11826
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: A better Golden Deck
« on: March 04, 2012, 02:55:25 am »If it can't set aside anything, it'll just set itself aside without another card.
Ooh. Learn something new everyday.
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Ooh. Learn something new everyday.
11827
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: A better Golden Deck
« on: March 04, 2012, 02:44:59 am »KC-KC-Ironworks-Ironworks-Ironworks, draw 9 Islands and set them aside.
This of course only works once in a normal game, but if you assume infinite pile size..
18VP/Turn
Edit: You can substitute 4/9 of the Ironwork'd cards with Silk Roads or Gardens, potentially getting more VP if you allow for alternate VP values in the puzzle (Silk Roads minimum is 2 anyway since you have 9 VC)
If you have Islands setting aside other Islands, what does the 9th Island set aside?
But the puzzle says you have to gain VP tokens, not just VP in general. I really can't think of anything decent for the hard mode question, but I like blueblimp's.
11828
Dominion General Discussion / Re: Confusing Kingdom...
« on: March 03, 2012, 03:20:36 am »
So would it be better to pick up Young Witch and curse as well while building up for Colonies, or should you ignore Young Witch and just try to power through into Colonies as quickly as possible?
If you hit $6, do you take the gold or BV + something?
If you hit $6, do you take the gold or BV + something?
11829
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Fan Expansion: Dominion - Jurisdiction
« on: March 03, 2012, 02:23:58 am »Quote from: WolphmaniacAttorney ($7) (Action-Reaction-Duration)If two players have Attorney in play, whenever either one (or any other player) gains or plays a gold or platinum, those two players will immediately alternate gaining that treasure until the pile is empty.
+1 Action, +$1
Attorney stays in play until the start of your next turn. If you have an Attorney in play, when any player plays a gold or platinum, you may gain one of the same.
While Attorney is in play, you may gain a copy of any treasure that an opponent gains. If you do, put it on top of your deck.
While Attorney is in play, when another player plays an attack card, you are not affected by that attack.
Well, that's what attorneys do.
11830
Dominion General Discussion / Confusing Kingdom...
« on: March 03, 2012, 01:57:03 am »
Ran into this on Androminion and did not really know what to do:
Cellar (Bane), Haven, Young Witch, Silk Road, Duke, Hunting Party, Wharf, Vault, Tactician, Border Village, Expand
with Colony and Platinum
With both Cellar and Vault on the board, neither curses nor excessive greening should hurt that much. Cellar being the bane card is an added bonus. Is it even worth it to pick up Young Witch?
The board just makes me want to rush Silk Road with Duchy and Duke... but I have no idea if that's a good move. And then, I'm not sure of proper support... Vault looks good, but Wharf is tempting too. Maybe there's something that can be done with Tactician, or double-Tactician? Would Border Village be a better buy over Gold?
This kingdom leaves me so confused. Against the Androminion AI there's no problem, but against another person... dunno. Insights?
Cellar (Bane), Haven, Young Witch, Silk Road, Duke, Hunting Party, Wharf, Vault, Tactician, Border Village, Expand
with Colony and Platinum
With both Cellar and Vault on the board, neither curses nor excessive greening should hurt that much. Cellar being the bane card is an added bonus. Is it even worth it to pick up Young Witch?
The board just makes me want to rush Silk Road with Duchy and Duke... but I have no idea if that's a good move. And then, I'm not sure of proper support... Vault looks good, but Wharf is tempting too. Maybe there's something that can be done with Tactician, or double-Tactician? Would Border Village be a better buy over Gold?
This kingdom leaves me so confused. Against the Androminion AI there's no problem, but against another person... dunno. Insights?
11831
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: A better Golden Deck
« on: March 02, 2012, 08:22:26 pm »
Hmm, best I can come up with in 10 minutes:
TR-KC-Goons-Goons-Watchtower
Two Tripled Goons = 7 buys granting 2 VP per buy for 14 VP total. Watchtower stays in hand to trash everything you buy.
Doesn't work for your hard mode though.
TR-KC-Goons-Goons-Watchtower
Two Tripled Goons = 7 buys granting 2 VP per buy for 14 VP total. Watchtower stays in hand to trash everything you buy.
