Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[matt979]

Let's say you KC a Possession with one Province left (and the score is such that if you buy the Province you'll win), and on the first of your three possession turns you can end the game.

Do you take the Province immediately, and win by a little, or play to maximize your score?

[DStu]

Why should I be sure to get the Province in one of the next two turns? So even without wanting to be kind or not rude to your opponent, you should just take the Province. If you take it, your winchance is 1, if you don't take it, it is in most cases strictly smaller than one, and in the other ones it would take a lot of thinking to figure out that it really equals 1. And than the probability, that you have made a mistake also usually is strictly greater than zero. So just take it.

Except perhaps cases where the deck of you opponent consists of 5 cards, in which case the game is finished in 10 seconds no matter if you take 1 or 3 turns.

[yotarou]

I luckily never saw such a score maximizing play. Isotropic leaderboard system doesn't recommend highscoring in games but playing many games and winnings. So most players grow to want fast win.
Reason 2: you might miss to hit $8 in your 2nd and 3rd possession turn.

[ftl]

The score doesn't matter; each game is counted as win or loss, nothing more. Take the province.

[Geronimoo]

if you're in a tournament your score might be used as tie breaker, so that might be one of the corner cases where you want to wait

[jonts26]

As a general rule, running up the score is poor sportsmanship. Especially true when the actual score doesn't matter beyond who has more points.

Whenever you're on the losing end of a lopsided game, it isn't the most fun thing. And you probably just want to get a new game started. So whenever I see a way to immediately end the game in a win I'll take it, mostly as a courtesy to my opponent.

[guided]

Do whatever gives you the best chance to win. If buying the last Province gives you the victory immediately, and you don't buy it, you're only reducing your chance of victory. To do otherwise is idiocy (giving yourself a chance to lose, for no good reason) in addition to poor sportsmanship.

[matt979]

Thank you for the responses everyone.

Looking back on the game that inspired this post, my opponent was actually one coin shy of a Province on the first possession, but clearly could have ended the game on the second one.  I'll just assume he was uncertain about the score.

It was infuriating, but I realize that many people are infuriated by Possession to begin with (much less KC Possession, much less maximizing), and I don't want to be one of those people (if you don't like Possession then exclude it).

[rrenaud]

.

A person infuriated by a person NOT using a point counter.

[guided]

Yeah. I don't use the point counter unless somebody else checks the box, but I really don't get the hate for it. The main thing it does is save time when somebody needs to get an accurate count. Otherwise they're going to sit their straining their brain trying to figure out the score (which.. is what I do when I need an accurate count, haha).


ed: I'm a Witch now! Burn me!

[KristianBahle]

Well, I always request for games to be played with the point tracker and it annoys some people. I believe because they see it as an unfair assist or something. The thing is, I was always writing down scores on a sheet of paper before they appear, so it doesnt change anything ,except that the pace of the game is slightly faster, and I am even losing some edge on people who used to be in the dark without them.

But it's my first post, and to get back to the topic, yes I can whine sometimes when on a losing streak, but I am really trying to get better at containing myself, so if you recognize me, I apologize ( edit : was reading the " Decline of civility on isotropic? " thread at the same time, anyway I let it there. )

This said, some people are gigantic ass ( ddubois is IIRC )

[pooka]

Auto count makes it a different game from the IRL card game.  FWIW. 

[biopower]

Auto count makes it a different game from the IRL card game.  FWIW.

Only if you're a new player and don't otherwise count cards.

[ackack]

Only if you're a new player and don't otherwise count cards.

That's pretty dismissive. Even competent players can lose track in basic games, and when you factor in cards like Fairgrounds, Gardens or Vineyards that are substantially more difficult to track, there is a definite difference. I like the counter, because I'd rather not worry about that stuff, but it definitely removes one element of the game.

[pooka]

I don't count cards on that level, no.