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1

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Seaside and Prospeirity 2nd Editions

« on: June 03, 2022, 02:06:33 pm »

Echoing the point of casual vs. competitive players.

I think whether competitive players handle attacks better or not seems irrelevant. The point that matters is whether or not they want them. If they don't want them, and it is seems the push to remove them is coming from the competitive community, then it must mean there's some other aspect to attacks that obviates that consideration.

I can think of a few:

1. While it is true competitive players build engines that can handle attacks better, the disruption of an engine (however great) seems to upset the perfectionist mind more than a social one;

2. Competitive players seem to dislike a slog or big money approach to the game, which may feel more simple or luck oriented;

3. Related to (2), competitive players seem to want to play lots of games (accumulating wins, moving up and down ladders, and all that). Casual players often just want to hang out. Attacks delay completing games, generally speaking;

4. Competitive (or at least, online) players don't seem to game for the interactive element. While Dominion does have player interaction, it can very easily feel like solo play to casual players. Attack cards increase player interaction, if only to introduce additional antagonism and delay to the proceedings.

2

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Innovation

« on: April 05, 2022, 08:30:19 pm »

Remember, though, that you don't have to play all of your Treasure cards. So unless more than $8 of the $13 comes from peddler variants that you need to play to cycle though your deck, you can just leave the payload in your hand (unless you are also being hit with Haunted Woods). If anything, Robber's attack is a bit on the weak side, as it will usually only impact you to the extent your least productive Treasure gives you more $ than you need (e.g. if you have $1 from your Actions and nothing but Gold and you only need $8, you will end up penalized 2 cards). And will frequently be rendered useless with +Buy.

I think a bigger issue is that: 1) it doesn't feel like an interesting decision. It would be revealing to see how it plays, but I could imagine it just being a time-waster ("do I buy this, and get 1 less card, or do I buy that and get two less cards. Oh wait, what if I buy both this and this, and only lose 1 card") all for a relatively small effect on the game; 2) "robber," to the extent its in line with thief and bandit, should steal treasure not cards. Perhaps one could come up with another malevolent thing that takes cards (directly).

Also, if this is an expansion, and admittedly I didn't count everything, but Donald X. usually hopes it can be self-sustaining to some degree - a 25-card set like this usually has three villages, about 3 or so attacks, and the like. Your set appears heavily skewed away from this. Perhaps that's intentional, but might be nevertheless worth thinking about.

3

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Fan Mechanics Week #33: Trial By Fire

« on: April 02, 2022, 05:18:21 pm »

It is a strong handsize Attack, stronger than Legionary ... but do you really want to blow up your terminal draw for it?

I think it could also use a thematic improvement. Is there a reason an assassin draws cards? Gives you a buy? (Other cards with this theme, thief, saboteur, cutpurse, etc., do none of these things). An assassin presumably kills for money, and so the card's benefit should be in nabbing treasure, or something along those lines. Perhaps be less concerned about filling design space, and more on coming up with a thematically tight and innovative card.

4

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Some Fan Card Games I've Played

« on: March 20, 2022, 08:24:03 pm »

In this game I actually did buy Miners. I believe it drew 1 card a bunch of times, 3 cards a bunch, 4 cards a couple of times, and never 2 cards. Weird. Anyway my deck was pretty junky this game, and Miner certainly didn't help by adding Rubbles to my deck. But in return it was good draw, and hey that's the premise of the card!

If you haven't already addressed it, I think one could simplify Miner slightly as follows.

+2 Cards.
You may gain a Rubble. If you do, look through your discard pile and put a Treasure into your hand. If you don't, gain a Copper and +1 Card instead.

i.e., side effects of digging/discovery/payment for miner. Text: 32 words versus 34.
Cost: $4. Not strictly worse or better than Smithy. Will depend on trashing.

If you need Miner to sift through deck, perhaps:

Do this twice: Gain a Rubble. Reveal the top card of your deck. Then reveal cards until you reveal a Treasure. Put it and another revealed card into your hand. Discard the rest.

