time limit penalty in realtime game

[Zwilnik]

I just played a real time game vs 3 opponents, which was going well and turns were set at 3 minutes per turn.

One player went over their turn time by a small amount (about 20 seconds maybe), but it was a pretty friendly game so it just carried on as normal.
However, every subsequent turn that player had. Their timer started at 20 seconds instead of 3 minutes, so they were constantly ending up at -20 seconds or so with the "skip turn" button showing.

Then when the same player managed to actually win the game, which involved a bunch of marine trades to get the required resources to build 2 cities, the game declared them as quitting because of timing out (at -40 seconds) and all of us winners.

This doesn't seem fair (despite me getting a 'win'). Is the constant 20 seconds per turn if you overrun a single turn a thing? or is it a bug?

[Meeplelowda]

I just played a real time game vs 3 opponents, which was going well and turns were set at 3 minutes per turn.

One player went over their turn time by a small amount (about 20 seconds maybe), but it was a pretty friendly game so it just carried on as normal.
However, every subsequent turn that player had. Their timer started at 20 seconds instead of 3 minutes, so they were constantly ending up at -20 seconds or so with the "skip turn" button showing.

Then when the same player managed to actually win the game, which involved a bunch of marine trades to get the required resources to build 2 cities, the game declared them as quitting because of timing out (at -40 seconds) and all of us winners.

This doesn't seem fair (despite me getting a 'win'). Is the constant 20 seconds per turn if you overrun a single turn a thing? or is it a bug?

You are misunderstanding how time works in real-time games. It sounds like you were on the Fast setting for Catan, which is +0:44 per turn (maximum 3:00). This does not mean you get reset to 3 minutes every turn. It means the maximum amount of time you can ever have on the clock is three minutes. Only 44 seconds gets added back every turn. So if people are taking less than 44 seconds every turn, it will look like it is being reset to 3 minutes, but actually it is just adding 44 seconds to 2:19 or whatever and capping it at 3:00.

If you take more that 44 seconds consistently, you will start the following turns with less and less time on the clock.

Also, "the game" didn't declare them as quitting. This doesn't happen automatically on BGA. One of the other players in the game had to expel them. From that point on nothing anyone else did in the game was going to change the results. It was immediately a tie for all remaining players even though the game allows you to keep making moves. See move 452 below. jomille expelled grainfreak on the turn that gainfreak would have won apparently.

Move 441 :6:07:29 AM
grainfreak uses maritime trade: grain:2 → ore
Move 442 :6:07:37 AM
grainfreak uses maritime trade: lumber:4 → ore
Move 443 :6:07:49 AM
grainfreak raises a trade offer: lumber:2,wool:1 → grain:2
Move 444 :6:07:53 AM
jomille rejects this offer
Move 445 :6:07:53 AM
Zwilnik rejects this offer
Move 446 :6:07:54 AM
FruSeverin raises a trade offer: grain:2 → lumber:2,wool:1
Move 447 :6:07:56 AM
grainfreak has reached a deal with FruSeverin
⇌ FruSeverin gives grain:2 to grainfreak who gives lumber:2,wool:1 in exchange
Move 448 :6:08:08 AM
grainfreak uses maritime trade: grain:2 → ore
Move 449 :6:08:14 AM
grainfreak uses maritime trade: wool:4 → ore
Move 450 :6:08:20 AM
grainfreak upgrades a settlement to a city for grain:2,ore:3
Move 451 :6:08:29 AM
grainfreak plays Knight
Move 452 :6:08:29 AM
grainfreak is out of time, so jomille skips his/her turn
Move 453 :6:08:29 AM
grainfreak has quit the game and is going to lose this game whatever happens.
Move 454 :6:08:29 AM
You get lumber
You lose lumber
grainfreak moves the Robber
grainfreak steals from FruSeverin
grainfreak takes the Largest Army special card
The end of the game: jomille, FruSeverin and Zwilnik win!

[Zwilnik]

You are misunderstanding how time works in real-time games. It sounds like you were on the Fast setting for Catan, which is +0:44 per turn (maximum 3:00). This does not mean you get reset to 3 minutes every turn. It means the maximum amount of time you can ever have on the clock is three minutes. Only 44 seconds gets added back every turn. So if people are taking less than 44 seconds every turn, it will look like it is being reset to 3 minutes, but actually it is just adding 44 seconds to 2:19 or whatever and capping it at 3:00.

If you take more that 44 seconds consistently, you will start the following turns with less and less time on the clock.

Also, "the game" didn't declare them as quitting. This doesn't happen automatically on BGA. One of the other players in the game had to expel them. From that point on nothing anyone else did in the game was going to change the results. It was immediately a tie for all remaining players even though the game allows you to keep making moves.

Ah, thanks for that clarification. So it's more like a chess clock but with bonus time for completing each move. Very handy to know.

Seems like one of the other players must have hit the kick button as they were playing their winning hand. Feels a bit harsh, but technically fair as they'd overused their allotted time.

[Meeplelowda]

You are misunderstanding how time works in real-time games. It sounds like you were on the Fast setting for Catan, which is +0:44 per turn (maximum 3:00). This does not mean you get reset to 3 minutes every turn. It means the maximum amount of time you can ever have on the clock is three minutes. Only 44 seconds gets added back every turn. So if people are taking less than 44 seconds every turn, it will look like it is being reset to 3 minutes, but actually it is just adding 44 seconds to 2:19 or whatever and capping it at 3:00.

If you take more that 44 seconds consistently, you will start the following turns with less and less time on the clock.

Also, "the game" didn't declare them as quitting. This doesn't happen automatically on BGA. One of the other players in the game had to expel them. From that point on nothing anyone else did in the game was going to change the results. It was immediately a tie for all remaining players even though the game allows you to keep making moves.

Ah, thanks for that clarification. So it's more like a chess clock but with bonus time for completing each move. Very handy to know.

Seems like one of the other players must have hit the kick button as they were playing their winning hand. Feels a bit harsh, but technically fair as they'd overused their allotted time.

Yes, it is a chess clock with increment for those familiar that concept. Except unlike a chess clock, BGA doesn't automatically "flag" you when you hit zero. An opponent has to do it, and you still have some time to act before it takes effect. While you were replying I edited my response above to show where in the game log grainfreak was expelled.

[hopeful vega m]

This is so helpful, thank you for raising it. Had the same issue and could not figure out what was the problem. 3 minutes allotment is confusing.

Also, it seems that there should be more time allowed for setting the original layout than for the rest of the moves as the first 2 steps are most time consuming. I wonder if there is already some allowance for it.

[Jellby]

It's already like that, if you want. You can think of it as (roughly) 0:44 per turn, with an extra 2:16 to use whenever you want, in your first turn for instance.