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76

Game Reports / Re: Combo (with game report): Baron/Duke

« on: August 10, 2011, 11:54:35 am »

Baron/Gardens does indeed beat this, 56%>42% by my (rather simplistic) implementation:

Code: [Select]

<player name="baron/gardens">
   <buy name="Province"/>
   <buy name="Baron">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Baron"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="4.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Gardens"/>
   <buy name="Duchy"/>
   <buy name="Estate"/>
   <buy name="Baron"/>
   <buy name="Copper"/>
</player>...which answers my question about what my opponent should have done differently.  Although, if I change my Baron/Duke bot to start contesting Gardens after the first one is bought:

Code: [Select]

<player name="baron/duke">
   <buy name="Baron">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Baron"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duke">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Duke"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Duchy"/>
         <extra_operation type="minus" attribute="6.0" />
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duchy"/>
   <buy name="Duke"/>
   <buy name="Gardens">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Gardens"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="8.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Duke"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="5.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Baron"/>
   <buy name="Silver"/>
   <buy name="Estate"/>
   <buy name="Copper"/>
</player>...it wins out again, 67%>30%.  So, maybe not.

In keeping with having posted this in Game Reports, does anybody have a bot using cards that were available in the supply in my game that beats Baron/Duke?  Or was that board actually so terrible that this was the optimal strategy ?

*edit* Aha, BM with Jesters wins 50%>47% against Baron/Duke (Winder's improved version):

Code: [Select]

<player name="BM - Jester">
   <buy name="Province">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Gold"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duchy">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="5.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Province"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Jester">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Jester"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="1.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Gold"/>
   <buy name="Jester">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Jester"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="3.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Silver"/>
</player>Kewl.

77

Game Reports / Re: Combo (with game report): Baron/Duke

« on: August 09, 2011, 10:15:46 pm »

Oh, it didn't really occur to me that you should do anything but buy whichever of Duke/Duchy would get you more points at any given time, but of course you're right, since your opponent is better served by competing for Duchies (3 each) than Dukes (probably not worth much if they weren't competing for Duchies).

I've updated the bot slightly, and the HT/Duke bot I've been using to compete with it, to account for the fact that near the end of the game, you need to start favoring Estates over the $4 card and Silver.  Here they both are:

Code: [Select]

<player name="baron/duke">
   <buy name="Baron">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Baron"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duke">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Duke"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Duchy"/>
         <extra_operation type="minus" attribute="3.0" />
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duchy"/>
   <buy name="Duke"/>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Duke"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="3.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Baron"/>
   <buy name="Silver"/>
   <buy name="Estate"/>
   <buy name="Copper"/>
</player>

Code: [Select]

<player name="ht/duke">
   <buy name="Horse_Traders">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Horse_Traders"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duke">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Duke"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Duchy"/>
         <extra_operation type="minus" attribute="3.0" />
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duchy"/>
   <buy name="Duke"/>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Duke"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="5.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Horse_Traders"/>
   <buy name="Silver"/>
   <buy name="Copper"/>
</player>
Throwing in this update has widened the margin from something like 49%>45% (I think that's what it was with the versions I was using when I posted) to 52%>43%, with HT/Duke still coming out on top.  The newer Baron/Duke beats Big Money Ultimate 69%>29%, _Single Envoy 55%>42%, and ties BM - Envoy 49%=49%.

*edit* Oh, right, the other thing I removed from HT/Duke which helped it was a rule to always buy Estates with $2, which it shouldn't really do until the end-game.  I think that's what widened the gap since I posted.

*edit 2* Ooh, you're definitely right about the Duchy>Duke thing, it doesn't matter when both players are going for both cards, but favoring Duchies more heavily makes a big difference against BM strategies, makes the difference between winning and losing substantially vs. BM - Envoy.

78

Game Reports / Combo (with game report): Baron/Duke

« on: August 09, 2011, 05:27:46 pm »

Game log:  http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201108/09/game-20110809-133112-64a64f51.html

Much like the combo that's currently on the front page, looks like Baron/Duke works pretty well.  In the above game, I went for it, while my opponent went for a draw chain involving Menagerie, Envoy, and Rabble with money, and won by a large margin despite my opponent picking up three early provinces before switching horses mid-race to contest my Duke/Duchy dominance.

Like Horse Traders, Baron is a pretty good way of getting extra buys while also guaranteeing that you'll get $5 on a whole lot of turns.  Its advantage seems to be that it allows you to spam Estates for a few extra VP without worrying about greening up your deck (and the Estate-gaining ability helps your weaker turns be less useless), while the disadvantage is that you require three different cards (Baron, Estate, Copper) to hit $5 instead of (Horse Traders, Copper, Copper), which might be easier to hit.

In the game above, I was further helped by the presence of Gardens (which is always nice in a +buy deck which is already spamming coppers and greens as part of its strategy), but they didn't end up being worth as much as my Dukes/Duchies, and the points I got from them weren't the difference between winning and losing here, so I think they didn't have much effect on the game.

