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1
Help! / How did I lose on this GM board to Bandit Camp?
« on: May 30, 2014, 11:32:20 am »


Code: [Select]
Native Village, Masquerade, Tunnel, Conspirator, Feast, Scavenger, Baker, Bandit Camp, Royal Seal, Grand Market

So I figured there was a huge GM-Conspirator-Baker engine here with Masq providing the trashing.

But I lost to the bot playing a Bandit Camp-Conspirator "engine". The bot never even bought Masquerade!

The log is here: http://www.gokosalvager.com/static/logprettifier.html?/20140530/log.50f70ca7e4b0c53c94b0ca2d.1401463531810.txt

I tried to avoid buying treasure aside from a single silver, instead playing Bakers to gain coins with which to buy GM's.

I think I made at least a few mistakes here:

1) I didn't play Masq heavily enough. More aggressive Masq play could possibly have made the bot choke more.

2) I should probably have either bought a bit more early treasure OR bought a Bandit Camp to use the spoils to buy GM's.

Still I'm really surprised that the bot could buy 8 provinces in 18 turns with just 3 Conpirators, 2 Bandit Camps and 1 Baker.

Would love to hear what the experts think.

2
Dominion General Discussion / Ideas for a Dominion tournament for noob students
« on: August 07, 2013, 03:21:21 am »
I'm a high school teacher. In september the school holds an "activity" day full of various competitions and events. Mostly sports, but the teachers are encouraged to come up with ideas. The gym teachers will organize all the sports events. The other teachers who participate each have to come up with some form of competition for 15-20 students. This event or competition will take place twice during the day with two different sets of 15-20 students.

My idea was to do some sort of boardgaming. First I wanted to see if there was a game that could be played with the whole group together. I sort of gave up on that. Second, I thought maybe we could divide the students up in smaller groups to play board games. The problem here is that I would either have them play MY OWN board games (reluctant to do that) or persuade the school to invest in board games (probably unlikely). Also, explaining rules for different board games to different groups would be virtually impossible.

So my idea now is to run a Dominion tournament. My first idea was to pursuade the school to buy 2 base sets and 2 sets of Intrigue and then have the students play the game in groups of four. However, I now think that maybe it would be more flexiable to simply hold a Goko tournament. So I would have the 15-20 students sign up at goko.com (for free, so base set only). I would explain the rules. I would then have the students join one of the obscure rooms with no other players in it and have them play as many games against each other in the 2-3 hour time frame as possible. Then the "winner" is the one with the highest ranking at the end.

What do you think about this? Does it sound workable? Any suggestions for improvements?

3
Game Reports / Analysis of a 40 turn mammoth game
« on: May 23, 2013, 07:28:14 am »
Trying to move on from just playing bots I managed to get a game against a top player, SheCantSayNo. This was rather fascinating especially because I came somewhat close to winning, yet in the end lost fairly convincingly. Moreover this game taught me several valuable lessons, one of which was watch the trash!

Now, a game without junk really shouldn’t last 40 turns, so what happened?

Excited to play a strong player I look over the kingdom and see…..nothing. Here it is:

P =  Vineyard
$3 = Oasis, Storeroom
$4 = Nomad Camp, Silk Road, Thief, Trader
$5 = Knights, Mandarin
P$4 = Golem

No villages, no strong trashing, no junkers. Knights are the only decent attacks, but without a village I don’t want too many of them, if any. A mandarin could be useful as a cheap gold and to prevent terminal clash. I don’t want to spend time going for a Golem if I can’t play the actions that Golem draws anyway. Neither Vineyard nor Silk road looks that interesting to me. I basically opt for a simple money heavy strategy, without being a Big Money approach per se.

The opening

---------- BlueSwan: turn 1 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 4 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Trader
BlueSwan - gains Trader
BlueSwan - draws Overgrown Estate, Copper, Hovel, Copper, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 1 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays 5 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - gains Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Copper on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - places Copper on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - places Copper on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - places Copper on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - places Copper on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 2 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Silver, Overgrown Estate, Copper, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 2 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays 5 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Dame Josephine
SheCantSayNo - gains Dame Josephine
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Overgrown Estate, Necropolis, Hovel, Copper


Comment = I have a 4/3 split, while SheCantSayNo has a 5/2 split. I open Trader/Silver. A bit of a noob blunder really. I figure that I would trash estates for silvers, not realizing that we were playing with shelters. In the end the trader worked out OK for me, I suppose. SheCantSayNo opens with a Mandarin buy which allows for another $5 on hand for a Dame Josephine (the 2 VP knight) buy. This set the stage for a fairly Knights heavy strategy on SCSN’s part.

