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26

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Re: The Necro Wars

« on: September 25, 2023, 02:30:20 am »

And without joke, I'm an Open Individualist, like Einstein.

And I am a socialist, like Einstein!

27

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Re: The Necro Wars

« on: September 25, 2023, 02:30:02 am »

It really is all about prestige and status. Even in fields that are ostensibly about something else like math, that something just matters because it's tied to status. If you prove P =/= NP and no one believes you, you have nothing. And although this counterfactual isn't really possible, if you had a false proof that everyone believed, you'd get all the fame.

I feel like I need to chime in on this. There is some truth here, but it is very hyperbolic (no pun intended) to put it like this.

First of all, probably the major proof of the 21st century so far, the proof of the Poincaré conjecture, came from Perelman, a relative outsider in mathematics. This was still acknowledged widely. There are also multple mathematical results by hobbyists that have been accepted, e.g. in plane tiling or even knot theory.

When it comes to false proofs, I don't think they stand. The thing is, multiple people will come along trying to understand the proof in order to modify it for their own problems, and eventually someone will find the problem. That said, conjectures tend to be a bigger problem. I know of multiple that are kiind of believed because they're made by big names and seem reasonable, but there's not actually a proof yet and still a whole theory has developed around assuming the conjecture is true. I've heard such e.g. in symplectic geometry, but don't know the details.

Here is a paper discussing correction culture in math, and it definitely seems like there are still problems. But I don't like the sweeping dismissal.

28

General Discussion / Re: Random Stuff Part IV

« on: September 24, 2023, 05:51:54 am »

Apparently we need to name the road our house will be built on. It's a small easement road shared between 5 houses; we're supposed to submit suggestions. Crowdsourcing it! The main road it's off of is Peach Orchard Road; looking for something that conveys serenity or nature.

Roady McRoadface?

29

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #199: Composition in Blue

« on: September 22, 2023, 05:17:34 am »

I didn't mean infinite loops, just the fact that you can react to surveyor turns with your own surveyor

Yes, that is intended behavior.

And you're sure that's a good idea? One extra turn (or one by each player) after the game ends is fun, but a lot of them? If the game ends, often the Province pile is already empty, and sometimes other piles are partially empty, so having a bunch of extra turn may just mean chasing estates or something

Well, if the stars align, you'd get 5 extra turns from this (or absolute fringe case 5*(n-1), where n is the number of players), and that's in total, not each. I don't think that's excessive. The card is in a split pile so this doesn't go overboard.

I think it would be too swingy if only one person got to use Surveyor, so you have to be able to trigger them in response to Surveyor turns. Ultimately I don't think it's a big deal, if there is no longer a way to win, then you don't have to play it out, and if there is, then it's still interesting.

30

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Re: The Necro Wars

« on: September 22, 2023, 04:58:17 am »

I also found to section on "is he a child of privilege?" quite funny. Oh, his dad only had a net worth in the "low double-digit millions"; there is no way he could be privileged!

Well, that's a strawman. The article's argument is that he isn't that privileged because his father didn't share the money.

Yes, well I don't buy that at all. You grow up in a family with that kind of money, you're privileged, full stop.

I don't know if there are any sources on how much money Musk had available; the review only mentions Musk's own account. But even if we were to assume all that is true...

- he moved to Canada when he was 17: Not something a poor person would even be able to do.
- he took out a $100,000 loan: again, something much easier if you know you have a million-dollar fortune at your back should things go sour
- his dad invested "only" $28,000: and Musk probably knew a lot more people with money that he could ask for investments because of the social circle in which he was brought up.

31

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Re: The Necro Wars

« on: September 22, 2023, 03:13:52 am »

1. Is Elon Musk a genius or an idiot? This book review says it's probably both

At this point, I don't care too much about Musk's intellect. The review tries very hard to find reasons for his success; there is a strong aversion to the simple explanation of "he got lucky" (which of course is reductive, but survivorship bias is something you have to take into account).

It does seem to confirm my main critique of Musk: that he's an asshole.