Doesn't work for your hard mode though.
11832
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Three custom card idea - Investment, Assassin, Concubine
« on: March 02, 2012, 08:05:43 pm »Hmm... you gain it from Thief and are told to put it into your Investment mat, which you can't because there is no mat, so you can't do that, and it goes in your discard pile. Is that wrong?
More important is it's interaction with Royal Seal and Watchtower.
Possible solution: Remove the mat entirely. Have it be worth $4 if someone has purchased a Province, $1 otherwise. The "trash all supply" rule could still be there, if desired.
11833
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Rock - Scissors - Paper
« on: March 02, 2012, 04:29:49 pm »"I think it would be more interesting if the card effects themselves countered each other, rather than just adding in a Reaction that negates something else. The other thing is, although you have the defenses in place (Scissors doesn't effect Rock), you don't have it going the other way around (Rock is superior to Paper)."
This is the whole point of Rock Paper Scissors though, it beats one but not the other. Rock isn't superior to paper you see, it loses to paper. Tried again bigging up the weak points.
Whoops, I meant that Paper is superior to Rock. That is, A is weak to B but B is strong against A. So instead of just negating an effect, it should actually have a clear strength over it, rather than just being a very specific Moat. Not sure if I'm being clear enough here... it makes sense in my head.
I'd still prefer it if cards worked against each other without using Reactions.
For example:
Rock: You may trash a card from your hand. If you do, each opponent gains an Estate.
Scissors: Each other gains a curse in hand (or reveals a hand with no Victory cards).
Even without the Reactions, Rock is superior to Scissors here. Rock would not mind taking the Curse to fuel the attack (unless he has something else he'd rather trash, I suppose).
This could probably be done better though.
Had another go at making it go each way.
Rock protects from Scissors, and also you can trash the curses it gives you, but it loses to Paper's discard treasure effect.
Scissors protects from paper and is more likely to hit Paper because its a victory card, and its curse giving powers up Rocks attack
Paper protects from Rock and also has a chance to discard Rocks. But the curse from Scissors will counter out its victory and make it more likely to get one (as its a victory card)
None of them are supposed to really be overpowering, just flavoursome.
So in theory, if I just bought Rocks and you just bought Paper, you would win. If I went for Scissors though, I would win.
I was wondering why you put such weird types on the cards, but this is a good explanation. I like it... except Paper being an Action-Attack-Victory-Reaction is a little, erm, overwhelming.
11834
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Rock - Scissors - Paper
« on: March 02, 2012, 04:08:24 pm »You've obviously thought about this waaay more than I have!
Hmm, good point about them not being the other way round, will have another go!
Well, it is an interesting concept.
Might be neat if the names were more Dominion-esque as well, e.g. Rubble, Shears, Parchment.
Having the strength/weakness go both ways seems really difficult to pull off, but it would be amazing if it worked.
11835
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Rock - Scissors - Paper
« on: March 02, 2012, 03:56:18 pm »
Kind of fun in that they interact with each other. I would add a Setup rule similar to Young Witch -- if any one of these three is in the Kingdom, add the other two as well.
I think it would be more interesting if the card effects themselves countered each other, rather than just adding in a Reaction that negates something else. The other thing is, although you have the defenses in place (Scissors doesn't effect Rock), you don't have it going the other way around (Rock is superior to Paper).
On the specific effects themselves...
Rock: Very similar to Cutpurse. Despite costing less, it's almost strictly superior in that opponents must discard a treasure card, not just Copper. "Discard a treasure" remains a decent attack even into the late game, whereas Cutpurse falls off.
The fact that Cutpurse grants an extra $1 means that Rock is not strictly superior, but I think it's still stronger overall.
Scissors: Very similar to Oracle. Aside from the Reaction, the main difference is that Oracle lets you adjust your own deck and Scissors gives you the power to rearrange the cards, not your opponent. So, not strictly superior again, and I wouldn't say it's stronger overall either -- it would depend on whether there are Kingdom cards that effect the top cards of opponents' decks, like Swindler or Tribute.
Paper: This is way more fun as an attack... Estates would run out so quickly.