---------- BlueSwan: turn 3 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Sir Bailey
BlueSwan - gains Sir Bailey
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Hovel, Copper, Necropolis, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 3 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Estate
SheCantSayNo - trashes Hovel
SheCantSayNo - gains Estate
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Dame Josephine, Copper, Copper, Mandarin

Comment = SCSN’s Dame Josephine buy opens up Sir Bailey, which I promptly buy with my first $5. Sir Bailey is the cantrip knight which I gather is important on a village-less board. SCSN chooses to buy an Estate to trash Hovel for lack of better options with $2 in hand.

---------- BlueSwan: turn 4 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Trader
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Copper, Silver
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 4 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Dame Josephine on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays 3 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Dame Molly
SheCantSayNo - gains Dame Molly
SheCantSayNo - draws Dame Josephine, Necropolis, Overgrown Estate, Copper, Estate
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 5 ----------
BlueSwan - plays Trader
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - draws Necropolis, Overgrown Estate, Copper, Silver, Sir Bailey
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 5 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Hovel
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Copper, Copper
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Mandarin, Dame Molly
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 6 ----------
BlueSwan - plays Necropolis
BlueSwan - plays Sir Bailey
BlueSwan - draws Copper
SheCantSayNo - reveals: Overgrown Estate, Necropolis
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - draws Copper
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Copper, Copper, Silver
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 6 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Silver, Necropolis
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Copper on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Dame Sylvia
SheCantSayNo - gains Dame Sylvia
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Copper, Dame Josephine, Estate, Copper
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 7 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 4 Copper, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Gold
BlueSwan - gains Gold
BlueSwan - draws Sir Bailey, Silver, Copper, Trader, Silver
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 7 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Silver
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays 3 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Silver
SheCantSayNo - gains Silver
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Copper
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Necropolis, Mandarin

Comment = I basically just load up on silvers and a gold while SCSN buys a few knights. At this point I’m not too concerned about the knights, but maybe I should have been…

---------- BlueSwan: turn 8 ----------
BlueSwan - plays Sir Bailey
BlueSwan - draws Overgrown Estate
SheCantSayNo - reveals: Copper, Dame Sylvia
SheCantSayNo - trashes Dame Sylvia
SheCantSayNo - discards Copper
BlueSwan - trashes Sir Bailey
BlueSwan - plays Trader
BlueSwan - trashes Overgrown Estate
BlueSwan - draws Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - plays 3 Silver, 1 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Gold
BlueSwan - gains Gold
BlueSwan - draws Hovel, Copper
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Necropolis, Silver, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 8 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Necropolis on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays 3 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Gold
SheCantSayNo - gains Gold
SheCantSayNo - draws Necropolis, Dame Molly, Estate, Dame Josephine, Overgrown Estate

Comment = Here I play my knight which reveals Dame Sylvia (the +$2 knight) so both are trashed. Clearly not very fortunate for me. I lose my one (good) knight, while SCSN loses a disposable knight.

---------- BlueSwan: turn 9 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - draws Silver, Copper, Copper, Gold, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 9 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Silver, Gold
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Gold
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Silver
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Copper
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Copper, Silver, Copper
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 10 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper, 1 Silver, 1 Gold
BlueSwan - buys Province
BlueSwan - gains Province
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Silver, Trader
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Silver, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 10 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays 4 Copper, 1 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Potion
SheCantSayNo - gains Potion
SheCantSayNo - draws Dame Molly, Copper, Gold, Overgrown Estate, Necropolis

Comment = With my first $8 in hand I decide to start greening with a Province buy, while SCSN buys a potion, looking to buy Golem later. At this point it becomes quite clear that I’m looking for a fast VP advantage, while SCSN is going for a slower build up.

