Post by falkinator2000 on Aug 9, 2012 2:53:56 GMT -5
Someone commented in a thread that Sofia's Office (Scholar Site, cost 0, +1 income, put another Sofia's Office from your sequence into your hand) was almost like a green Political Patronage (Media Action, cost 0, +1 income, gain 3 gold).
I thought that was a poor comparison since the payout profiles of the 2 cards are very different. But how different actually? And how do they compare to the other income booster of choice, Den Defense (Gold Action, cost 1, Surprise, +2 income)?
I sat down with my trusty spreadsheet to analyse the cards more closely. Being an economist, I am quite used to making this kind of analysis. It also makes it super embarassing when someone spots a mistake in my calculations, but I figure the glory I get from 3 random strangers reading my stuff in the internet far outweighs the loss caused by a future employer googling my name and finding an analysis with glaring mistakes in it..
So, on with the analysis!
I have assumed that income is largely irrellevant after 5 days. Typically, by that time you have emptied your hand or lost the game (or you might have won, congratulations!). If your hand is empty, you will, baring some bizzare corner cases, be able to play any card you draw with the income you've got. If not, you should probably play a few more income boosters
I have also assumed that you are able to deploy your cards in exactly 0 seconds, and that you are never stuck at max gold (halting your income generation).
So, how much gold do you have available to spend on each day?
I am glad you asked.
However, I am not glad that I have to insert a HTML table for this to be readable.
Off to google.
OK I am back. That seems easy. Here we go:
Yay.
The table shows us that for the first 2 and a half days of the game, PP is very strong. This comes as a complete surprise to ... nobody. We also see that den defense is barely better than Sofia's Office in the first two days, but after that Sofia's Office just takes off.
The analysis doesn't take into account the deck thinning effect of the office (highly relevant in the late game) or the fact that 2 den defenses in your starting hand are stronger than 2 Sofia's office.
So, the conclusion is, that while Den defense is certainly not a bad card, if you have access to Sofia's Office or PP, these are way better.
Shocking news, right? Rares are better than commons!
Where things get interesting is of course when you have a choice between Sofias Office and Political Patronage. The table shows us that PP is stronger in the early game while Sofia's Office is stronger late game. This is exacerbated by the fact that Office also has a deck thinning effect, and that 2 PP's in an opening hand can allow for some really crazy plays (day 0 Doomsday for example).
The fact that Sofia's Office is a site might also be relevant for some decks.
In short, Sofia's Office is a very strong card. Stronger than I had first anticipated.
I thought that was a poor comparison since the payout profiles of the 2 cards are very different. But how different actually? And how do they compare to the other income booster of choice, Den Defense (Gold Action, cost 1, Surprise, +2 income)?
I sat down with my trusty spreadsheet to analyse the cards more closely. Being an economist, I am quite used to making this kind of analysis. It also makes it super embarassing when someone spots a mistake in my calculations, but I figure the glory I get from 3 random strangers reading my stuff in the internet far outweighs the loss caused by a future employer googling my name and finding an analysis with glaring mistakes in it..
So, on with the analysis!
I have assumed that income is largely irrellevant after 5 days. Typically, by that time you have emptied your hand or lost the game (or you might have won, congratulations!). If your hand is empty, you will, baring some bizzare corner cases, be able to play any card you draw with the income you've got. If not, you should probably play a few more income boosters
I have also assumed that you are able to deploy your cards in exactly 0 seconds, and that you are never stuck at max gold (halting your income generation).
So, how much gold do you have available to spend on each day?
I am glad you asked.
However, I am not glad that I have to insert a HTML table for this to be readable.
Off to google.
OK I am back. That seems easy. Here we go:
| DAY | PP | Den defense | Sofias Office |
| 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 0,5 | 5,5 | 2 | 2 |
| 1 | 7,5 | 4,5 | 4 |
| 1,5 | 9,5 | 7 | 6,5 |
| 2 | 12 | 10 | 10 |
| 2,5 | 14,5 | 13 | 14 |
| 3 | 17,5 | 16,5 | 19 |
| 3,5 | 20,5 | 20 | 24 |
| 4 | 24 | 24 | 29,5 |
| 4,5 | 27,5 | 28 | 35 |
| 5 | 31,5 | 32,5 | 41 |
Yay.
The table shows us that for the first 2 and a half days of the game, PP is very strong. This comes as a complete surprise to ... nobody. We also see that den defense is barely better than Sofia's Office in the first two days, but after that Sofia's Office just takes off.
The analysis doesn't take into account the deck thinning effect of the office (highly relevant in the late game) or the fact that 2 den defenses in your starting hand are stronger than 2 Sofia's office.
So, the conclusion is, that while Den defense is certainly not a bad card, if you have access to Sofia's Office or PP, these are way better.
Shocking news, right? Rares are better than commons!
Where things get interesting is of course when you have a choice between Sofias Office and Political Patronage. The table shows us that PP is stronger in the early game while Sofia's Office is stronger late game. This is exacerbated by the fact that Office also has a deck thinning effect, and that 2 PP's in an opening hand can allow for some really crazy plays (day 0 Doomsday for example).
The fact that Sofia's Office is a site might also be relevant for some decks.
In short, Sofia's Office is a very strong card. Stronger than I had first anticipated.