Slightly shorter (33 words versus 34) and less variable. Drawing 4 cards each time, with some (desired or undesired) sifting and effectively two Ruins. Potentially massive payload, perhaps only +3 and a couple actions, or maybe just +2 and VPs.
Cost: $4.

Note that it should be impossible to dig without finding a Treasure, as a Rubble would trigger the card each time, if necessary. For comparison, Envoy draws 4 (likely) weaker cards but without the Ruins. Journeyman and Patrol have probably a similar draw, but they too without the Ruins. Death Cart gives two Ruins (ahead of time) for a +5 payload. A good check on the card's power is that it probably won't offer massive payload until later in the game, and will be a handicap early.

5

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Alchemy Reforged! [Feedback Needed!]

« on: March 19, 2022, 05:28:22 pm »

A couple thoughts:

1. I like your desire to expand on alchemy. I too have put some ideas together;
2. I like your attempt to fill in some "holes" in the card space, such as Draw to X. This is particularly fertile in situations where Donald has effectively ruled out further additions to a particular mechanic or effect (ruins, come to mind);
3. I find the most interesting thing about alchemy is not the new mechanic, but rather access to unusual cards. For these I'm thinking of Possession and Golem. I think it would be fitting (and more impressive) if some of your cards sought to offer something new (in terms of effects) rather than offer variations on existing cards with a potion cost;
4. I think it might be worthwhile to consider modifying the potion card itself. I don't know what the answer is but, to add flavor and play balance, perhaps reprinting a bunch of potions that offer a ruin like effect (+1 buy, +1 coin, limited sifting), either the same for all (e.g., all give +1 buy, in addition to the potion effect) or mix it up. This limits the downside of missing a collision and stays true to the flavor of the expansion.

6

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Nocturne advice

« on: November 07, 2020, 06:44:38 pm »

Thanks for all the feedback! The Nocturne cards just arrived (M, NW, Exorcist, DW, Changeling, GT and DOS) filling out my set. I had to economize on ghosts due to lack of availability, but scored the other spirits.

(For those interested, and yes this is another storage-solution-for-dominion post, but this fits "all" expansions into one box, favoring higher ranking cards, alt-vp, and some cards with niche impact. Random kingdoms. Tokens stored separately.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B5hz1NlOpuH3AZOczzSyvxc64t1vYXYh/view?usp=drivesdk).

7

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Nocturne advice

« on: November 04, 2020, 02:32:25 pm »

Exorcist requires all three Spirits, Devil's Workshop requires just one of the Spirits (Imp), and Vampire requires Bat and Hexes (which Werewolf also requires).

Perfect, thanks. I guess then I'll pick up DW, Exorcist, Monastery, and a few others. Would not having all the spirits make Exorcist too weak?

I like the idea of picking up Vampire too, but the Hexes (and States) seem like a lot of added effort and physical outlay for just one (or two) cards. I'll see what space I have left.

8

Dominion General Discussion / Nocturne advice

« on: November 03, 2020, 12:11:31 pm »

I was thinking of picking up some Nocturne cards and adding them to my loose-leaf, random set (https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1569989/my-dominion-original-box-storage-base-3-expansions). The thing is, Nocturne comes with a number of distinct mechanics, and I probably can only fit (or want) one of them.

I'm open to ideas or feedback. I'm thinking about one of these two options:

1. Night + Spirit cards. Donald X. seems to suggest that's a doable, standalone mechanic. Looking at the rankings, these tend to be viewed favorably by the community - a lot of the other Nocturne cards, not so much. As an aside: would Exorcist be heavily affected if, for example, only Will-o-wisps and Imps were available?

2. Heirlooms, their related kingdom cards, and boons. I liked the heirlooms from my limited online play, but boons tended to be a little too random. Well, at least they played quicker than Hexes. Part of me thinks these cards aren't "nocturne" enough.

Thanks.