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[ednever]

This was a really interesting game: http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/26/game-20120726-160117-78879b3e.html

I was playing NinjaBus (high ranking, somewhere in the high 40s)

There were two very different strategies on this board. Both very feasible and both usually so dominant that it's a rush to see who wins the 6/4 split.

Cards in supply:
Colony, Fool's Gold, Hoard, Lighthouse, Peddler, Platinum, Smithy, Stables, Treasury, Vault, Watchtower, and Worker's Village


Strategy #1 is Worker's Village + FG + Smithy later on. Get big hands of FGs with multiple buys. Likely some Platinum thrown in.

Strategy #2 is a draw your deck engine: Worker Village/Watchtower to start. Then Vault discards your hand and Watchtower picks it back up again. With the extra WV buys you draw down the Peddler pile. Even Stables helps by drawing up so Vault can discard. And on $2 you may as well pick up some Lighthouses as disappearing money.

The only thing the two strategies have in common is Worker's Villages, and the ability/desire to empty a pile (Fool's Gold and Peddlers respectively)

I think it's really unclear which strategy is dominant.

What do you think?

Ed

[hdu88]

I'll do some testing after I get back from class, but it looks to me like your opponent bought too many Watchtowers. His strategy seems legit though, although it might be a bit slower than yours. Dunno; hard to tell off the top of my head.

[Eevee]

I like the peddler thing better.

[blueblimp]

Then Vault discards your hand and Watchtower picks it back up again.

This doesn't seem too great. Watchtower draws at most 6 cards, and to Vault that's only worth $6. Probably still worth doing with a single Vault, but it doesn't measure up to Scrying Pool/Vault, which can get really crazy results.

[hdu88]

Testing results for Strategy #2:
http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/26/game-20120726-212514-bc683a9c.html
60 points in 18 turns; definitely played suboptimally, but I got the Vault-Watchtower interaction to work.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/26/game-20120726-213032-94f0484b.html
Tried opening WV-Lighthouse and getting Watchtower later; 71 points in 18 turns despite having both of my opening buys miss the reshuffle

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/26/game-20120726-214017-ca15b0fd.html
73 points in 18 turns; went on to piledrive the Colonies in 20.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/26/game-20120726-215018-4ae2711b.html
"Only" 51 points in 18 turns. The problem with the Vault-Watchtower engine is that your next hand is going to be full of Coppers and greens, not to mention overcommiting to Worker's Villages

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201207/26/game-20120726-215735-33e76792.html
No Watchtowers; 66 points in 18 turns and 75% fewer headaches. Also, 90% less worry about Stables not hitting a treasure.

EDIT: I'd test Strategy #1, but I suck at Fool's Gold strategies.

EDIT2: I have to agree with Eevee.

[Jorbles]

I like Peddler more, but I'm inclined to think that Fool's Gold is probably stronger. Why? Because you can buy them on turn 1. You can't get any Peddlers until turn 3, maybe turn 5 or 6 depending on shuffle luck.

[Geronimoo]

Played a bit with the simulator building an engine around Worker's Village and Smithy and found this  surprising and counter intuitive buying strategy to be very strong:

-Stables is very good as it provides fast cycling so get quite a few of these (but not too many because of the no-treasure hand danger)
-a single Smithy should be aquired ASAP
-You want to prioritize Worker's Village after that. These will give you the ability to multi-Peddler and allow for mega turns
-then get more Smithies (if you have enough Villages to support it)
-then pick up FG with spare money
-then pick up Peddlers with spare buys

This gives the best results and averages 4 Colonies in 15 turns (can probably be optimized a lot).

So you probably want to pile drive BOTH Peddler and FG! Peddler is just some free money and FG is a Gold you buy for $2 in this deck which is really HUGE. BUT you probably have to prioritize building an engine first. The pile driving of FG and Peddler will come automatically once the engine is rolling. This deck doesn't need Platinum because 3 FG's give you the same value costing only $6 total.

The problem of course is what happens when both players are going for this... three pile endings make this very complicated.

Code: [Select]

<player name="WV/Smithy/Stables + FG + Peddler"
 author="Geronimoo"
 description="Piledriving both FG and Peddlers seem to give the nice results.">
 <type name="Colony"/>
 <type name="UserCreated"/>
 <type name="Engine"/>
 <type name="Bot"/>
 <type name="Combo"/>
 <type name="TwoPlayer"/>
   <buy name="Colony">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Smithy"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="1.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Colony">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Colony"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Province">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Colony"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="3.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Duchy">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Colony"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="2.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Estate">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Colony"/>
         <operator type="smallerOrEqualThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="1.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Stables">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Stables"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="4.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Smithy">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInDeck" attribute="Smithy"/>
         <operator type="equalTo" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="0.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Worker$s_Village">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardTypeInDeck" attribute="Village"/>
         <operator type="smallerThan" />
         <right type="countCardTypeInDeck" attribute="Terminal"/>
         <extra_operation type="plus" attribute="2.0" />
      </condition>
   </buy>
   <buy name="Smithy"/>
   <buy name="Fool$s_Gold"/>
   <buy name="Peddler">
      <condition>
         <left type="countCardsInSupply" attribute="Peddler"/>
         <operator type="greaterThan" />
         <right type="constant" attribute="1.0"/>
      </condition>
   </buy>
</player>