Board Game Arena

Can we have an extra 30 seconds or so just for turn 1 for Prelude games? Its a little hard to pick starting corporation, starting deck, and starting prelude bonus cards all under 1:40. Keep in mind the clock keeps ticking when you have to select the order of starting prelude cards and play first turn actions like build a free city or fund an award for free. I have players try to time me out as soon as the clock hits 0, even if I already have selected my cards and we are both waiting for the game to reveal the player cards. If I'm way over time I understand timing me out, but feels in poor taste to attempt a time out game end turn 1 right at 0:00 clock. I play fast and would rather not play on slower speeds just for turn 1.

Honestly it would be specifically enough for just the initial drafting phase for the 2corps, 4 preludes and 10 cards, as the timer when calculating how much you can buy for your turn 1 phase can get hairy. Trying to figure out play order, potential IC and Credicor Rebates, calculating extra minerals from preludes into cash, etc, lots to do. So yeah, I agree.

On a slightly related timer note, I also see some players abusing the cancel move + timer refund thing a fair bit and that is kind of annoying. Players taking 4 minute turns with multiple cancels instead of the normally allocated time seems like an exploit.

As I understand it, BGA doesn't have the ability to assign more time to just the first turn. There are many games where this would be desirable, but it's not possible at this time.

I was just vote booted on turn start at -15 seconds by 2 ~200 elo players. This is a very bad experience that WILL drive people away.

I do agree it would be nice. However, BGA literally can’t do it. We just need to deal with it and not worry about things we can’t control. I would suggest picking a backup setup quickly and then finessing it with your allotted time that’s left. Your opponent is also *rushing* their draft so there’s nothing unfair about it. If you can’t draft that fast, I would just increase your clock timer. I see tons of people playing fast mode and going under time as is. There’s nothing wrong with that approach if it makes the game a better experience for you.

How about if the setup turn is split into three actions: first choose a corporation, next choose prelude cards (when playing with prelude), finally pick hand cards. Would that multiply the available total time by three?

Company, prelude and hands cards would still all need to be visible at each step. And preferably, players should be able to already pick their prelude cards and hand cards even if not everyone has finished choosing their corporation. I don't know how feasible all of that is with the BGA framework.

StijnArnauts wrote: ↑09 December 2024, 19:42 How about if the setup turn is split into three actions: first choose a corporation, next choose prelude cards (when playing with prelude), finally pick hand cards. Would that multiply the available total time by three?

That wouldn't really solve the problem since you'd have to do decide your picks before the first timer.
The current system isn't perfect, but I've never been expelled if I just say I'm having trouble deciding the opening hand.

just use the good damn settings and play on medium or slow which gives more time

Please turn based, that way no stress about openings and you can challenge anyone anytime zone you want. Challenge me! Mastermystery I am going to send you a challenge for free

It is hard for me to believe that the first turn cannot be assigned more time on a platform / BGA basis; seems arbitrary and weird. I think an extra minute in the setup will be a great idea.

I would never play turn based; I'm nowhere near patient enough/ have too much ADD for it.