Dominion: Inventions
Let me emphasize that this is a work in progress. I came up with the mechanics a few days ago, made a list of cards, and did a handful of playtests (just enough to get through all the cards and landscapes once). I’m hoping to update this as I do more testing, but I also don’t really know how much time and effort I’ll end up investing in this. Part of that might have to do with feedback from the community on whether they think these ideas are worth pursuing. Anyway, I’d like to see what people’s thoughts are on the mechanics and card-shaped things. I suspect I’ve made a lot of oversights and people will probably have good suggestions for tweaks I can make and stuff before I sink too much time into playtesting.
Builders and Inventions
Inventions are sort of a hybrid between Allies and Projects. Each Invention is a large landscape card with a track and some instructions on it. Builder is a kingdom card type, like Liaison. Each game, if there is exactly one Builder in the kingdom, choose two Inventions for that game; if there are two or more Builders in the kingdom, choose three Inventions for that game. At the start of each game, each player puts a disc of their player color on the first space of each Invention’s track. Any time a player receives +1 Build, they choose one Invention to advance their disc on, one space. If a player receives, for example, +5 Builds, they can make a total of 5 disc advancements, distributed among the Invention tracks however they like (for example, they could move 5 times on one track, or 3 times on one track and 2 times on another, etc.). You are not required to use all your builds; you may always choose to make fewer advancements than the number of Builds you are instructed to get.
Some Inventions will have a “ping” effect. Whenever you have reached the end of an Invention track, and you get +1 Build, you may choose to pseudo-advance on that track to instead get the ping effect. For example, Wagon says “Ping: +1 Card”. That means that every time you choose to advance on the Wagon track, but can’t (because you’re already at the end), you instead get +1 Card.
Notation
I haven’t mocked up cards yet, so right now everything is text-based. For each Invention track, I use S to mark the first space of the track, and then x to mark empty spaces. Some spaces on tracks will have symbols or numbers on them (which have effects specified on the Invention). I’m using * and ! as generic symbols, explained in the text of the Invention. For Clock, a=10, b=11, c=12.
Card-shaped thing list
Right now, I’m aiming for the size of a small expansion, with 14 kingdom cards, plus 31 Inventions. Every kingdom card is a Builder. Here is the full list:
Inventions:
Printer
When you reach or pass a * space, get +$1.
Ping: Move your disc back to the beginning of the track.
Track: S*
Yoke
When you reach or pass a * space, get +1 card.
Ping: Move your disc back to the beginning of the track.
Track: Sx*
Water Wheel
When you reach or pass a * space, get +1 action.
Ping: Move your disc back to the beginning of the track.
Track: S*xx*
Pen
When you reach or pass a * space, get +$1; when you reach or pass a ! space, get +1 buy.
Ping: Move your disc back to the beginning of the track.
Track: S*!
Paper
Ping: +$1
Track: Sxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wagon
Ping: +1 card
Track: Sxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Windmill
Ping: +1 action
Track: Sxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Safe
At the start of each of your turns, get +$x.
Track: S0000000111111111122222222222333333333333334
Cogs
At the start of each of your turns, get +x cards.
Track: S000000000000111111111111111222222222222222223
Horse Mill
At the start of each of your turns, get +x actions.
Track: S00000001111111111222222222222333333333333334
Crossbow
When you reach or pass x, each other player discards down to x cards in hand.
Ping: Move your disc back to the beginning of the track.
Track: Sx4xxx3
Alchemical Vat
When you reach or pass *, each other player gains a Curse.
Ping: Move your disc back to the beginning of the track.
Track: Sxxx*
Steel
When you reach or pass *, each other player gains a Copper.
Track: Sx*x*xx*xx*xxx*xxx*xxxx*
Flamethrower
When you reach or pass *, you may trash a card from your hand.
Ping: Move your disc back to the beginning of the track.
Track: Sxx*
Glass
End of game: Score 4 VP per disc behind or on top of yours.
Ping: Move each other player's disc back one space on this track.
Set-up: In an x-player game, put a disc in an unused player color on the spaces marked x.
