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551

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Boon Power Level Comparison

« on: January 28, 2021, 02:57:53 pm »

I don't think s a coincidence that the 4 Boons which you skipped are arguably also fairly weak:

Earth - There are 3 quasi cantrip gainers: Cobbler, Sculptor, Falconer. So Earth would like be around the $4.5 power level.
Sky & Mountain - Impossible to imagine as Kingdom card, who would want a cantrip that gains Treasures. But the effect is overall fairly weak.
Swamp - Hard to evaluate due to the randomness of Boons. We know from Druid how strong a perma Will-o'-Wisp gainer can be. But it is on average IMO weaker than Earth.

So Moon isn't the only weakish Boon. There are many situations in which it is stronger than Sky or Mountain.

552

Dominion FAQ / Re: Question about Kiln and Stockpile

« on: January 28, 2021, 02:22:56 am »

Second one. "First" on Kiln means that this happens before the other card is executed.
It is like e.g. Witch and Horse Traders: Alice plays Witch, doesn't do anything yet as a Reaction window opens, Bob sets aside Horse Traders, the Reaction windows closes, Alice draws 2 cards and Bob gains a Curse.

553

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Cheap Trasher or source of Villagers idea.

« on: January 28, 2021, 01:21:20 am »

I think it is strong but OK. Villager Cantrip as only option would already be fine at $2 but also a bit bland.

554

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 27, 2021, 07:10:38 am »

It is a cool card but my hunch is that the VP value is too low. You can always get a free Duchy via the Bottle Imp, so the value of 13, which is likely intentionally 1VP more than the spread of one Provinces in a 2P game, might not suffice.
But this is impossible to determine in theory, it is a playtesting thing.

555

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #102: Unspent

« on: January 26, 2021, 12:58:38 pm »

Indeed. The card would be fine at $5 as a Night Remodel but the Expand option makes it far too good. Cards like Altar and Expand that can trash a card and gain a $5 have prohibitive prices for very good reasons.

556

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Game-changing Landscape cards, just for fun!

« on: January 26, 2021, 07:15:50 am »

Post any whacky landscape card ideas you've got here, the more game-changing the better! Either ones made just for a good laugh or ones that could potentially work in the game, whichever!

I'll start with a Project from my fan Industrial Revolution expansion:

I first thought that this is just a joke card but it does actually create a nice little minigame about Treasures potentially becoming powerful Peddlers. So do you really wanna thin all those Coppers when Bob or Charlie don’t and might buy Socialism?

557

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 24, 2021, 01:54:59 pm »

Wacky idea incoming! Posted and tweaked via the help of some Dominion Discord users. If Giants, Golems, Werewolves and Witches can exist within Dominion’s, then so can...

               

There are 3 copies of each 4 Dragons, for 12 cards total (no matter the player count). Like Knights, they are shuffled, and all 4 Dragons share that one junking/discarding Attack. Speaking of which, there are no Attacking Promo cards, so this fills that niche!

Just to be clear on the matter, Blue Dragon sets itself aside forever with no returning mechanic when used for its Reaction, just like Prince.

I don't like this. The Attack is initially weaker than Sea Hag and the other stuff varies a lot in power. Blue Dragon seems to stay in nirvana forever so it only net gains one card so that's probably OK. A Night or Treasure Dragon wouldn't be overpowered.
But the main issues is that you do very rarely want more than one or two Dragons.  Even if there are no Witches and Militias in the Kingdom, the other stuff that the Dragons do is too weak to make you waste that precious $5 slot on them. Also, it is not like with Knights where the very mechanics of the card create a run on the pile.

558

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 23, 2021, 08:36:51 am »

Suggested wording along the lines of Command cards:
Play the set aside acard, leaving it there. +1 Action per Action it gives.

559

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #102: Unspent

« on: January 22, 2021, 04:46:03 pm »

There are no half Coins. First Buy (during your turn) of the Event wastes a Buy, second one converts it into 1 Coin and so on.
Problem is that all those cantrip are totally fine so I fail to see why they should be buffed. Because this is what your Event basically does, you will rarely go for it if there only Woodcutter variants in the Kingdom.

560

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #102: Unspent

« on: January 22, 2021, 01:41:04 pm »

Yes! There have definitely been times where I have ended up with lots of Buys and little money and wished there was some card/landscape/mechanism that would let me convert one to the other. (This probably says more about my ability than about the game's design, but still...)

Originally it was just an event (called Buying Power) that cost $0 and gave +$1, but I think that is too good a trade (or rather, it makes some cards like Market Square too good). This is how I tried to make a Buy worth approximately $0.5.