I think it would be more interesting if the card effects themselves countered each other, rather than just adding in a Reaction that negates something else. The other thing is, although you have the defenses in place (Scissors doesn't effect Rock), you don't have it going the other way around (Rock is superior to Paper).
On the specific effects themselves...
Rock: Very similar to Cutpurse. Despite costing less, it's almost strictly superior in that opponents must discard a treasure card, not just Copper. "Discard a treasure" remains a decent attack even into the late game, whereas Cutpurse falls off.
The fact that Cutpurse grants an extra $1 means that Rock is not strictly superior, but I think it's still stronger overall.
Scissors: Very similar to Oracle. Aside from the Reaction, the main difference is that Oracle lets you adjust your own deck and Scissors gives you the power to rearrange the cards, not your opponent. So, not strictly superior again, and I wouldn't say it's stronger overall either -- it would depend on whether there are Kingdom cards that effect the top cards of opponents' decks, like Swindler or Tribute.
Paper: This is way more fun as an attack... Estates would run out so quickly.
11836
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Highly Strategic Card Ideas: Ivory Tower and Armory
« on: March 02, 2012, 03:22:13 pm »http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=417.0
This discussion, of a card I came up with a few months ago, might be helpful, since it was kind of a similar concept to Armory - both offer a great deal of flexibility and can emulate other cards. We ended up costing it at 7.
I really like your idea.
I see a couple of major differences, and it still leaves me wondering about the proper cost for Armory. The strength of your card is that purchasing it immediately adds huge value to your deck (Kingdom dependent, of course). Armory, on the other hand, requires several turns to set up -- it is far, far slower. Since there aren't that many $6 and $7 cards anyway, Master of Disguise offers almost all the same flexibility of Armory without any of the setup.
Nonetheless, there are a few advantages to Armory. First, of course, is that it can be used to emulate $6 and $7 actions. Second is that it can never be drawn dead, since it can always be played as a Treasure. Third, it can emulate stronger Treasures like Platinum or Bank, if those get placed on the Armory mat.
But despite these advantages, I would still say that Master of Disguise is the stronger card. But I'm not certain.
11837
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Fan Expansion: Dominion - Jurisdiction
« on: March 02, 2012, 03:12:21 pm »And this:
Warden (Action-Attack) ($4)
+2 cards
You may reveal up to 2 curses from your hand and trash them. If you don’t reveal any curses, then each other player gains a curse.
I would think this would need to be $5, the +2 cards is a good thing on it. Without curses in your hand its exactly the same as a witch, but it also has the chance to trash them (which I dont think makes it worse) Big jump from $4 to $5
Wouldn't it need to be more than $5? As it is currently phrased, it is strictly superior to Witch since you can either play it as Witch or use it to trash Curses. The fix would be that you MUST reveal your hand and can only curse if you yourself have no Curses.
11838
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: A slightly different card idea... Bluff.
« on: March 02, 2012, 12:31:40 am »This card would also make you pay much more attention to your opponents deck. Towards the end of a reshuffle, you would hope that you could successful call the bluff just by knowing what actions haven't been played yet. It's a neat card and it seems like it would be balanced. A successful play results in +1 card and +2 gold. On the flip side, a called bluff means you just spent $5 to draw a single card. And as others have mentioned, rewording to prevent player politics would be necessary.
Except, as worded, even if the bluff is called you still play the card. I think that should be removed so that bluffing and getting caught out hurts a little more. If that caveat remains, a great strategy (if it's available) would be to combine it with Militia. Bluff with Militia whenever you can and, if you get caught, the extra card they draw isn't all that helpful.
11839
Dominion General Discussion / Re: What cards benefit the most/least from the sets they appear in?
« on: March 02, 2012, 12:26:30 am »Village has all what it needs to have in the basic set:
- Village
- Smithy, that is the cheapest 3-card-drawer at $4
- Workshop to pick up both while keeping your Buys free to get Money or useful $5's
- maybe add a Counting House / Militia combo there (or get Woodcutter for the +buy)
You're talking about the base set though, right? Counting House is from Prosperity.
11840
Help! / Re: What happened here?