Track: Sxxx2x3x2xxxx
Calendar
End of game: Score x VP.
Track: S01122233334444455555566666667
Factory
When you reach or pass x, gain a card costing up to $x.
Track: S0xx0xx2xx3x3x4x4xx5xx5xx6xxx8
Canal Lock
During your turns, cards cost $x less (but not less than $0).
Track: S00000000001111111111111222222222222223
Accelerator
Ping: +2 Builds that can't be used on this.
Track: Sxxxxxxxxxx
Telescope
At the start of each of your turns, you may discard your hand and draw x cards.
Track: S12334445555566666667
Clock
When you reach or pass *, each other player draws a card. End of game: score x VP.
Track: S**0*0*0*00*000*112233445566778899aabbc
Piano
When you gain a card, if you are not on the start space of this track, you may move to the start of the track to put the gained card into your hand or on top of your deck.
Ping: +1 Buy
Track: Sxxx
Telegraph
At the start of your turn, if you are furthest or tied for furthest ahead on this track, move your disc back two spaces and if you did, +1 card and +1 action.
Ping: +$1
Track: Sxxxxxxxx
Steam Engine
When you reach or pass *, play the set-aside card, leaving it there.
Set-up: Set aside an unused non-Command, non-Builder Action card costing $2 or $3.
Ping: Move your disc back to the beginning of the track.
Track: Sxxxx*
Compass
At the start of each of your turns, look at the top x cards of your deck, discard any number of them, and put the rest back on top in any order.
Ping: +1 card, discard a card.
Track: S00111222233333344444445
Eyeglasses
At the start of each of your turns, +x cards and then discard x cards.
Track: S00001111222223333334
Greek Fire
At the start of each of your turns, you may trash a card from your hand. If you do, gain a card costing up to $x more than it.
Track: S011111222222233333333334
Fireworks
The first time you play a non-Builder action card during your turns, play it an additional x times.
Track: S000001111111111111111222222222222222222223
Luxury Train
When you play a card costing $x or more, +$1.
Track: S7766666655555555554444444433333333222222222222110
Scale
When you reach or pass a * space, gain a Duchy or a Silver.
Ping: Move your disc back to the beginning of the track.
Track: Sxxx*xxx*
Land Mine
At the start of your turn, for every two spaces between your disc and the furthest-ahead disc on this track, reveal a card from the top of your deck. Discard each revealed Action or Treasure card, and put the rest back on top in any order.
Ping: Move each other player's disc back one space on this track.
Track: Sxxxxxxx
Kingdom Cards
Pioneer
$2; Action-Builder
+1 card, +1 action, +1 build
Refurbish
$2; Action-Builder
+1 Action; Trash a card from your hand. +1 Build per $ in its cost.
Laborer
$3; Action-Builder
+2 cards, +1 buy, +1 build
Weapon Designer
$4; Action-Attack-Builder
+$2, +1 build; Each other player gains a Curse, and if they did, gets +2 builds.
Builders' Village
$4; Action-Builder
+1 card, +2 actions, +1 build
Architect
$4; Action-Builder
+5 builds
Builders' Guild
$4; Victory-Builder
2 VP
--
When you gain or trash this, +3 Builds.
Tinker
$4; Action-Builder
Gain a card costing up to $4. If it costs...
$4, +1 build
$3, +2 builds
$2, +4 builds
$1 or $0, +7 builds
Craftsperson
$4; Action-Attack-Builder
+$2; For each option, either you do it, or each other player does it if they have 4 or more cards in hand (your choice):
Gain a Copper to hand;
Discard a card for +1 build;
+1 card and discard 2 cards.
Machinist
$5; Action-Builder
+3 cards; you may discard any number of cards for +1 Build each.
City Planners
$5; Action-Builder
+2 cards, +2 actions; Each other player gets +1 Build. If this causes another player to get +$, +buys, or +actions during your turn, they instead draw a card and discard a card for each $, buy, or action they would have gotten.
Design Plans
$5; Treasure-Builder
+$2, +2 Builds; Each other player may trash a card from their hand.