A couple insights from the simulator:
-A simple version of this strategy (open Baron/Silver or Baron/Estate, then prioritize Duke/Duchy>Baron>Silver>Estate>Copper) beats Big Money Ultimate handily, and _Single Envoy narrowly.
-If you happen to hit an $8 turn, buying Provinces actually hurts this strategy, since it makes it easier to end the game on Provinces instead of piles.  It's a big enough difference that whether or not you have a Province buy at the top of the list is the difference between narrowly beating Envoy Big Money and narrowly losing to it.
-Loses narrowly to the equivalent HT/Duke strategy that was posted (using the same buy order I outlined above, but with HT instead of Baron).
-Gets stomped by Money+Attack decks (_Single Witch, BM Mountebank, and MB Militia all win around 75%).

And finally, stuff I wanted to ask you guys:
-What do you think my opponent should have done differently, if anything?  Was switching strategies to fight me in the Duchy race a bad idea?
-If you're trying to pull this off, when (if ever) do you think it's a good idea to favor Estates over Silvers?  Or should you just assume that, with all those Barons, you're going to empty Estates anyway and always favor Silver?

79

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Gifts for the Natives

« on: August 04, 2011, 11:10:38 am »

Best I'm doing is 11 turns.  Two solutions:

1 - 5c - buy market
2 - 3e2c - buy pawn
(reshuffle)
3 - 3c, market, pawn - market (draw copper), pawn ($, draw copper),  buy KC
4 - 3e2c - buy NV
(reshuffle)
5 - 3c, market, pawn - market (draw copper), pawn ($, draw copper),  buy KC
6 - KC, NV, 2e2c - NV (estate), buy NV
(reshuffle)
7 - KC, KC, NV, NV, market - KC > KC > NV (estate, estate, copper), NV (copper, copper, copper), market (draw copper, copper, copper), buy hamlet
(draw pawn, reshuffle)
8 - pawn, KC, KC, NV, hamlet - KC > KC > NV (copper, copper, copper), hamlet (draw NV, discard pawn, draw market, discard market, (reshuffle), draw pawn, discard pawn), NV (pawn, market, N/A)
(reshuffle)
9 - KC, KC, NV, NV, hamlet - hamlet (discard KC), NV (KC)
(reshuffle)
10 - KC, NV, NV, hamlet - hamlet (discard KC), NV (KC)
(reshuffle)
11 - NV, NV, hamlet - hamlet (discard NV), NV (NV) ----- Deck = NV, hamlet

1 - (3c2e) - buy woodcutter
2 - (4c1e) - buy TR
(reshuffle)
3 - (3c, TR, woodcutter) - TR > woodcutter, buy KC
4 - (2c3e) - buy NV
(draw 2c, reshuffle)
5 - (2c2e, woodcutter) - woodcutter, buy hamlet, buy NV
6 - (3c, KC, NV) - KC > NV (estate, copper, copper)
(draw TR, reshuffle)
7 - (TR, KC, NV, NV, hamlet) - TR > KC > NV (estate, estate, copper), NV (copper, copper, copper) hamlet (draw woodcutter)
(draw copper, reshuffle)
8 - (1c, NV, NV, hamlet, woodcutter) - hamlet (draw KC, discard copper), KC > NV (copper, TR, N/A)
(reshuffle)
9 - (NV, NV, hamlet, woodcutter, KC) - hamlet (discard woodcutter), NV (woodcutter)
(reshuffle)
10 - hamlet (discard KC), NV (KC)
(reshuffle)
11 - hamlet (discard NV), NV (NV) ----- Deck = NV, hamlet

Both beat opening hamlet/NV and just using those cards, which I think is 14 turns with perfect shuffle luck:

1 - (5c) - buy NV
2 - (2c3e) - buy hamlet
(reshuffle)
3 - (NV, hamlet, 1c2e) - hamlet (draw copper), NV (estate)
4 - (5c) - (do nothing)
(reshuffle)
5 - (NV, hamlet, 2c1e) - hamlet (draw copper), NV (estate)
(draw 4c1e)
6 - (4c1e) - (do nothing)
(reshuffle)
7 - (NV, hamlet, 3c) - hamlet (draw copper), NV (estate)
(draw 4c, reshuffle)
8 - (NV, 4c) - NV (copper)
(draw 3c, reshuffle)
9 - (NV, hamlet, 3c) - hamlet (draw copper), NV (copper)
(draw 1c, reshuffle)
10 - (NV, hamlet, 3c) - hamlet (draw copper), NV (copper)
(reshuffle)
11 - (NV, hamlet, 3c) - hamlet (draw copper, discard copper), NV (copper)
(reshuffle)
12 - (NV, hamlet, 2c) - hamlet (discard copper), NV (copper)
(reshuffle)
13 - (NV, hamlet, 1c) - hamlet (discard copper), NV (copper)
(reshuffle)
14 - (NV, hamlet, 1c) - hamlet (discard copper), NV (copper) ----- Deck = NV, hamlet

Who's got a better one?

