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1026

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: May 03, 2020, 03:04:00 am »

Here's my entry, a standard Horse-gainer that gives you a way to use your horses without losing them (for a slight nerf to your hand).

Jockey • $3 • Action - Reaction
Gain 2 Horses.
-
When you play a Horse, before returning it to its pile, you may reveal this from your hand and discard a card to keep it in play.

I like this a lot. Fugitives are strong but do not net draw, so Jockey cannot become too crazy.

1027

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: May 01, 2020, 04:26:18 pm »

I'm changing my entry again - typing up yall's entries for the trello board gave me a better idea (revised version)

Badlands • $5 • Action - Attack - Duration
Now and at the start of your next turn: +2 Cards. Gain 2 Horses.
-
While this is in play, when another player plays a Horse, instead of following its instructions, they choose two: +1 Card; +1 Action; or +$1 (The choices must be different); then return that Horse to its pile.

Bur or no buy, it is basically a Wharf so everybody will go for it, there will always be copies in play, Horses will never do anything.

So absent action density sensitive cards like Golem or Scrying Pool, this will play very similarly to a Wharf without Buys. Which is totally OK, Wharf is after all crazily overpowered. But you could achieve the same thing in a far more straightforward fashion.

1028

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: May 01, 2020, 12:52:39 pm »

NoMoreFun had the very same idea and I think that this is more of a $4 than a $5. Gain a Horse is very similar to +1 Card but in the case of Apprentice I think you more often than not prefer to draw the cards immediately.

Thanks for the help. I went back-and-forth on $4/$5 before I submitted. Though, of course, Apprentice is what I was thinking of, you are certainly correct that Apprentice is better in more situations (including most engines). Keeping it simple, and not wanting to jump into the "Horses to your hand" quagmire, do you think it fits better into a price category if I either cantrip it at $5 (adding +1 Card) or remove the +1 Action at $4? Or a I overthinking, and is it simply best as-is at $4?

As cantrip it is too good. Compare it with Upgrade in the case of an Estate: instead of 1 Silver you get 2 Horses (Upgrade could achieve the same if Experiment is in the Kingdom).

Adding +1 Card to non-terminals usually implies a strong increase of the power level. For example Cellar as a cantrip would be a $5 and Candlestick Maker would even be a $6.

1029

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: May 01, 2020, 06:13:32 am »

NoMoreFun had the very same idea and I think that this is more of a $4 than a $5. Gain a Horse is very similar to +1 Card but in the case of Apprentice I think you more often than not prefer to draw the cards immediately.

1030

Game Reports / Re: Possessed 6 Times in a Row

« on: April 30, 2020, 01:32:19 am »

Sounds like you should have played money as a simple counter. He did after all twice hit 8 or the equivalent of it. You could have bought 2 Provinces in that time.

1031

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 27, 2020, 01:28:36 pm »

Grand Laboratory
A Lab that can give you more Labs or function as a Workshop. Therefore you pay a higher price, I like that concept. Though I think, it is too easy to get with Workshop/Remodel variants. I would like it without the cost reduction, but that can gain another Grand Laboratory (which then would not fit the contest anymore). Might be a matter of taste. I like it anyway.

Yay baby, thank you very much for putting my card as a finalist! It is a little easy to nab a lab with a Workshop or its variants, but at least Grand Laboratory’s cost being down during one’s Action phase makes it less attractive for Remodel cards (can’t turn a Grand Laboratory into a Province, for instance).


Now, onto the contest at hand:

So uuuh I had a bunch of pre-made cards dealing with Horses prior to this week’s challenge. I really love the new Horse mechanism and went over my head with ‘em. So now I gotta pick only one of them to submit it here. However, it made me sad to leave the others behind. Soooo I kinda thought of Castles and well, I decided to do something akin to that. So here’s what I got:


I’m probably shooting myself in the foot here. This many cards means a higher chance to have off-balance stuff. And it very much gives a “this is too much” vibe. Moreover, I personally usually prefer modest and well-balanced cards over overly intricate stuff that ends up being somewhat messy. This is a prime example of quantity over quality here.
That being said, I think the idea of a Castle-like Horse line was too good to pass. Some of them Stallions, I’m not so sure about. Mainly Appaloosa and Gypsy Vanner. Balancing stuff correctly is kinda hard without outside perspective. So if you guys would like to point obvious stuff that went straight over my head with these Stallions, please do tell. I'd like to add that this was not tested yet.

Source for the horse breeds.

