How do agreements work on BGA?

[oldmangiver]

I have played TI once in person and loved it and I am currently in two turn-based games on BGA. When I played in person, we could propose agreements at any time and trade items based on the agreement. I proposed an agreement in BGA where I would get someone's commodities in exchange for a promissory note and they agreed. However, I have no idea how the agreement is actually executed so that I can exchange the promissory note for their commodities.

Please let me know if I am doing something wrong and if my trade is possible on BGA.

Thanks,

Mark...

[GTSchemer]

I have played TI once in person and loved it and I am currently in two turn-based games on BGA. When I played in person, we could propose agreements at any time and trade items based on the agreement. I proposed an agreement in BGA where I would get someone's commodities in exchange for a promissory note and they agreed. However, I have no idea how the agreement is actually executed so that I can exchange the promissory note for their commodities.

Please let me know if I am doing something wrong and if my trade is possible on BGA.

Thanks,

Mark...

There are 2 main types of agreements on BGA: verbal agreements, and transactions. Verbal agreements are just 2 players agreeing on something, but they have no gameplay effect.

Transactions are the more critical type (and you can do verbal agreement + transaction if you want to include a message with the transaction). Transactions are governed by physical game rules, such as 1 transaction per player per turn, 1 promissory note per transaction etc.

On BGA, think of a basic transaction as an email. You choose what you send and receive, and it goes into the system waiting for the other player to accept. It looks like this: https://snipboard.io/MVBhqK.jpg

In the action phase, transactions can only be accepted if 1 of the players involved is the Active Player, that is, the player taking their overall turn in the action phase. So in this situation, a few things could happen:

1. You send the deal with the "Submit" button. The other player is online and accepts immediately.
2. You send the deal with the "Submit" button. When the other player wakes up and takes their turn, they can accept at that time.
3. You send the deal with the "Submit and Wake" button. The game pauses and the other player wakes up immediately so they can accept or reject the transaction.

For any of these paths, the trade goods and promissory note change hands instantly as soon as one of the players accepts. It looks like this in the History tab: https://snipboard.io/xXEZys.jpg


I hope this helps explain things. For the Trade strategy card and X-1 buttons specifically, that is a special case that works automatically. There is a help button ingame which describes how it works.

[oldmangiver]

Thank you very much for the detailed reply. I'm not sure whether what I did was a transaction or agreement. I offered commodities for a promissory note and it was accepted but nothing happened. I never received commodities and the other player never received a promissory note.

[GTSchemer]

Thank you very much for the detailed reply. I'm not sure whether what I did was a transaction or agreement. I offered commodities for a promissory note and it was accepted but nothing happened. I never received commodities and the other player never received a promissory note.

I checked the log, and it was a "verbal agreement" which means no gameplay effect.

If the player wants to do the exchange, they can send a "transaction" which specifies the commodities and exact promissory note to change hands.

[oldmangiver]

Okay. I think I understand now. Thank you again for the explanation.

[Bravehome]

"You send the deal with the "Submit and Wake" button. The game pauses and the other player wakes up immediately so they can accept or reject the transaction."

I was curious if the 'wake' feature starts the clock on somebody. Seems this might not be a good idea, could get someone into clock trouble because they may not be expecting (turn order) to do something soon.

[GTSchemer]

"You send the deal with the "Submit and Wake" button. The game pauses and the other player wakes up immediately so they can accept or reject the transaction."

I was curious if the 'wake' feature starts the clock on somebody. Seems this might not be a good idea, could get someone into clock trouble because they may not be expecting (turn order) to do something soon.

That is just normal for async games, since Twilight Imperium has many effects (like action cards) at many different times.

There are 2 different options though:

1. If another player keeps sending unwanted offers to you, there is an ingame button to ignore offers from that player.
2. If a table host wants to disable the option for all players, they can do this (when creating the table).