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76

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 31, 2016, 07:12:17 pm »

Just to clarify, the arc tells you the Pokemon level.  Level, base stats for the species and IVs all factor into the CP.  But yeah, that's an OK simplified assessment.  I would add that the one-bar charge attacks tend to be better for offense and OK for defense, while the cheap charge moves tend to be horrible for offense even though they are best for defense (like, using Water Pulse on Vaporeon actually lowers your DPS compared to not using any charge move at all).

But for moves, you just need to look it up.  Sometimes Pokemon don't have good STAB moves, and for all we know Niantic will change various mechanisms next week to throw current rankings out the window.

77

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 31, 2016, 03:21:00 pm »

Don't invest stardust into something with poor moves. 

I’m not certain what I’m looking for here. How can I tell if a Pokemon has poor moves or not?

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-08-02-pokemon-go-moves-movesets-move-list-and-highest-dps-attacks

That list is probably outdated now.  Move powers sometimes change (e.g. early on, Water Gun was nerfed and Hydro Pump was buffed) and movesets can be changed as well (e.g. Gyarados can no longer have Dragon Breath, Golem now gets Mud Slap instead of Mud Shot).  Also, some moves are better for offense vs. defense.  Every Pokemon has 1-3 quick moves and like 2-3 charge moves possible, I think.  As far as anybody knows right now, it's all random and the moves get re-rolled upon evolution.

Values to note are:

- Power
- Type
- Cooldown
- Energy (gain for quick moves, cost for charge moves)

Only the first two are shown.  For the others, you've got to check online.

Power is self-explanatory.  Higher means more damage per attack.

Type matters because you get a Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB) multiplier when your Pokemon's move matches its type.  Lapras using Blizzard is better than Seadra using Blizzard, for example.  Note that STAB and type effectiveness (e.g. Water vs. Fire) are both 1.25x multipliers, which basically means that the STAB move will usually be better.  Some people online tout Gyarados with Dragon Pulse as a Dragonite counter, except that Hydro Pump will actually deal more damage to Dragonite despite Dragonite resisting Water, and that's thanks to naturally higher base damage and STAB on Hydro Pump.  I'm hoping that a future update will make it more like the games, where STAB is 1.5x and type effectiveness is 2x.  Maybe that won't carry over well to real-time battling though.

Cooldown matters in two ways.  First, it affects DPS.  A fast attack like Frost Breath has lower damage but higher DPS on offense because you can spam it so fast.  But on defense, the AI seems to attack at a consistent pace so it's better to defend a gym with the slower, stronger quick move.  Secondly, a faster attack makes it a lot easier to dodge.  With slower moves, you may be stuck in an attack animation and miss the dodge timing.

Finally, Energy gain and cost are important because they determine how often you can use your charge move, which can be extremely powerful.  Cooldown actually affects this too (energy per second from your fast attack!) and I think a lot of lists online don't factor this in, focusing on individual DPS instead.  A lot of people called it an upgrade when Golem's Mud Shot was replaced with Mud Slap due to the higher DPS of Mud Slap, but I like my legacy Golem with its fast Mud Shot that charges up Earthquake quickly.

As a general rule of thumb, you want low-cooldown fast moves for offense and high-power fast moves for defense.  You want the powerful one-bar charge moves for offense and the weak multi-bar moves for defense (this is because the AI attacks slowly but gains energy from being damaged, so it's better for them to be using the charge move as often as possible).  For example, Vaporeon with Water Pulse is best for gym defense, but the DPS on Water Pulse is actually lower than DPS of Water Gun so on offense you shouldn't use Water Pulse at all (Hydro Pump is ideal here).

78

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 31, 2016, 01:16:15 am »

I'm on Valor, but let's just all get along.

I've yet to see a level 10 gym in my area... I think highest I've seen is 8.  Your ability to hold a gym is going to depend a lot on what it's like around you.

Don't invest stardust into something with poor moves.  Also not sure if Blastoise should really be prioritized over Vaporeon; last I heard, Vaporeon was generally better.  Some people were even throwing out "strictly better".

79

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 30, 2016, 05:05:20 pm »

Vaporeon is strong.  Flareon isn't really; its CP is high but it's overinflated due to high base attack (with low defenses).  Vaporeon, other Water-types or Ground- or Rock- types will easily take it down.  Jolteon tends to be super weak; Ground-types will be effective there, but even Vaporeon (which is weak to Electric) should be able to beat Jolteon.