---------- BlueSwan: turn 11 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper, 2 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Gold
BlueSwan - gains Gold
BlueSwan - draws Silver, Province, Silver, Hovel, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 11 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Copper, 1 Gold
SheCantSayNo - buys Silver
SheCantSayNo - gains Silver
SheCantSayNo - draws Estate, Copper, Mandarin, Dame Josephine, Copper
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 12 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Silver, 1 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Mandarin
BlueSwan - gains Mandarin
BlueSwan - places Silver on top of deck
BlueSwan - places Copper on top of deck
BlueSwan - places Silver on top of deck
BlueSwan - draws Silver, Copper, Silver, Gold, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 12 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Dame Josephine on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Dame Anna
SheCantSayNo - gains Dame Anna
SheCantSayNo - draws Dame Josephine
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Silver, Copper, Dame Anna, Dame Molly
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 13 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Silver, 2 Copper, 1 Gold
BlueSwan - buys Province
BlueSwan - gains Province
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Copper, Gold
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Silver, Province
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 13 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Silver, Silver
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Silver
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Anna
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Gold, Province
BlueSwan - trashes Gold
BlueSwan - discards Province
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Silver, 1 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Silver
SheCantSayNo - gains Silver
SheCantSayNo - draws Potion, Copper, Gold, Mandarin, Copper
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 14 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper, 1 Gold, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Gold
BlueSwan - gains Gold
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Trader, Hovel, Copper, Mandarin
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 14 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Gold on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Copper, 1 Potion
SheCantSayNo - buys Golem
SheCantSayNo - gains Golem
SheCantSayNo - draws Gold, Overgrown Estate, Copper, Copper, Estate
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 15 ----------
BlueSwan - plays Mandarin
BlueSwan - places Trader on top of deck
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Duchy
BlueSwan - trashes Hovel
BlueSwan - gains Duchy
BlueSwan - draws Trader, Necropolis, Silver, Copper, Gold
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 15 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Copper, 1 Gold
SheCantSayNo - buys Sir Vander
SheCantSayNo - gains Sir Vander
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Copper, Silver, Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Dame Josephine

Comment = At this point I’m losing track of what SCSN is trashing using the knights. For some reason I don’t look through the trash pile. I sense that I’m still doing OK on money, but looking over it now, I’m really not. SCSN has trashed one of my golds and a whole bunch of my silvers, while buying more knights. In turn 15 I decide to use my $5 to buy a duchy. Not because I really want the duchy but because I can’t think of anything better and I might as well get rid of my Hovel. However, what I fail to realize is that from now on SCSN is going to trash my duchies whenever possible. This took me far too long to see as we will see. What I should have done here was probably to buy a Knight o reven another Mandarin instead focusing ALL of my VP buys on provinces.