« on: March 01, 2012, 01:01:54 am »
I've no idea... I am no expert, but I'm wondering why you two only picked up 1 Scheme each. Wouldn't it work really well for keeping Minions together?
11841
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Easy Puzzle
« on: February 29, 2012, 07:42:41 pm »I decided to just bite the bullet and figure it out myself... Modifying my second solution for a bigger game:
Trash Colony with a TFB card like Remodel to gain a Border Village, which you use to gain the last Silk Road. The Border Village puts you up to a multiple of 3 action cards, powering up your Vineyards. Colony into Border Village + Silk Road means your deck has 1 more card overall, and it just so happens that this bumps you up to a new multiple of 10, powering up your Gardens. Also, that Border Village was the first one you got, bumping you up to a new multiple of 5 differently named cards.
Suppose you previously had 12 Fairgrounds, 12 Vineyards, 12 Gardens and 11 Silk Roads. Note that this is possible because you need to 4-pile in a game with 6 players.
-10 VP from losing a Colony
+24 VP from powering up Fairgrounds
+12 VP from powering up Vineyards
+12 VP from powering up Gardens
= +38 VP net gain.
But you also get more VP from gaining the Silk Road.
Silk Road's worth stays the same because you lost a Colony and gained a Silk Road, so the total number of VP cards remains unchanged. The exact worth of the final Silk Road is variable though. The maximum I can determine:
Kingdom includes Vineyard, Fairgrounds, Gardens, Silk Road, Border Village, Great Hall, Harem, Tunnel, Duke, Farmland.
Note that the only Action cards in this set are Border Village and Great Hall. Without depleting the pile you could have 11 Great Hall; grabbing the single Border Village bumps you up to 12 Actions, a multiple of 3, to round out the Vineyards.
Having every card in the Kingdom (minus Border Village) = 9 differently named cards. Also throw in Estate, Duchy, Province and Colony for 14. Copper, Silver, Gold and Platinum bump that up to 19, so adding in the single Border Village would push it to 20 to round out Fairgrounds.
As far as Gardens go, we can add or subtract the treasures to make sure the gains round those out as well.
Since all the constraints from my solution are now satisfied, by the end you could have:
12 each of Fairgrounds, Vineyards, Gardens and Silk Roads
11 each of Great Hall, Harem, Tunnel, Duke, Farmland, Estate, Duchy, Province
10 Colonies (1 was trashed, and 1 remains unpurchased to prevent ending on piles)
= 12*4 + 11*8 + 10 = 146 VP cards
Meaning that the SR gained at the end is worth 36 VP.
The total net gain is thus +74 VP.
Just a couple mistakes there:
The TFB card must be Farmlands, otherwise you have to include Remodel, or whatever. Also, 9+4 = 13, +4=17 total card types (not 19) Including curse gets to 18 total. You could throw in Young Witch to have 19...but really you only care about the break-point of going from 14 unique types to 15 unique types anyways. So you'll need to leave out 3 of the treasure types, to be going to another multiple of 5. I didn't check the rest of the map, just the obvious arithmetic errors for me
Whoooops. Too sleepy at that time. Oh well...
11842
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Highly Strategic Card Ideas: Ivory Tower and Armory
« on: February 29, 2012, 12:36:33 pm »
If it were priced at $6 it would indeed help reduce the cost of other cards, but keep in mind that it requires initial investment in putting that card on the mat. You would need to have quite a few Armories before you broke even, and in the meantime not having as many of that top card in your deck as you could have might hurt you.
As it is worded right now, it would not cost one action to put something on the mat because it would be played as Treasure in that case.
If one was allowed to put cards onto the mat at any time, that would be way too easy I think... but maybe have it cost extra? Is that what you are saying with "$6 at the time of purchase"? An extra $6 seems like a lot, but that is an interesting idea.
As it is worded right now, it would not cost one action to put something on the mat because it would be played as Treasure in that case.
If one was allowed to put cards onto the mat at any time, that would be way too easy I think... but maybe have it cost extra? Is that what you are saying with "$6 at the time of purchase"? An extra $6 seems like a lot, but that is an interesting idea.
11843
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Highly Strategic Card Ideas: Ivory Tower and Armory
« on: February 29, 2012, 03:23:05 am »
I don't think $5 is too much for Ivory Tower because it does offer a great deal of control. But it would definitely need playtesting.
