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726

Dominion World Masters / Re: [Discussion] DominionStrategy Qualifier for 2012 US National Championships

« on: June 27, 2012, 10:17:10 am »

Could you add an extra field to the signup sheet that says "indicate preferred choice: 3p or 4p" and then place people that way, with the number of qualifiers proportional to the number of players in each?  (IE: if it's half and half, 2 qualifiers from 3P and 2 qualifiers from 4P)  You might have to juggle around a few people, but assuming you can either get it to be half-half or 1:3 (3:1) this could alleviate any problems of competing between 4P and 3P.

727

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: If witch cost $6 would you buy it over gold?

« on: June 26, 2012, 06:06:56 pm »

Mine would be sooo good at 4 though.  Open Mine/Silver.  Draw them together as MSCCC... Hello 2 golds on turn 3!

Thanks Powerman. How likely is that though? Any more likely than getting gold from treasure maps on turn 4?

The odds of two treasure maps colliding on turn 4 are essentially zero, since you can only buy one before the first reshuffle.

Unless you open Talisman/Watchtower, and have a turn 3 hand of TWCCC.  But that's already a 3 card combo.

728

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: If witch cost $6 would you buy it over gold?

« on: June 26, 2012, 12:59:29 pm »

Mine would be sooo good at 4 though.  Open Mine/Silver.  Draw them together as MSCCC... Hello 2 golds on turn 3!

729

Dominion Articles / Re: Questions on Mining Village

« on: June 04, 2012, 04:58:29 pm »

Is the potential for the +$2 enough to justify buying this over another village if both are available though?  I don't have any game reports in mind, but if Worker's and MV are both available, should you try and get only 1or2 Worker's for the plus buy and then MV's? 

730

Dominion Articles / Re: Questions on Mining Village

« on: June 04, 2012, 09:51:27 am »

So basically this should be looked at as more of a "Cantrip with a bonus" than as a village?

731

Dominion Articles / Questions on Mining Village

« on: June 04, 2012, 12:46:01 am »

This card has really bothered me as of late.  Looking at CouncilRoom, I see that it is my third worst card by "Effect with" as well as one of my worst "Win Rate with" cards.  I buy it a lot less than the overall Iso population.  So that leads me to my questions...

1)  When should this be purchased over others (specifically Farming/ Worker's)?  I tend to prefer these two a lot more than MV, but many judge the cards to be similar or MV to be stronger.  Why is this?  Is the 1 time effect really worth more than the cycling/buy/etc. from the other villages?

2)  When should this be trashed?  Obviously it has the flexibility that it can be trashed when you need $2 extra and you can judge then, but... the problem to me seems that unless you are going to end the game, this will cripple your (at least if you have an engine) deck.  Now, I realize it has usefulness outside of engines, but it seems that as a Village it is situational.

3)  Is this really strong enough to buy without terminal actions?  I tend to ignore villages without draw cards, but is this an exception?  I try and avoid being the village idiot  .

Sorry if these questions have already been asked and answered, but searching I could not find good answers.  I'd really like to improve on this card as it certainly should not be my third worst card.  Thanks!

732

Solo Challenges / Re: Accursed Past

« on: June 03, 2012, 07:01:58 pm »

Sorry, here they are! 

Inthird place is Asherky in 49 turns.  He gets most of his fuel from his lighthouses (which is the third pile he ends) but is slightly slower than the others.

In second place is Schneau in 39 turns.  He really focuses on tournaments which appear to be a good way to get money quickly.

And... the winner is BaruMonkey in 39 turns.   His notes on his plan were:

- If I didn't get a chapel before the first reshuffle, I restarted.
- If I didn't buy my 1st Caravan by turn 20, I restarted.
- Remembering to have one of each card at the end was a major pain in the butt.
- I chose a Caravan strategy because I needed draws for the Tournaments, the Chapels, and the Barons to all hit their target combo cards.
- From the tournament, get Trusty Steed first (mainly for the actions), then Princess (mainly for the buys). All other "prizes" just clog the deck.
- Two or three schemes help Trusty Steed to be more trustworthy whenever possible.

