Suggestion for Kingdom selector

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MrBigBadCRad

So what we do at my house to randomly pick games that are 1v1 is:each opponent picks 1 expansion (where cornucopia/alchemy/guilds/promos count toward .5 of an expansion each); take the randomizer card deck; shuffle it; draw 10 card from the expansion (or 2 sets of 5 for the .5 expansions or to compensate when we pick a 1.5 sized expansion a 7/3 split between 1 whole expansion and a .5 expansion size [the math isn't perfect, I know]); decide on landscapes depending on what the game calls for individually and normally not randomize when we pick those at the end BUT if you were to create a game around a landscape card it would be 1:3 for events, 1:2 for landmarks, and 1:2 for projects where the equation means landscape required:random landscape available. I prefer a smaller sample size when choosing cards at random to base a game on because it's more of a challenge but maybe the landscape selecting ratio would fluctuate depending on how many players are playing.

If it is done outside of a 1v1 match and of course because there may be 4 players who want to choose only 2 of 3 landscapes the algorithm  to randomize  the landscape selection would have to work on a round robin turn order where said algorithm uses the last number of total games played on the server to decide what order of landscapes would be generated e.g., game #100 = event; #101 = landmark, #102 = project ... #108 = project, #109 = landmark, #110 = event, #111 = landmark, etc, etc, etc. (Not sure how even the distribution is in that model).

However, the upside to selecting a kingdom in this manner is that a player can choose which expansion he is comfortable with while also having an variety of cards at their disposal to build kingdoms with synergy/anti-synergy if the kingdom is to be selected in such a manner, or still be given the option to leave it to random chance  (depending on what agreement has made between your company and the creator of Dominion; e.g. customers who don't subscribe to silver or gold memberships and must wait for random kingdoms with 5 or more expansions [not completely sure of the details as I have only skimmed over the FAQ]) Of course those details may not even matter because why allow someone  who doesn't pay for subscription any arbitrary decision making regarding a custom kingdo.

AND ADD THE RECOMMENDED KINGDOM SETS THAT ARE IN THE BACK OF THE INSTRUCTION MANUALS OR FIND THEM ON WIKI.DOMINONSTRATEGY.COM IT CAN'T TAKE THAT MUCH MAN POWER OR TIME TO CODE PREDETERMINED KINGDOM SETS INTO THE KINGDOM SELECTOR, THIS BENEFITS NEWER PLAYERS AND WILL HELP GROW THIS BRAND AND ULTIMATELY MAINTAIN YOUR BOTTOM LINE SUBSCRIPTION SALES. HOW MANY PLAYERS HAVE NOT BOUGHT A SUBSCRIPTION TO DOMINION.GAMES BECAUSE THEY EITHER HATE/DON'T UNDERSTAND THE CARD MECHANIC'S SYNERGIES OR AREN'T ABLE TO BUILD A BASIC VILLAGE/SMITHY ENGINE BECAUSE THEY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF FIRST GAME. GUYS AT SHUFFLE IT LISTEN TO ME: FIRST GAME SHOULD BE THE FIRST GAME OF DOMINION THAT ANY PLAYER PLAYS, THOSE TWO WORDS HAVE A VERY LITERAL AND DIRECT MEANING.  ;D

I'm done, cheers.

Ingix

Thanks for the suggetions MrBigBadCRad!

While getting the suggested Kingdoms is a nice thing to have, there are also many, many other things that would also be nice to have. At the moment (and I guess in the forseeable future), Dominion Online is in a state where it can only be used by players who are familiar with at least the base game mechanics (so they should have played a game or two before). If that is to be changed, putting in the recommended Kingdoms comes at the end of the necessary effort, after putting in rules explanation in writing and possibly implementing basic recommendation functions during play.

Players starting with the game will usually have no subscription, so can only play base games against the bot, so will get a Village/Smithy type game often enough, IMO. It takes more than just the recommended Kingdoms to realize that big money is not the end-all of Dominion strategy, that will usually come when they play against other players who can build engines and do that.

ElisabetK

The perfect doesn't have to be the enemy of the good here. I for one would love to have an option to choose from a menu of the recommended kingdoms, and even better to have a way to add interesting ones to a personal playlist. Heck, I'd be happy if I could just replay a game with the same kingdom. It's fun to try out different strategies.


Ingix

#3
[Updated with screenshots]
Agreed on the option to select a kingdom from a list.

If you want to replay a kingdom, the 'easist' option is to load a game with that kingdom (you need the game number for that) and then make the choice number from which to continue 0. That loads the game but you can take control from the start.

To do this, go to "New Table" tab, then choose "Load Old game", which then asks you to input the game number.

After you do this, you get a screen like in the first screenshot.

1) Press the "Add bot" button.
2) Press the "Player Order" button. First deselect the checkbox next to "random". You now get a screen like in the second screenshot. This allows you to specifiy the order (maybe you want to change who goes first, or recreate the same situation as before). Use the buttons marked in the second screenshot.
3) Take a look at the third screenshot now. Enter a "0" (Zero) into the number field. That makes the game start before decision 0, meaning the very beginnong of the game.
4) Press the button "Load game", which should result in the number displayed on the right next to decision to change to 0.

Now you can finally press the "Ready" button on the bottom of the screen, and the game will start, with the kingdom you want.