Armory is a funny thing because it can seem OP or UP depending on how you look at it. I think it should either end up at $6 or $7.
It's true that you could pull off some crazy shenanigans with Armory. But the cost to set it up is really big. Suppose you wanted to set up KC-Goons with it -- just a two-card combo.
Without Armory -- $7 for a KC, $6 for Goons, and you have to draw them together.
With Armory -- $7 for Armory, $7 again for KC (and it must be on a turn when you have Armory), and $6 for Goons (again, on a turn with Armory), and another $7 at some point for the second Armory. Then you have to draw two Armories together.
It's obvious that it's way more difficult with the Armory than without. The benefit is when you want more than one copy of each. In the former you'd have to buy multiples of each and hope you draw them together without useless extras. With Armory, you only need to buy more Armories and you'll never draw them dead. So it can definitely be worth it to set it up with Armory... but is it fast enough, especially at $7? This is why I think it might be overpriced rather than underpriced.
I wanted it to be a Treasure just to be more interesting (and so that you could do things like putting a Platinum on the mat). It also makes it weaker in that it can be stolen by Thief or trashed by Pirate Ship.
For what it's worth, these are some possible tweaks that could be made to balance and simplify the cards:
Ivory Tower
- Remove +1 Card from the first Action choice.
- Allow only Action cards to be placed on the mat in all circumstances.
- Remove the Reaction and leave only the Actions.
- Second Action choice only lets you retrieve a single card.
- Rather than adding the card from the mat to your hand, you have to exchange cards between hand and mat (cards going onto the mat must still follow rules, i.e. Action/Treasure cards only).
- Allow you to put cards of any type on the mat, but cards that are still on the mat at the end of the game get trashed instead of returning to your deck.
Armory
- "While this is in play, you may set aside any or all purchased cards" rather than only one.
- Make it an Action only, rather than a Treasure (removes fun hybrid-type interactions with other cards, but is simpler overall).
- Only allow Action cards on the mat.
Armory is a funny thing because it can seem OP or UP depending on how you look at it. I think it should either end up at $6 or $7.
It's true that you could pull off some crazy shenanigans with Armory. But the cost to set it up is really big. Suppose you wanted to set up KC-Goons with it -- just a two-card combo.
Without Armory -- $7 for a KC, $6 for Goons, and you have to draw them together.
With Armory -- $7 for Armory, $7 again for KC (and it must be on a turn when you have Armory), and $6 for Goons (again, on a turn with Armory), and another $7 at some point for the second Armory. Then you have to draw two Armories together.
It's obvious that it's way more difficult with the Armory than without. The benefit is when you want more than one copy of each. In the former you'd have to buy multiples of each and hope you draw them together without useless extras. With Armory, you only need to buy more Armories and you'll never draw them dead. So it can definitely be worth it to set it up with Armory... but is it fast enough, especially at $7? This is why I think it might be overpriced rather than underpriced.
I wanted it to be a Treasure just to be more interesting (and so that you could do things like putting a Platinum on the mat). It also makes it weaker in that it can be stolen by Thief or trashed by Pirate Ship.
For what it's worth, these are some possible tweaks that could be made to balance and simplify the cards:
Ivory Tower
- Remove +1 Card from the first Action choice.
- Allow only Action cards to be placed on the mat in all circumstances.
- Remove the Reaction and leave only the Actions.
- Second Action choice only lets you retrieve a single card.
- Rather than adding the card from the mat to your hand, you have to exchange cards between hand and mat (cards going onto the mat must still follow rules, i.e. Action/Treasure cards only).
- Allow you to put cards of any type on the mat, but cards that are still on the mat at the end of the game get trashed instead of returning to your deck.
Armory
- "While this is in play, you may set aside any or all purchased cards" rather than only one.
- Make it an Action only, rather than a Treasure (removes fun hybrid-type interactions with other cards, but is simpler overall).
- Only allow Action cards on the mat.