Although this is the same number of turns as Schneau, I give him first because he had more points and remembered to keep the curse! 

733

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Bob's winning deck

« on: June 02, 2012, 08:32:30 pm »

WW, it doesn't say that when he shuffles his deck that he knows that he's won, it says that after he looks at his hand, he knows that he's won.

So while it says he dealt randomly to himself, the fact that he didn't know he would win until after he had looked at his hand suggests that it doesn't have to work no mater what he's dealt

... Right? Or am I misreading it?

Those were my thoughts as well.

734

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Bob's winning deck

« on: June 02, 2012, 08:11:57 pm »

So, the total points out is 21 for 21 estates, 36 for 12 duchies, 72 for 12 provinces, and -20 for 20 curses.  Assuming Bob has 19 curses (-19) each of his opponents needs 35 points.  One has 10 duchies and 5 estates, the other has 3 Provinces, 2 Duchies and 11 estates.  Bob's hand is KC-KC-Bridge-Bridge-Bridge, and because it's his turn he knows he can simply buy 9 Provinces and an estate and eek out a 1 point win?

Of course, I hope this is wrong because that would be no fun

735

Puzzles and Challenges / Re: Bob's winning deck

« on: June 02, 2012, 07:37:54 pm »

Um, couldn't the players just end the game before Bob gets a turn?  OR is it already Bob's turn?

736

Solo Challenges / Re: Wingnut challenge 1 - A Monumental Challenge

« on: June 01, 2012, 11:53:20 am »

Gah, totally missed the "end the game" part.  I thought it was just 50 monuments and 100 points    That kinda ruins mine!

737

Solo Challenges / Re: Accursed Past

« on: May 31, 2012, 09:13:24 pm »

I will post the results in about 48 hours, so if you want to get in a last second entry do it before then:)  Similar strategies are being used, but there are definite differences, and I think that as close as the top entries are there is a possibility of a faster entry.  But, results posted in 48 hours.

738

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Meanest thing in Dominion

« on: May 31, 2012, 04:32:15 pm »

Nothing I hate more in Dominion than an opponent who consistently hits my 5's and swindles them into duchies while I hit their estates and swindle them into... estates.  At least the rest you have a shot at going for yourself, but this one is too much luck dependent.

739

Solo Challenges / Re: Accursed Past

« on: May 25, 2012, 11:13:53 pm »

There are still very few attempts!  I really think that there is the potential for a very quick solution, so send in a try

740

Dominion General Discussion / Re: "Flavorful" and "Complex" - Donald X

« on: May 23, 2012, 08:31:07 pm »

Can someone explain to me what makes prosperity complicated?

Peddler/ Quarry/ Talisman/ Loan/ King's Court + Vault.

Peddler - When does it cost less?
Quarry - Multiple buys/ talisman interactions
Talisman - Reading the clause that victory cards don't count, price reductions.
Loan - When we first got the set we thought you played the treasure and THEN trashed or discarded it... it was always the strongest card out lol.
King's Court + Vault - We thought you could discard all your cards for $3 each... leading to this combo netting $30 every time it was played

741

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Mandarin: How do we use the $5/$5 split?

« on: May 23, 2012, 08:23:07 pm »

I had a game that worked nicely using Mandarin - Tactician:

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201205/23/game-20120523-171829-ee0a74f0.html

I feel like the Mandarin was huge here, as Tactician as an opener isn't that great because you don't have much buying power, but Mandarin solves that.  Plus the ability to put back a card was useful more times than not.

742

Dominion General Discussion / Re: Overrated and Underrated

« on: May 22, 2012, 11:44:09 pm »

Underrated
Scrying pool - the draw aspect is (potentially) the best in the game, and I find it is almost always worth buying, even if it is the only potion card on the board.  With other potion cards, it is even better.  Plus while it isn't a great attack, it can hurt a bit; although Horse Traders is a very good reaction to it.