Here is the Event:



And the two-sided State it comes with:





BUYING POWER
Event
$0
If you do not already have it, take the State called Bull Market or Bear Market; whether or not you took it, flip it over.

BEAR MARKET
State (side 1)
Setup: In games using Buying Power, place one copy of this on the table with this side up.

BULL MARKET
State (side 2)
When you flip this over to this side, +$1.

Except for the first time this is bought, it is „convert 2 Buys into 1 Coins“. Unless the opponents have no extra Buys in their decks, you will never ever buy this only once in your turn and thus help your opponents.

The problem of this concept is that it is either too good or too weak. All the four (did I forget one?) cantrips that yield Buys become significantly better whereas it matters little for all other cards. I also think that it is too automatic. If I did play my 5 Grand Markets and only need 2 Buys, I will automatically buy the Event four times. It has little impact on my strategy, those 5 GMs are good independent of whether they produce 10 Coins or 12 Coins.

561

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 22, 2021, 02:15:58 am »

This is an oldie but I think it is neat for a promo. On the surface it is a more expensive Harem with variable Coin/VP values, so it will be immediately familiar. Strategically it plays different though, being perhaps most similar to Fairgrounds.

It's main downside is that due to the "modern" prevalence of engines, Province play (this does after all cost as much as Province, if there is just one further Treasure or Victory Kingdom card) is often the dominant strategy. A non-variable price, most likely $6, could be a necessary buff.

As this is almost always at least as good as Harem (you only need one other Treasure in play and one other VP card in your deck to make it +$2+2VP), it shouldn't have a fixed cost of $6 IMO.
If you want to make the price non-variable, I'd suggest $7 (which is also the price it currently has when there's no other extra Treasure or VP piles in the kingdom, and no empty piles.) But it may also be fine as is.

It is very had to say. LastFootnote has argued that Harem could very well cost $5. I like the variable price because it creates a relationship between the cost and the power of the card and am going to stick with it but if it is too weak $7 is, as you have said, likely the best first shot at a fixed price.

562

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 21, 2021, 02:25:45 pm »

Nope. So when e.g. the last Plunder is bought, the cost of Treasure Cove decreases by 1.

563

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #102: Unspent

« on: January 21, 2021, 08:21:32 am »

This is a messy and controversial one.

The Baker effect is neat but it take some effort to build up. Potentially explosive if the board has megaturn potential, otherwise saving 8 Coffers to get DoubleBakers is likely wrong.

I first played this with an unlimited conversion of Coins into Coffers. That was totally crazy. The current version might be too weak (it is basically a stackable Pageant) but "2 for 2" or "X for X -1" doesn't feel elegant.

The overpay effect was (as intended) weak during playtesting. Getting a $5 is usually superior to getting a Coffers and a Tomb Robber.
The worst potential abuse is generating 3 Coffers during the endgame when you hit $7 and then buy the Province next turn. Well, you could have also bought a Duchy in each turn for the same VPs.

564

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 20, 2021, 07:12:37 am »

This is an oldie but I think it is neat for a promo. On the surface it is a more expensive Harem with variable Coin/VP values, so it will be immediately familiar. Strategically it plays different though, being perhaps most similar to Fairgrounds.

It's main downside is that due to the "modern" prevalence of engines, Province play (this does after all cost as much as Province, if there is just one further Treasure or Victory Kingdom card) is often the dominant strategy. A non-variable price, most likely $6, could be a necessary buff.

565

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: On Elegance

« on: January 19, 2021, 04:05:58 am »

I might not call Destrier an "elegant card", but I'm keen with saying it's "not inelegant".

It lies in the eye of the beholder, some people might dislike the tracking/memory effort that is associated with cards like Smuggler and Destrier.

566

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 19, 2021, 01:56:46 am »

Compared to other Fortress combo, this is relatively weak. There are plenty of board with no worthwhile $2s or $3s, so spending an Action to gain two of them might not be good at all.
If you change it to "return to the Supply" you get rid of other combos, like the on-trash effect of Catacombs.

567

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #101: You may turn your Journey token over

« on: January 18, 2021, 09:31:09 am »

Quay - Action Duration, $4 cost.
You may discard 2 cards to turn your Journey token over. Then, if it's face up, +4 Cards.
At the start of your next turn, if it's face down, +3 Cards.

I think something ought to be written on this to make it more clear that it stays in play even if your Journey token is face up.  The fact that it stays in play is a somewhat esoteric nerf to an otherwise-superior Smithy at cost.  And that aside this reads so similarly to Ranger being a draw card that uses your Journey token.
I might like it better if you had the option to feed it for each draw, because as is you will likely just set your token one way and then never turn it again.