11844
Dominion Articles / Re: Combo: Cartographer/Tunnel
« on: February 29, 2012, 12:14:28 am »
Multiple Minions would have a bigger pool than just 4, since you can continue using Minion to draw new 4 card hands. However, if you're playing a Minion strategy, you wouldn't want Gold anyway.
(Edit: just realized that mischiefmaker's additional column basically says this.)
Golem+Tunnel is amazing, especially if there is a strong action for it to find. Not only can Golem reveal and discard multiple Tunnels, it also helps cycle your deck faster so you can get to those Golds sooner.
(Edit: just realized that mischiefmaker's additional column basically says this.)
Golem+Tunnel is amazing, especially if there is a strong action for it to find. Not only can Golem reveal and discard multiple Tunnels, it also helps cycle your deck faster so you can get to those Golds sooner.
11845
Variants and Fan Cards / Highly Strategic Card Ideas: Ivory Tower and Armory
« on: February 28, 2012, 11:55:56 pm »
So I have a lot of ideas for new fan cards, some are really simple and some really complex. I prefer the latter, and I thought I'd share two of them here. Unfortunately, I cannot really playtest these cards since my friends and I don't have much time to get together to play IRL, and even then we only have the base set and Intrigue. I'd love to get some feedback, and would be thrilled if some groups could test these ideas out.
======================================
Ivory Tower -- Action - Reaction
Cost: $5
+1 Action.
Choose one: +1 Card, reveal one Action or Treasure card from your hand and set it aside face down on your Ivory Tower mat; or put up to two cards from your mat into your hand. You may look at the cards on your mat at any time; return them to your deck at the end of the game.
________________
When you gain a card that is not a Victory card, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, you may put that card face down on your mat.
Details:
- A variation on Native Village that makes it less luck-based.
- Restricting the action to Action and Treasure cards prevents players from using Ivory Tower as an unlimited Island for Victory and Curse cards.
- The reaction, on the other hand, can potentially help keep Curses out of your deck. It also provides another way to add useful cards to the mat.
======================================
Armory -- Action - Treasure
Cost: $7
Choose one: Play this as a Treasure worth $2, you may set aside one Action or Treasure card you buy this turn face up on your Armory mat; or, play this as if it were one of the cards on your Armory mat.
Return cards on your mat to your deck at the end of the game.
Details:
- You can play this as an Action or as a Treasure, but not both.
- If you have multiple Armories in hand, you can play each as something different, or all as the same thing. Each choice is separate.
- You can Throne Room/King's Court an Armory and play it as any two/three cards on the Armory mat, but in this case each choice must be an Action. If there are no Action cards on the Armory mat, it does nothing (though it can still be used with TR/KC since it is still marked as an Action card).
- If revealed by Golem it must be played as an Action. If there are no Action cards on the Armory mat, it does nothing.
- The card type of "Action - Treasure" adds new interaction with cards like Tribute and Ironworks (though you'd need some Bridges or Highways for the latter).
- Since it is a Treasure card, it is vulnerable to some attack cards like Thief and Pirate Ship.
======================================
Does the control provided by Ivory Tower warrant a higher cost? It would certainly make Treasure Maps really easy to trigger.
Does Armory seem too powerful? I figure that it has a lot of potential for pulling together cards for amazing combos, but the cost to set it up is quite high.
There are many ways these concepts could be tweaked to simplify them but I rather like them as they are here.
======================================
Ivory Tower -- Action - Reaction
Cost: $5
+1 Action.
Choose one: +1 Card, reveal one Action or Treasure card from your hand and set it aside face down on your Ivory Tower mat; or put up to two cards from your mat into your hand. You may look at the cards on your mat at any time; return them to your deck at the end of the game.
________________
When you gain a card that is not a Victory card, you may reveal this from your hand. If you do, you may put that card face down on your mat.
Details:
- A variation on Native Village that makes it less luck-based.
- Restricting the action to Action and Treasure cards prevents players from using Ivory Tower as an unlimited Island for Victory and Curse cards.
- The reaction, on the other hand, can potentially help keep Curses out of your deck. It also provides another way to add useful cards to the mat.
======================================
Armory -- Action - Treasure
Cost: $7
Choose one: Play this as a Treasure worth $2, you may set aside one Action or Treasure card you buy this turn face up on your Armory mat; or, play this as if it were one of the cards on your Armory mat.