Village - Yes, the vanilla village.  So many times with the other villages the main thing being used is +1 card/ +2 actions and the rest isn't needed.  While I'd always take a worker's village over this card, it often fills the same role as many other villages at a lower price.

Minion - This card is very highly rated, however it deserves all it gets and more.  In a game with light trashing, the winner is almost always the person who can get 6 minions.  Ignoring this card and letting your opponent piledrive this is almost always death.  It is beatable with quick cursing/ ambassador/ lack of trashing, but it basically dominates the games it is in.

Conspirator - On any board where you (should) buy this card, the action requirement to get the card and action (should) not be a problem.  And with another source of plus buy and the actions to enable this card, this becomes a half-price version of a card that is worth about $8.  While it is frustrating to draw 3 of these with 2 coppers, it has the potential to be sooo good.  But it can be ignored safely if the board does not set up well for it.

Bishop - Perhaps I am biased because this is my single favorite card, but I think people ignore it too often.  While the piggy-backing trashing is a serious drawback, the VP bonus is more than enough to make up for it.  Example:  Somehow this card is only used 3 times, and both of us use it to trash our 3 initial estates, both of us have thinned our decks equally, but now if the provinces split 4-4, my opponent needs 2 duchies to tie.  Throw in light copper trashing, and you can easily gain enough to counter an unfavorable province split.  However, if your opponent goes remake against your bishop, they have the potential to get a thin, good deck VERY quickly.

Overrated
Mining Village - While I might not fully understand the usefulness of this card, to me it seems like for most of the game it is the exact same as a regular village with an extra cost.  Then when you trash it, you do get to use it as a "1 shot conspirator"... but conspirator already costs 4 so that still isn't that great.  Plus it is out of your deck, so unless you end the game that turn, your engine dies quickly.

Familiar - Generally, this card is just too slow.  Getting 2P on turn 5 might be the single most frustrating thing in the game, and often is the end of the familiar player's hopes.  With lack of trashing and lack of another curser, this card is extremely powerful.  Like ridiculously.  But in a game with Witch/ Mountebank and especially Sea hag, this card is just too slow.

Golem - The cost of this card is just too high to be great.  4P basically means it can't be bought early, and the potion basically means it can't be bought quickly.  While this card as some good synergy (counting house, tunnel, etc.), unless you have 1 or 2 REALLY necessary actions, it seems better to simply buy another copy of the action and cycling via another source (warehouse, etc.) then invest in a potion and get stuck with 3P.

Remodel - Perhaps this is just a phase (because I used to really like it), but this cards usefulness seems less and less every game I play.  I've seen way too many a game where an opponent will buy this as an opener, draw CCCS Remodel, Remodel the silver into a 5 and buy a silver.  Basically... the remodel did NOTHING for them, and they would have been so much better off with a silver.  It has nice synergy with highway (play a few highways to remodel a curse into a duchy, etc) and peddler (remodel into province) but it is misused far too often.

Embargo - Basically this card is underrated and overrated at the same time, but I still go with overrated.  It is underrated simply because it is easy to underestimate how much an opponent fears picking up a curse, even if it won't hurt them (Embargo province and watch them buy a duchy and an estate).  However, the penalty simply isn't that strong.  Gaining a curse is bad, yes, but if the card is important enough that your opponent doesn't want you to pick it up, you probably should still pick it up!  While a double or triple embargoed card basically becomes off limits, with ways to deal with the curses (especially watchtower in hand) the penalty becomes very unimportant.  Also the fact that you only gain a curse when you buy the card and not when you gain it and there are often ways around the curse altogether.

743

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: House Rule: Making all alt - VP strategies available?

« on: May 22, 2012, 10:27:40 pm »

Having all alternate VP cards available should make Province suddenly a poor card.  Instead of the card that wins games.

744

Dominion Articles / Re: Combo: Watchtower/University

« on: May 22, 2012, 05:32:18 pm »

I just played one with this combo!  It worked incredibly well.  Also on the board were Rabble, Bridge, City, etc.  Ended in 3 piles in 12 turns.

