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26

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Auction - a new card

« on: December 30, 2011, 08:04:59 pm »

The attack seems too strong for a cantrip.
Far stronger than cutpurse, and it lacks the limited curse supply that keeps familiar in check.

Although now that I think about it, the "discard a card" might be barely enough to keep it in check.

there would however still be a KC-KC-scheme-scheme-auction-auction pin:
after playing that you have 6 cards in hand, you can repeat it every turn, and your opponent will stay at 0 cards after a few iterations.
(edit: actually, this only plays auction 4 times. you would need one more KC+scheme for the full pin, but it is probably effective enough this way.)

perhaps "discard 2 cards"?
or remove the "+1 card"?
or "discard a treasure; if you do ..."?

27

2011 / Re: Schedule and Results: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships

« on: December 04, 2011, 07:42:19 pm »

- Round 1, chapel division -
Result: Zem wins; Zem 4-2 Cornucopoo-ah (aka Diving Pikachu)


1. game   http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111202-191643-07598fea.html
Zem wins!
All but one player has resigned.

cards in supply: Alchemist, City, Colony, Embargo, Haven, Hunting Party, Island, Nobles, Platinum, Potion, Steward, Trader, and Watchtower
  All players get identical starting hands.  The point tracker will be available.
----------------------

#1 Zem: 58 points (5 Colonies, a Province, and a Nobles); 18 turns
     opening: Steward / Silver
     [15 cards] 2 Hunting Parties, 1 Haven, 1 Nobles, 1 Steward, 1 Silver, 1 Gold, 2 Platinums, 1 Province, 5 Colonies

#2 cornucopoo-ah: resigned (1st); 19 turns
               opening: Island / Steward
               [26 cards] 4 Nobles, 2 Islands, 1 Alchemist, 1 Haven, 1 Hunting Party, 1 Steward, 7 Coppers, 2 Silvers, 1 Potion, 1 Gold, 1 Platinum, 1 Estate, 1 Province, 2 Colonies

We both avoided the alchemists first.
When cornucopoo-ah got a potion I immediatelly bought 2 embargos and was able to double-embargo the alchemists after he got one.
But that move cost me quite a bit in opportunity costs.
To increase my chances to draw embargo quickly I bought 2, and then drew them both at once. I also only barely got the first embargo off before he could buy the second alchemist. Two alchemists with a few hunting parties to hunt for the potion seemed a scary prospect.
Steward seems to me a particularily good card with this setup, since even if you trash with it, you can expect to have enough money for a haven or embargo left.
No embargo/watchtower shenaningans in this game althought I considered it



2. game   http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111202-192341-2153b62b.html
Zem wins!
All Provinces are gone.

cards in supply: Feast, Harem, Hunting Party, Jack of All Trades, Mandarin, Nobles, Nomad Camp, Scheme, Sea Hag, and Stash
  All players get identical starting hands.  The point tracker will be available.
----------------------

#1 Zem: 39 points (6 Provinces, a Harem, and an Estate); 16 turns
     opening: Jack of All Trades / Scheme
     [31 cards] 2 Jacks of All Trades, 1 Harem, 1 Scheme, 7 Coppers, 9 Silvers, 4 Golds, 1 Estate, 6 Provinces

#2 cornucopoo-ah: 30 points (5 Duchies, 2 Provinces, a Harem, and an Estate); 15 turns
               opening: Jack of All Trades / Silver
               [26 cards] 1 Harem, 1 Hunting Party, 1 Jack of All Trades, 1 Mandarin, 1 Nomad Camp, 7 Coppers, 4 Silvers, 2 Golds, 1 Estate, 5 Duchies, 2 Provinces

We both ignored the sea hag with jack present.
I opened Jack/Scheme, with the idea that being able to return the jack to the deck offsets the added risk of collision.
When I had enough silver and nothing left to trash, I simply always topdecked the scheme to avoid any collisions.
I am not at all sure that was the best choice, but it worked here.
If someone wants to simulate a 1or2Jacks/Scheme/BigMoney-Bot I would be most interested in the results.



