Board Game Arena

I am getting EXTREMELY frustrated with the timer. I had 1 long turn and then every turn after that I was in negative time no MATTER WHAT I DO.

Is there any solution to this because I'm very close to unaliving myself every time that clock goes off at the start of my turn. Do you not get the same amount of time every turn?? All of sudden I have 30 second when I had 1 min. The app is clunky as * and I can't see what the opponent did and checking that takes 10s. Great 1/3 of time gone. I am legit getting more and more frustrated the more I talk about this.

Someone please help

*Moderator edit: please refrain from swearing on BGA, this is a family-friendly platform.

Kumarian wrote: ↑29 July 2024, 09:32 I am getting EXTREMELY frustrated with the timer. I had 1 long turn and then every turn after that I was in negative time no MATTER WHAT I DO.

Is there any solution to this because I'm very close to unaliving myself every time that clock goes off at the start of my turn. Do you not get the same amount of time every turn?? All of sudden I have 30 second when I had 1 min. The app is clunky as * and I can't see what the opponent did and checking that takes 10s. Great 1/3 of time gone. I am legit getting more and more frustrated the more I talk about this.

Someone please help

Without knowing the game and speed, I can't give you a precise explanation, but here's the basics of it (assuming you're playing a real-time game, and not a tournament).

You're given a set amount of time at the start of the game, predetermined by the settings for that game - say, 2 minutes. Every time your turn starts, you get a bonus amount of time based on what the designers thought was a reasonable amount of time for taking a turn in the game. This could be 6 seconds, it could be 20 seconds. BUT. You will never have more time than you had at the start of the game. That 2 minutes is a cap on time - so if you start with the full 120 seconds, and only spend 3 seconds, then when your next turn starts, you'll have the 120 seconds, not 123 or 137 (for 6 second or 20 second turns).

So if you do take too long on one turn, you'll have less time on future turns, until you've "caught up." Say we're dealing with the 2 minute start, 6 second turn boost. You've wasted 90 seconds on one turn, you're down to 30 seconds left. If you take 5 seconds for your next turn, you'll have 31 seconds at the start of the next turn, then 32 the turn after that, and so on. If you can get your turn done in 3 seconds, you'll be increasing your amount by 3 seconds every turn until you're back up to the max of 2 minutes again.

Letting your timer get all the way down to single-digits in seconds can make future turns be very demanding - you don't have the luxury of sitting and thinking, since you already did too much of that in previous turns.

If the overall timer seems too fast, then consider checking the timer settings for the game you're playing, and limiting yourself to Slow speed versions of the game. Once you've gotten a feel for how much time it takes you, consider whether you can handle Normal or Fast turn speed.

Given the penalty in the player's profile, it would seem to be on a RT Normal speed game of Gizmos, which is +0:28 per turn (maximum 2:24). The game shows you taking about 40-60 seconds per turn, so you're constantly burning through your buffer (the 2:24 you start with), meaning eventually you get to a point where you have no buffer anymore. So you're either in red constantly, or within a short amount of time after your turn starts. It looks like you only went into the red in the last third of the game, so that's not that long that the clock would have been going off at the start of your turn.

You can see the speed information either in the hamburger (three lines) menu for the table, or in the Options tab below the main play space. Seeing it before you enter a game is (I think) more difficult in the new lobby (game page), as I couldn't spot where this info was. You used to be able to see it on games in the old lobby (Play Now) by clicking the table before joining.

In any case, if you find the speed is too fast for you, do your best, hope you aren't booted, and on subsequent games, choose a slower speed that suits you better. Time penalties don't mean much, and even an occasional booting isn't the end of the world, providing you're playing regularly and generally sticking within your time limits.

Can I see somewhere on a games page what the designer of the game set as a limit to be given bonus time for the game?

Take my favourite game for example, Pax Renaissance.
I play only real-time 1 vs 1 on eiter Normal speed or fast speed. How do I know which is the threshold to be given extra time.

So if I understand the timer correctly, it isent strict chess-clock where you have a certain ammount of total time to complete your game (say 30 min each for a total of 1 hour game).
But not also a limit for the turn itself (say 1 min to complete the turn, but you can take infinite turns)

The clock is like a hybrid?