80

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Really bad card ideas

« on: July 21, 2011, 01:18:08 pm »

Oh boy. Let's do it.

[snip]

Ice Block
$3 (Action - Reaction)

+1 Card
+1 Action

When another player plays an attack card, you may reveal this card from your hand.  If you do, you take no shots, and the player who played the attack card takes any shots their attack would otherwise have caused you to take.

Dynamite (sorry, Bang)
$5 (Action)

+2 Cards
+2 Actions
+1 Buy
+$1

Reveal the top card of the Dynamite deck.  If it's a Copper, fill one shot glass and place it on the Dynamite mat, then pass this card to the player to your left.  If it's an Estate, slam all shots currently on the Dynamite mat, then fill one shot glass and place it on the Dynamite mat.  Reshuffle the Dynamite deck.

Setup:  Fill one shot glass and place it on the Dynamite mat.  Shuffle one Estate and four Coppers together to form the Dynamite deck, and place it on the Dynamite mat along with the shot.

High Tolerance
$10 (Victory)

When you buy this card, you may slam up to 10 shots.  For each shot you slam at this time, this card costs $1 less.

Worth 1VP for each shot you slam when you buy this card.  If you vomit at any time during the game, worth 0VP.

-----

Now, who's writing cards for a strip variant?

81

Council Room Feedback / Re: The CouncilRoom Simulation is Prediction challenge

« on: July 13, 2011, 02:25:04 pm »

Further idea:  Use "winningness prediction" (whichever prediction strategy turns out to be most successful) as fitness function to help simulators like Geronimoo's decide what to do in those rare cases where there are actually non-trivial decisions other than what to buy (i.e., make whichever choice results in the game state with the highest "winningness").

*edit* golem is already looking to do this, isn't it?

82

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Really bad card ideas

« on: June 30, 2011, 03:58:16 pm »

$4 - Great Wall
Action - Reaction

+1 action
+1 card

When another player plays an Attack card, you may reveal this from your hand.  If you do, you are unaffected by that Attack.

During your cleanup phase, you may place this card on top of your deck.

83

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Most VPs in 4 turns

« on: June 29, 2011, 06:02:39 pm »

Fixed:

Turn 1:
P1 (4c1e) - buy Envoy
P2 (4c1e) - buy Throne Room

Turn 2:
P1 (3c2e) - buy Ambassador (reshuffle)
P2 (3c2w) - buy Smugglers (reshuffle)

Turn 3:
P1 (4c, Envoy) - Envoy (3c1e, discard 1e), buy Duchy
P2 (2c1e, Throne Room, Smugglers) - Throne Room > Smugglers > 2xDuchy, buy Estate

Turn 4:
P1 (1e, Ambassador (reshuffle), Duchy, 1e) - Ambassador > Duchy
P2 (5c) - buy Duchy

Player 2 ends with 4x Duchy, 4x Estate, for +13 VP.  'Course, now it's a little more obvious that the players are in cahoots...

*edit*

More fixed:

Turn 1:
P1 (4c1e) - buy Mining Village
P2 (4c1e) - buy Envoy

Turn 2:
P1 (3c2e) - buy Masquerade (reshuffle)
P2 (3c2w) - buy Silver (reshuffle)

Turn 3:
P1 (2c1e, Masquerade, Mining Village) - Mining Village (trash, draw 1c), Masquerade (draw 2c, pass 1e, receive 1c), buy Province
P2 (2c1e, Envoy, Silver) - Envoy (draw 4c, discard 1e), buy Province

Turn 4:
P1 (1c3e, (reshuffle), Masquerade) - Masquerade (draw 1c, Province, pass Province, receive 1e), buy Estate
P2 (1e, Province, (reshuffle), Envoy, Silver) - Envoy (4c, discard 1e), buy Duchy

Player 2 ends 2x Province, 1x Duchy, 3x Estate for +15 VP.

84

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Most VPs in 4 turns

« on: June 29, 2011, 05:31:33 pm »

This feels a little cheap, but your puzzle does say "by any means."

Turn 1:
P1 (4c1e) - buy Coppersmith
P2 (4c1e) - buy Throne Room

Turn 2:
P1 (3c2e) - buy Ambassador (reshuffle)
P2 (3c2w) - buy Smugglers (reshuffle)

Turn 3:
P1 (4c, Coppersmith) - Coppersmith, buy Province
P2 (2c1e, Throne Room, Smugglers) - Throne Room > Smugglers > 2xProvince, buy Estate

Turn 4:
P1 (2c2e, Ambassador) - Ambassador > Estate, buy Estate
P2 (5c) - buy Duchy

Player 2 finishes with 2xProvince, 1xDuchy, 4xEstate (19 total VP, or +16 from start).

*edit* Forgot $ limit on Smugglers, doesn't work.  Back to drawing board.