The arc at the top of the picture is actually a representation of the Pokemon's level, but IVs mean that a Pokemon with a higher level could still have lower CP than a Pokemon at a lower level.

80

Dominion Online at Shuffle iT / Re: Creating Dominion

« on: August 30, 2016, 01:40:50 pm »

Pretty interesting discussion, made me feel I want to chime in.

I find myself sympathizing with chrisjwmartin more. I did not read every post of his but at least the ones that Donald replied to.

Thing is, business is business, contract is contract, that I understand. However if we are also on the ideal side of things, speaking from passion with board games perspective, it starts to sound bad.

Like saying, you know, most board game makers don't really make that much money, but I do.
and sadly, even though I have cash sitting at home so that I don't need to work for a living, those money aren't from making fun or goko so I can't pay for your loss. Thanks for your interest in the game! Oh by the way, if you don't feel like it don't buy it. I won't force anyone.

I think, from a idealistic perspective, it is not really about how much the loss is involved and whether one should care about that or not.
There was a promise for the thing to last forever. If the company is no longer there to keep up with the promise, someone should take over. At least someone with passion should.

From a quantitative perspective also, I think Donald is certainly competitive enough to be hired as a software engineer. For a senior position say he can make 200K a year at that job. That is 50K for 3 months. Now he can give up all this money by doing an expansion that sells almost for nothing, but why can he not spare the same amount of money to reimburse those people that have bought into Goko or MF's product (discounted by the expected subscription price times number of months used?)

Not saying that is what I think should be done, but that would be the thing to do from a passion perspective, and the thing I would really appreciate as a fan.

Essentially, Donald is already paying for a year of service for all these players.  How is it reasonable to suggest even tentatively that paying for eternal service would be "the thing to do", especially when he wasn't really party to the contract with the guys who made the impossible promise?

81

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 30, 2016, 01:34:01 pm »

Egg Monsters.  I've only had a couple of those, could use more so I can grow a tree.

Bug-type moves are actually strongest against Exeggutor, but the Bug-types in the game tend to be weak.  Fire and Ice are both good against Grass.

You'll want a good Grass-type to take down Vaporeon and Poliwrath.  Victreebel with Razor Leaf and Solar Beam is excellent.  Depending on your location, Venusaur or Vileplume may be more accessible.  Parasect with Solar Beam can work too.

Lapras is just generally tough, not many solid counters.  Likewise with Snorlax.  Personally, I just have to go with brute force.

Dragonite is double-weak to Ice (in Pokemon Go, that's 1.56x modifier) so Lapras with all Ice moves is best.  Other Ice-types like Cloyster and Dewgong can work well too.  Fairy-types are strong against Dragon and resist Dragon-type attacks, so Wigglytuff and Clefable can work wonders.  Dragons are also weak to Dragon, and Flying is weak to Rock.  So your own Dragonite or Rock-type pokemon with strong Rock moves are good.

What other Pokemon are standard guard in your region?




Re: IVs, I'm trying to hold out for decent IVs, but it's generally pointless because I'm not powering them up anyway, so it would actually be better for me to just pick my highest CP.  I've done that in a few cases where I have excessive candy, e.g. I've evolved about 4 poor-IV high-CP Clefairy and still have nearly 500 Clefairy Candy to spare while I wait to get a high IV one.  My current best is 17xx Clefable with Pound+Moonblast.  I call her Dragonslayer.

82

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Really bad card ideas

« on: August 28, 2016, 09:50:04 pm »

Transmute could have cursed opponents when you trash a Potion and/or when you trash a copy of itself.

Transmit
Type: Action-Attack
Cost: Potion

Trash a card from your hand.
If it is an…
Action card, each other player gains an Estate
Treasure card, each other player gains a Transmute
Victory card, each other player gains a Copper

83

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 26, 2016, 01:41:08 am »

I have a CP 23 Kingler that I'm keeping around mostly because it amuses me. I want to give it some kind of witty nickname and install it in a gym for the 30 seconds or so it typically takes for them to be taken over around here, but I don't know what to call it. Any thoughts?

Unfortunately, other people will not be able to see the nickname.  It's only visible to you.

84

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 26, 2016, 12:11:43 am »

Also wishing for starters, especially Bulbasaur.  I've yet to see one in the wild and Bulbasaur is my favourite gen 1 starter.

I hatched two more 10k eggs today.  First was an Eevee.  For the second one, I decided to go superstitious and make sure I was standing on top of a pokestop that seems to be a "common" rare spawn point.  It was a Lapras.  So I'm going to be trying to do that again for the last 10k egg I have on hand.  Not sure if I want to fill up on 9 incubators again, so I may not have such a run of 10k eggs for a while.

