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[methods of rationality]

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/07/game-20120807-101519-f329a100.html
I just can't figure out the best way to play this board. What mistakes did I make here and how would you go about playing this board?

[mgallop]

My intuition would be to open Potion/Herbalist, possibly pick up a 2nd potion, and then get a bunch of Apothecaries + Golems taking copers with extra, and possibly a salvager to accelerate the endgame.

[methods of rationality]

hmm, that seems to work - sort of. But if you take too many extra coppers you will not draw your apothecaries often enough. How many do you think is optimal, (Or should I consult the simulator, perhaps).

[ftl]

The shanty town/council room engine is a trap.

If you play multiple council rooms in the mid-to-end game, you basically guarantee the opponent exactly the turn he wants - either a province, or a fired up engine if that's what they want. It is really dangerous to spend a lot of time playing multi-CR turns without a better plan than engine. And, of course, since Shanty Town is the only village, you're not getting any more card draw out of it than a simple village/smithy engine! Think about that.

I think Apothecary is key. Add in either a steward to trash the starting estates, or herbalist to buy them quickly, or golem to power through the greened end-game, but rely on apothecary here maybe.

Don't take any extra coppers, I think. You start with 7, one more coin from the herbalist gives you enough for a province. OK, maybe add in one gold or something so you can do province+apothecary turns.

[mgallop]

I might add in 2 coppers, so that you start getting provinces slightly early and can go Province + Apoth in the late game game. That + being able to grab Golems which are either Apothecary +, or 2 Apothecaries should allow you to push through the greening pretty easily.

So my thoughts are:
open Herbalist/Potion
grab apothecary ASAP
when you have at least 1 apothecary and you have a chance grab golem
get up to 9 coppers

[methods of rationality]

Thanks all for the feedback. I'm trying to incorporate into the simulator to make a bot good enough to beat big money council room, and have so far been unsuccessful.
Currently my buy rules are the following:
Buy Province
Buy Duchy (if count in supply province<=3)
Buy estate (if count in supply province<=1)
Buy Golem (if count in deck apothecary >= count in deck golem+1)
Buy apothecary
Buy Potion (if count in deck potion<2)
Buy Gold
Buy Herbalist (if count in deck Herbalist = 0)
Buy Salvager (if count in deck salvager = 0)
Buy copper (if count in deck copper < 12)
This only beats big money council room 30.5% of the time. I could tweak the buy rules, but I still would have allot of ground to cover. Could it be that big money council room is really the way to go here?

[ftl]

Possibly. Seems unlikely to me, BM+Cr isn't that fast. But maybe. Certainly sims better.

I think that sim might be trying to do too much. I don't think you want a mid-game salvager (and that's when your salvager is being bought, mid-game, since you're buying it after 2 potions - too late to be too useful in salvaging estates.) 12 coppers seem like too many, too. I was suggesting no extra ones at all, mgallop was suggesting 2 more so your total coin is 10+p with the herbalist. 

[methods of rationality]

changed the bot to the following:
Buy Province
Buy Duchy (if count in supply province<=3)
Buy estate (if count in supply province<=1)
Buy Golem (if count in deck apothecary >= count in deck golem+1)
Buy apothecary
Buy Potion (if count in deck potion<1)
Buy Salvager (if count in deck salvager = 0)
Buy Gold
Buy Potion (if count in deck potion<2)
Buy Herbalist (if count in deck Herbalist = 0)
Now it only beats big money council room 19.1% of the time. I think part of the problem is - what do you do with 3$, 4$ and 5$ when you don't have potion?

[ftl]

Hmm, I can't seem to get anything better either. Maybe BM+CR really is good here, or maybe I don't know what to do with sims.

[clb]

I think that the sims for council room BM are just written too well. 

[zahlman]

I think part of the problem is - what do you do with 3$, 4$ and 5$ when you don't have potion?

... Silver?

[ehunt]

I think part of the problem is - what do you do with 3$, 4$ and 5$ when you don't have potion?

... Silver?

apothecary just hates silver though, it seems like you'd rather have none. It seems like the ideal board for apothecary, surprised it loses to big money council room.

[ehunt]

I think skip the second potion - it's overkill with the herbalist. A second herbalist on the other hand is OK. Early CCC and CCCC turns could do nothing (or buy a second potion, which doesn't hurt, just doesn't help that much). The strategy is also a little too conservative on the golems. I think gold is a mistake. I'm still surprised it isn't already beating big money + council room. The simulator seems to be worse at apothecary chains that most humans in other situations; maybe that's what's going on. Also, it may be returning the wrong treasures with herbalist.