Vendor
$5; Action-Builder
+1 card, +1 action, +$1, +1 build
Redstone
$6; Treasure-Victory-Builder
+$1, then +$1 per Invention you have maxed out on. +2 builds. If this causes you to ping, -$1 per time you pinged (to a minimum of $0).
--
Worth 1 VP per Invention you have maxed out on.
Commentary
Let’s walk through some Builders and Inventions, to better understand what they do.
Pioneer is the simplest Builder - it’s just a cantrip +1 Build - so a lot of the Inventions are easiest to digest in the context of Pioneer. Likewise, Printer is the simplest Invention, so let’s start there. A good number of Inventions have a ping effect that jumps you back to the start of the track. Printer is one of those Inventions. Essentially, this makes the track a loop. In the case of Printer, that loop only has two spaces on it, so you will get the +$1 every other time you (try to) advance on the Printer track. In essence, Printer means that +2 builds = +$1. Then Pioneer-Printer is, in some sense, half a Peddler.
Likewise, Pioneer-Yoke is a third of a Laboratory, Pioneer-Water Wheel is two fifths of a Village, Pioneer-Alchemical Vat is a fifth of a Familiar. You get the idea.
Some Inventions have sort of the opposite approach. They don’t do anything when you advance on them, but then once you’ve maxed out, they activate a powerful ping effect. For example, if you’re willing to put in the effort to max out the Paper track (which accomplishes nothing as you go), you’ll eventually turn your Pioneers into Peddlers! Wagon and Windmill are similar, requiring even more investment to max out, but giving +1 card (Wagon) or +1 action (Windmill) instead of +$1.
Safe, Cogs, and Horse Mill don’t do anything at the moment you reach certain spaces on the track, nor do they do anything when you ping. Instead, they act like (potentially very strong) projects, that require some effort to activate.
Glass, Calendar, and Clock all don’t do anything for you during the game, but give you VP at the end of the game. Calendar-Pioneer is the notorious cantrip +VP, but it works because you max out eventually (and there are diminishing returns). Glass leaves it up to the players how much effort they should put into fighting over 4 VP. Clock is like Calendar, but you have to help out your opponents before you start getting rewarded with VP.
Accelerator turns the other Invention track(s) into more delay-for-power versions of themselves. It is probably the most concerning to me balance-wise. The one game I played with it, there just wasn’t enough time for it to be worth going for. But I imagine in other games it’s super strong. I’m worried it might be terribroken.
There are pseudo-attack Inventions, like Crossbow, Alchemical Vat, Steel, and Land Mine. These cover the typical discard, junking, and mucking attack roles (there’s no trashing-attack Invention because I couldn’t come up with a good one, and people don’t like trashing attacks anyway). Steel (hopefully) works as a Copper-junking attack because it stops after 7, not after the Coppers run out. Perhaps it scales badly in multi-player, though.
Steam Engine is fun, it could be anything, but it’s a fixed effect for the game it’s in. When I playtested it, I got it with Watchtower on a Goons board, so it gave some of the Builders a nice draw effect.
There are some Inventions I’ve skipped commenting on for now, you can read them and think about them yourself if you’re interested.
Now what about the kingdom cards? Well as mentioned earlier, Pioneer is the most obvious card, and when evaluating how good or bad an Invention is, I try to think about how it is with Pioneer. Refurbish is the obvious TfB. Architect is the obvious pure, terminal +builds. Weirdly, Architect seems the most concerning to me balance-wise. I haven’t figured out yet why this is the case, but playtesting seems to suggest that Pioneer is good with the looping tracks and Architect is good with the pinging tracks. Architect-Wagon-Accelerator is comically busted, eventually giving you +10 cards with every play of Architect, but I’m not sure if that’s Architect’s fault or Accelerator’s fault, or maybe Wagon’s fault. By contrast, Pioneer-Wagon-Accelerator, when fully activated, gives you dirt cheap double-labs, but somehow that doesn’t seem quite as ridiculous. On the other hand, Pioneer-Printer is a half-Peddler, something you would reasonably pay $2 for, but Architect-Printer is a terminal +$2.5, quite weak for $4. (In fact, Architect originally wanted to be $3 for +4 builds but I couldn’t justify it with the looping Inventions.) So maybe the conclusion should be that the looping tracks are too weak compared to the pinging tracks? Not sure…
Laborer and Machinist are terminal draws, with Machinist being the natural discard-for-benefit. You can kill your turn for +7 builds if there’s something you’re really looking to advance on quickly, but I think of it more as a Smithy with the potential to convert cards you don’t need into something useful.