Today I also hatched two Krabby, a Weedle, Rattata (I think), Zubat, couple of Nidoran... basically nothing of interest except for that Lapras.

Also had a Dragonite run from me after a single Razz Berry + Ultra Ball.  It was cp2080 and would have been my very first Pokemon over 2000.  So I'm currently 2/4 on Dragonite, with the two strongest running (the two I have are low level, at 16xx and 9xx).  This one stings a little more because it was also 91% IV (though not optimal move set).

85

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 25, 2016, 05:25:49 pm »

Current 10k egg track record:

- Omanyte (cool)
- Eevee (boo)
- Jynx (worst!)
- Onix (mehhh)
- Omanyte (still good)
- Onix (ughhh)
- Jynx (whyyyyyyyy)

86

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 25, 2016, 03:20:51 pm »

I don't have enough experience without Curve Ball to compare. It's a common belief, but confirmation bias is a major factor with lots of theories for Pokemon Go.

87

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 25, 2016, 12:52:15 pm »

Along with the experience, Curve is also believed to increase capture rate. I'm getting Curve Ball pretty much 100% of the time now so maybe you just need more practice? I'm on Android (Galaxy S5) if that helps (maybe iOS or other phones aren't registering it as well). Yesterday I was trying to catch a Ninetales and had already lost 15 ultra balls, many falling short. I tried to not curve it to get more distance but it's already too deep a habit. I did get the Ninetales after another 5 ultra balls though.

88

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 24, 2016, 04:48:59 pm »

My wife and I carefully chose 10 gyms to place our pokemon in last night, hoping they would be too high level for other people to want to bother with them, and today we just collected on all 10 gyms again without having to do anything.

Good feeling!

All the gyms around me have average turnover rate, which is to say you will be lucky if you hold it for more than 30 minutes.  The best I've managed is about a week in a level 6-8 gym (it fluctuated a bit).  I've yet to see a level 10 gym.

89

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Dragon

« on: August 23, 2016, 01:03:54 pm »

On top of that, there's the whole rules issue Conflagration's trashing rule causes.

Which rule issue?

Other people have cleared it up now, but I don't understand how you missed Tables' detailed explanation of the specific rule issue which immediately followed the sentence you quoted. The rest of the paragraph that you snipped from the quote explains the exact rules confusion with multiple examples provided.

The wording change helps, but GendoIkari's suggestion of "put it in your discard pile" is more clear than "discard it", which is currently in the OP. Since the card is in the trash and no longer belongs to you, it is unclear where it would be discarded.

One issue worth considering with Conflagration is that the different back adds shuffling accountability problems. Since you can tell where Conflagration is in your deck, you could keep shuffling until it appears where you want it (probably at the bottom?).  Stash addresses that issue by explicitly letting you push Stash wherever you want. You could do the same. Or you could rule that players shuffle with their eyes averted or something?

Hmm, I would have recommended the Stash method but that would make Conflagration much weaker. You would stack them all at the end of a shuffle, then trash Ruins or other Conflagration as you draw them. Eventually you end  up with a hand of 4 Conflagration and a Ruins (or some mix of Conflagration and random cards if the Ruins pile empties). So that doesn't really work.

Eyes averted might be the best solution, but maybe you or someone else can come up with something better.

90

Other Games / Re: pokemon go

« on: August 23, 2016, 12:25:44 pm »

If you defeat at least one Pokemon, it takes some prestige away from the gym even if you lose. You should probably be able to defeat a Pokemon with 6 vs. 1. You'll also get some experience for it. If you go at it long enough with enough potions and Revives, you can bring down a gym. Other players may help as well.

When you get Pokemon in gyms, you can click a button in the top right of your Shop page to collect 10 coins and 500 stardust per gym you are in. You can click it once every 21 hours.

91

General Discussion / Re: GG EZ

« on: August 19, 2016, 01:55:44 pm »

I skimmed through the feedback thread on this feature and it is incredible. One guy is whining about how the filter phrases hurt his feelings while simultaneously arguing that "gg ez"  is totally inoffensive and that the people who are offended by it need to grow a thicker skin. Another guy is posting essays about how how you should be allowed to be a total jerk because being offended is all in your head and you can simply be a strong man who doesn't get offended by anything. Others are saying that Blizzard wasted precious time and resources on this very complicated feature that must have taken at least 3 minutes to script. And a few stalwart souls are saying the filter is pointless because it's so easy to get around, yet they keep complaining about that same filter.

The hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness would make me worry for humanity, but it's nice to see that those are the posts getting all the down votes.

92

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Semi-Interesting Dominion Moments of 2016 Thread

« on: August 19, 2016, 12:08:01 pm »

The ways that it hurts are still a minority, and it is usually easy to play around. Opponent gets Possession? Time to spend your coin tokens. Maybe it was a bad idea to get the coin token cars in the first place, but you should have seen that coming! Likewise for most other interactions. It's mostly just Amb/Masq that are tough to deal with because your opponent can give you one to abuse.

Cycling is worse when you are greening, but it is positive before that. It'll be a positive most of the time. Overall I wouldn't call it a major benefit; Possession is just neutral outside of uncommon interactions, most of which you should be able to see coming and work around.

93

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Semi-Interesting Dominion Moments of 2016 Thread

« on: August 19, 2016, 01:34:52 am »

Using cost reduction, +1 action an +1 buy tokens on Ghost Ship, I got 5 colonies and 7 provinces over 2 turns. Does anyone else find the token-based events to be really game warping?

Well, yes. Ghost Ship is by no means the best card for doing something like that though. The first Ghost Ship you play is a strong attack, but any further Ghost Ships are just expensive Moats. Moat, incidentally, is a pretty nice target for the +1 Action token - $2 Labs are pretty cool.

Speaking of nice targets for +1 Action, Steward works very nicely.  Choice between Lab, always-active Mystic, or nonterminal Trasher.

The Mystic option never draws though.

Yes, right, I meant always-missing Mystic.  Still good for $3.

Non-terminal +$2 at a cost of $3 sounds pretty good.  Hmm, maybe it could be a Treasure instead of an action.

Possession should AT LEAST be considered an attack. That would be a nerf, even if only a small one.

Possession is not a very strong card, it doesn't need a nerf. It shouldn't be an Attack either because in a vacuum, it benefits the possessed player.

If you're going to post a Hot Take the least you could do is defend it.

I agree that Awaclus drops one-liner non-advice a bit too often, but this one is pretty obvious and has been discussed plenty in other discussions about the card.  In a vacuum, the net effect of Possession for the possessor is just a convoluted gainer, while the net effect for the possessed player is that their deck cycles some.  The possessed player doesn't really lose anything from being possessed.  Your current hand and possibly some cards from your deck get discarded and maybe reshuffled, but it's replacing one randomly drawn hand with another randomly drawn hand.  And in a vacuum, cycling is actually a good thing for you most of the time.

The problem is, selective memory means that people remember when their hand is "downgraded" more than they remember when it gets better, plus there's a psychological aversion to being "controlled" by the other player.  And of course, there are a few card interactions that can actually make Possession a lot more dangerous (e.g. Ambassador).  Moreover, it's not fun when the other player is taking multiple turns in a row, even if it's not hurting you.

94

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: 2016 Treasure Chest Design Contest - Part 9: Hinterlands (Finalists!)

« on: August 19, 2016, 01:23:27 am »

Wetlands sounds like you just want to load up on lots of them?  If you use the on-buy to gain another Wetlands, it's just like you're buying two Peddlers at $2 each.  Overall it just sounds too similar to Peddler.

I am not a fan of Wetlands but I like to point out that it is a conditional Peddler; you cannot play the "last" Wetlands.
I think that it is too strong but I don't see how it can easily be nerfed. 1VP would make the card too weak. So perhaps just get rid of the on-buy bonus?

Yes, but if you get a bunch then not playing the last one is a small price to pay to get a bunch of VP in return.  But yeah, if you only get a couple it's more significant.

95

Mini-Set Design Contest / Re: 2016 Treasure Chest Design Contest - Part 9: Hinterlands (Finalists!)

« on: August 18, 2016, 06:50:34 pm »

Oops, I forgot to comment on this or even vote (Pokemon Go!), and then there was so little discussion here that I never got a reminder from it appearing in new posts or something.

My entry was Itinerant Monk. 

Itinerant Monk
Types: Action
Cost: $3
+2 Actions

You may discard a card; if you do, put your deck into your discard pile.
You may discard a Victory card; if you do, look through your discard pile and put one card from it into your hand.