I also found to section on "is he a child of privilege?" quite funny. Oh, his dad only had a net worth in the "low double-digit millions"; there is no way he could be privileged! And "Zambia [...] had no [...] bloody conflicts" is just an objectively funny thing to say about an African country in the 1980s.

32

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #199: Composition in Blue

« on: September 21, 2023, 12:42:46 am »

I didn't mean infinite loops, just the fact that you can react to surveyor turns with your own surveyor

Yes, that is intended behavior.

33

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #199: Composition in Blue

« on: September 20, 2023, 10:53:20 am »

Wagon - $3
Action

+1 Card
+1 Action
Discard a card. If it was a Reaction or an Attack, +$3.
This turn during Cleanup, do not discard your hand.

Surveyor - $4
Action/Reaction

This turn, when you discard one or more cards, +$1 and +1 Card.
-
When the game would end on another player's turn, you may set this aside from your hand. If you did, the game continues until the end of your next turn.

This is a 5/5 split pile. I had the idea for the Reaction for the last contest, where it did not quite fit. Here it seems perfect!

Note: Surveyor's on-play works because you discard all at once rather than sequentially. So, if you play Scholar, it only triggers once, but if you play two Wagons, it triggers twice.

Surveyor remains set aside until the game really ends, at which point it is returned to your deck.

34

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Re: The Necro Wars

« on: September 09, 2023, 06:55:46 am »

Is it better to have an insane person in power or a competent person with terrible political views?

Are you counting Christie and Haley as having "terrible" views? (And are there any Republicans which would not count?)

I haven't looked into them enough to have an opinion really. I does not seem like they have any shot at winning, so it didn't seem worth my time.

But yeah, they are Republicans, I would be pretty surprised if I landed on anything but "terrible".

35

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Re: The Necro Wars

« on: September 07, 2023, 05:51:56 pm »

In other news I watched the first Republican Debate, and in my opinion based on this very limited data:

- Haley and Christie seem like adults who if elected would attempt to do a good job, and who aren't insane
- DeSantis basically ignored most questions and tried to project strength by blasting through is talking points. The content was all terrible
- Ramaswamy is one of the most insane people I've ever seen on a stage. I'd still support him over Trump but oh boy would be make an awful president. He should not be in charge of anything ever
- Pence is tired and boring and I can't see him having a shot through the popularity route. He's less insane than the two people above him on this list though.
- Everyone else made no notable impression and also isn't relevant in the polls, and I think they might as well not be there

So yeah, so there seem to be two adults among the people who matter, and of course the default prediction is still that Trump takes it even if he doesn't show  up to the debates. Pretty rough.

Is it better to have an insane person in power or a competent person with terrible political views?

36

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Re: The Necro Wars

« on: September 07, 2023, 05:50:14 pm »

Is David Pakman the only popular political commentator who is reasonably smart? I feel like I've asked this before but I still don't know any other one.

I'd actually like to get more into political stuff right now just because it's arousing and I need more arousing stuff in my life right now after a week of depression.

IDK what counts as popular. I'm not to much into current-event coverage, so if that's what you're looking for I can't help you much.

I like Some More News on YouTube (though chances are if you don't like Last Week Tonight's style, you won't be the biggest fan of this). Other than that.. not sure.

37

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Interview with Donald X.

« on: September 04, 2023, 12:53:44 pm »

I like Donald X's suggestion of "offer a tie," since I was thinking about the potential issues with something like Collection+Stampede where the game can be unending (are there any other two card combo cases?).

You can replace Stampede by another Horse gainer for another (usually weaker) unending two card combo. There are also older two-card combos that can lead to unending "infinite VP" situations, e.g. Fortress/Bishop and King's Court/Monument. (The latter needs a trasher in the kingdom, but so does Collection/Stampede).

All of your examples tend to benefit from more engine-building however, it is basically never optimal to stop gaining cards. This is different with Collection/Stampede, which is the main problem with that combo.

Also you can Collection/Stampede without a trasher. 10 Horses is enough to draw all your starting cards plus 5 Collections.

38

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #197: One Order of Events, Hold the Gains

« on: September 03, 2023, 02:52:08 am »

Divination - $2
Event

+1 Buy
At the end of this turn, flip your deck upside down.

