Cactus Game Design Message Boards

I kinda agree.  I think its silly that we give less points for time-out wins, and I would love to see turtles be more viable, not having to worry about timing out all the time.  But on the other hand, I know I'm pretty zoned out at the end of just a district tournament (and was absolutely useless the last few rounds of T1 2-player at Natz), so I don't really want to encourage games timing out all the time.

I guess what I'm saying is I like the idea in theory, but I don't know that I want time outs encouraged in practice.

Quote from: Drrek on May 19, 2013, 03:13:04 AM

I kinda agree.  I think its silly that we give less points for time-out wins, and I would love to see turtles be more viable, not having to worry about timing out all the time.  But on the other hand, I know I'm pretty zoned out at the end of just a district tournament (and was absolutely useless the last few rounds of T1 2-player at Natz), so I don't really want to encourage games timing out all the time.

I guess what I'm saying is I like the idea in theory, but I don't know that I want time outs encouraged in practice.

I think it's a given that in almost every round when there's 30+ games going on, there will be at least one time out game, regardless of anything that encourages it. I don't see a rule change like this making much of a difference there.

That's true for natz, but at lower level tournaments, it might not be.  Like I said, I like the idea, I just kinda dread being a tournaments if rounds are timing out all the time.

I don't know why Turtle decks keep getting mentioned. They generally come from behind to win, and thus would lose outright when time ends.

That said, I'm totally behind this rule change. Makes points so much easier. It doesn't encourage stalling any more than the current system--it's all dependent on the situation.

We already have rules in effect to ensure timely play. I don't think I've ever played with a turtle player (in real life or on RTS) who intentionally played slow to gain some kind of advantage. In fact, the two people I've seen play turtles most often (Jordan and Underwood) both play well within the regulated time restraints. I think anyone competitive enough to play dirty like that won't be using a turtle to begin with.

Quote from: Chris on May 19, 2013, 03:41:52 AM

We already have rules in effect to ensure timely play.

Agreed. But with the rule change that is being suggested it is possible that a player may utilize the entire turn time limit and or push the limit of what is considered timely play.

Quote from: Chris on May 19, 2013, 03:41:52 AM

I think anyone competitive enough to play dirty like that won't be using a turtle to begin with.

A competitive player may use all legal play to his/her benefit whether you consider it dirty or not.
A competitive player may use all legal play to his/her benefit whether you consider them a competitive player or not.

All I'm suggesting is that this COULD have more ramifications than originally thought or considered. Just look back in the Errata section at the cards there. What was the original intent and what actually happened with them. Just some food for thought.

Godspeed,
Mike

The suggested rule change is not changing anything that has to do with timing.  It's just suggesting that a time out win receive the same amount of points as a regular win.  People who stretch time to win are already doing that to get the time out points.  I doubt it will change much.

Also:

a time out will not be the fault of the winning player, it will be due to playing an inexperienced player, who won't recognize cards at a glance, and will need to take time reading and understanding them.

Or it could be the fact that the player actually enjoys playing defense instead of speed.  My favorite things to build are defenses.  For my Natz deck (many moons ago), I made a Judge sitelock deck.  The biggest tactic of the deck was to lock them out, put my 1/1 judge in judges seat, and pick off their defense one turn at a time until they have no one left.  I did time out 1/2 of the game but not because I was inexperience or didn't know my deck.  I timed out because my deck was build for a century instead of a quick ten mile ride (think cycling).

Maybe we can bring in the clocks that chess players use.  Give each player two minutes per turn.  If they ever go over, their opponent has the option of calling the judge over, explaining the situation, and if the judge agrees that the player is stalling, would give the opponent a free lost soul.  That would severely discourage "turtle players".