I think the few people who commented and called it weak missed that this is "demonic tutor".  If you have a Victory card in hand (and you're willing to discard one other card if needed), you can get any card from your deck into your hand.  It's also +2 actions so you can play it and continue, even if the card you picked was terminal.  I'm actually worried that it's still too strong.  While making the submission, I went back and forth on how tough to make the discard requirements, from easier (discard a card and then discard a card - no restrictions, like Hamlet) to harder (discard a non-Victory card and then discard a Victory card - or vice versa, so you'd need to give up a useful card for max effect).

As far as it being too slow... well, I don't think it's much worse than Chancellor or Scrying Pool.  But it's easier to buy than Scrying Pool and I expect it would be a lot more desirable to have than Chancellor, so it's a valid concern.

On the finalists...

Homing Pigeon sounds super strong, but I guess its strength varies with where you are in the shuffle.  If your discard pile is empty, it's not going to do much.  I don't think it's really Hinterlands-y though.  It comes closest to hitting the filtering theme, but it's not actually filtering.

Mountain Dwellers doesn't sound that fun to me.  I like the on-buy, but rewarding mass Treasures is not my idea of a good time.

Pretty Penny sounds OK, but I think its impact on a kingdom may be really similar to Travelling Fair.

Tinker sounds less fun than Mountain Dwellers.

Wetlands sounds like you just want to load up on lots of them?  If you use the on-buy to gain another Wetlands, it's just like you're buying two Peddlers at $2 each.  Overall it just sounds too similar to Peddler.

Uh, so I guess Mountain Dwellers is my favourite, because it seems most likely to offer a new experience.

96

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Flash cards

« on: August 18, 2016, 01:55:32 am »

Blueprint should be an attack, I think.

I don't think it should because, similarly to Masquerade, Blueprint totally wouldn't work if every other player revealed a Moat.

I think Blueprints would work fine even if some or all other players Moat out. What's the problem?

Nobody gets any cards?

But why is that a problem?  Sometimes Menagerie doesn't draw 3 cards.  Sometimes Pearl Diver puts the same card back over and over again.  Sometimes Saboteur gets blocked by Moat.  What's the issue with Blueprints sometimes being nothing more than a Copper?

97

Dominion General Discussion / Re: How good is Alchemy?

« on: August 17, 2016, 10:44:18 am »

If Alchemy is now bundled with another expansion and you already have the other one, it may be prudent to buy Alchemy sooner rather than later if you can still find stand-alone copies.

But I'm pretty sure Tables is mistaken. Guilds and Cornucopia are bundled, not Alchemy. Alchemy is in the big box with base and Prosperity, but that's been sold alongside the normal boxes for a long time.

98

Dominion General Discussion / Re: could you ever see yourself playing Dominion for money?

« on: August 17, 2016, 10:34:12 am »

it seems like in this world, luck elements are the only way designers have managed to prevent games from getting old after extensive play.

Well, there's Chess. And if you mean modern games, there are lots of abstracts in the same vein as Chess. There are non-abstracts with zero or low luck too. Kemet and Puerto Rico come to mind.

Puerto Rico has a small but significant amount of luck (plantation cards).

Terra Mystica has zero luck after the initial setup, though.

I know of that in Puerto Rico and often point it out to people who claim there's no luck at all, but people so often forget about it that I thought it wasn't especially significant.

Well, with a game like Puerto Rico, there is already luck in the setup. Often, being the guy with the same starting plantation as someone before you is detrimental because the market or ship spots are already taken.

In that case, Chess also has luck in the starting setup just by turn order. But if that's not considered low luck, I don't know what is.

99

Dominion General Discussion / Re: could you ever see yourself playing Dominion for money?

« on: August 17, 2016, 12:26:28 am »

it seems like in this world, luck elements are the only way designers have managed to prevent games from getting old after extensive play.

Well, there's Chess. And if you mean modern games, there are lots of abstracts in the same vein as Chess. There are non-abstracts with zero or low luck too. Kemet and Puerto Rico come to mind.

Puerto Rico has a small but significant amount of luck (plantation cards).

Terra Mystica has zero luck after the initial setup, though.

I know of that in Puerto Rico and often point it out to people who claim there's no luck at all, but people so often forget about it that I thought it wasn't especially significant.

100

Dominion General Discussion / Re: could you ever see yourself playing Dominion for money?

« on: August 16, 2016, 12:50:47 pm »

it seems like in this world, luck elements are the only way designers have managed to prevent games from getting old after extensive play.

Well, there's Chess. And if you mean modern games, there are lots of abstracts in the same vein as Chess. There are non-abstracts with zero or low luck too. Kemet and Puerto Rico come to mind.