Board Game Arena

There are a bunch of developments that has x3 consume and if you start doing that you have to finish. It happens to me way to often that I'm forced to get unfavorable trade, because I clicked too fast (my mistake of course).

But for quality of life update it would be nice to get UNDO on the whole phase for consume or a confirmation of some kind. This could be configurable from the game options menu.

I agree, it would be nice to consume in any order and not be forced to complete the consume ability of a card before being able to consume from another card. I'm not sure how hard this is to implement though.

Having an undo for the whole consume phase is probably not possible though as some consume abilities allow you to draw cards, which you shouldn't be able to undo.

On the topic of consume, it would be nice if there was a way (a button, or option) to force each player to consume in start world order per the rules. In very specific situations this can matter as it can impact when the game will end and whether prestige vp points and cards are given out.

Actually, looking at the rules:

"Each consume power can be used only once in a consume phase. Some powers allow multiple goods, “up to” some number, to be discarded, with each good producing an effect. Such powers must be fully used, if possible, when invoked."

So, it looks like implementation on BGA is correct. However, it would be nice to be able to undo a card consume if let's say you're in the middle of a 3X consume and then realise it is not the best way to consume. Then again, there is the consume timing issue with opponents as I mentioned in my above post. I'm fine with the way things are, but yes, some tweaking could potentially make it better.

As obsidian pointed out, the fact that you can't stop using a power once you've started is a feature, not a bug. This is the rules. Cancelling the use of a single consume power could be possible, but it's a bit painful to do, I don't plan on implementing it. Restarting the whole consume phase even less of course. Sorry, you'll have to be careful!
Enforcing turn order is indeed in the rules and should be possible. I'll add it to my todo (near the bottom though, low priority).

Ok, I guess we'll all just have to continue to be careful with the consumes then. I'm fine by that.

I would agree that the turn order timing issue is low priority. It is very situational. Eventually it would be nice to either have a button to allow someone to force a particular phase or round to happen in turn order and/or a game option to force all phases to happen in turn order. To always do a phase in turn order seems like a bit much though and will make for longer games. Having a button to force a round to be played in turn order may be best, as some players could just press this in later rounds where the game might end. The most important phase for this is consume, and to a lesser degree settle and develop. In the very rare situation someone might want to do explore in turn order if the draw deck is going to be reshuffled.

obsidian_octagon wrote: ↑08 March 2021, 00:25a game option to force all phases to happen in turn order.

That's a big no. It's pointless and against the spirit of the game!

obsidian_octagon wrote: ↑08 March 2021, 00:25Having a button to force a round to be played in turn order may be best, as some players could just press this in later rounds where the game might end. The most important phase for this is consume, and to a lesser degree settle and develop. In the very rare situation someone might want to do explore in turn order if the draw deck is going to be reshuffled.

Since explore is automated, there's no reason not to always do it in turn order. I'll check it, should be easy to fix.
Ideally, I'd rather have the button only if there's a chance for the game to end, but for consume, that can be pretty hard to calculate. The gain/effort ratio is very low, not to mention possible confusion to players who might wonder what the point of the "enforce turn order button" is. It might just never happen.

Just brainstorming ideas on the timing issue. The need for it is very low in my opinion and perhaps not worth the effort. For simplicity and to avoid confusion, perhaps it's best to just keep things as they are for now.

obsidian_octagon wrote: ↑06 March 2021, 19:02 On the topic of consume, it would be nice if there was a way (a button, or option) to force each player to consume in start world order per the rules. In very specific situations this can matter as it can impact when the game will end and whether prestige vp points and cards are given out.

I don't think slowing down the game for an effect that would rarely be material would be worth it.

I don't usually have any problem with the consume powers. The fact that you have to alternate between clicking goods and powers tends to prevent catastrophic mis-clicks.

The undo that I really want is undo discard. The UI has several discard-related traps that I still fall into after thousands of plays. So many times I have my mouse ready to click develop I want to play in the develop phase I called, only to discover too late my opponent called explore while I have a mix-with-hand power. Or to choose the settle I want to play, only to realize I need a discard-for-military power to use it; then, when I start to attempt to click to activate the power and then select the card to discard, I unintentionally discard the previously-clicked settle. And, of course, a banal mis-click while making a payment can happen. A narrow implementation that popped up an "undo last discard" button any time a discard happened, with no further undo functionality support added to the game, would be sufficient for my satisfaction.

It’s funny, I’ve had three games recently where decisions about how to consume became very important on the (potential) last turn, and I and my opponent both paused for a while waiting to see what the other would do. I don’t know if there’s any fix for this that isn’t clunky, just noting that in a higher rated games it’s not a rare occurrence.