Here's a little project I've been working on
...
0 IntroductionSomewhat-inspired by
threads like this, I got to wondering:
Why do our opinions of Dominion change over time? Is it simply because we get better and more experienced at it? Or are there actual objective reasons as to why
we think Sea Hag is not as good as it used to be? Or why
Urchin is getting better? What follows in this post is an attempt to answer (part of) that.
(Ok, tbh, it doesn't really answer much, if anything at all. I mostly plotted these things out of pure curiosity. Take it or leave it
)
Every section below shows a function y(x), where x is expansion set (Base, Intrigue, etc.). For each section, I explain what y is, my method of counting things, any assumptions I made, etc. I then remark on any observations I see in the data, although I try not to draw too many conclusions. Feel free to come up with your own though (and talk about them).
These are some things that apply to all sections:
- I took every expansion and promo into account up to and including Summon
- I got the data mostly from the wiki
- The x-axes are to-scale. That is, Base came out Oct. of 2008, Intrigue came out July of 2009, etc., and the horizontal distances between the data points are proportional to how much time is actually between those dates.
- I didn't really know where to put promos on the x-axes. I could have put them each on their own release date, but I decided against that because (1) that would clutter up the graphs, and (2) it doesn't really make sense to talk about the ratio of a in b, where b is only 1. This will make more sense when you see what the graphs are of. So I lumped all promos together, and have them as released on Aug. of 2015 which is, as far as I could tell, about the release of Summon. I've marked each data point for promos in red to indicate this inconsistency.
- I used my best judgement in cases when it wasn't clear what to count something as. For example, is Tribute a village-variant? And what about Knights? Etc. If anything doesn't make sense, or you want more explanation, or you disagree with how I did something, or whatever, then feel free to message me.
Without further dudes...
1 Number of CardsFirst off, an easy one: the number of cards in each set. I indicate (1) how many randomizers there are, and (2) how many extra cards that the set came with that could possibly contribute to Fairgrounds. This means I counted Province, Duchy, Gold, etc. for Base.
We all knew Dark Ages and Adventures were the big ones. So not much else to explain or conclude here.
2 Average Coin Cost of Supply CardOne data point here is the average coin cost of the randomizer cards in the set. I don't do anything with Potion cost. If something cost x* (Peddler, Doctor, ...) I counted it as x. I counted Knights as $4.9.
Looks like this is an incredibly flat curve, with the exception of 3 points. Alchemy had Potions, and so it makes sense they have a low average coin cost. DX can charge whatever the heck he wants for Promos. Prosperity, however, is the 1 true outlier -- even counting Peddler as $0 instead of $8, this would still be by far the most expensive set. Huh. Oh and it also has GM.
3 Percentage of AttacksFor each set, I show the percentage of randomizers that are (1) a junking attach, (2) a hand-size-reducer attack, and (3) any other type of attack. For things like Torturer that are 2 of these things, I used my best judgment to put them into the 1 thing they are used more often as. I counted Travellers as attacks because at least one of (each of) them are.
Again, not much to report on. This appears to be fluctuating but doesn't show a trend upwards or down.
4 Percentage of ThinnersFigured percentage of junkers was a good segway into showing the percentage of thinners in each set. Again, I used my best judgement for counting things; like, I didn't count Knights (Dame Anna), but I did count Transmute. Randomizers only.
This is also not trending up or down per se, but it definitely has am up-and-down periodicity to it. Mind: blown.
5 Percentage of Village- or TR-VariantsBasically, if something had a "+2 Actions" clause or similar on it, I counted it. Or, if it didn't have a + actions, but it could still typically be used to gain actions -- so things like Ironmonger, Herald, etc. I think I didn't count things like Tribute and Tournament (Trusty Steed), although honestly I don't even remember haha. Randomizers only.
This seems to be ever-so-slightly trending upwards. Guess DX does like giving us more of this type of engine component.
6 Percentage of Alt-VP Cards (Not VP-Token Cards)Pretty self-explanatory -- I counted things like Gardens, Great Hall, Nobles, etc. Randomizers only.
Looks like it's ever-so-slightly trending downwards. Not much else to say.
7 Card/Event Artwork GendersThis was a fun one. This shows the percentage of any card art (so randomizers, non-supply cards, and Events) that has primarily (1) females on it, or (2) males on it, or (3) neither/both/I couldn't tell. I used my eyes to determine this and didn't look on any rulebooks or anything, so I may have gotten some of it wrong. But I did my best.
DX, we need more chicas!! And I now see why the Dark Ages were so dark
8 Number of Big Horizontal LinesThis shows the number of big horizontal lines (like in Nobles, Young Witch, etc.) in each set. I believe I counted everything, not just randomizers.
Obviously trending upwards. Does this mean Dominion is getting more complicated? More things to remember at times other than when you play a card?
9 Average Number of Types Per CardThis shows the average number of types per card. By "Types", I mean the number of things on the bottom of the card (that's what a Type is, right?). So like Great Hall is 2 types (Action, Victory), Marauder is 3 (Action, Attack, Looter), etc. For cards that had extra non-randomizer things to them, I counted the UNION of all the types associated to the randomizer. So like Tournament had 4 (Action, Prize, Attack, Treasure), Knights had 4 (Action, Knight, Attack, Victory), and so on.
Again, a pretty clear upward trend. Dang you DX for making this game more complicated!
Pretty wild that there are almost on average 2 types per card in Adventures. Interesting note though: Promos are said to be "exotic", yet they have the lowest number types per card.
10 Average Length of Card TextThis is my favorite one. It also was a pain in the a** to do though. The "length" of a card is the number of characters in the string that composes that card's explanation text. I didn't count the card's types or their name. I used sites like
this to copy the card text, then I'd paste it into some string-length-calculator, then average those out for the set (but I did have to type it all out for Adventures because one of those sites does not exist for Adventures yet
). For cards that have extra non-randomizer cards, I took the SUM of all of the text. So like Tournament and Travellers had a lot each, which kind of skewed the average. But I figured this was best because in order to fully understand those cards, you need to read all that text. I didn't include Events.
Once again, an obvious upwards trend. Oh, how the days are gone where you only needed a 3rd grade reading level to fully understand Dominion
11 ConclusionThat's it. Thanks for watching! To sum up: Dominion is getting more complicated. And there aren't enough chicks (in the card art).
As a final aside: All the images above are being hosted on a third party site. Let me know if their links ever break or whatever.