Followers for cursing and gaining Estates (Gardens says yes please), Trusty Steed for supporting an engine or spamming Silver for your Gardens and Bag of Gold supplies some extra cards too.

I had Familiar in for Cursing (because all other cursing price-slots are already used up) for a bit until I just remembered that Followers can do that. Also, I started writing this before sherwinpr posted asking about Potion cards, and I was thinking that anyway. So I have one more slot to fill and I will come back to that at the end. So anyway, with Gardens now becoming more and more viable, and the Goons deck likely to end up a bit junked too, I put Secret Chamber in there at $2. The Gardens player can pick it up with Talismans and clearly doesn't want the Forge to get around the junk. The Goons player has spare buys, and may want the Forge instead but it's expensive. The reaction to the Goons attack is just a bonus (although not particularly strong).

This just leaves us with the hole left by Familiar... Let's see... Nobles. As a victory card. This will provide a small amount of VP while supporting any player running an engine (read: ST/CR). It won't help the Goons player as the prices clash, so this won't boost the already-probably-dominiant strategy any further, but should provide some support to opposing choices. Even the Tournament player should be able to get some use out of a Nobles or two.

And that's my set. You can call it "Tournament/Colony/Goons/Gardens I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!" or something if you want. As I said, I've got a couple more ideas in my head so I might write them down some other time too if I can be bothered. Let me know what you think, and I look forward to seeing what others come up with.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2011, 06:03:36 am by Thisisnotasmile »
Logged

Thisisnotasmile

  • Saboteur
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1493
  • Respect: +676
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Set Challenge #2
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2011, 06:43:56 am »
0

Also, in addition to the "Are potion-cost cards allowed?" question, I have another:

Do non-kingdom cards count as cards of their type at their price point? For example, does the existence of Silver rule out Loan (probably not relevant), and does the existence of Duchy rule out Duke (definitely relevant)?
Logged

sherwinpr

  • Spy
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 85
  • Respect: +31
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Set Challenge #2
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2011, 02:55:08 pm »
0

Okay, I'm gonna give this a go, although it may be pants:

(Colony/Platinum included)

$7
Forge

$6
Goons
Nobles

$5
Council Room
Horn of Plenty

$4
Tournament
Gardens
Talisman

$3
Shanty Town

$2
Secret Chamber


...

I had Familiar in for Cursing (because all other cursing price-slots are already used up) for a bit until I just remembered that Followers can do that. Also, I started writing this before sherwinpr posted asking about Potion cards, and I was thinking that anyway. So I have one more slot to fill and I will come back to that at the end. So anyway, with Gardens now becoming more and more viable, and the Goons deck likely to end up a bit junked too, I put Secret Chamber in there at $2. The Gardens player can pick it up with Talismans and clearly doesn't want the Forge to get around the junk. The Goons player has spare buys, and may want the Forge instead but it's expensive. The reaction to the Goons attack is just a bonus (although not particularly strong).

This just leaves us with the hole left by Familiar... Let's see... Nobles. As a victory card. This will provide a small amount of VP while supporting any player running an engine (read: ST/CR). It won't help the Goons player as the prices clash, so this won't boost the already-probably-dominiant strategy any further, but should provide some support to opposing choices. Even the Tournament player should be able to get some use out of a Nobles or two.

And that's my set. You can call it "Tournament/Colony/Goons/Gardens I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!" or something if you want. As I said, I've got a couple more ideas in my head so I might write them down some other time too if I can be bothered. Let me know what you think, and I look forward to seeing what others come up with.

