premium faction

[joshuakingrams]

why are some faction's premium. This is dumb. you are blocking some of the game to non-premium players. make these factions non premium.

[weatherguy92]

The post below yours is about this as well. Hope this helps! https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50075

[GTSchemer]

This is up to BGA and the game's publisher. Presumably one alternative would be that the game is entirely premium, which means free players could not play it at all. Either way, this decision is not up to me.

[joshuakingrams]

okay. I would want it to be entirely premium because I always play with a premium user. or make it that one premium user makes all factions available. or make it that when an expansion comes out the expansion is premium

[Jellby]

This is up to BGA and the game's publisher. Presumably one alternative would be that the game is entirely premium, which means free players could not play it at all. Either way, this decision is not up to me.

So, do you confirm that nonpremium players cannot choose certain factions, even if there are premium players at the table?

That is a horrible precedent. All players should have the same choices and opportunities during the game. Any differences should be random or random-like (based on game settings, sitting order, etc. never on premium status, elo, karma, account seniority, etc.).

There is another option: If all players at a table are premium, all factions are available to everyone. If at least one player is nonpremium, only "base" factions are available to everyone. The key words here are "to everyone" in all cases.

[GTSchemer]

This is up to BGA and the game's publisher. Presumably one alternative would be that the game is entirely premium, which means free players could not play it at all. Either way, this decision is not up to me.

So, do you confirm that nonpremium players cannot choose certain factions, even if there are premium players at the table?

That is a horrible precedent. All players should have the same choices and opportunities during the game. Any differences should be random or random-like (based on game settings, sitting order, etc. never on premium status, elo, karma, account seniority, etc.).

There is another option: If all players at a table are premium, all factions are available to everyone. If at least one player is nonpremium, only "base" factions are available to everyone. The key words here are "to everyone" in all cases.

Greetings, as you are aware, game implementations must abide by BGA rules. The implementation was made in coordination with BGA.

I have reached out to BGA to 100% confirm the current behavior is correct regarding premium accounts, but it may take some time to hear back.

I am sorry I cannot give any other answer at this time.

[Silene]

Why would they want to limit the premium players to play against the same few factions most of the time? Isn't it BGA policy to unlimit the experience for them?

[joshuakingrams]

yes, but you should not be limiting part of the game to non-premium players. that has not been done before as far as i know

[Jellby]

I have reached out to BGA to 100% confirm the current behavior is correct regarding premium accounts, but it may take some time to hear back.

I was just asking you to confirm that is the "current behavior"

The next step would be harassing BGA to state whether that is the intended behavior and to change it if it is, because it's unfair.

Just a question. Is it then possible for a game's code to see the premium status (and/or elo) of a player? If that's the case, that's one argument we lose against RNG conspirationists...

[GTSchemer]

Just a question. Is it then possible for a game's code to see the premium status (and/or elo) of a player? If that's the case, that's one argument we lose against RNG conspirationists...

Since game code does not know premium status, the game code actually uses a dedicated API function BGA added. This function returns which factions a specified player ID is allowed to use.

Rolled dice in TI4 use a bga_rand call same as all other games are required to, and this is mentioned in an entry linked from the TI4 FAQ bug entry if you are curious.