---------- BlueSwan: turn 16 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 1 Silver, 1 Copper, 1 Gold
BlueSwan - buys Gold
BlueSwan - gains Gold
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Gold, Copper, Copper, Copper, Duchy
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 16 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Province, Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Copper, 1 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Silver
SheCantSayNo - gains Silver
SheCantSayNo - draws Potion, Copper, Silver, Golem, Dame Anna
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 17 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper, 1 Gold
BlueSwan - buys Gold
BlueSwan - gains Gold
BlueSwan - draws Province, Copper, Mandarin, Gold, Necropolis
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 17 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - reveals Overgrown Estate, Copper, Copper, Copper, Mandarin, Copper, Estate, Silver, Gold, Dame Molly
SheCantSayNo - discards: Overgrown Estate, Copper, Copper, Copper, Copper, Estate, Silver, Gold
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Silver, Silver
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Silver
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Silver on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Anna
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Potion, 1 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Golem
SheCantSayNo - gains Golem
SheCantSayNo - draws Silver, Sir Vander
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Golem, Potion, Copper
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 18 ----------
BlueSwan - plays Mandarin
BlueSwan - places Copper on top of deck
BlueSwan - plays Gold
BlueSwan - buys Gold
BlueSwan - gains Gold
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Trader, Gold, Silver, Gold
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 18 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - reveals Copper, Dame Anna, Copper, Silver, Dame Molly
SheCantSayNo - discards: Copper, Copper, Silver
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - reveals: Gold, Gold
BlueSwan - trashes Gold
BlueSwan - discards Gold
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Anna
BlueSwan - reveals: Gold, Necropolis
BlueSwan - trashes Gold
BlueSwan - discards Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Sir Vander
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Silver
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Silver, 1 Potion, 1 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Silver
SheCantSayNo - gains Silver
SheCantSayNo - draws Dame Josephine, Overgrown Estate, Golem, Copper, Necropolis
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 19 ----------
BlueSwan - plays Trader
BlueSwan - trashes Copper
BlueSwan - plays 2 Gold, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Province
BlueSwan - gains Province
BlueSwan - draws Gold, Province, Copper, Copper, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 19 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - reveals Silver, Gold, Estate, Copper, Silver, Copper, Copper, Mandarin, Copper, Silver, Silver, Sir Vander
SheCantSayNo - discards: Silver, Gold, Estate, Copper, Silver, Copper, Copper, Copper, Silver, Silver
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Copper on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays Sir Vander
BlueSwan - reveals: Duchy, Copper
BlueSwan - trashes Duchy
BlueSwan - discards Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Province, Mandarin
BlueSwan - trashes Mandarin
BlueSwan - discards Province
SheCantSayNo - buys Silver
SheCantSayNo - gains Silver
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Dame Anna, Copper, Copper, Golem
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 20 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper, 1 Gold
BlueSwan - buys Gold
BlueSwan - gains Gold
BlueSwan - draws Copper
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Province, Copper, Copper, Necropolis
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 20 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - reveals Dame Molly, Potion, Silver, Silver, Silver, Gold, Copper, Copper, Copper, Golem, Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - discards: Potion, Silver, Silver, Silver, Gold, Copper, Copper, Copper, Golem
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Gold, Copper
BlueSwan - trashes Gold
BlueSwan - discards Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Anna
SheCantSayNo - trashes Copper, Copper
BlueSwan - reveals: Province, Gold
BlueSwan - trashes Gold
BlueSwan - discards Province
SheCantSayNo - draws Silver, Dame Josephine, Estate, Silver, Overgrown Estate
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 21 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - draws Gold, Copper, Copper, Silver, Gold
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 21 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Gold, Province
BlueSwan - trashes Gold
BlueSwan - discards Province
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Silver
SheCantSayNo - gains Silver
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Sir Vander, Mandarin, Silver
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Golem
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 22 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Gold, 2 Copper, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Province
BlueSwan - gains Province
BlueSwan - draws Trader
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Necropolis, Silver, Province, Gold
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 22 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - reveals Silver, Silver, Potion, Copper, Copper, Silver, Overgrown Estate, Dame Anna, Copper, Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - discards: Silver, Silver, Potion, Copper, Copper, Silver, Overgrown Estate, Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Anna
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Province
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Sir Vander on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Copper, 1 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Gold
SheCantSayNo - gains Gold
SheCantSayNo - draws Sir Vander, Silver, Dame Josephine, Estate, Copper
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 23 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 1 Silver, 1 Gold
BlueSwan - buys Duchy
BlueSwan - gains Duchy
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Gold, Province, Copper, Silver
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 23 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Sir Vander
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Province
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Silver, 1 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Silver
SheCantSayNo - gains Silver
SheCantSayNo - draws Silver, Golem, Gold, Silver, Dame Molly

Comment = Being the naive noob that I am I actually think I’m winning at this point. I now have four provinces to SCSN’s zero. In turn 23 I even decide to buy a Duchy, to improve my VP advantage. Even with both Silk Road and Vineyard on board, I like my VP points at this point. What I fail to realize is this:

1) With the constant Knight attacks, buying Duchies and Silk Roads are probably just gonna be trashed.
2) My buying power is dimishing by the second.

Here’s my deck at this point:

Copper = 6
Silver = 1 (despite having bought a ton of silver during the game)
Gold = 2
Province = 4
Duchy = 1
Trader = 1
Necropolis = 1
Overgrown Estate = 1

At this point I’m really close to victory. I believe what I need to do here is to buy silver, gold and Mandarins, possibly with a knight or two thrown in, and ONLY buy provinces for VP. That is not what I did at all as we will see for the painful continuation:

---------- BlueSwan: turn 24 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper, 1 Gold, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Duchy
BlueSwan - gains Duchy
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Copper
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Duchy, Province, Necropolis
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 24 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Silver
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - reveals Sir Vander, Silver, Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - discards Silver
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Sir Vander
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Silver, 1 Gold
SheCantSayNo - buys Gold
SheCantSayNo - gains Gold
SheCantSayNo - draws Gold, Dame Josephine, Silver, Silver, Copper
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 25 ----------
BlueSwan - draws Province, Gold, Silver, Gold, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 25 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Trader, Province
BlueSwan - trashes Trader
BlueSwan - discards Province
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Silver, 1 Gold, 1 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Province
SheCantSayNo - gains Province
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Overgrown Estate, Potion, Mandarin, Golem
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 26 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Province
BlueSwan - gains Province
BlueSwan - draws Province, Duchy
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Silver, Copper

