Play suggestion to help with AFKs and squaters

[PirriP]

Just played a "wonderful" game. My opponent didn't make a move the first four turns and then let the timer run till it just barely didn't auto-rest his guys for the rest of the game. I've got two suggestions to help game-play in this situation.

#1 - If your guy is further than five tiles from the nearest enemy, and if he doesn't use an ability, then willpower should sap or armor rust by one.

#2 - The timer should have two parts. Rather than having one thirty-second timer, you should have a fifteen second timer that gets refilled each round, and a fifteen second "overtime" timer that gets refilled by five each round, leaving you with a maximum average round length of twenty seconds.

[d2r]

Are you sure this wan't just a lag problem? Or maybe someone just taking a long time to think about their moves?

Regardless, I'm not sure how AFKing would even work here - given the time limit, you'll get rolled if you actually walk away.

[erom]

Yeah, the "he let the timer run down to just before the end every move" effect is actually usually caused by lag, and not the other player. From his perspective it probably looked like _you_ were running down most/all of your timer every turn and he was the one acting quickly.

[Vexbane]

Yes this could be lag as I have experienced both sides. Sometimes when I went to move a champ they lagged and waited till the end to execute my orders.

Unfortunately turtling is part of the game. I agree there should be something to motivate players to do something, but some people like to be %$#@ too. Also it could be part of their strategy to wait a few turns depending on the map and placement. Maybe they prefer to have you come to them?

Now at mid-end game when they clearly lost I can see this as an issue where they could just run away and let their timer run out. There is also the issue of rage quitters (those who disconnect on purpose when they lose to force you to wait). I have not had any rage quitters yet, however.

[Chopsticks]

Just played a "wonderful" game. My opponent didn't make a move the first four turns and then let the timer run till it just barely didn't auto-rest his guys for the rest of the game. I've got two suggestions to help game-play in this situation.

#1 - If your guy is further than five tiles from the nearest enemy, and if he doesn't use an ability, then willpower should sap or armor rust by one.

#2 - The timer should have two parts. Rather than having one thirty-second timer, you should have a fifteen second timer that gets refilled each round, and a fifteen second "overtime" timer that gets refilled by five each round, leaving you with a maximum average round length of twenty seconds.

rczeincc (I might be misspelling this) is particularly guilty of this. He'll join a game and then just go completely afk. He will not once move a single one of his units. The game really needs to boot somebody after they miss say, 3 turns in a row.

[PirriP]

I didn't realize lag could be that bad. That's the first game I've had that went like that out of about a dozen now.

I recognize that turtling can be part of your strategy. In fact, in most situations it's really the only optimal opening strategy. If you go first, you've put your man into danger without getting him into range to strike on that first turn, and you've broken your shield-wall bonus for no benefit. Unfortunately both sides are incented to turtle, and whoever decides to actually start playing first is penalized for it. That's what I'm hoping to fix.

Another potential fix might be moving the starting areas closer together.

[d2r]

I didn't realize lag could be that bad. That's the first game I've had that went like that out of about a dozen now.

I recognize that turtling can be part of your strategy. In fact, in most situations it's really the only optimal opening strategy. If you go first, you've put your man into danger without getting him into range to strike on that first turn, and you've broken your shield-wall bonus for no benefit. Unfortunately both sides are incented to turtle, and whoever decides to actually start playing first is penalized for it. That's what I'm hoping to fix.

Another potential fix might be moving the starting areas closer together.

This is actually quite true - I've often had games of chicken concerning who moves their units (usually their shieldbanger) forward first. Not sure how it might be effectively fixed, though.

[RobertTheScott]

This is actually quite true - I've often had games of chicken concerning who moves their units (usually their shieldbanger) forward first. Not sure how it might be effectively fixed, though.

On the other hand, true turtles can lead to fun openings. I played against one guy who hid three archers behind a shieldbanger. I hid my archer behind a raidmaster, and started sniping armor.

It didn't take him long to open up his formation. :-D