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Still writing as I think
here...
I want to make something very
clear. I am *not* talking about using this rule for the most important
decisions in the game. As far as I'm concerned, the Political Phase
orders, the Reinforcement Phase orders, the Naval Phase orders, the Land Phase
orders, and the Economic Phase orders are all sacrosanct. If these
decisions are taken out of the player's hands, then the player does not really
control the country any more. So, to be clear, I am *not* talking
about using my "Suggestion #2" for these kinds of privileged
decisions.
But I would apply this rule to
every other decision in the game, retirement into cities, choosing chits, guard
commitment, rolling dice... Every other thing which is not one of the main
decision-making phases of the game would be susceptible to this
rule.
So for instance, if my newly
proposed rule were in effect, Jim's designated 2nd would have decided whether to
fight or retire into the city yesterday. And if neither Jim nor Jim's 2nd
had decided, then Mike would have publicly rolled a die with a 50-50 chance of
fighting or retiring.
The same thing would have
applied to Mike's first round decision and roll at the battle of 2nd
Nemirov. When Mike had not replied in 24 hours, his second would have
decided whether to take the +1 or not and would have sent out a roll. And
if neither Mike nor Mike's 2nd had made this decision after 30 hours, then Jim
(his primary opponent) would have had the right to simply send out a die roll
with a 50-50 chance of taking the +1 or giving the Prussians a -1. (And
then he could also have simultaneously sent out Mike's first round
roll.)
[I know that many of us said at
the beginning that we prefer to roll our own dice. But that privilege only
extends so far. If one's failure to roll the dice is
slowing the rest of us down, then the rest of us should be empowered to
make the roll for the slow person. After all, a die roll is a die
roll...]
I would also extend this new
proposed rule to the choosing of chits, but I would extend the time limit a
bit. (Chit choice isn't as fundamental as the decisions that are made in
the main phases of the game, but it is a bit more personal than most other
choices. I can also see why a person might desire a little extra time to
think.) I would give a player 36 hours for choosing chits before the 2nd
was empowered to make the choice. And I would give the second an
additional 12 hours to make the choice after the original 36 has run out.
So only if no choice has been made either the player or his 2nd in 48 full hours
could the chit choice be determined by die roll.
So is the proposal starting to make a little more
sense now? :-) I apologize for the volume of email, but as I
continue to think about it, I continue to get clearer and clearer about how the
rule would work.
Once again, please let me know what you think about
this idea. I honestly believe that this may give us some hope of actually
finishing the game some day!
kdh
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2003 4:57
PM
Subject: Re: [eia] need to speed things
up
Basically, I am just writing
as I think here, so I apologize for the rambling style of the last
email.
As I think more about it, my
opinion is starting to solidify around Suggestion #2. I think that
system should be workable with a minimum of rules changes and a minimum of
hard feelings. Here's how I see it working:
Each of us will choose a "2nd" and our choice
will be on record. (Obviously, we can change our 2nd at any time, but
such a change must be announced to the rest of the group before it would
take effect.) The designated 2nd (and that person alone) is empowered to
make decisions for the player if that player has not made a required
decision in the specified time period.
The time-period in question would be 24
hours. If a decision is required by a player, that player has 24 hours
to respond. If the player does not respond in that time, then the 2nd
will have an additional 6 hours to make the necessary decision. (A 2nd
can send along his decision early if he wants, but that decision will not be
official until the original player has had 24 hours to decide.) If
neither the player nor the 2nd send a decision within 30 hours, then the issue
may be resolved by a roll of the die (in which each alternative is given
equal probability).
During times when a person is away from his
computer for an extended period of time (like JJ was this week),
we should suspend the rules during that time and cut that person some
slack. But hopefully a person in that position would be
kind enough to the rest of us to empower his 2nd to make all his little
decisions for him while he is away. (I'm not saying that a 2nd
should be sending out land orders or economic orders, but things like deciding
whether to retire into the city or even choosing of chits during battle are
things that should be delegated to the 2nd.)
This regime may sound a bit draconian. I
hope not. I'm just trying to find a way to speed things up in a way that
will have minimal overall effects on gameplay. We all have an interest
in actually finishing the game. I think this suggestion should be
relatively effective at keeping things moving while not making huge sacrifices
with regard to our individual autonomies. (As long as we can trust our
2nd's to do what is right for our country, there is minimal loss in
autonomy.)
Let me know what you think.
kdh
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2003 4:35
PM
Subject: [eia] need to speed things
up
According to my email
records, we began the month of Sept. 1805 on March 23. Today is April
25, and if we continue at our current speed, it could easily be another week
before we are done with the month of Sept.
Taking 5 real weeks to
finish one game month is not a sustainable rate of play!!! We need to
brain-storm some strategies for speeding things up. As of right now,
we've been waiting 2 days for Jim to decide whether to burn his depot at
Brest-Litovsk and retire into the city or stay out and fight. I think
we waited 5 days for Mike's decision whether to take a +1 in the first round
of 2nd Nemirov. That's an entire week of waiting right there, just for
two *tiny* decisions.
My point here is not to
embarrass Jim or Mike, but simply to point out that little decisions which
should take no time at all are really adding significant lengths of time to
our game. Perhaps we could add a house rule or two to eliminate some
of these little decisions that end up taking up so much of our time.
I'd hate to do that, but I'm currently at my wit's end. I think we're
getting to the point where we need to start considering some drastic
solutions.
Secondarily, please do let
the group know when you will be away from your computer for a while.
For instance, JJ announced that he would be gone for a week on his honeymoon
last week. Because he had told us he would be gone, none of us had to
wonder why we weren't getting responses from him. I would encourage
others to do the same: when you know you will be away from your computer for
days on end, please warn the rest of us.
But back to the problem at
hand... Does anybody have a suggestion for how we can reduce the
amount of time each turn takes? I'm afraid we are at the point where
we have to start considering drastic solutions.
Suggestion #1: I know some people play Empires
in Arms with simultaneous movement. So each land phase is broken up
into 5 segments/impulses. Each person sends out movement orders
simultaneously, and each corps's movement from one space to another
along its movement path is assigned to a segment/impulse. Battles
are only fought when forces occupy the same space at the same time.
(Obviously, battles interrupt and halt movement.)
Suggestion #2: People could be given a time
limit for responding to inquiries. It would go something like
this: if a player has not sent out a warning that he will be away from
his computer for an extended length of time, then he has 24 hours to respond
to make any game decisions. If no response is received in this time,
then a pre-designated ally could make the decision for him. (Or we
could simply roll a die to determine the decision.)
I'm just trying to throw
out some ideas here. I would like to actually finish this game
sometime before my 40th birthday, but that won't happen at our current rate
of speed. Please let me know whether either of these suggestions is
appealing. Please also let me know if you have any other
suggestions. But one way or the other, we *need* to find a way to
speed things up. If that changes the character of the game somewhat,
then so be it. (If I had to choose between not finishing this game,
and finishing a game that is slightly different from this one, I'd choose
the latter.)
Let me know what you think.
kdh
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