Comment = Oh boy, I get another Province and another Duchy for a VP total of 36. Surely I’m about to beat a top level player here! :-D

---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 26 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - reveals Silver, Copper, Silver, Dame Anna, Silver, Copper, Copper, Estate, Silver, Golem, Silver, Gold, Gold, Gold, Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - discards: Silver, Copper, Silver, Silver, Copper, Copper, Estate, Silver, Golem, Silver, Gold, Gold, Gold
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Anna
SheCantSayNo - trashes Overgrown Estate
SheCantSayNo - draws Sir Vander
BlueSwan - reveals: Duchy, Province
BlueSwan - trashes Duchy
BlueSwan - discards Province
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Sir Vander on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Copper, 1 Potion
SheCantSayNo - buys Golem
SheCantSayNo - gains Golem
SheCantSayNo - draws Sir Vander, Silver, Province, Silver, Dame Molly
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 27 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - draws Province, Gold, Copper, Necropolis, Province
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 27 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Province
SheCantSayNo - plays Sir Vander
BlueSwan - reveals: Gold, Copper
BlueSwan - trashes Gold
BlueSwan - discards Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Silk Road
SheCantSayNo - gains Silk Road
SheCantSayNo - draws Dame Josephine, Copper, Silver
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Silver, Silk Road
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 28 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 1 Gold, 1 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Silk Road
BlueSwan - gains Silk Road
BlueSwan - draws Copper
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Necropolis, Province, Copper, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 28 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Silver
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Silver, 1 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Duchy
SheCantSayNo - gains Duchy
SheCantSayNo - draws Golem, Dame Anna, Silver, Silver, Gold
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 29 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Silver
BlueSwan - gains Silver
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Province, Silver, Province, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 29 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - reveals Silver, Mandarin, Golem, Sir Vander
SheCantSayNo - discards: Silver, Golem
SheCantSayNo - plays Sir Vander
BlueSwan - reveals: Duchy, Gold
BlueSwan - trashes Gold
BlueSwan - discards Duchy
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Dame Anna on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Silver, 1 Gold
SheCantSayNo - buys Province
SheCantSayNo - gains Province
SheCantSayNo - draws Dame Anna, Gold, Potion, Dame Molly, Copper
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 30 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Silk Road
BlueSwan - gains Silk Road
BlueSwan - draws Silk Road, Province, Province
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Province, Province
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 30 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Necropolis, Duchy
BlueSwan - trashes Duchy
BlueSwan - discards Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Anna
BlueSwan - reveals: Silver, Copper
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Gold, 1 Potion, 1 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Golem
SheCantSayNo - gains Golem
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Estate, Gold, Silver, Province
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 31 ----------
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Silk Road, Silver, Province, Copper
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 31 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Copper, 1 Gold, 1 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Duchy
SheCantSayNo - gains Duchy
SheCantSayNo - draws Necropolis, Copper, Copper, Silver, Silver
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 32 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper, 1 Silver
BlueSwan - buys Silk Road
BlueSwan - gains Silk Road
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Copper, Copper
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Province, Province
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 32 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Copper, 2 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Duchy
SheCantSayNo - gains Duchy
SheCantSayNo - draws Golem
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Duchy, Duchy, Province, Copper
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 33 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Estate
BlueSwan - gains Estate
BlueSwan - draws Silk Road, Copper, Copper, Province, Silk Road
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 33 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - reveals Golem, Mandarin, Silver, Copper, Silver, Gold, Silver, Copper, Gold, Duchy, Dame Anna
SheCantSayNo - discards: Golem, Silver, Copper, Silver, Gold, Silver, Copper, Gold, Duchy
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Duchy on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Anna
BlueSwan - reveals: Province, Province
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Silk Road
SheCantSayNo - gains Silk Road
SheCantSayNo - draws Duchy, Sir Vander, Province, Potion, Silver
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 34 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Estate
BlueSwan - gains Estate
BlueSwan - draws Silver, Copper, Silk Road, Necropolis
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Province
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 34 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Sir Vander
BlueSwan - reveals: Province, Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Potion, 1 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Vineyard
SheCantSayNo - gains Vineyard
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Golem, Golem, Silver, Dame Josephine
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 35 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 1 Silver, 1 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Estate
BlueSwan - gains Estate
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Copper, Province, Copper, Silk Road
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 35 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - reveals Estate, Gold, Copper, Silver, Necropolis, Silver, Silver, Dame Molly
SheCantSayNo - discards: Estate, Gold, Copper, Silver, Silver, Silver
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Estate, Province
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - reveals Silk Road, Silver, Silver, Estate, Province, Potion, Silver, Golem, Province, Silk Road, Sir Vander, Duchy, Vineyard, Copper, Silver, Silver, Gold, Gold, Silver, Copper, Duchy, Golem, Gold, Duchy, Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - discards: Silk Road, Silver, Silver, Estate, Province, Potion, Silver, Golem, Province, Silk Road, Duchy, Vineyard, Copper, Silver, Silver, Gold, Gold, Silver, Copper, Duchy, Golem, Gold, Duchy
SheCantSayNo - plays Sir Vander
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Silk Road
BlueSwan - trashes Silk Road
BlueSwan - discards Copper
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Copper on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Estate, Province
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Duchy
SheCantSayNo - gains Duchy
SheCantSayNo - draws Copper, Copper, Dame Anna, Copper, Silver
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 36 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 3 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Estate
BlueSwan - gains Estate
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - draws Necropolis, Province, Copper, Silk Road, Estate
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 36 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Anna
BlueSwan - reveals: Estate, Silver
BlueSwan - trashes Silver
BlueSwan - discards Estate
SheCantSayNo - plays 3 Copper, 1 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Duchy
SheCantSayNo - gains Duchy
SheCantSayNo - shuffles deck
SheCantSayNo - draws Golem, Silk Road, Province, Copper, Silver
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 37 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 1 Copper
BlueSwan - draws Copper, Province, Province, Copper, Estate
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 37 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - reveals Necropolis, Silk Road, Dame Josephine
SheCantSayNo - discards Silk Road
SheCantSayNo - plays Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Josephine
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Estate
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Copper, 1 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Silver
SheCantSayNo - gains Silver
SheCantSayNo - draws Sir Vander, Duchy, Copper, Copper, Estate
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 38 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Estate
BlueSwan - gains Estate
BlueSwan - draws Silk Road, Copper, Copper, Province, Province
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 38 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Sir Vander
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - reveals: Necropolis, Silk Road
BlueSwan - trashes Silk Road
BlueSwan - discards Necropolis
SheCantSayNo - plays 2 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Estate
SheCantSayNo - gains Estate
SheCantSayNo - draws Silver, Copper, Silver, Duchy, Silver
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 39 ----------
BlueSwan - plays 2 Copper
BlueSwan - buys Estate
BlueSwan - gains Estate
BlueSwan - draws Province, Province, Copper, Copper, Estate
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 39 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays 3 Silver, 1 Copper
SheCantSayNo - buys Silk Road
SheCantSayNo - gains Silk Road
SheCantSayNo - draws Golem, Gold, Potion, Silver, Dame Molly
 
