[Freeciv] Time-outs - a suggestion

["R. Miller" <richere@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In a related item, (Big cities vs small cities (was: smallpox syndrome)

Michael Hasselmann wrote:

> Reinier Post wrote:
> >
> > I agree that size is important, but technology level, skill in 
> coordination of
> > units, and motor skills (how fast you can pop up and click down the 
> dialogs to
> > control units) are more important.
>
> hum...and you like that?
> I think about a game that always re-invents itself, as you not only have
> to adjust your strategy from match to match. It should reveal to you as
> a new game (or at least reveal new aspects of gameplay) everytime you
> play it. And sometimes you should be forced to completely change your
> strategy. My first matches on the Freeciv server were exactly like this.
> I never understood ICS before, even not in (local) multiplayer games.
> But my first matches on that server  _were_ a totally new exprience -
> and it was just great fun. Now it's getting boring because of these
> things you mentioned.
>
> I don't think that there can be any fun in starting a
> "Who-has-the-faster-input-device-AND-the-better-connection-to-the-internet"-competition.
> This stupid competition is the cause for the high frustration level in
> games like Unreal or Quake, and Freeciv shouldn't even try to be a
> action game (at least not in this meaning) or to go into that direction.
> Then, it would be brain-dead 'cause any machine can react ways better
> than us. Action is fine, just re-action isn't. That's why I'm pretty
> undecided about "timeout". I don't really hate it, as it fastens things
> up. But at the same time it is just frustrating in delicate situations.
>
> Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention: A mouse is the shittiest input
> device ever.
Time-outs - a suggestion.

I have not yet played a network game, let alone with time-outs,
but I remember playing Civ (or CivNet) with timeouts.

I would suggest that a clock, like those use for chess, be implemented.
At the beginning of the game, all players are allocated a block of time;
as soon as a player ends a turn, his/her timer stops running;
the individual timers of other players continue running.

The total amount of time allotted might be adjusted individually - a feature.

What happens when you have consumed all of you alloted time?
I have no idea what would make sense in Freeciv,
but in chess, it means you have lost the game.

Robaire