FAQ:
- yes, all cards are now face-up. You can always see the top card.
- when you shuffle the next time, the deck will be put back face down again

39

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Interview with Donald X.

« on: August 30, 2023, 08:29:09 am »

Would you support "insurmountable VP lead" being programmed as a win condition in Dominion Online?

It is technically possible to have an insurmountable VP lead while being unable to end the game (e.g. you bought Annex with a deck that produced no $), so in some fringe cases this would actually change the game.

More importantly though, this would probably be very annoying to maintain. You have to take trashing attacks into account, and also probably forced play of trashers (e.g. with Golem), and how all this interacts with cost reduction... seems like a signifcant amount of coding would have to be done for each new expansion. I don't think this is realistic even if Donald X. approves.

40

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #196: If a card is in the kingdom...

« on: August 30, 2023, 08:19:34 am »

Occult Library - $4
Action

Discard a card. Draw until you have 6 cards in hand.
-
In games using this, when the player to your left ends their Action phase, you may play an Action from your hand.

41

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #196: If a card is in the kingdom...

« on: August 30, 2023, 05:15:22 am »

Ghoul 5$ Action-Command
If you have played a Zombie this turn, +3 cards and +1 buy.
Otherwise, Choose 1: Choose 2 face up Zombie cards in the trash. Play them in any order, leaving them there OR Choose 1 face up Zombie cards in the trash. Play it twice, leaving it there.

Setup: Put the 3 Zombies into the trash.


A different take on necromancer which only eats a single zombie this turn, but then can make a long distance to the next graveyard for the next turn. It also technically has a setup, even when it doesnt matter in most games. Because this can only play zombies, robbin the graves will let the ghoul die out, so it can lead to some very interesting decision making. You normally want at least one because the first is a super lost city, but that strategy is as fragile as having crossroads being your only village...

Regardless of power level, you should cut down the wording. Here's a suggestion:

Otherwise, do this twice: Play a Zombie from the trash, leaving it there.

42

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #194 Crisis of Identity

« on: August 09, 2023, 02:47:05 pm »

I'd like the second one the best bc it's the least restrictive, but then again people have used pretty specific themes in contests before and that went tine, too.

Personally I like some restrictions because it helps with my creativity. But I'll be on vacation and not contributing, so maybe my opinion doesn't matter too much.

43

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #194 Crisis of Identity

« on: August 07, 2023, 09:01:14 am »

does this quailify:

Prosperous Duke $2+
project
Put an action card costing the amount overpaid under your project cube. Duchies can be played as if it were that action card.


It has other wording then Inheritance, but i think this is cleaner.

I think the wording of Inheritance was debated for quite a long time and is the best compromise to get. Your wording does not really work for me: "Played as if it were that Action card" just means you can play it during your Action phase, following its instructions. But Duchy has no instructions. So the way I parse this, it just means "you can now play Duchies, but they don't do anything". You don't change what happens upon playing, only the rules for when they can be played.

And if this were to work, technically it would have to involve some sort of shapeshifting - the instructions of the set-aside card now need to be on Duchy somehow.

I suggest just using the existing wording.

I did not participate in any of those discussions. And if you ask my opinion: Inheritence is written like it is for an computer program. Store info, make them refence that info.

Meanwhile humans would not have an problem with just: "play it like some other card". At least, if you not have to ignore current text that is on it. I found many people struggling with ways.

Well, you provide an extra issue yourself right there: Can you play the Duchy as a Way?

44

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Re: The Necro Wars

« on: August 06, 2023, 12:01:28 pm »

Stephen Grossberg keeps doing this thing where he refers to figures in earlier chapters to make a point. THis was just a weird annoyance at first that doesn't really tie in with my criticism of his ego, so I ignored it, but it keeps happening. I've never read a text with so many references to earlier images. It's constant.

What does he expect people to do? Are we supposed to scroll backward every time to find the figure he's mentioning now? Does he not realize that people who read this for the first time will have no clue what figure that was without looking back?

In my master's thesis I had one instance where I thought it was necessary to refer to an earlier figure, and in that one instance I just included it again. I don't think it even occured to me that I could reference a figure 10+ pages away without showing it for the second time.

