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[AdamH]

GokoDom has uncovered a weakness in my game. Sometimes on a Colony board, you still have to go for a money-based strategy, particularly with no trashing available. Something I don't have a good feel for at all is when and how to green in these games.

Example game and some existing discussion

This should be a decent simulator question, right? For BMU, when do you green? When do you start buying Provinces? Is it ever a good idea to ignore Colonies and try to drain Provinces? Is this affected by junking, draw? I've seen people buy a Province before ever buying a Platinum in games against me and I still lose! I feel like there has to be a correct answer here, something that applies to 90% of situations that I'm just missing, right?

[Geronimoo]

I'd be happy to write a simulator bot for you if you have a specific (money) board.

[AdamH]

I think a good starting point would be BMU, no kingdom cards. Maybe then add Smithy, then Moneylender, maybe Militia? I feel like I would play suboptimally in these kingdoms.

Thanks, btw.

[DG]

For a treasure based colony game, I think you should look to get one or two platinum, then start buying colonies, and take provinces with 5-6 colonies in the supply. It will vary with each deck of course. It's also sometimes worth making a decision on greening after a reshuffle.

In money games you tend to build your deck up to a peak, capable of buying the top victory cards, and then let it deteriorate as you add green cards. By the time the last colony is in the supply the average hand is below colony quality but the variance gives a chance of colony buying hands. For your Gokodom game, the mountebanks/goons had done enough damage that improving the peak capability of your deck was going to take many turns but the deterioration from buying green cards was going to be less. The peak should have only just been at colony level, and no more, with an immediate switch to provinces as soon as you went green.

[dondon151]

There is also a difference between BM with a terminal drawer and BM with terminal +$ (that obviously doesn't draw). With no drawer, I would typically expend more effort getting Platinums before greening.

I agree most of all with DG's statement that you should make a decision on greening after every reshuffle. Victory cards that you buy during a shuffle won't be there to hamper your deck until the next shuffle. In a BM+X game, once you start diluting your deck with Victory cards, there's really no turning back. So generally, if you hit $11+ early in a shuffle, and you think you can make $11+ once or twice more during that same shuffle, then just start greening. Depending on the kingdom, you might want to prioritize Gold over Duchy for awhile, though.

[HiveMindEmulator]

When you get to your last 2-3 times through the deck, it can be useful to think of many points each card is worth, since you're no longer really building up your deck that much, removing any notion of the goodness of a card snowballing. Obviously Province is worth 6 points, buy Gold also has a kind of value. Every time you play it, it usually gets you ~3-4 points. (The difference between a Duchy and Province or Province and Colony -- potentially also Gold vs Plat, which can be 3-4 point difference in the *next* shuffle). So if you might not make it through your deck 2 more times, you may want to favor buying Provinces vs Gold. But if you're going to see it 3 times, you probably want the Gold.