51
Tournaments and Events / Re: Renaissance: The Tournament
« on: December 03, 2018, 09:29:06 pm »
Semifinals: SamE 3-2 Gazbag:
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52
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Neat and potentially useful card interactions
« on: December 03, 2018, 02:56:52 am »Star Chart + Masquerade
I just tried this out for about a dozen games... and it seems to consistently but barely beat Lord Rattington, who foregoes the Star Chart for double Masquerade (and sometimes does other weird things, of course).
It was okay, I guess? But nothing to write home about, and rarely seemed to be the best strategy. Masquerade and Star Chart both accelerate engines, too.
53
Dominion League / Season 30 - Champion Match: Sunday, December 2nd, 19:00 UTC
« on: December 01, 2018, 03:00:59 pm »
Hello everyone!
The Champion Match in the A Division of Season 30 will take place tomorrow, Sunday, December 2nd, at 19:00 UTC. It will feature 2-time champion and 4-time runner-up markus and top player tracer, who will be playing in his first championship match. After a commanding regular season, tracer just needs to win 2 games to be crowned champion, while markus needs at least 4.5 (4 wins and a tie). Even if someone clinches early, they will be playing out the full six games.
There will be commentary as usual on Twitch by WanderingWinder and aku chi.
The Champion Match in the A Division of Season 30 will take place tomorrow, Sunday, December 2nd, at 19:00 UTC. It will feature 2-time champion and 4-time runner-up markus and top player tracer, who will be playing in his first championship match. After a commanding regular season, tracer just needs to win 2 games to be crowned champion, while markus needs at least 4.5 (4 wins and a tie). Even if someone clinches early, they will be playing out the full six games.
There will be commentary as usual on Twitch by WanderingWinder and aku chi.
54
Dominion League / Re: Season 31 - Signups
« on: November 28, 2018, 09:47:26 am »We decided to require Discord after receiving numerous complaints from players in the League that their opponents who weren't on Discord were difficult to get in contact with. Real-time communication is much easier for scheduling purposes than asynchronous messaging.Of course it is. But you don't get real-time communication just by installing Discord. You get it from installing Discord and being online most of the time, which means either spending a lot of time with the PC/laptop where you can install Discord or having a portable device in your pocket which supports Discord. Neither of which is true for me.
So, to get to the real case. I work on my employer's PC and Discord is blocked there (haven't checked, but they block Gmail, Facebook and all similar things so I guess Discord too). My mobile phone is not a smartphone and there is no Discord app for it. When I'm home and not sleeping (which is approx 1-2 hours in the morning and anything from 8 to 1 hour in the evening, depending if I go somewhere after work or not) I get online regularly, but only checking every 20-30 minutes unless I am doing something which requires sitting at the computer, so no real time communication. With this lifestyle I have played in multiple online tournaments which required scheduling (mostly Netrunner), including some where most of my opponents were right at the end of the world from my point of view (Europe vs Australia) - I communicated with them via pm, we found good time to play, I sometimes needed to reorganize my day a bit and the game happened. Do you think this availability is enough to take part in the Dominion League?
Certainly, especially since you have prior experience. Discord supports private messaging in that fashion, and has a lower barrier to entry compared to the forum PMs.
55
Dominion League / Re: Season 31 - Signups
« on: November 27, 2018, 09:56:40 pm »Starting this season, we are requiring all new and returning players to join the Dominion Discord before signing up.Quote from: FAQIs the use of Discord necessary?So, is it still not necessary, or is the FAQ outdated? Thought about joining, but having to install new chatting app on my old computer is not something I want to do, especially as I don't enjoy using such apps, I'm not online all/most of the time so it's hard for me to follow the kind of discussion that happens there.
Though we heavily recommend the use of Discord, it is not necessary to do so in order to participate in the League.
The FAQ is outdated. We'll have everything updated by the beginning of the season.