The Ranger similarity annoyed me as well, it's just better. Here's a third new entry that I feel takes on a better premise:

Trade Union - Project, $3 cost.
At the start of your turn, you may turn your Journey token over. When you gain a card, if the token is face down, put it onto your deck, or if face up, Exile a card from your hand.

Choose your mode each turn. Exile rather than trash to be less harsh during greening.

This is better than Cathedral in three ways:
- Exile instead of trash
- later than at the start of your turn
- potentially several cards instead of just one
- you can not merely deactivate it but also get a neat global effect when you do so (that is admittedly bad when you green, but when you have enough draw power you don't need to flip the token but rather Exile the very Province(s) you gained last turn).

This is beyond crazy. Cathedral is at least sometimes, albeit very rarely, bad and makes you think a little bit about it during the start of the game.

568

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: On Elegance

« on: January 18, 2021, 04:10:52 am »

I think that a card can be easily described yet considered, at least by some, to not be elegant.
Bard is a "terminal Silver plus a random beneficial effect". The extra setup effort is too cumbersome for some people and the randomness can be considered to be "messy" instead of elegant.

Games are in my opinion at least to some degree a form of art and that's why you only get so far with analytical terms and have to use subjective terms like elegant to describe particular features of them.

569

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 17, 2021, 06:21:40 am »

It is a cool design but I worry that it is a bit too nasty with handsize Attacks. Council Room + Militia takes some effort, now all your Actions are Smithies. You basically only need Miltias and Villages.

570

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 17, 2021, 04:39:47 am »

I like that this ties in with the variable cost theme of Menagerie. Buy Animal Fair via blowing up a $2, then blow up Animal Fair for two Captains.

571

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #101: You may turn your Journey token over

« on: January 16, 2021, 02:55:40 am »

Migrant Tribe ⑤ Action
+1 Card
+1 Action
You may turn over your
Journey token to get
+2 Cards and discard 2 cards.
Then, if your Journey token
is face up, +1 Villager.

It's a Villager Village that can also be Forum if you want it to (This isn't strictly better than Forum because Forum is buy-neutral).
You have all the stuff you want in hand? Then you can stay put and rack up some villagers. If you need the sifting, it'll be a little bit before you can settle down again.

(14 Jan Edit: removed "(it starts face up)".)

While this is indeed not strictly better than Forum, it is nonetheless better than it. A half Villager-Village is far stronger than the on-Buy effect of Forum.

572

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 15, 2021, 04:44:01 pm »

It ain’t an engine without extra Buys.

573

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Set Expansion Contest

« on: January 15, 2021, 02:30:58 pm »

I think that this is probably too weak. Engines (most of them anyway) don't want the Silver, and Terminal Draw Big Money probably doesn't need/want the Horses. Even in Terminal Draw Big Money, you often have 2 Silvers in play, in which case this is a more expensive Expedition/Experiment. If you make it cheaper, it probably is too similar to these 2 others card-shaped things, so I would buff it somehow.

This analysis is off. Yes, in a normal game you won't have more than 2 Silvers in play all that often. But we're not considering a normal game, we're considering a game that has Horse Trade in it. The opportunity cost of adding a Silver becomes significantly lower as each Silver is more or less a cantrip if you buy Horse Trade. You can build your deck with Horse Trade in mind, and I think it can be pretty strong then.

Yes, but if you are trying to build an engine around Horse Trade and Silvers, it just isn't going to be reliable. And if you aren't building an engine around it, I really doubt that you are going to take one of these for 3 Horses over a Gold or a Province in Big Money

The Event does neither cost $8 or $6 nor are Province and Gold the benchmark. Experiment and Expedition on the other hand are. That makes the analysis fairly simple, the Event is good if you have 3 or more Silvers in play. Doesn't seem horribly underpowered.

574

Weekly Design Contest / Re: Weekly Design Contest #101: You may turn your Journey token over

« on: January 14, 2021, 01:14:12 pm »

I think that this is far too good relative to Pathfinding. Pathfinding has the tension of "normal building" vs. striving to spike in order to early hit $8.
This doesn't, you only have an incentive to quickly run out a pile and then Lab-ify it "en passant", without any effort.

575

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dominion: Venus, a fan expansion by Carline

« on: January 11, 2021, 03:13:55 pm »

Piles running out faster actually makes Heiress stronger as the value of the gained card for the opponent decreases (they can play it less often if the game is shorter).