Tharnduil wrote: ↑25 October 2022, 22:22
The problem is the turn-based part of the settings. Turn-based is basically whichever die rolls the best wins because people can't be bothered to interact with trades (I myself will fall into that category if ever I play turn-based). And that makes sense since the game is already at a snails pace on turn-based.
Better would be to have a Catan tournament on a certain day. I think it would go over quite well if publicized enough in advance and players knew it would be a one or even two day event (a saturday/sunday thing).
Anyways, not to knock your tournament just giving some insight for a future tournament.
I initially had similar reservations, but I’ve now played several dozen turn-based 4p games and found that I like it a lot. For one thing, the slower pace allows you to really appreciate every move and every trade you make. You have time to reflect and it’s easier to plan ahead. The trading part is only a problem if players don’t adapt, and insist on offering 1:1, then another 1:1, then another 1:1, as you might in a real-time game. Instead, you can take your time to work out what might get accepted, and make trades more selectively. In some ways, this actually improves the process, as you are being more targeted. Counter-offers can be thought through in a similar way. Also, you don’t have to wait for everyone to respond before accepting or changing your offer. Yes, it’s polite to do so, but often your targeted trade is only designed for one other player, so you can move on quickly when they respond, knowing that the others will say no.
The only issue that might arise with this tournament is the same as many other turn-based games on BGA - the big red button of doom. The skip-turn option can be used and abused, to skew the round result the way of whoever does the booting, and with Catan it’s quite easy to go over your allotted time due to the timer switching to you if a trade offer is in the air. So when you set the tournament up, I’d A) give maximum time to all players; and B) make it clear at the start not to boot any other player if their timer goes red - only acceptable if they have clearly given up.
So, yes, the game feels different turn-based, but it has its own charms, and if you adapt your play slightly, the trading works fine.