You can join Discord in your browser, and you don't need to follow all of the conversation there. In the League, it's used for chatting with your opponents about when a good time to play would be. You just need to be online enough to have such conversations.
We decided to require Discord after receiving numerous complaints from players in the League that their opponents who weren't on Discord were difficult to get in contact with. Real-time communication is much easier for scheduling purposes than asynchronous messaging.
56
Dominion League / Re: Season 31 - Call for New Mods
« on: November 20, 2018, 11:49:38 pm »
Thanks to everyone who has responded! It's great to see so many people interested in helping the League run smoothly. 
We'll be in touch with the applicants within the next few days.
We'll be in touch with the applicants within the next few days.
57
Dominion League / Season 31 - Call for New Mods
« on: November 19, 2018, 10:17:30 am »
Hello everyone!
The League is run by a team of volunteer moderators, and due to the normal rhythms of life, we're going to be a couple of moderators short next season. So we're looking for more!
Fortunately, over the last few seasons, we've built league-wide systems for some of the more automatic portions of moderation like checking users in. This leaves the main responsibilities of moderators as the following:
We expect moderators to be responsive (within a day) on both Discord and forum PMs and to have played at least two full League seasons.
To apply, send the current mods a PM by clicking this link. The moderator application period has closed now. Thanks everyone!
SamE
The League is run by a team of volunteer moderators, and due to the normal rhythms of life, we're going to be a couple of moderators short next season. So we're looking for more!
Fortunately, over the last few seasons, we've built league-wide systems for some of the more automatic portions of moderation like checking users in. This leaves the main responsibilities of moderators as the following:
- Meet with fellow moderators the weekend before the season. Help set up the League's systems, assign players to divisions, and send out messages.
- Answer any questions from players in your ~5-6 divisions.
- In the last week of the season, track remaining matches to be played and individually reach out to those players to make sure they'll finish.
We expect moderators to be responsive (within a day) on both Discord and forum PMs and to have played at least two full League seasons.
SamE
58
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Spices > Gold
« on: November 18, 2018, 08:54:30 pm »Random question: suppose it had cost $6 instead of $5 and given +3 Coffers instead of +2. Would that have been better or worse?That'd just make it more swingy. It's not that easy to hit $6, but once you do, you can keep doing it more easily with Spices.
59
Tournaments and Events / Re: Renaissance: The Tournament
« on: November 18, 2018, 07:33:15 pm »
First round: SamE 3-1 k1511asd:
Second round: SamE 3-0 Awaclus:
Second round: SamE 3-1 singletee:
Second round: SamE 3-0 Awaclus:
Second round: SamE 3-1 singletee:
60
Dominion League / Re: Rules & Regulations Changelog
« on: November 17, 2018, 08:54:41 pm »
Based on something that actually happened (and affected the winner of a division!), we've decided to clarify the rule about when players' remaining matches are "simulated." Three complete matches are not directly necessary, just the corresponding number of games.
Quote from: Old Rules
IX. Dropping Players Mid-Season
Players dropping out during the season have a significant negative impact on their group. Unfortunately, some must drop out, or become inactive and have to be removed by the moderators. It is difficult to deal with matches that have been played by a player who has dropped because the matches they played and failed to play can have a significant impact on the group standings. The following rules are used for dropped players:Players who drop mid-season will be banned from participation in the next 2 League Seasons. If a player drops out within the first week of the season or is in good standing with the League (i.e. has played in prior seasons without drops or late finishes) the ban period may be reduced or eliminated per the moderating team's discretion.
- If the removed player has not played any matches, they are simply removed and the remaining players in the group will play one fewer match. If possible, the moderators will seek to replace them with another player from the waiting list.
- If the removed player has played fewer than 3 complete matches, any games they played are voided, and the remaining players will play one fewer match.
- If the removed player has played at least 3 complete matches, the results will be retained in the standings. In addition, so as not to compare any players with different numbers of games played, any unplayed games with dropped players will be simulated by averaging the average winning percentage of the dropped player and the average losing percentage of their opponent in all games they did play. The dropped player is then considered ineligible and finishes below all other players, including possible demotion in any subsequent season in which they might return.