3. game   http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111202-193231-cd748ae3.html
cornucopoo-ah wins!
Duchies, Estates, and Highways are all gone.

cards in supply: Baron, Council Room, Cutpurse, Highway, Horse Traders, Ironworks, Nomad Camp, Pawn, Rabble, and Saboteur
  All players get identical starting hands.  The point tracker will be available.
----------------------

#1 cornucopoo-ah: 43 points (4 Provinces, 4 Duchies, and 7 Estates); 19 turns
               opening: Silver / Horse Traders
               [36 cards] 5 Highways, 2 Horse Traders, 2 Pawns, 1 Ironworks, 7 Coppers, 1 Silver, 3 Golds, 7 Estates, 4 Duchies, 4 Provinces

#2 Zem: 37 points (3 Provinces, 4 Duchies, and 7 Estates); 18 turns
     opening: Silver / Cutpurse
     [33 cards] 5 Highways, 2 Pawns, 1 Cutpurse, 1 Horse Traders, 1 Ironworks, 7 Coppers, 2 Silvers, 7 Estates, 4 Duchies, 3 Provinces

opening cutpurse was a bad choice by me here, cornucopoo-ahs horse trader was much better:
Horse trader is usefull both in getting highways and in getting some use out of them. And it defends well against cutpurse.
Ironworks of course also a great combo with highway. It was a close race, so I did not try anything fancy with highway+saboteur, which can also be fun.


4. game   http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111202-193935-2851ce72.html
Zem wins!
All Provinces are gone.

cards in supply: Bridge, Chancellor, Haggler, Herbalist, Nomad Camp, Oracle, Salvager, Smithy, Spice Merchant, and Tribute
  All players get identical starting hands.  The point tracker will be available.
----------------------

#1 Zem: 41 points (4 Provinces, 5 Duchies, and 2 Estates); 18 turns
     opening: Salvager / Silver
     [24 cards] 2 Spice Merchants, 1 Haggler, 1 Salvager, 3 Coppers, 2 Silvers, 4 Golds, 2 Estates, 5 Duchies, 4 Provinces

#2 cornucopoo-ah: 33 points (4 Provinces and 3 Duchies); 17 turns
               opening: Spice Merchant / Silver
               [23 cards] 2 Tributes, 1 Haggler, 1 Salvager, 1 Spice Merchant, 3 Coppers, 2 Silvers, 6 Golds, 3 Duchies, 4 Provinces

Recently i got the impression that I am overvaluing spice merchant, so I opened with a salvager here instead. I still think it is a great card though.


5. game   http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111204-144714-c585ec1b.html (EDIT: added the link)
cornucopoo-ah wins!
All Provinces are gone.

cards in supply: Caravan, Embassy, Highway, Masquerade, Mint, Outpost, Rabble, Sea Hag, Wishing Well, and Worker's Village
  All players get identical starting hands.
----------------------

#1 cornucopoo-ah: 37 points (6 Provinces and an Estate); 13 turns
               opening: Caravan / Masquerade
               [21 cards] 2 Highways, 1 Caravan, 1 Embassy, 1 Masquerade, 1 Worker's Village, 4 Coppers, 2 Silvers, 2 Golds, 1 Estate, 6 Provinces

#2 Zem: 20 points (2 Provinces, 2 Duchies, and 2 Estates); 12 turns
     opening: Silver / Masquerade
     [20 cards] 2 Worker's Villages, 1 Embassy, 1 Masquerade, 5 Coppers, 3 Silvers, 2 Golds, 2 Estates, 2 Duchies, 2 Provinces

I was very tempted to open caravan/masquerade or even worker's village/masquerade since I wanted to get an embassy asap, but decided against it for fear of collision.
cornucopoo-ah took that risk, and it payed of as he was much faster in getting an embassy/worker's village/caravan/masquerade engine going than me, beating me solidly by 4 provinces.