I like this... did you every consider Lighthouse instead of Secret Chamber, or is that too strong?  A quick game ending strategy might try to empty the Lighthouse, Talisman, and Garden stacks, I don't know how well it would work, but the Lighthouses would keep the cash steady without having to worry about devastating hits from Goons (Secret Chamber's defense, as you say, might be pretty weak, especially if you're mostly going for cards that generate 1 coin, so you would have to also invest in Silvers; Goons also weakens Horn of Plenty too much).
Logged

nubs

  • Pearl Diver
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 13
  • Respect: +3
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Set Challenge #2
« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2011, 04:12:52 pm »
0

Let's include potion cards for variety, ie, an action that costs $3P1 is different from an action that costs $3.
Base cards do not count towards rule out - ie, copper, silver, gold, estate, duchy, province, curse, potion do not count.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 04:16:27 pm by nubs »
Logged

rinkworks

  • Saboteur
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1316
  • Respect: +938
    • View Profile
    • RinkWorks
Re: Custom Set Challenge #2
« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2011, 05:16:00 pm »
0

A Whiter Shade of Green

$2
Hamlet
$3
Woodcutter
$4
Gardens
Horse Traders
$5
Duke
Torturer
$6
Goons
Nobles (as a Victory card)
$7
Expand
$8
Peddler

This kingdom features three main routes to victory, one tactic that can supplement another strategy, and one tactic that can be a supplement or a strategy unto itself.  I think.

Woodcutter/Gardens is probably the first thing that jumps out.  I made it Woodcutter/Gardens instead of Workshop/Gardens, because I think the latter would be a touch too dominant, but I'll defer to others' greater expertise here.  With Woodcutter/Gardens, optionally using Hamlets to play multiple Woodcutters if they come up, you might be able to race to a fast win.  Both Hamlets (which loosen up your turns as you play) or Estates (which further increase the VP count) are good candidates for achieving the three-pile ending.

Horse Traders/Duke is the second main strategy on the board.  Horse Traders is great for Duke, because they work even when you've got a lot of junk in your hand -- and if you're racing Duchies, then racing Dukes, you're going to have a lot of it.  What's nice about this strategy is that you can switch from Duchies to Dukes earlier if you've got an opponent going the Gardens route and approaching a three-pile ending sooner than you'd want.  If you're NOT facing a Gardens opponent, you can buy Gardenses yourself whenever you can't scrape together $5 (and don't need to use those turns for treasure)  Since you're sometimes going to want to use Horse Traders' extra buy for Coppers, this bumps the value of extra Gardenses, too.

The third main strategy is Torturer chains.  Since Woodcutter and Horse Traders were both required for Gardens and Duke, respectively, and Bazaar would preclude Torturer, we have to settle for Hamlet to chain the Torturers together.  But the flexibility of Hamlets makes them not at all a bad choice, and as an added bonus you can open Hamlet/Torturer and get started all the faster.  Normally, Torturer chains overwhelm anything else on the board, but note that Gardens and Duke players are probably going to have more than the usual number of green cards in their hands that will be easy to discard.  Moreover, Horse Traders/Duke can take Curses in stride, and they might outright help the Gardens player.  So, while it still might be a winning strategy, the Torturer chain isn't as much of a slam dunk here as it usually is.  It's also weakened a bit by the lack of strong trashing -- but strengthened again by the remaining cards on the board, which I'll get to now.

Goons/Hamlet provides another avenue, with the same caveats about Goons' hand-size-reduction attack.  Alternately, Goons and Torturers can be mix-and-matched:  the Torturers draw, and the Goons provide the buying power and VP.  Hamlet, conveniently, will often be able to feed the Goonses some extra buys, and using all those buys makes Gardens, again, an attractive late-game consolation prize on turns when Provinces aren't affordable.

Expand and Peddler were the last cards I added.  Basically I just considered the remaining possibilities that offered promise.  The Peddlers can supplement just about any strategy, but the Gardens and Duke players will have a tough time obtaining them and probably shouldn't try.  But anyone playing Torturer and/or Goons will find them nice additions.  Optionally, an Expand can be thrown into the mix to turn the Peddlers into Provinces (and, more obviously, the Coppers into Silvers and Estates into Torturers or Duchies).
« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 06:20:34 pm by rinkworks »
Logged
Pages: [1]
 

Page created in 0.135 seconds with 20 queries.