---------- BlueSwan: turn 40 ----------
BlueSwan - draws Estate, Estate, Province, Copper, Estate
 
---------- SheCantSayNo: turn 40 ----------
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Molly
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Estate
SheCantSayNo - plays Golem
SheCantSayNo - reveals Mandarin, Province, Golem, Silver, Gold, Duchy, Dame Anna
SheCantSayNo - discards: Province, Golem, Silver, Gold, Duchy
SheCantSayNo - plays Mandarin
SheCantSayNo - places Potion on top of deck
SheCantSayNo - plays Dame Anna
BlueSwan - shuffles deck
BlueSwan - reveals: Copper, Province
SheCantSayNo - plays 1 Gold, 1 Silver
SheCantSayNo - buys Province
SheCantSayNo - gains Province
SheCantSayNo - draws Potion, Silver, Copper, Golem, Duchy

------------ Game Over ------------
SheCantSayNo - cards: 4 Golem, 1 Dame Josephine, 1 Mandarin, 1 Dame Molly, 1 Necropolis, 1 Sir Vander, 1 Dame Anna, 9 Silver, 5 Copper, 3 Gold, 1 Potion, 5 Duchy, 3 Province, 3 Silk Road, 2 Estate, 1 Vineyard
SheCantSayNo - total victory points: 49
SheCantSayNo - turns: 40
 