6. game    http://councilroom.com/game?game_id=game-20111204-145448-9a29ad90.html
Zem wins!
All but one player has resigned.

cards in supply: Apothecary, Caravan, Cellar, Chapel, Crossroads, Ghost Ship, Masquerade, Peddler, Potion, Rabble, and Thief
  All players get identical starting hands.  The point tracker will be available.
----------------------

#1 Zem: 6 points (a Province); 10 turns
     opening: Caravan / Masquerade
     [18 cards] 4 Caravans, 2 Ghost Ships, 2 Peddlers, 1 Crossroads, 1 Masquerade, 7 Coppers, 1 Province

#2 cornucopoo-ah: resigned (1st); 10 turns
               opening: Caravan / Silver
               [18 cards] 2 Crossroads, 2 Ghost Ships, 1 Cellar, 5 Coppers, 2 Silvers, 6 Estates

After losing so badly with my silver/masquerade opening, this time I went for caravan/masquerade, with the plan to use the caravan to acquire some peddler later, and collisions be damned.
We both considered taking the chapel, cornucopoo-ah decided againtst it because of ghost ship. I totally failed to notice the ghost ship at first, but luckily favored masquerade over chapel anyway.
Later, I got a very lucky and probably decisive double hit with crossroads, ghost ship and masquerade wich forced cornucopoo-ah to pass me a caravan.



Thanks a lot to cornucopoo-ah for the matches.
We both had a very busy schedule and meeting each other proved to be much more difficult than I expected, so I am especially glad that we managed it in the end.

28

2011 / Re: 2011 DominionStrategy.com Championships Registration

« on: November 22, 2011, 11:53:34 am »

Zem , GMT +1

29

Dominion General Discussion / ambassador vs masquerade

« on: November 14, 2011, 08:11:10 am »

I recently had a 4 player match with ambassador and masquerade.

I opened ambassador, went double ambassador and ended up distributing all curses and a lot of coppers, but the speedup of masquerade+silver still prevailed.

The board had native village and caravan, which I thought would support ambassador well.
Caravan because you can open caravan/ambassador, and native village because you are almost guaranted to be able to buy one while playing your ambassador, and both because they can increase handsize when it matters.

The full board was native village, ambassador, masquerade, coppersmith, mining village, conspirator, caravan, merchant ship, tactican, harem.
(apparently one of the sets selected for GenCon by Donald X)

What would be your choice for this board?
ambassador or masquerade?

I opened ambassador, caravan, bought a second ambassador, a native village and a mining village and proceeded to distribute all curses, two each round for 5 rounds, but that prooved to be far too slow
(and very unpopular ).
With a conspirator and some money i then bought a couple greens but still ended last.
Noone else used ambassador, and not everyone used masquerade

Perhaps I should have gone for 2 tacticans and a few conspirators in addition? But that would be even slower to start, and I was already very vulnerable to a lucky masquerade.
Or perhaps i should not have started with the curses, and instead concentrated on buying after my deck was small? But since the first provinces were gone very early, I estimated that it was already too late at that point to win without slowing and cursing the others.

My guess is that without masquerade, ambassador would be a must-buy on that board, but with masquerade the balance shifts.

How would this change in a colony game?
With colonies, would the slow buildup be fast enough, and would distributing coppers be good enough not to bother with buying a curse?

30

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Really bad card ideas

« on: November 01, 2011, 09:50:57 pm »

Boutique
Action - $4
+ 1 card
+ 1 action
+ 1 buy
+ $3

cards cost 2 more this turn

That would be an awesome card with bishop, apprentice or forge.

Here is my entry, which I have not playtested yet since I want to keep my friends.



