International Vote - Addition to the Time Counter Rules

[Octavian X]

See this thread in the UN forum for details.

Our team is allowed one vote in the above-mentioned vote on new proposed rules. Our team leader is to vote according to the results of this poll.

Remember, voting for 'abstain' in this poll would be a vote for abstention in the International Poll.

This poll will run for 5 days to allow for all citizens to vote during the regular work week.

The proposed rules are as follows:

• Any team that is going to be absent or unable to play their turn must post regarding their inablility in the UN forum. If the team already has the save file, time will be deducted from the counter until the announcement is made, then no time will be deducted afterward.
• A team whose counter clock drops below 0 hours and either does not appeal or whose appeal has been denied by a majority vote of the teams or by the ruling admin would be subject to a penalty of loss of 1 turn.
• Loss of turn would be defined as the ruling admin opening the file, skipping to the end of the turn with no changes to the game, ending the turn, and sending to the next team.
• On each subsequent offense, the number of turns penalized would increase by 1.
• The turn counter clock for the team in question would be immediately reset to 48 hours and resume counting down as normal upon receipt of the game on their next turn.
• At the beginning of each age/era for a team, the team will be granted an additional hour per turn to make their gameplay decisions. To recieve the additional hour, the team must post about their age advancement in the UN forum or contact the current keeper of the counter. This does not have to be done until the team is ready for the rest of the world to know of their advancement.
• Teams may trade counter time to another team for in game resources, gold, technology, etc. Whenever a trade is conducted, the keeper of the counter must be notified by both teams of the hour exchange so that the keeper can determine the best way to move the hours accordingly.
• Any teams counter that is below 48 at the conclusion of this poll will be reset to 48 hours.

 

[Hygro]

Well I think its a good idea.

 

[Octavian X]

I think this would be an excellent way to motivate faster game playing, and also to give the Time Counter some real usefulness.

 

[Gingerbread Man]

It also gives the counter actual power.

I am for this. It will hopefully speed up the game.

 

[Cyc]

Who is proposing these rule changes and how do they differ from the existing ones (briefly, please). Will we actually benefit from the changes, other than a promise of speedier turn around?

 

[Fier Canadien]

Ha! Finaly a way to get the Firaxis team to go faster (wasn't it them who had the save for a few… days).

 

[FortyJ]

Originally posted by Cyc
Who is proposing these rule changes and how do they differ from the existing ones (briefly, please).

Well, originally, it was mongoose who proposed the idea of a penalty for teams dropping below zero, and it was strongly endorsed by miccofl and some others who have displayed some rather lightning fast reflexes in playing the turn and passing it on. A few teams have over double the hours that we have....

Their suggestions for penalties were quite harsh, so I proposed what I thought was a good compromise to the situation which resulted in about 3/4 of what you see in the final proposal. I hope that's brief enough...

Will we actually benefit from the changes, other than a promise of speedier turn around?

This is the $64 question....

There is, of course, the risk that teams falling below 0 hours (which I believe will become more common in later turns as warfare will likely require extensive amounts of time to complete each turn), will lose interest in playing if their turns are skipped as punishment for doing so.

We all know that real life issues can interfere with playing this game. Most teams have the luxury of having players from various places around the world or at the very least have players that have different obligations with peaks occuring at different times of the day and on different days. Firaxis, for one, is the exception to this rule. I must assume that almost their entire team, if not their entire team, share the same work hours, the same deadlines, etc... and thus do not have the luxury of backups available to take the game in case the primary is unavailable to do so.

If you believe penalties such as these proposed will unfairly punish teams like Firaxis, then you should vote No in this poll. After all, this is a game and should be fun for all teams.

On the other hand, if you believe that penalizing tardy teams is the only way to ensure the game doesn't die a slow death and fade away into oblivion, then vote Yes.

If you are unsure which way to vote, please consider reading some of the discussion which has taken place in the UN forum rather than voting Abstain (as Abstain will be considered a No vote in the actual UN vote). You can find those discussions here.

 

[Octavian X]

Well, three nations have already rejected the new rules, effective meaning they don't pass. A 6/8 Majority was needed.

 

[GenMarshall]

Shot, the Poll closed before I can cast my vote . I would vote for Yes