ViktorKM wrote: ↑02 September 2024, 10:28 So if I understand the timer correctly, it isent strict chess-clock where you have a certain ammount of total time to complete your game (say 30 min each for a total of 1 hour game).
But not also a limit for the turn itself (say 1 min to complete the turn, but you can take infinite turns)

The clock is like a hybrid?

The clock is a fairly normal implementation, X time + increment, which is widely used online for Chess. The two forms you are thinking of, fixed time and lighning round time were widely used in physical Chess before the internet but were mostly displaced by this.

In Turn based games these numbers are fixed (with some time zone extra implementation in the fastest setting). In Real time games there are general bands but the precise details of time and increment are set by the site. In tournament games players do receive a fixed amount of time for the whole game.

The solution is probably that you are playing on the wrong time setting for your play and device. Try the slowest real time setting and the faster turn settings to see how you find those.

ViktorKM wrote: ↑02 September 2024, 10:28 Can I see somewhere on a games page what the designer of the game set as a limit to be given bonus time for the game?

The designer doesn't get to choose the actual time. It's determined algorithmically based on how long player turns took over the sample period (usually alpha/beta testing) and may be adjusted by BGA staff, but is completely outside of developer control.

In the old interface, I think it told you the time when you chose the game speed, but I don't think it's visible outside of that.

Say a real time game with fast game speed for Pax Renaissance have each player start at 8 minutes (I forgot what its actually is, but lets say its 8 minuites).

What I cant figure out is, how much time does a quick turn awards you? And how quick do you need to be on your turn to be awarded this bonus time?

nik592 wrote: ↑29 July 2024, 10:54 You can see the speed information either in the hamburger (three lines) menu for the table, or in the Options tab below the main play space. Seeing it before you enter a game is (I think) more difficult in the new lobby (game page), as I couldn't spot where this info was.

It's hard to spot, but you can see it in the new lobby as well. Obviously, it tells you the approximate time, e. g. "~ 10 min.". If you hover over that text, you can see the exact times (per turn + game bonus) for the setting.

ViktorKM wrote: ↑02 September 2024, 15:01 Say a real time game with fast game speed for Pax Renaissance have each player start at 8 minutes (I forgot what its actually is, but lets say its 8 minuites).

What I cant figure out is, how much time does a quick turn awards you? And how quick do you need to be on your turn to be awarded this bonus time?

I just went to Pax Renaissance, set it to fast real time, long held over the total game time (I'm on an mobile android device, so it's probably just placing the mouse cursor over the total time on a desktop/laptop), and it says 3 minutes max time (which I believe is also your starting time) with 1:21 added per turn.

That means if you always take 1:21 or less each turn, you'll always get reset back to 3 minutes (the max) every turn. If you take more than 1:21 on a turn, your next turn will start off with less than 3 minutes available, but by playing future turns faster than 1:21, you'll get more time (but never getting more than 3 minutes for a single turn). Does that make sense?

You basically just have a 3 minute toilet that counts down, and at the start of each turn it adds 1:21 to your timer (but can never go over 3 minutes) for Pax Renaissance on fast-real time.

Remkar wrote: ↑02 September 2024, 15:31

ViktorKM wrote: ↑02 September 2024, 15:01 Say a real time game with fast game speed for Pax Renaissance have each player start at 8 minutes (I forgot what its actually is, but lets say its 8 minuites).

What I cant figure out is, how much time does a quick turn awards you? And how quick do you need to be on your turn to be awarded this bonus time?

I just went to Pax Renaissance, set it to fast real time, long held over the total game time (I'm on an mobile android device, so it's probably just placing the mouse cursor over the total time on a desktop/laptop), and it says 3 minutes max time (which I believe is also your starting time) with 1:21 added per turn.

That means if you always take 1:21 or less each turn, you'll always get reset back to 3 minutes (the max) every turn. If you take more than 1:21 on a turn, your next turn will start off with less than 3 minutes available, but by playing future turns faster than 1:21, you'll get more time (but never getting more than 3 minutes for a single turn). Does that make sense?

You basically just have a 3 minute toilet that counts down, and at the start of each turn it adds 1:21 to your timer (but can never go over 3 minutes) for Pax Renaissance on fast-real time.

Can I see how much time it adds? Or the difference? so if I finnish my turn in exavtly 1 min, I get 21 seconds added to my time?