Brick
Reaction - 1$
When another player gains a card,
you may reveal this from your hand,
shout a catchphrase and throw it. 
If you hit him while he is touching the
gained card, you gain that card instead.
覧覧覧覧覧
The first player who touches Brick
after it has been thrown gains it,
putting it in their hand.



An additional rule i considered: If you draw blood with your hit: +2vp
But I ran out of room on the card.

FAQ for brick:
- in case of multiple players throwing bricks, only the first one to hit succeeds
- first you shout the catch phrase, then throw! So no sneak attacks. Feel free to use "SNEAK ATTACK" as your catchphrase though.
- A brick that missed its target may be claimed by any player, by touching it. A brick that hits is automatically claimed by the victim, since that counts as a touch.
- If a brick throw succeeds, the thrower gains a card. So the victim may throw the same brick back in response to that gain event.

It turned out a little too wordy, but i am not sure how to shorten the text further.

"He is going for the provinces! Get 'im boys!"

31

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Big hands [lol]

« on: August 30, 2011, 08:29:08 am »

173 cards

using ghostofmars solution i cannot find much room for improvement:



opponent has 1 masquerade, 1 secret chamber, 1 spy, 1 minion (from black market)

I start the turn with 4 horse traders, 1 KC,

opponent plays masquerade, he passes 1 secret chamber, i pass 1 KCs

he plays spy, i reveal 4 HT, set aside; reveal 1 SC, draw 2 HT; reveal 2 HT, set aside; return 1 SC to deck ( +1 card due to SC)

he plays KC+council room, i draw 1 SC + 2 HT (+2 cards, compared to only council room)

he plays minion, i reveal 2HT, reveal SC, draw 1 HT + x, reveal 1HT, return SC+x (9 HTs revealed)


The previous turn could perhaps be improved:
I can start with 6 cards (opponent has played the council room), I can play trusty steed/wishing well/hunting party from black market to increase hand size, so I could perhaps chain KCs differently


edit:
of course Fangz idea beats that by a mile.

32

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Big hands [lol]

« on: August 30, 2011, 05:51:06 am »

another thing are 9-10 horse traders in your hand after the council rooms and before the last torturer of your oppenent

if the goal is just to draw as many cards as possible without playing actions then 9-10 adventures and 9-10 loans

of course in that case a single adventure and infinite blank cards would be be enough to draw infinite cards

edit: had an idea! your opponent could use masquerade to take your king's courts and throne rooms after you have played them, and pass you horse traders instead. That way you can use them on your previous turn for the durations, and he on his turn for the council rooms.

So now it depends on the exact rules used for KC/TR + duration, how many stay in play with the duration, and how many can you draw again next turn. Calculating this with the old official rules would be even harder and you would have to use some tricks to avoid having all of them stay in game, but i think the rules have been amended in that only the last KC/TR stays. Still pretty hard.

The most important cards are probably kc and tactican, so all other cards are only available 9 times at most to avoid ending the game.

edit2:
another trick to get a very small gain:
- start your turn with 4 horse traders and a secret chamber
- opponent plays a spy, you reveal and set aside the 4 horse traders and then reveal  the secret chamber, drawing 2 horse traders, revealing them.
- Now you have to return 2 cards to the deck but  have only the secret chamber in your hand. you return it.
Net gain-->1 card

- opponent plays a council room, you draw the secret chamber
- he plays a spy, you reveal SC to draw 2 horse traders, reveal them, return SC to deck
net gain -->1 card

You could do it again but you would need 10 horse traders for that.

You can use the secret chamber in conjunction with an opponents spy/pirate ship/tribute/thief/etc to pass all your king' courts and throne rooms to your opponent without him having to pass you the horse traders:
- he plays a thief, you reveal the secret chamber, draw two KCs, return two other cards, the cards are removed by the thief
- he plays 2 masquerades, you pass the KCs, receive 2 coppers.
- he plays a thief, you draw two KCs, return 2 coppers, the coppers are removed by the thief,
- repeat

definitely to hard for me to calculate