There’s also an idea of a one-shot build, like an event that converts $ into builds, but that ended up as Builders’ Guild. I imagine it’s fun with Greek Fire, but I haven’t tested that combo yet.
Builders’ Village, Vendor, and Design Plans are all pretty vanilla and don’t need much exposition. Let’s get to some of the more interesting cards.
Tinker is the set’s Workshop variant. You can use it like a Workshop with a little boost - or if there’s a $2 you want, with a big boost; or you can junk yourself for +7 builds. If there’s lots of trashing or it’s late in the game, the self-junking option can be tempting.
Weapon Designer is the set’s Cursing attack. I like things that give other players +builds, so it’s a little like Soothsayer there. Heuristically, it’s slightly worse than “+$2 and curse everyone”, which I imagine is a strong $4 (though in some games, it’s actually better than that). I’m open to the possibility that it’s still too strong. I had a playtest with Weapon Designer-Steel, and it was kind of funny because you could Curse everyone and then they’d throw Copper back at you.
Craftsperson is probably my favorite card in the set. There are three questionable items, and you have to decide whether each one is good or bad. I think this concept is fun, but I have no idea if it’s balanced, and I’m also a little worried about unlimited Copper-junking.
As mentioned with Weapon Designer, I liked the idea of a card that gives other players +build, hence City Builders. The compensation for +$/actions/buys is there because I didn’t like that, without it, in some games it would just be Lost City without the drawback. That being said, I worry that City Builders is too weak. For example, with Yoke, you give them a card on every three plays, which seems a lot more generous to them than just giving them a card once when you gain it. And even then, they have the flexibility to choose whatever other Invention(s) are out instead. I had a playtest game with City Builders and Crossbow, which is a funny but kind of interesting anti-combo. You want to spam City Builders, but if you get carried away, you have to discard all those cards you’ve been drawing. But perhaps with smart play order and the right engine, you can mitigate the pain of discarding.
By the way, I noticed a subtle political issue with City Builders and Crossbow if there’s 3 or more players. If someone is drawing a million cards with City Builders, do you advance on Crossbow to spite them, or do you advance on another Invention to do something that benefits yourself, hoping the next player does the Crossbow? I don’t like this, but I think it’s pretty minor and only comes up with this specific combo, so I don’t think it’s worth addressing.
Finally, there’s Redstone, which is probably the card I’m most likely to scrap, just because it’s clunky and weird. I wanted a card that interacted with Inventions in a non-standard way, which basically means, caring about where you are on the track. But the tracks are all different lengths, so you can’t say something like “+$1 per 2 advancements you’ve made”, because that might suck if the Inventions are Printer and Yoke, or be broken if the Inventions are Clock and Luxury Train. But, all the tracks have a start and an end, so maybe you could do something using those. Well it’s hard to do anything using the start of the track, because you don’t want to reward players for never using +builds, and you also don’t want to just say “don’t be on the first space of the track”, because well that’s really easy to do. So, Redstone rewards you with $ and VP for being at the ends of tracks.
Now you might wonder why the -$1 per ping. The idea there is that the really short tracks usually have a looping-ping, so if you want to actually make use of their effects multiple times, you have to pay $ for it. And that’s fair, because the short tracks are much easier to reach the end of, making Redstone produce more money and VP for them. The longer tracks with ping effects have stronger ping effects than the shorter, looping ones, which you're more likely to be willing to pay for.
Game Reports
This section is empty so far. If I play interesting games, I'll report them here.
Card-shaped thing Images
Maybe I'll mock up the card-shaped things some day, you never know.
To do
I think I should rescale Clock and Calendar, Clock doesn't get better until 6 VP...