Return cards on your mat to your deck at the end of the game.
Details:
- You can play this as an Action or as a Treasure, but not both.
- If you have multiple Armories in hand, you can play each as something different, or all as the same thing. Each choice is separate.
- You can Throne Room/King's Court an Armory and play it as any two/three cards on the Armory mat, but in this case each choice must be an Action. If there are no Action cards on the Armory mat, it does nothing (though it can still be used with TR/KC since it is still marked as an Action card).
- If revealed by Golem it must be played as an Action. If there are no Action cards on the Armory mat, it does nothing.
- The card type of "Action - Treasure" adds new interaction with cards like Tribute and Ironworks (though you'd need some Bridges or Highways for the latter).
- Since it is a Treasure card, it is vulnerable to some attack cards like Thief and Pirate Ship.
======================================
Does the control provided by Ivory Tower warrant a higher cost? It would certainly make Treasure Maps really easy to trigger.
Does Armory seem too powerful? I figure that it has a lot of potential for pulling together cards for amazing combos, but the cost to set it up is quite high.
There are many ways these concepts could be tweaked to simplify them but I rather like them as they are here.
11846
Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Card Idea: Valet
« on: February 28, 2012, 10:45:31 pm »Actually, I feel like it should cost $2. It seems weaker than Courtyard.
In general, I think so... but not strictly more powerful. What if for each card you choose to put it in hand, put it back for nothing or discard it for $1?
11847
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Easy Puzzle
« on: February 28, 2012, 10:31:03 pm »As awesome as that is, there's no reason to target a Colony when you could remodel anything costing 4 or less and accomplish the same. The solution I had in mind has to be a Colony.
You mean 4 or more, right?
Well... maybe there's nothing else in hand that you'd want to trash -- maybe they're all super-charged alt victory cards that end up being worth more than a Colony each. 
As awesome as that is, there's no reason to target a Colony when you could remodel anything costing 4 or less and accomplish the same. The solution I had in mind has to be a Colony.
if that is the case, then the value of the card is key, so trader is likely involved. in which case the best bet might be one of the above trader solutions, except you do it while possessing your opponent. that way you still get the silver gains without the colony point loss.
Done with Possession, you would gain 11 silver. This could bump up Gardens twice. If you had no Silver before, it could also bump up Fairgrounds. That would put you well above the 24 VP net gain in the OP if you're maxed out on Gardens and Fairgrounds.
I don't really see another way where you would *need* to use Colony. I thought maybe some shenanigans with Farmland, but its effect only triggers on buy, not on gain. I also considered something with Develop after a KC-Bridge combo, but then it doesn't need to be a Colony anymore.
11848
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Easy Puzzle
« on: February 28, 2012, 07:12:22 pm »
I decided to just bite the bullet and figure it out myself... Modifying my second solution for a bigger game:
Trash Colony with a TFB card like Remodel to gain a Border Village, which you use to gain the last Silk Road. The Border Village puts you up to a multiple of 3 action cards, powering up your Vineyards. Colony into Border Village + Silk Road means your deck has 1 more card overall, and it just so happens that this bumps you up to a new multiple of 10, powering up your Gardens. Also, that Border Village was the first one you got, bumping you up to a new multiple of 5 differently named cards.
Suppose you previously had 12 Fairgrounds, 12 Vineyards, 12 Gardens and 11 Silk Roads. Note that this is possible because you need to 4-pile in a game with 6 players.
-10 VP from losing a Colony
+24 VP from powering up Fairgrounds
+12 VP from powering up Vineyards
+12 VP from powering up Gardens
= +38 VP net gain.
But you also get more VP from gaining the Silk Road.
Silk Road's worth stays the same because you lost a Colony and gained a Silk Road, so the total number of VP cards remains unchanged. The exact worth of the final Silk Road is variable though. The maximum I can determine:
Kingdom includes Vineyard, Fairgrounds, Gardens, Silk Road, Border Village, Great Hall, Harem, Tunnel, Duke, Farmland.
