Dominion Strategy Forum
Dominion => Dominion Articles => Topic started by: Limetime on February 18, 2016, 11:17:26 pm
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I sometimes notice players(including myself) not play well. This is because they are not focused. These questions should help you stay focused on winning. Let's suppose we have a kingdom with junk dealer, margrave, highway, village and some irrelevant cards.
The first question we should ask ourselves is what is the most effective way of winning?
Since this board has no alt-vp cards we need to get provinces to score points or end the game on piles. This leads us to ask:
What do we want our deck to look like before we start greening?
We want our deck to look something like this. 1 junk dealer,5 highways(more is always better but in a mirror you will probably get 5, 3 margraves(To draw deck, attack and give + buy), one village per margrave you get.
How do we get there?
Because most of our engine pieces are costing 5 and there are no kingdom cards that help us hit 5 better than silver we should open double silver. If we get lucky enough to get 5/2 we should pick up a junk dealer. Junk dealer helps us trash which is a good thing.
Why do we want to trash?
We want to trash because when we draw a card we want to draw a card that helps us have a better turn. If that junk card had not been in your deck you would have drawn a better card. Suppose I drew a hand of 3 coppers and a margrave and a estate. Now let's suppose that I had trashed all those estates and coppers. I would have drawn many more villages/draw cards/highways if those junk cards wouldn't have been there.
On 4-3$ hands you should get villages because silvers do not help you that much and will clog your hands up eventually(Do not be afraid to trash your starting silvers)
After we get two junk dealers we should think about how our deck is doing.
If we have several villages but have not trashed very many cards it is probably time for a highway.
If not pick up a margrave.
How do we win the key splits?
In this case highways are the key split because that will be our main source of economy.
There are many ways to try to do this. In this board you really have two options
1)Buy highways earlier than your opponent
2)Get +buy cards two buy two(or more) highways in a turn.
Skip forward a few turns...
You and your opponents deck should look something like this:
5 highways, two junk dealers, 5 dollars of real economy(non-highways), 3 stop cards, 2 margraves, 2-3 villages.
How do you want to plan the endgame?
Given that you do not have enough economy to double province(provinces cost 3) but can draw your deck every turn(almost)You have a few options
1)Go straight for green
2)Get cards that help you control piles (Margrave helps give you + buy)
3)Get enough economy to double province (single gold should do the trick)
After the game is over you should ask yourself:
Why did I win/lose And What did I do different than my opponent
This is a tough question. Many times you can do more than one option at one time.
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trash witch is a good thing.
I think trashing Witch is often bad play.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Did you just say Golem is in the same order of magnitude in usefulness as Coppersmith/Counting House?
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Did you just say Golem is in the same order of magnitude in usefulness as Coppersmith/Counting House?
On this board yes.
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Did you just say Golem is in the same order of magnitude in usefulness as Coppersmith/Counting House?
On this board yes.
But this board has Counting House on it. You do at least need to weigh your strategy up against a Golem/Counting House strat.
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Did you just say Golem is in the same order of magnitude in usefulness as Coppersmith/Counting House?
On this board yes.
But this board has Counting House on it. You do at least need to weigh your strategy up against a Golem/Counting House strat.
Counting house golem is only a thing on weak boards.
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Ever heard of a little combo called Scout/Explorer? I think that'll best your lame engine 8 times out of 10.
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I don't particularly like the whole "I need X of this and Y of that" formula for knowing when to green. I think it's a good place to start but it tends to give you tunnel vision and makes you miss opportunities to adapt your play to your opponent or to green early if you're way farther ahead on building. You need to play with your gut for lack of a better word, and you need to make your gut better by playing a ton of Dominion.
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Ever heard of a little combo called Scout/Explorer? I think that'll best your lame engine 8 times out of 10.
My lame engine will best Scout/Explorer 90-93% of the time.
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Ever heard of a little combo called Scout/Explorer? I think that'll best your lame engine 8 times out of 10.
My lame engine will best Scout/Explorer 90-93% of the time.