This is plain beautiful.
Did you make Shetland Pony intentionally so strong (basically, Smithy) to bootstrap the whole thing respectively to prevent a stalemate situation in Kingdoms without trashers (nobody wants to go for the first Stallion lest the next player gains the only trasher in the Kingdom, Clydesdale)?
On the other hand, as draw power is a substitute for trashing and as the trashing power of that card is weak, it is probably nothing to worry about (Dame Anna being random is far worse and definitely does screw up games).

1032

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 27, 2020, 01:21:45 pm »

This has to cost $4. Otherwise opening double Forest Hag will occur too often.

1033

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 27, 2020, 01:19:59 pm »

It is a Bazaar variant and likely too good.

I think it's probably delayed enough that it's balanced. It doesn't benefit you at all until the turn after you play it.

I think that the tokens (Horses are roughly similar in strength to drawing a card) more than make up for them being delayed. The card can never be drawn dead, unlike Durations it does not stay out and we know from Nocturne and Renaissance the strength of consistency that tokens or delayed effects provide.

Ii is nothing crazy though. What makes the card overpowered is the hand-gaining. Note that the on-gain stuff is of roughly similar strength as Den of Sins (I'd argue that it is slightly better) but without any of the Duration downsides (staying out, missing shuffles, being only a "half-card" in deck-drawing engines).

1034

Dominion General Discussion / Re: DeepMind for Dominion

« on: April 27, 2020, 09:25:36 am »

I wonder how the AI could deal with different setups. Starcraft has hidden information but the options are identical in all games. A self teaching AI might have a hard time to meta-learn (judge Kingdoms).

1035

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 27, 2020, 09:22:03 am »

It is a Bazaar variant and likely too good.

1036

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 26, 2020, 05:00:06 pm »

1037

Dominion General Discussion / DeepMind for Dominion

« on: April 24, 2020, 07:05:47 am »

I read yesterday that Google's self-learning AI project, which has been mainly known for excelling at chess and Go, is also pretty good at a RTS game like Starcraft.
My hunch is that this is far more complex than a turned based game like chess which features an average of 20 choices per turn and around 80 plies.

So if that AI is brillant at dealing with the giant decision space of a real time game with hidden information, shouldn't it be able to tackle a turn-based game with randomness like Dominion?

Is this feasible, is it likely that Google would be interested in that ... and would this hypothetical scenario ruin the game or actually imply a possible balancing tool for new cards (not that this is necessary)?

1038

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: LA's list of tested fan cards (& games played with fan cards)

« on: April 23, 2020, 02:12:24 pm »

Shoveler
Cost $3 - Action
Reveal cards from your deck until you reveal 3 cards that cost $3 or less. Discard the other cards, then choose one: Put them in your hand; or Trash one and discard the others.

That's an interesting Lookout variant that gives up non-terminality for the sake of eliminating the chance of having to trash good stuff.

Appraise
$0 Event
You may discard a card costing at least $3 that isn't a victory card. If you do, +1 Buy, and cards cost $1 less this turn, but not less than $0.

Basically this converts all non-junk cards into Highways (it is slightly better, Night-style, always able to play it) that do not draw. That allows you to add more terminals to your deck than you would otherwise; with two/three Buys they are at least Silvers/Golds.

1039

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 23, 2020, 01:17:24 pm »

This sounds sensible. The current version could e.g. cost $25 in a 3P game after all Coppers have been trashed. Salvager loves this and you are totally right that this sharp cost increase is too crazy.

1040

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 22, 2020, 01:52:03 pm »

Also, the fact that the effect is on buy means you can gain it with workshop variants and never have to increase the price.

You also do not get the benefits so it is a Duchy for $5.
The only situation (concerning the gain without Buy scenario) in which you prefer this over Duchy is late game for Remodel: you Remodel a $4, are unsure that you will be able to Remodel it again into a Province, i.e. don't want to gamble on Gold, and prefer Archipelago over Duchy.

1041

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 21, 2020, 12:46:29 pm »

I don't know. If you want to use it consistently (and otherwise it does not seem to be worthwhile except for the last turn) it is Coin-> Coffers.
Plaza does the same job for a bargain and without delay.

1042

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 20, 2020, 12:09:26 pm »

Is a treasure-duration impossible?



I figure the cost reduction rewards early greening and compensates for being cursed or ruined a little by making all those junk cards still worth an effective $1.

I like the idea but it is bonkers in 5/2 and very likely broken.