Quote from: New Rules
IX. Dropping Players Mid-Season
Players dropping out during the season have a significant negative impact on their group. Unfortunately, some must drop out, or become inactive and have to be removed by the moderators. It is difficult to deal with matches that have been played by a player who has dropped because the matches they played and failed to play can have a significant impact on the group standings. The following rules are used for dropped players:Players who drop mid-season will be banned from participation in the next 2 League Seasons. If a player drops out within the first week of the season or is in good standing with the League (i.e. has played in prior seasons without drops or late finishes) the ban period may be reduced or eliminated per the moderating team's discretion.
- If the removed player has not played any matches, they are simply removed and the remaining players in the group will play one fewer match. If possible, the moderators will seek to replace them with another player from the waiting list.
- If the removed player has played fewer than 3 complete matches (18 games), any games they played are voided, and the remaining players will play one fewer match.
- If the removed player has played at least 3 complete matches (18 games), the results will be retained in the standings. In addition, so as not to compare any players with different numbers of games played, any unplayed games with dropped players will be simulated by averaging the average winning percentage of the dropped player and the average losing percentage of their opponent in all games they did play. The dropped player is then considered ineligible and finishes below all other players, including possible demotion in any subsequent season in which they might return.
61
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Neat and potentially useful card interactions
« on: November 17, 2018, 05:17:35 pm »
Golem + Mountain Village
One of the main problems with Golem-based engines is that Golems will skip other Golems. But if you hit a Mountain Village, fear not! You can put one of those skipped Golems straight back into your hand. Plus, you'll have the actions to play it.
One of the main problems with Golem-based engines is that Golems will skip other Golems. But if you hit a Mountain Village, fear not! You can put one of those skipped Golems straight back into your hand. Plus, you'll have the actions to play it.
62
Dominion League / Season 30 - End of Season Deadlines
« on: November 14, 2018, 02:49:29 pm »
Season 30 officially ends on Sunday, November 25th. To account for the westernmost timezones, the deadline for reporting matches is Monday, November 26th, at 15:00 UTC.
If you need extra time to finish, please contact your group moderator. There is a one-point penalty for finishing late two consecutive seasons, assessed to the player(s) responsible for the late finish. It is the group moderator's job to assess responsibility; if it is unclear, make sure to let them know.
The deadline for finishing matches late is one week later. All late finish matches must be reported by Monday, December 3rd, at 15:00 UTC.
If any matches remain unreported by the late finish deadline, the responsible player(s) will be considered to have dropped mid-season. This means that they are banned for the next two seasons, and automatically demoted when they return. If they played at least three matches to completion, those are kept for the other players' standings and their remaining matches are "simulated" (see the full rules for how), but if they did not complete that many, its result is removed.
In addition to finishing your matches, all players must fill out the returning form to tell us whether they will be back for next season. This form was sent to you in a private message; you can also find it in the pinned post in your Discord division channel. The deadline for filling out the returning form is Wednesday, December 5th, at 19:00 UTC (the Season 31 signup deadline). Any players who have not told us whether they will be back by then will be assumed to be not returning.
If you need extra time to finish, please contact your group moderator. There is a one-point penalty for finishing late two consecutive seasons, assessed to the player(s) responsible for the late finish. It is the group moderator's job to assess responsibility; if it is unclear, make sure to let them know.
The deadline for finishing matches late is one week later. All late finish matches must be reported by Monday, December 3rd, at 15:00 UTC.
If any matches remain unreported by the late finish deadline, the responsible player(s) will be considered to have dropped mid-season. This means that they are banned for the next two seasons, and automatically demoted when they return. If they played at least three matches to completion, those are kept for the other players' standings and their remaining matches are "simulated" (see the full rules for how), but if they did not complete that many, its result is removed.
