Board Game Arena

Time limits are slow-medium-fast. The fast setting is still too slow in a game of Puerto Rico. Please add a super speed setting that basically requires fast action and a quick finish. Thanks!

Speed settings are game-based.
For example, in fast settings, Puerto Rico has +22s per turn, while Koi-Koi has +8s per turn.

If not already done, you might want to open a discussion in the Puerto Rico forum (https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=38) on possibly adjusting the time settings for PR.

If a super-speed option were to be added, I'd strongly advise for a banner/warning to be clearly displayed before the game, so that players that were matched through "automatic" but have crappy internet connection or unpractical device (like a small smartphone) don't miss this information and can cancel the game beforehand, rather than entering a game with time limits they can't really comply with.
(Alternatively, this option could be by default on "never" for automatic players, so that peoples only get matched to it if they specifically change the setting to allow it)

MoiMagnus wrote: ↑21 April 2021, 10:01 Speed settings are game-based.
For example, in fast settings, Puerto Rico has +22s per turn, while Koi-Koi has +8s per turn.

If not already done, you might want to open a discussion in the Puerto Rico forum (https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=38) on possibly adjusting the time settings for PR.

Hmm, this is not exactly how it works. Time settings are adjusted automatically (per game) by an algorithm using the time needed by players to play their moves in a large number of games. So they are manually defined only at the beginning, by the developer, and after a large number of games played it wouldn't make sense to adjust them manually to a value that is different from the computed one.

Maybe the algorithm is bad and don't give appropriate values (in this case it should be changed for all games, maybe more difference between normal and fast), but I think that the reality is that there are great differences regarding desired speed among players, for all games, not only Puerto Rico. It has been asked many times to add a "very fast" speed setting, for several games or in general, and I think it would be a good thing. Some people like to play slow games, some people like to play "normal" games, some people like to play fast games, and some people like to play very fast games, so let's give them this possibility. And by the way, some people also like to play very slow games, so this setting could be added too (when you play a heavy strategy game that you don't know well, when you want to be able to have a break for something and be sure that it doesn't annoy other players at this table, ...).

The only problem I could see about it is that it should be very clear for players that they join a very fast or very slow game, and in the case of very fast games, that a small problem (internet connection, something in life, ...) can lead to penalty / reputation drop / being kicked out of a game. So I agree that a big red banner saying something like "play at your own risk!" would be a good thing, and maybe also prevent this for automatic lobby except if explicitely allowed.

fafa-fr wrote: ↑21 April 2021, 11:39And by the way, some people also like to play very slow games, so this setting could be added too (when you play a heavy strategy game that you don't know well, when you want to be able to have a break for something and be sure that it doesn't annoy other players at this table, ...).

Slow players tend to use turn-based mode, or play with "friends" and disable time limit (I have a table of friends where we usually take 4 to 6 times longer than the average game time, so games like Terra Mystical are ~6 hours long when we play together). Both options are far from perfect, but that's better than nothing.

MoiMagnus wrote: ↑21 April 2021, 13:32

fafa-fr wrote: ↑21 April 2021, 11:39And by the way, some people also like to play very slow games, so this setting could be added too (when you play a heavy strategy game that you don't know well, when you want to be able to have a break for something and be sure that it doesn't annoy other players at this table, ...).

Slow players tend to use turn-based mode, or play with "friends" and disable time limit

They may tend to to this because they don't have a better option, but it's not the same thing. We may want to play a slow game but still want to finish it in less than two hours, to play it live and not turn-based, and not have players quitting the game because they lose or something.

MoiMagnus wrote: ↑21 April 2021, 13:32 (I have a table of friends where we usually take 4 to 6 times longer than the average game time, so games like Terra Mystical are ~6 hours long when we play together).

When we're playing with friends, of course we don't care about speed settings because we can agree with each other. But when playing with players we don't know, an appropriate time setting is useful, and I don't think adding a very slow speed setting woud have big drawbacks, even if it is not often used.