Minty spoils

[blamelewis]

I think since Mint doesn't let you gain a spoils then you shouldn't be able to *select* spoils after playing mint...

I know this is just my misunderstanding which treasures Mint can act on, but the interface could certainly help...

Thanks

Tim

[Ingix]

First, you are right that Mint cannot give out another copy of Spoils.
Second, you are also right that it may confuse a player to see Spoils selectable in his hand while Mint resolves, which may lead him to believe that clicking it will give him another copy.

Dominion is a game of (almost) endless complexity. The client does it's best to show the players the *legal* options. That includes the option to buy another Copper with your extra buy(s) or to gain a Curse when you Remodel a Province, and many others that are almost always pointless.

Finding all the legal options is in some cases complicated enough. Of course, I'm not opposed to some teaching mode that helps players by pointing out bad or suboptimal decisions. But that is probably even harder to program, and I think in general removing a legal but pointless option is not something that should be done 'in normal mode'.

[Stef]

I think since Mint doesn't let you gain a spoils then you shouldn't be able to *select* spoils after playing mint...

I know this is just my misunderstanding which treasures Mint can act on, but the interface could certainly help...

Thanks

Tim

I can see you would appreciate that, but the problem is that the rules of the game allow you to do it.
Maybe you Golem into a Mint and don't want to have a copy of a treasure at all... now selecting the spoils allows you to "fail".

A possible solution would be to add a button "Don't gain" when you have something like a Spoils in hand, and then disable clicking the Spoils. It actually sounds like a good idea to help novice players to me, although I'm also sure some people would disagree with that solution.

[Stef]

I can see you would appreciate that, but the problem is that the rules of the game allow you to do it.
Maybe you Golem into a Mint and don't want to have a copy of a treasure at all... now selecting the spoils allows you to "fail".

A possible solution would be to add a button "Don't gain" when you have something like a Spoils in hand, and then disable clicking the Spoils. It actually sounds like a good idea to help novice players to me, although I'm also sure some people would disagree with that solution.

Hmm when I typed that I failed to realize Mint is voluntary already anyway.
Still, it would be nice if a solution here also works for non-voluntary interactions (like Ambassador-Hovel)

[Cave-O-Sapien]

I think the more general solution for a lot of these edge cases is to have a verbose explanation in the log (and maybe log verbosity is eventually a user preference?):

(C fails to gain a Spoils because it is not in the supply)

I'm really not sure where you draw the line on verbose explanations, and it could be a lot of work (multiplied by number of languages), but I like the idea of it better than imposing rules that don't exist onto the interface.