Dominion Strategy Forum
Dominion => Dominion General Discussion => Topic started by: teamlyle on February 23, 2018, 11:53:59 am
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Do they gain any particular insights about a board by playing without a real opponent (sorry Lord Rattington)?
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When I play against Lord Rattington, it's so that I can grind out a certain kingdom until I can have some idea what's the best strategy in it. The rat plays a lot faster than a person, and that way I don't have to bother a real person.
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How do you know that they do?
Could it be that you're seeing people loading an old game just to look at the log? As far as I know, you have to add a bot then.
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I'm not a top player by any stretch, but Lord Rattington is a good baseline check (on many boards, at least) against over-building.
It also allows you to tinker with engine components and optimize certain combos.
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I play him when I just want to play a game quickly. Playing Dominion at top level can take a really long time, and sometimes isn't what I want.
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To inflate their egos, obviously.
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How do you know that they do?
I friended a bunch of top players so that I could watch their games. I get pretty disappointed when I see one playing, only to find that they're playing Lord Rattington :(
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The best thing about playing a bot is that you can use your time how you like without worrying about how it impacts on another player. You can be on the phone, you can use an android platform that might drop out, you can quit games you don't like, you can wander off and do things for your family, and so on.
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Yeah, I have the same complaint sometimes. One thing top players can do to help is to block spectators on their bot games to save people the effort of coming in and then leaving.
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How do you know that they do?
I friended a bunch of top players so that I could watch their games. I get pretty disappointed when I see one playing, only to find that they're playing Lord Rattington :(
Sorry! I have been doing what samath mentions recently.
I play Lord Rattington mostly as a mindless thing I can do, it's like zoning out watching television or something (also those two things can be paired). And also for the same reasons other people are saying. I also like to build megaturns as much as possible against him, that can be fun in and of itself.
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Also very much not a top player, but it's usually when I have < 20 minutes before having to go somewhere and I can't be confident that I'd be able to finish a real game. Also sometimes opponents resign immediately and I'll play it out against LR if it looked like a fun kingdom.
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I play him when I just want to play a game quickly. Playing Dominion at top level can take a really long time, and sometimes isn't what I want.
Little known fact: Stef banned Possession so that jsh would start playing humans again. ;)
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Beating Lord Rattington 1,000 times unlocks the perfect shuffle luck achievement. ;)
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Beating Lord Rattington 1,000 times unlocks the perfect shuffle luck achievement. ;)
And with that, the average wait time to find a match with someone wanting to play another person doubled.
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I play Lord Rattington when it's late at night and don't feel like putting in the energy to win against humans, but don't quite feel like sleeping and still want to listen to some music or something.