Note that the only Action cards in this set are Border Village and Great Hall. Without depleting the pile you could have 11 Great Hall; grabbing the single Border Village bumps you up to 12 Actions, a multiple of 3, to round out the Vineyards.
Having every card in the Kingdom (minus Border Village) = 9 differently named cards. Also throw in Estate, Duchy, Province and Colony for 14. Copper, Silver, Gold and Platinum bump that up to 19, so adding in the single Border Village would push it to 20 to round out Fairgrounds.
As far as Gardens go, we can add or subtract the treasures to make sure the gains round those out as well.
Since all the constraints from my solution are now satisfied, by the end you could have:
12 each of Fairgrounds, Vineyards, Gardens and Silk Roads
11 each of Great Hall, Harem, Tunnel, Duke, Farmland, Estate, Duchy, Province
10 Colonies (1 was trashed, and 1 remains unpurchased to prevent ending on piles)
= 12*4 + 11*8 + 10 = 146 VP cards
Meaning that the SR gained at the end is worth 36 VP.
The total net gain is thus +74 VP.
Trash Colony with a TFB card like Remodel to gain a Border Village, which you use to gain the last Silk Road. The Border Village puts you up to a multiple of 3 action cards, powering up your Vineyards. Colony into Border Village + Silk Road means your deck has 1 more card overall, and it just so happens that this bumps you up to a new multiple of 10, powering up your Gardens. Also, that Border Village was the first one you got, bumping you up to a new multiple of 5 differently named cards.
Suppose you previously had 12 Fairgrounds, 12 Vineyards, 12 Gardens and 11 Silk Roads. Note that this is possible because you need to 4-pile in a game with 6 players.
-10 VP from losing a Colony
+24 VP from powering up Fairgrounds
+12 VP from powering up Vineyards
+12 VP from powering up Gardens
= +38 VP net gain.
But you also get more VP from gaining the Silk Road.
Silk Road's worth stays the same because you lost a Colony and gained a Silk Road, so the total number of VP cards remains unchanged. The exact worth of the final Silk Road is variable though. The maximum I can determine:
Kingdom includes Vineyard, Fairgrounds, Gardens, Silk Road, Border Village, Great Hall, Harem, Tunnel, Duke, Farmland.
Note that the only Action cards in this set are Border Village and Great Hall. Without depleting the pile you could have 11 Great Hall; grabbing the single Border Village bumps you up to 12 Actions, a multiple of 3, to round out the Vineyards.
Having every card in the Kingdom (minus Border Village) = 9 differently named cards. Also throw in Estate, Duchy, Province and Colony for 14. Copper, Silver, Gold and Platinum bump that up to 19, so adding in the single Border Village would push it to 20 to round out Fairgrounds.
As far as Gardens go, we can add or subtract the treasures to make sure the gains round those out as well.
Since all the constraints from my solution are now satisfied, by the end you could have:
12 each of Fairgrounds, Vineyards, Gardens and Silk Roads
11 each of Great Hall, Harem, Tunnel, Duke, Farmland, Estate, Duchy, Province
10 Colonies (1 was trashed, and 1 remains unpurchased to prevent ending on piles)
= 12*4 + 11*8 + 10 = 146 VP cards
Meaning that the SR gained at the end is worth 36 VP.
The total net gain is thus +74 VP.
11849
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Easy Puzzle
« on: February 28, 2012, 06:52:49 pm »Oh right. Well first off 24-10 happens to be 14, not 12. And if we expand it to a 3P game we can add 4 gardens points and 8 Fairgrounds points. Bringing the total up to 26 net points.
Whoa math fail. I think it's time for me to go work on something else...
11850
Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Easy Puzzle
« on: February 28, 2012, 06:50:49 pm »
ftl's solution of using a single super-powered Gardens or Fairgrounds courtesy of Black Market is potentially better than using a super-powered Silk Road at the end of my solution, but I'm not sure. Since I gain the Silk Road with Border Village, it would have to be either that or Gardens; Fairgrounds wouldn't work. I'd really like to see someone crunch the numbers for a VP-filled Kingdom with SR vs. a BM-fueled Gardens. I think mine would come out ahead...
Also, curious about the numbers for a game with more than 2 players.
Also, curious about the numbers for a game with more than 2 players.