I encourage you to simulate that.
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Ever heard of a little combo called Scout/Explorer? I think that'll best your lame engine 8 times out of 10.
My lame engine will best Scout/Explorer 90-93% of the time.
It's hard to make your engine that lame.
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Ever heard of a little combo called Scout/Explorer? I think that'll best your lame engine 8 times out of 10.
My lame engine will best Scout/Explorer 90-93% of the time.
I encourage you to simulate that.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16948609/simulation.png)
(I started with Geronimoo's Apothecary/Native Village as My lame engine and a basic big money with Explorer>Gold and Scout>Silver, but the former absolutely crushed the latter so I had to remove the Scheme from the former and restrict the number of Scouts bought over Silvers to two in the latter to bring My lame engine's win rate down to the desired range)
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Ever heard of a little combo called Scout/Explorer? I think that'll best your lame engine 8 times out of 10.
My lame engine will best Scout/Explorer 90-93% of the time.
I encourage you to simulate that.
(I started with Geronimoo's Apothecary/Native Village as My lame engine and a basic big money with Explorer>Gold and Scout>Silver, but the former absolutely crushed the latter so I had to remove the Scheme from the former and restrict the number of Scouts bought over Silvers to two in the latter to bring My lame engine's win rate down to the desired range)
Actually, I'm having trouble making some form of Explorer+Scout that beats WW's optimized Explorer-BM script. If somebody manages to do that I'd love to see it, really. :)
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
You know, if the Highways, Margraves, and Villages get split, then I wouldn't discount a late game Explorer. Because you can't get Provinces to cost $0 when Highways are split, you're actually going to need some sort of coin source to buy them at $3-4 or whatever you get them down to. None of the 4 relevant cards mentioned in the OP provide that coin source.
Do you want to waste buys buying Golds, or would you rather buy a single Explorer to ramp up your economy each turn, which you can reliably line up with Province in your draw engine trimmed with Junk Dealer. Maybe Explorer doesn't need to come into play, but I find it unfair to discount Explorer in a scenario where it has a chance to shine.
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
You know, if the Highways, Margraves, and Villages get split, then the game is over.
FTFY
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
You know, if the Highways, Margraves, and Villages get split, then the game is over.
FTFY
Heh, oops.
Well that raises a point about what happens in the mirror. I think Big Money would get crippled by Margrave's discard attack, so a mirror is likely. In order to not get crushed by a Highway/Margrave megaturn, you have to contest to engine components. Doing that causes piles to get dangerously low dangerously fast. This mirror would result in the kind of game where someone wins on 3-piles with a single Province or even a single Estate.
So then, you've already identified the options you need to consider to end the game in the OP. You can't know ahead of time which plan you'll have to take given the many ways the game can play out. The important thing is to be aware of all of those options beforehand. I guess that's the point you were trying to make, but it doesn't hurt to emphasize it again.
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i find more success aiming for like 1-2 more villages than terminals in this type of engine. you need the reliability for your starting hand - WW has talked about this on his blog IIRC.
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The first question I have is how you determined the other irrelevant cards are actually irrelevant? For me that is the hardest part. I'll often see or watch someone play a game and use a card elegantly that I had discounted or I'll play a game and use a card but get crushed by someone who completely ignored it.
Without actually giving some examples it is hard to say how you determined the other cards were irrelevant. Considering and skipping this question as irrelevant makes this tutorial less useful to me.
The other cards are like scout,golem,phil stone,coppersmith,explorer,Counting house
Ever heard of a little combo called Scout/Explorer? I think that'll best your lame engine 8 times out of 10.
My lame engine will best Scout/Explorer 90-93% of the time.
I encourage you to simulate that.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16948609/simulation.png)
(I started with Geronimoo's Apothecary/Native Village as My lame engine and a basic big money with Explorer>Gold and Scout>Silver, but the former absolutely crushed the latter so I had to remove the Scheme from the former and restrict the number of Scouts bought over Silvers to two in the latter to bring My lame engine's win rate down to the desired range)
I'll see myself out.