In addition to finishing your matches, all players must fill out the returning form to tell us whether they will be back for next season. This form was sent to you in a private message; you can also find it in the pinned post in your Discord division channel. The deadline for filling out the returning form is Wednesday, December 5th, at 19:00 UTC (the Season 31 signup deadline). Any players who have not told us whether they will be back by then will be assumed to be not returning.
63
Tournaments and Events / Re: Renaissance: The Tournament
« on: November 12, 2018, 01:44:09 am »
SamE 3 - 2 Lemonspawn
64
Dominion: Renaissance Previews / Re: Renaissance Initial Impressions
« on: November 05, 2018, 01:47:11 pm »65
Dominion League / Re: Season 31 - Signups
« on: October 28, 2018, 02:30:56 am »
Just a reminder for all signups: You MUST give us your full Discord name in the form of "@___#___" in your signup post. For those who have already signed up, please edit your posts above to include this information.
66
Dominion: Renaissance Previews / Re: Renaissance interactions with 'those weird cards'.
« on: October 24, 2018, 11:26:31 pm »
I didn’t think of Changeling, it should definitely be on the list. Gladiator is marginal (given that it runs out after at most four) and Ritual adds the curse so I wouldn’t really consider those fun.
And no, I’m not a masochist; if I was, I’d prefer no-trashing Cultist Guardian games. It’s just really fascinating to me to see the exotic engines you can produce with unusual trashing. One of my #1 Games of the Week was a CQ Goons game where Procession Transmute was the only trashing. Check it out:
Are you not entertained?
And no, I’m not a masochist; if I was, I’d prefer no-trashing Cultist Guardian games. It’s just really fascinating to me to see the exotic engines you can produce with unusual trashing. One of my #1 Games of the Week was a CQ Goons game where Procession Transmute was the only trashing. Check it out:
Are you not entertained?
67
Dominion: Renaissance Previews / Re: Renaissance interactions with 'those weird cards'.
« on: October 23, 2018, 09:02:33 am »
I look forward to playing X+Sewers-as-only-trashing games, where X is any of the following:
Mine, Mining Village, Lurker, Embargo, Treasure Map, Transmute, Loan, Watchtower, Mint, Develop, Jack of All Trades, Farmland, Hermit, Death Cart, Procession, Counterfeit, Graverobber, Pillage, Taxman, Transmogrify, Trade, Salt the Earth, Necromancer, Acting Troupe
Mine, Mining Village, Lurker, Embargo, Treasure Map, Transmute, Loan, Watchtower, Mint, Develop, Jack of All Trades, Farmland, Hermit, Death Cart, Procession, Counterfeit, Graverobber, Pillage, Taxman, Transmogrify, Trade, Salt the Earth, Necromancer, Acting Troupe
68
Dominion League / Season 30 - Newsletter: Bigger than the Championship
« on: October 14, 2018, 10:46:45 pm »
Hello everyone!
I hope you enjoyed the long break from the Dominion League over the last month. As you probably already know, we took five weeks off in order to give everyone a chance to compete in the 2018 Dominion Online Championship which is now down to round of 16. Good luck to those still alive!
We're obviously friendly with the championship; half of their moderators are current League moderators as well. But I can't resist a little gentle ribbing: At this moment, the start of season 30, we have 256 players, which is 2 more than the championship was able to gather: 254. So I think we can all agree that the Dominion League is the biggest active Dominion tournament in existence. Tell your friends!
Speaking of moderators, we're happy to welcome back Burning Skull, who took Season 29 off of moderating and playing. We didn't lose anyone from last season, so we're back to the same eight moderators as in Season 28: Anders, Burning Skull, Gazbag, gloures, myself, Seprix, tracer, and volfied. assemble_me and drsteelhammer are still hanging around and hope to come back some day.
Many of you are probably wondering about the release of Renaissance which will happen some time mid-season. You are welcome to play with Renaissance if you both agree to, but the default for Season 30 is to play without it. Assuming it's released roughly on time, it will become default to play with Renaissance in Season 31.
