Dominion Duke/Duchy Breakdown

In yesterday’s Dominion entry, I mentioned that I hadn’t fully done the math to try and work out the best order in which someone could purchase Dukes and Duchies in order to maximize point output.  I’ve run the numbers this morning, so let’s take a quick moment to look them over.

Note: If you know me and play Dominion with me, don’t read this post!  It will only make your face melt and it’ll be all icky.  Seriously, this doesn’t even contain useful information, let alone a point maximizing strategy for dukes and duchies.  Nope, nothing to see here.

The following table gives point totals for only the combined worth of duchies and dukes:

Duchies\Dukes	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1	3	0	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
2	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26
3	9	12	15	18	21	24	27	30	33	36	39
4	12	16	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	48	52
5	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60	65
6	18	24	30	36	42	48	54	60	66	72	78
7	21	28	35	42	49	56	63	70	77	84	91
8	24	32	40	48	56	64	72	80	88	96	104
9	27	36	45	54	63	72	81	90	99	108	117
10	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	110	120	130

The table pretty much speaks for itself; obviously, when you have zero dutchies, don’t buy any dukes.  So in a perfect scenario where you have the time and when your fellow players are not buying any duchies or dukes, you should probably use this route:

Now thankfully, the good thing about this is that the most your opponents can do is squeeze the table smaller by buying duchies and dukes out from under you.  Actually, they can also Swindle or Saboteur away your dukes and duchies; in that case, it’s best to just try and get back on the red line, as it is the highest point total possible for a given number of cards (ie at 6 duchies and 3 dukes, you have more points than if you had 7 duchies and 2 dukes).  Another thing to note is that I always preferred more dukes over more duchies given equal point values; by looking at the chart, you should be able to confirm that this doesn’t make a difference.

Now that I see the chart itself, it almost seems obvious that that was the best route, but it helps for me to put it on paper, so to speak.  Oh well, I hope it helped some of you out there.  Good luck with your playing!

~ by buncythefrog on May 9, 2010.