745

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: Tower: Green/White based on playing it a lot

« on: May 21, 2012, 11:11:15 pm »

I find it unlikely that this card would be nearly as good as monument imo.

746

Solo Challenges / Re: My third solo challenge: Double Tactician

« on: May 21, 2012, 09:32:48 pm »

15 turns... looks like 10ish is the best possible?

747

Solo Challenges / Re: Accursed Past

« on: May 21, 2012, 07:01:21 pm »

Yes, no one has tried it yet   Don't know if it's too hard, or if nowooone likes me. lol

748

Variants and Fan Cards / Re: SuperHaven

« on: May 16, 2012, 06:30:57 pm »

Use this card after a village with a watchtower in hand

749

Solo Challenges / Re: Accursed Past

« on: May 15, 2012, 09:13:19 am »

Pirate Ship in a solo game?  Isn't that literally useless?

Haha, it is... I just wanted it in my story

750

Solo Challenges / Accursed Past

« on: May 15, 2012, 12:29:21 am »

Everyone Makes Mistakes!

One day you wake up, a poor man with only 7 coppers and stuck with 3 measly estates, and you decide to go out and make something of your life.  You see a caravan passing by, and you join it; hoping to find an oasis.  Unfortunately a witch sees you and is upset at you trying to take her valuable treasure and land!  She curses you, not just once, but ten times.  How unfortunate!

Always an opportunist, you trek on.  You try to rid yourself of the curses, but no matter what you do they continue to plague you.  First you head off to an island, hoping to abandon them there.  No such luck!  Next you get the crazy idea that you might try and develop them into something else, but alas you fail again.  You even try turning to religion, but the priest at the local chapel isn't even able to help.  Nothing can get rid of these curses!

Continuing on, you try to manage your misfortunes.  You see a man selling silver... it only costs 3 dollars.  What a deal!  You buy some, hoping that with wealth you will be able to overcome your past demons.  A man at a trading post offers silver as well, and soon you are one of the wealthiest men in your country.

You come to the ocean, and climb up a lighthouse to look out over it.  To your left you see a pirate ship, to your right a merchant ship.  You walk out to the ships and offer to pay out your hard earned money to the trader in exchange for a trip home.  They cheerfully accept your bag of gold and soon you are on your way!

You arrive back in your native land, and take the highway back home to see the princess waiting for you.  Aboard your trusty steed, you get back to see the cruel baron and your lovely princess locked in a passionate kiss.  Infuriated, you bring your followers to the duchy owned by the duke and his duchess and demand justice!  The duke agrees to help you out, and you begin to scheme your revenge.  You plot a big tournament where you will be able to defeat the baron, and soon the fairgrounds are set up!  Quickly approaching, you plan a masquerade for the night before, and your victory over the baron is all but assured!

__________________________________________________________________________________

Challenge:  After purchasing curses on your first 10 turns, the quickest to end the game via 3 piling is the winner!

Rules:  Your final deck MUST contain all 10 curses (AKA, they cannot be trashed).  Also, you must have at least 1 of each kingdom card (plus CSGEDP) in your final deck.  The three piles finished must be the curses (duh), the duke, and your choice of the third.  Also, you must gain the 5 prizes.

Kingdom:  It should be pretty obvious, but more than 10 kingdom cards are referenced in the story.  This is designed to create variety in the solutions.  Here's the breakdown of the kingdom to be used (non-colony):

Required (5): Tournament, Duke, Baron, Fairgrounds, Witch
Choice (5): Caravan, Oasis, Island, Develop, Trading Post, Lighthouse, Pirate Ship, Merchant Ship, Trader, Highway, Scheme, Duchess, Masquerade, Chapel

Deadline:  5/20/2012
Bonus:  Have the highest final point total!
Scoring: 3 first, 2 second, 1 third

Good luck, and hopefully this isn't too confusing or difficult

Edit:  I removed keeping all 10 curses as that was way too ridiculous... now only one must be saved for having one of all the cards.