Also, keep an eye on daylight savings. The majority of the League is switching mid-season, the Europeans first on October 29th, and then the North Americans on November 5th.
Otherwise, we're continuing pretty steadily. We're continuing the check-ins from last season; especially with the long break before the season, be sure to let us know you're still interested in playing! markus has also already generated some forecasts for the season; check those out and see if you can do better than he predicts!
Best of luck to everyone!
SamE
I hope you enjoyed the long break from the Dominion League over the last month. As you probably already know, we took five weeks off in order to give everyone a chance to compete in the 2018 Dominion Online Championship which is now down to round of 16. Good luck to those still alive!
We're obviously friendly with the championship; half of their moderators are current League moderators as well. But I can't resist a little gentle ribbing: At this moment, the start of season 30, we have 256 players, which is 2 more than the championship was able to gather: 254. So I think we can all agree that the Dominion League is the biggest active Dominion tournament in existence. Tell your friends!
Speaking of moderators, we're happy to welcome back Burning Skull, who took Season 29 off of moderating and playing. We didn't lose anyone from last season, so we're back to the same eight moderators as in Season 28: Anders, Burning Skull, Gazbag, gloures, myself, Seprix, tracer, and volfied. assemble_me and drsteelhammer are still hanging around and hope to come back some day.
Many of you are probably wondering about the release of Renaissance which will happen some time mid-season. You are welcome to play with Renaissance if you both agree to, but the default for Season 30 is to play without it. Assuming it's released roughly on time, it will become default to play with Renaissance in Season 31.
Also, keep an eye on daylight savings. The majority of the League is switching mid-season, the Europeans first on October 29th, and then the North Americans on November 5th.
Otherwise, we're continuing pretty steadily. We're continuing the check-ins from last season; especially with the long break before the season, be sure to let us know you're still interested in playing! markus has also already generated some forecasts for the season; check those out and see if you can do better than he predicts!
Best of luck to everyone!
SamE
70
Dominion League / Re: Season 30 - Late Signups
« on: October 10, 2018, 03:31:45 pm »
Signups listed below. See Available Spots for how many openings there are, and the Waiting List for late signups. Confirmed players are also color-coded according to tentative divisions; these will be finalized after the rating cutoff on Sunday, October 14th.
71
Dominion League / Season 30 - Late Signups
« on: October 10, 2018, 03:29:55 pm »
Season 30 will run from Monday, October 15th until Sunday, November 25th. Signups have officially closed, but if you are new to the league, you can still sign up late in this thread until Wednesday, October 17th at 19:00 UTC.
Late signups are now closed. Please go here if you would like to sign up for season 31.
To do so, please post a message with your dominion.games username, timezone* and, if you have joined the Dominion Discord, your Discord username (formatted like @___#___). Please make sure to state the exact spelling of your username (upper/lower case, special characters, and so on). You will be placed in an appropriate division according to your timezone and rating on dominion.games as seen in the client or here.
Please check the welcome thread first and read the rules to make sure you're comfortable with the format and the time it takes to play a season. If you have any questions be sure to check out the FAQ. You can also ask questions about the League at the dominionleague channel on the Dominion Discord. If you join, we highly recommend, but do not require, using Discord to communicate with your opponents.
If there is space for you this season, you will receive a personal message from a league moderator to confirm your signup. You must reply to this message within 24 hours or your signup will be removed.
If there is no space appropriate for you (given your level and timezone), we will instead invite you to sign up for next season! You should hear back either way by Sunday, October 21st.
*When specifying a timezone, please use one of these common examples or use the same format and look yours up in the complete list.
Late signups are now closed. Please go here if you would like to sign up for season 31.
To do so, please post a message with your dominion.games username, timezone* and, if you have joined the Dominion Discord, your Discord username (formatted like @___#___). Please make sure to state the exact spelling of your username (upper/lower case, special characters, and so on). You will be placed in an appropriate division according to your timezone and rating on dominion.games as seen in the client or here.
