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Dominion General Discussion / Re: Interview with Donald X.
« on: May 08, 2024, 12:46:26 pm »
This thread has to be in the running for the longest interview of all time.
I expect if landscapes were to ever return, they’ll just be added to a large expansion like when events returned in Empires and Menagerie. Who knows, maybe we get a promo landmark some day.I suppose a man can dream...it could be a way to go back to small expansions though, to pad them with extra horizontals.
Why would you want a small expansion, though, when you could have a large expansion?
36 days until projected release date!As is tradition, 36 days for me to figure out storage for this next set.
(I always like using square numbers as my markings for time -- as we get closer to the date, they come more frequently)
I guess the following kingdom will have to suffice:Some of the Teaser cards: Patron has "reveal" in quotations, Scepter, Capitalism, and Inovation let you play Actions in your Buy phase, Fleet gives players extra turns, and you can't turn off Cathedral.
I'm kind of dissapointed that Border Guard uses both Lantern and Horn, meaning that there are only four kingdom cards that use Artifacts. I hope he uses them again in another expansion.
Don't count on it. He's already gone on record saying that he'd remove them from Renaissance if he had to do it all over.
Now that new Dominon sets seem to be continuing indefinitely, I'm ok with similar ideas reoccuring. This is coming from a very harsh critic of any and all wastes of card slots in the "Guilds is the last set" era.
There are so many cards now that seeing a particular card in a given full-random game can be rare, and you'd want to increase the probability of it reoccurring. That's done with Village, Smithy, Workshop, Peddler etc. but it should also be true for slightly more niche cards.
Or if an idea is good, why not allow access to the idea in different sets?
I'd be ok with blatant things in future sets like "Quarry but it's an Event costing $P", or "Distant Lands but it trashes itself for VP tokens".
Similarly scrapped ideas that weren't particularly interesting would be fine for revisiting (Like the top-deck Remodel that was replaced with Rebuild) as simple cards for future sets.
All of this is fine as long as each set is decent value for money, and with Projects, Renaissance looks like it will be.
IMO Adventures, Empires and the 2nd editions are excellent so your process is more or less working (Not personally fond of nocturne but it's not "bad")Thanks; we had a lot of fun playtesting Nocturne, but I would change it a lot at this point, which is not true of Adventures or Empires. I would probably split it into two sets, one with Night, Spirits, and Boons, and the other with Heirlooms and some other new mechanic. I wouldn't do Hexes (too slow). I would only do ~5 Fate cards.
After thinking about it for a bit, I'm wondering about the decision-making process regarding these. Since you can only buy these once, it seems like it will be a no-brainer to get them every game. The effects are either never harmful or optional, and you don't have to pick a good "target" like inheritance. I suppose there's decisions in when to get them, but I think even there the answer is usually "as soon as possible." I guess the main exception would be Fair, which you should probably wait on. And you don't need Silos if there's premium trashing, or Sewers if there's no trashing. But what about the others? In the end, are projects a little too simple?The question is usually not whether to buy a project because in a lot of instances they will be must buys. And sometimes it might not even be when to buy the project. The more important question will usually be how do you build your startegy around the project. I think projects are somewhat of an inevitable addition to the game and am really glad they stayed simplistic.
My guess is you can "purchase" projects by placing one of your two wooden cubes on the sideways card-shaped thing. The other players can do the same. So long as your cube is on the project (maybe you can't take it off), parts of the game will be modified for you and anyone else who has purchased the same project, such as (1) take a turn after the game ends, (2) trash a card every turn, (3) $1 every turn, (4) +1 buy every turn, (5) some kind of benefit every time you shuffle, (6) maybe a benefit when you do other things like buy a victory, treasure, or action card, (7) maybe a way to play action cards during buy phase.Called it.
Seems like enough possibilities here to make 20 of these projects.
The odds are even better than that for Turn 2. There is only a 1/6 chance you draw $3. 4/6 chance you draw $4. 1/6 chance you draw $5.Not liking Flag Bearer open on 4/3 as you immediately draw 6 and get a bad shuffle at the start of turn 2, I'll pass.I'm not certain that's a bad shuffle. If you get $4 on T1 and buy Flag:If your opponent lets you keep the flag, your T3 will probably be even better, but the certainty of hitting $5 on or before T3 with 50% chance of hitting $6 seems like a good thing - probably good enough to compensate for the slightly messed-up shuffling.
- 2/6 chance: $3 on T2, $6 on T3
- 3/6 chance $4 on T2, $5 on T3
- 1/6 chance $6 on T2, $4 on T3
At first I thought the new cards are fun, but when I saw that Ducat is strictly better that Candlestick Maker, I got very disappointed. Villain (which should be a pun to Village, I guess) also plays very different, if you use Shelters (but so do Shepherd and Baron).Ducat may be better but it is not "strictly" better in the literal sense of the word. Ducat is a treasure and CSM is an action and so they do interact differently with some cards.
Turn 1: SMFor example:
Turn 1: SM
Turn 2: Procession
Turn 3: Procession the SM. Now you have a $5 card, $5-8 to spend this turn (4-7 copper and the coffer), and two villagers. You're also shuffling your discard pile for Turn 4.
More like:
Turn 1: SM
Turn 2: Procession
Turn 3: draw Procession without the SM.
For sure. Only pointing out some possible upside.It's particularly good when there is a TfB available, especially one that costs 4 or less such as Procession or Remake.I don't think SM is a power card, but I do think people are somewhat underrating the on-gain effect. If you open 4/3, you can grab a SM and a second 4-cost card on turn 2.
Yeah, but that's just the Nomad Camp thing all over again. You can open Nomad Camp/another $4 cost card, but if you do, you just essentially opened with Woodcutter/$4 cost card, which is just a regular 3/4 opening where the $3 is particularly weak.
For example:
Turn 1: SM
Turn 2: Procession
Turn 3: Procession the SM. Now you have a $5 card, $5-8 to spend this turn (4-7 copper and the coffer), and two villagers. You're also shuffling your discard pile for Turn 4.
That's if the two cards collide on Turn 3. There is no guarantee that will happen.
I always have trouble keeping Spice Merchant and Silk Road straight in terms of the names. Silk Merchant will help a lot.Try playing a game with Merchant, Wine Merchant, Spice Merchant, Silk Merchant, Silk Road, Merchant Guild, and Merchant Ship.
It's particularly good when there is a TfB available, especially one that costs 4 or less such as Procession or Remake.I don't think SM is a power card, but I do think people are somewhat underrating the on-gain effect. If you open 4/3, you can grab a SM and a second 4-cost card on turn 2.
Yeah, but that's just the Nomad Camp thing all over again. You can open Nomad Camp/another $4 cost card, but if you do, you just essentially opened with Woodcutter/$4 cost card, which is just a regular 3/4 opening where the $3 is particularly weak.
Or use the square VP mats from Prosperity or really whatever you want as another mat. Or use some other form of token for villagers/coffers (like you said, meeples). The beauty of playing IRL is that you can do whatever you want.Still loving what I'm seeing of the new cards in Renaissance.
Still not feeling the love for the coin token -> Coffers terminology, nor for yet another mat. Nor for using coin tokens as Villagers. Nor for relying on tokens never accidentally straying across a line on a bit of cardboard.
Assuming my other players agree, I think I'll pick up some small meeples to use instead.
You could just cut the mats in half.