... there's really interesting stuff in the book though, mb I'll talk about it at some point

I have this in my PhD thesis, and like... it has a hyperlink to the figure in question. Obviously that won't work in all formats. But even in a book I feel like it's not that hard to have a list of figures that sends you to the appropriate page, doesn't seem like a big issue. I mean, if he does it a lot, then including the figure each time would probably bloat the book quite significantly.

45

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #194 Crisis of Identity

« on: August 03, 2023, 06:02:06 am »

does this quailify:

Prosperous Duke $2+
project
Put an action card costing the amount overpaid under your project cube. Duchies can be played as if it were that action card.


It has other wording then Inheritance, but i think this is cleaner.

I think the wording of Inheritance was debated for quite a long time and is the best compromise to get. Your wording does not really work for me: "Played as if it were that Action card" just means you can play it during your Action phase, following its instructions. But Duchy has no instructions. So the way I parse this, it just means "you can now play Duchies, but they don't do anything". You don't change what happens upon playing, only the rules for when they can be played.

And if this were to work, technically it would have to involve some sort of shapeshifting - the instructions of the set-aside card now need to be on Duchy somehow.

I suggest just using the existing wording.

46

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #194 Crisis of Identity

« on: August 02, 2023, 11:13:45 am »

This feels like it's strong enough to be bought reasonably often without the buy (like mb one of three games), and if that's true, it's just a question of how strong you want the card to be.

Hm, I think a card that's irrelevant in 2 out of 3 games is too weak to be a good design. It should at least have +1 Action.

There are lots of official cards that are bought in less than 1/3 of games! Like Treasure Map is probably less than 1/5 and still a great design.

Yeah you're right, my critique wasn't really hitting what bothers me. It's more my issue that Hand of Midas is not doing anything useful on a significant amount of boards. Official cards have that property as well, but I think the combination of being sometimes completely pointless and quite situational when it can be used is what bothers me.

I also think your numbers are too high and this wouldn't be bought in 1/3 of games. I think it's not even worth considering in half of all games, and then of the other half you maybe buy it in 1/3 of all cases, and that still feels like a generous estimate.

47

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #194 Crisis of Identity

« on: August 02, 2023, 05:58:44 am »

This feels like it's strong enough to be bought reasonably often without the buy (like mb one of three games), and if that's true, it's just a question of how strong you want the card to be.

Hm, I think a card that's irrelevant in 2 out of 3 games is too weak to be a good design. It should at least have +1 Action.

48

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #194 Crisis of Identity

« on: August 02, 2023, 04:42:09 am »

Leshy - 8D
Action/Night

Do this up to three times: Play a Victory card from your hand to replay a cheaper card you played this turn that's still in play.
-
When you gain this with no Victory cards in play, gain a Duchy.

FAQ:
- the Victory card does not itself have any effect upon playing (unless it is a hybrid VP card); the effect comes from Leshy. So if this is played on a Duration, the Leshy stays out, not the Victory card.
- Similarly, you can use this to replay another Victory card played previously, but this will have no effect.

49

Dominion Articles / Re: Dominion is getting worse with each expansion

« on: July 21, 2023, 09:06:31 am »

It is worth pointing out that +Buy was just a handily available example and not really crucial my argument. It was simply one of the easiest things to count (providing extra gains might have been a more meaningful metric, but it's harder to count those cards since you run into edge cases).

Still, it is interesting to see the continuing trend of more +Buys per expansion. Seems likely that you'd see this in other metrics as well; there are just more cards (or piles) that can fufill a lot of different functions. Traits and Loot are other ways to inject more different stuff into kingdoms than has been there before.

50

Non-Mafia Game Threads / Re: The Necro Wars

« on: July 21, 2023, 03:45:45 am »

I don't know if this is just because paint.net sucks here, but rescaling a card to 250 pixel width and then uploading it looks worse in the forum than uploading the high res version and then posting it with [img width=250.

I don't know how BBCode works, but I am working on two screens, one with a much higher resolution, and an image appears bigger on the high-res screen, so it's definitely not using absolute pixel values.