Please check the welcome thread first and read the rules to make sure you're comfortable with the format and the time it takes to play a season. If you have any questions be sure to check out the FAQ. You can also ask questions about the League at the dominionleague channel on the Dominion Discord. If you join, we highly recommend, but do not require, using Discord to communicate with your opponents.
If there is space for you this season, you will receive a personal message from a league moderator to confirm your signup. You must reply to this message within 24 hours or your signup will be removed.
If there is no space appropriate for you (given your level and timezone), we will instead invite you to sign up for next season! You should hear back either way by Sunday, October 21st.
*When specifying a timezone, please use one of these common examples or use the same format and look yours up in the complete list.
Code: [Select]
America/Chicago
America/Denver
America/Los_Angeles
America/New_York
Australia/Sydney
Europe/Berlin
Europe/London
72
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Interview with Donald X.
« on: October 10, 2018, 12:39:29 am »Big data, for example, could reveal the dominance of certain strategies and ignorance of others, or what kinds of cards have high "ragequit %"s, or trends like the perceived value of Silver and Gold. New cards could be designed to work well with overlooked existing cards, which really adds value to the game. The most popular cards (cards that get bought relatively high compared to their win %, or low rage quit %s) could be revisited to improve their chances of appearing in full random.
There's also immense value in doing simulations for cards that are likely to work well with a Big Money strategy (e.g. Patrol as DXV said) or are otherwise at risk of monolithic strategies, or compare far too favourably with similar cards.
Why not get super feedback and super playtesting? (that's not a question for anyone here)
We're already doing all of this in the Dominion community with existing cards. (And you won't be getting big data out of playtesting games.) Geronimoo does interesting simulations, while markus attempts to answer interesting questions about usage of different cards, culling from the stats of thousands of games. Donald X. is aware of all of those discussions, and takes part in them from time to time on Discord. If these "big data" observations aren't influencing him in his card creation, that's mostly because we either haven't generated enough interesting insights or those insights don't indicate anything of relevance to new cards that don't exist yet. I would suspect that the insights have influenced him, though much more subtly than him thinking, "let me see how many times people play Villages they buy on average and set Acting Troupe to give that many Villagers."
73
Dominion League / Re: Season 30 - Signups
« on: October 07, 2018, 05:36:17 pm »The last time I played was in season 24 which is not listed in the OP. I'm pretty sure that was less than a year ago though.You are correct; the OP has been fixed. It had incremented that season range one too far.
How do I sign up for the league matchesLike everyone else who's new:
Please post a message with your dominion.games username, timezone* and, if you have joined the Dominion Discord, your Discord username (formatted like @___#___).
74
Dominion: Renaissance Previews / Re: Renaissance Previews #4: Flag Bearer, Swashbuckler, Treasurer
« on: October 03, 2018, 06:10:50 am »
Not really. There is basically no such thing as a player 2 advantage. If there were, the first player would pass to become the second player. Sure, the timing of your shuffles don't quite make that always the best play, but that's a higher-order effect.
There's a second-mover advantage, though, which means that there's less incentive than usual to take the artifact first. By doing so, you're opening your opponent up to a much stronger play of stealing it from you. It's like taking Dame Josephine if she's the top Knight on the pile, but even more so.
There's a second-mover advantage, though, which means that there's less incentive than usual to take the artifact first. By doing so, you're opening your opponent up to a much stronger play of stealing it from you. It's like taking Dame Josephine if she's the top Knight on the pile, but even more so.
75
Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / Re: Problem with the Sewer Priest interaction
« on: October 02, 2018, 07:43:27 pm »
Loads of other interactions depend on the exact order on the card. For instance, you have to decide which cards to discard with Young Witch before opponents have to reveal whether they have the bane, or which cards to trash, if any, with Dame Anna, before seeing if she survives her attack.