BlueSwan - cards: 1 Necropolis, 6 Copper, 6 Estate, 5 Province, 1 Silk Road
BlueSwan - total victory points: 39
BlueSwan - turns: 40
 
1st place: SheCantSayNo
2nd place: BlueSwan

Comment = Turns out I lost by 10 VP. I basically started panic buying Estates and Silk Roads instead of trying to up my purchasing power. SCSN could even easily afford to ignore the penultimate province rule since I had no money to buy for.
Well, at least I learned a few lessons here. One thing I haven't thought through is whether I should have bought a few Storerooms. Not that it would likely have led to a huge difference given all the Knight trashing, though.

4
Game Reports / Noob bragging!
« on: May 22, 2013, 02:39:10 am »
For arguably the first time ever I played a game where I'm sort of proud of my game plan. I'm sure it is really a totally obvious game plan, but usually I would probably just have went on a Caravan binge on this board:

http://www.dominiondeck.com/games/poor-house

For those who don't want to click on that link: Poor House, Native Village, Loan, Steward, Caravan, Farming Village, Trader, Wandering Minstrel, Explorer, Mint.

Game log: http://dom.retrobox.eu/?/20130521/log.50f70ca7e4b0c53c94b0ca2d.1369203847569.txt

For the first time I managed to use Poor House and Steward properly with the idea to trash down to zero treasure and just a couple of poor houses and a village. I got lucky on turn 5 being able to buy mint to trash 5 coppers (and then I trashed Mint with Steward the next turn). I needed a village to play both Poor houses and went for Farming Village for no particular reason. Not really sure if Farming Village or Wandering Minstrel is the best choice here, but in the end it made no difference. For turn 8 I now drew my entire hand of Caravan, Farming Village, Steward, Poor House, Poor House and bought my first Province. I then proceeded to buy one province every round, with Caravan/Farming Village making sure I kept drawing and playing the two Poor Houses every round. I could have gotten unlucky with this after the Provinces started filling up my deck, but I didn't. I bought my fifth Province in round 12 to close the game.

Lord Bottington wasn't far after me, though, having gone for a Caravan heavy strategy, which I guess would have been my first instict as well.

Now, did I just get lucky here with the Mint buy and the lack of Province conflicts during the later rounds, or was my strategy here the correct one?

5
Goko Dominion Online / The Bot's ratings are dropping dramatically
« on: May 21, 2013, 08:38:18 am »
Over the last day or two the ratings of the Bots seems to have dropped significantly. Several of them used to be close to 4000, but now most of them are below 3000. Any idea what happened?

6
Dominion General Discussion / How would you play this kingdom? (HP, Mountebank, Chapel, etc.)
« on: May 15, 2013, 04:07:05 am »
Just played this kingdom vs Conquerer Bot:

http://www.dominiondeck.com/games/bs-game-1

(Chapel - Courtyard - Scrying Pool - Market Square - Swindler - Contraband - Hunting Party - Knights - Mountebank - Border Village)

Lots of powerful cards here. Chapel can trim your deck and act as a defense against the curse-onslaught of Mountebank and Swindler. Courtyard is a decent drawer. Scrying Pool lets you draw actions. Market Square combos well with Chapel and is a great defense against the trashing attack of Swindler, as well as giving you a crucial +buy. Contraband seems weak here. Hunting Party is always good and allows you to play your Mountebank(s) quicker. Knights seem weak compared to HP/Mountebank here. Border Village seems unusually good here. It's the only village and allows for play of multiple Mountebanks, Swindlers and Chapels for hurting your opponent and cleaning your deck.

I lost this game. Unfortunately I forgot to save the log. Would have liked to analyse all my mistakes here. I feel I should have been able to win this. I'm better than Conquerer Bot and usually beat all the bots fairly easily. Also, I had a 5/2 split against my opponents 4/3 split, which seems like a huge advantage in this kingdom. But this is exactly the kind of kingdom I often have trouble playing well. I want to do too many things at the same time. I had no real strategy.

Anyway, I opened Mountebank/Chapel, which I still think looks like the best opening. In any case, Mountebank/Chapel can surely never be a bad opening. Meanwhile my opponent opened with Potion/Swindler, going for a few early Scrying Pools. Both of us consistently went for Border Village (usually gaining a Hunting Party) instead of gold, which I also think is the correct play.