As you can always open with it, and always buy it in the absence of handsize attacks, I'd nerf it down to 3 Coins. I am pretty sure that this will win by itself otherwise in a boring money strategy.
It could even be broken with 3 Coins; being able to buy a delayed Gold every turn sounds strong as well.

1043

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 19, 2020, 08:35:15 pm »

I first tried some Enclave style event with Silver love, but it leads to boring strategies (trash down to 5 Silvers, only buy Provinces):
Event - $13*
Exile a Province from the Supply. This cost $1 less per Silver in play.

As did not work out, I lazily submit an old one:

Does Treasure/Victory Mean a card with at least one type, or a card with both types?

Read / as and. So at least one type.

1044

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 19, 2020, 04:21:21 pm »

I first tried some Enclave style event with Silver love, but it leads to boring strategies (trash down to 5 Silvers, only buy Provinces):
Event - $13*
Exile a Province from the Supply. This cost $1 less per Silver in play.

As did not work out, I lazily submit an old one:

1045

Rules Questions / Re: Moat, Sheepdog, and Gaining

« on: April 19, 2020, 04:13:31 pm »

It is blue, and card-shaped (at some scale)!

That's why they call Sheepdog-TARDIS-Moat the TripleIndigo reaction combo.

1046

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 19, 2020, 04:09:45 pm »

A simple trasher and terminal draw combo, that costs more if you want to trash your treasures, with an added dash of player interaction. Harder to grab as your main draw, so it's really more of a utility car for thinning. Three might be too many, but an outtake version of Chapel trashed only up to three and was much slower, so it should be balanced.

It only costs more after you've trashed your first Coppers. So if you open with it and your opponent doesn't, you'll gladly trash three Coppers the first time you draw it, increasing the cost to $7. That's harsh for your opponent whenever it's the only good trasher on the board...

If it is the only good trasher (and how is "trash up to 3 cards" not likely the best trasher on the board?) he would deserve to lose even without the second shuffle increase.
You could argue that the card is boring as it hard to get more than one copy, or that the first player has a higher chance to get a second copy ... but then again if you have two Smithy/Chapels in your deck after the second shuffle that could easily backfire.

1047

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Non-Supply Junk Card

« on: April 19, 2020, 08:17:02 am »

The interesting aspect of this is the shift of the junking time pattern (other junkers like Coven also did this), i.e. as you can return the junk this can lead to more of an Ambassador like to and fro than to the standard, above all junk early and quick, kind of play.

1048

Rules Questions / Re: Moat, Sheepdog, and Gaining

« on: April 19, 2020, 03:49:31 am »

But once you've gained the curse, you can't un-gain it retroactively by revealing a moat.

If you reveal TARDIS and trigger its Reaction, you can travel back 10sec and then reveal the Moat.

1049

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 16, 2020, 01:52:14 pm »

Sparrow
Type: Action
Cost: $4

Choose one:
+2 Cards or +1 VP.

You may play a Sparrow from your hand.
-
When you buy this, put all Sparrows from your discard pile on the top of your deck.

Nonterminal unconditional VP tokens have an obvious Golden Deck abuse potential. Sure, it is no cantrip but with some draw power you can get more than 5VPs per turn.

It is easier to buy a Duchy than to play a Sparrow three times.

True that. But it is harder to gain a Duchy and (the equivalent of) a Laboratory than it is to play 3 Sparrows. If you compare green and VP tokens, you have to take into account that the former takes space in your deck whereas the latter does not.

Plunder / Monument in Capitalism / Groundskeeper are a way more abusable.

I agree that some cards like Groundskeeper or, probably the worst culprit, Goons can be very centralizing. But all cards and landscape cards that produce VP tokens either feature a limited supply of them (many Landmarks, Farmer's Market) or lead the game towards the end, either because they produce Coins (all Prosperity cards) or because they require gaining (directly like Groundskeeper or indirectly because they require stuff to trash like Tomb and Temple).

I don't think that one should violate this very design principle, it is obviously not accidental.

Back to the actual Golden deck potential of Sparrow, while I don't think that the card is centralizing in many Kingdoms, the Golden deck is easy to set up. For example a deck that consists of 9 Sparrows (theoretically obviously not possible, you do at least need a gainer) yields 7VPs per turn (play 2 Sparrows to draw, 7 for the VPs).

1050

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest Thread

« on: April 15, 2020, 01:25:47 pm »

Interchange
Action - $4
+$2
If you have Actions remaining, +2 Actions

This seems weaker than Conclave as it needs another village to work. With another village and this as „sidekick“ or „spicer“ it is situationally stronger than Conclave.