One thing I missed for a while is the power of Market Square here. I think I should have bought a few early to gain golds from Swindler attacks and my own Chapels.

One key mistake I made was greening too late. The curses, HP's and Border Villages were running out fast. By the end of our game my deck was far stronger, but it was too late.

----

What are your general thoughts on this Kingdom. Anything serious I have overlooked?

7
Goko Dominion Online / How fast do you expect people to play?
« on: April 24, 2013, 01:54:14 am »
I'm in the peculiar position that I fairly consistently beat all the bots, but lose just about every time I play a human online. Even to people with way lower ratings than me. I feel that the main explanation for this is that I rush things when playing with real people because I don't want them to wait for me. For that same reason I've only played real people a dozen times or so. Ironically, I'm quite good at speed chess, where I've used the tactic of playing ridiculously fast to stress opponents into making mistakes, so you could say that karma is biting me in the ass here.

What I'm curious about is how fast you expect people to play. How long is a reasonable amount of time to look over the kingdom before making the first play? What about the turns afterwards?

8
Dominion General Discussion / How do I beat Smithy BM in this kingdom?
« on: April 22, 2013, 08:51:26 am »
http://www.dominiondeck.com/games/dark-ages-act-3-game-19

This is Dark Ages adventures Act 3, game 19.

I was getting my ass handed to me by the bot, who played a simplistic Smithy-BM strategy (2-player game). I think I lost something like 8-10 times against the bot before finally getting a lucky win.

I tried several Marauder strategies. I tried an all-out attack strategy with Marauder, Knights and Rogue. I tried several versions of a Garden rush, using Storeroom/Poor House as enablers. I tried several Chapel decks. I even tried going Smithy BM myself a couple of times to no avail - and besides I didn't want to win like that.

In the end I got a bit lucky that the top knight was the cantrip one (can't remember its name). That gave me the edge along with a Smithy and a Rogue to pick up the good cards that the knight trashed.

But really, to me it doesn't look like a kingdom where Smithy-BM would be dominant. I'm just not at a level (my goko rating is only a bit over 4000) where I can see the best strategy here. Since I have played this particular kingdom so many times I would love to hear a few expert opinions on it.

9
Dominion General Discussion / Challenge: Design the best beginners kingdom!
« on: April 21, 2013, 01:24:51 am »
You have all expansions at your disposal. You need to design a kingdom that is easy to understand, yet will intrigue the beginner. Also, you need to come up with something better than the official "first play" kingdom from the base set.

My secret agenda for this is that I want to introduce the game to my extremely game-reluctant wife, but either how, I thought this was an interesting task.

EDIT: I don't personally own Intrigue, Hinterlands or Alchemy yet, but I won't let that be a hindrance here. It's more fun if you can use all expansions. I'm buying them soon anyway.

10
Dominion General Discussion / Thinking of buying every expansion at once
« on: February 26, 2013, 01:32:49 pm »
Found Goko a month ago. Loved it! Bought the physical base game. Love looking at the cards! Bought the full Goko expansion. Loved it even more. Best game ever, mate! Will order a bunch of games on thursday from boardgameguru in the UK. Considers ordering every physical expansion at once now that I'm at it.

Pros:
1) I get all the expansions at once! Hooray!!
2) I don't have to mull over which expansions to get first endlessly. At Goko I'm just playing with all the expansions, so I'm not really all that aware which cards belongs to which expansion. I have some idea about Intrigue, Seaside, Prosperity and Dark Ages, because I have played a bit of the adventures. Of those I probably like Dark Ages and Prosperity the best, but hey, I want them all.
3) It is overall cheaper to order them all at once rather than one by one or a few at a time.
4) I support the game!
5) I get some nice looking boxes (needed a fifth pro for the list).

Cons:
1) I'm unsure whether I actually have anybody to play Dominion with IRL (this is a major con). I have introduced the base game to my 7-year old daughter, but it's gonna be years before she can play properly, I suspect.
2) It's expensive (I live in Denmark, not the US or Germany and I'm not buying the german language ones).
3) The wife is not going to understand.
4) We have very limited shelf space at home (see point 3 again).
5) Due to point 3, point 4 and point 5 doing this will limit the number of other games I could buy.

Thoughts?

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