Timer length and undo
Posted: 23 November 2015, 16:29
I've just recently found out about this site and joined to play Hive online and maybe some Race for the Galaxy (played a few times but many years ago), Puerto Rico (played only 2 times in RL) and Libertalia (want to try and probably buy). But the experience has so far been frustrating more often than fun.
The first problem is that out of the 13 or 14 games of Hive I've played here so far all but a few were not nearly as fun as Hive can be from my experience due to either a lack or an overabundance of experience of the opposing player. In many games my opponent was a complete noob who barely understood the basic mechanics of the game and had almost no concept of strategy and tactics, and would repeatedly make such mistakes as to serve up victory for me, which was no fun then. In many other games my opponent was a grandmaster who would just crush me in such a way I couldn't even see how we had gotten to that point. I consider myself a slightly above average Hive player, and have a grasp of basic strategy and tactics, but some people with hundreds of games under their belt are just so damn good they paralyze all my pieces and leave me without much options... Now I know you can limit the table your create to only some levels of player experience, but then no one would join. I usually ask people of average standing to join, but those who eventually do are too often either complete noobs or grandmasters. The problem is there's just not enough people in the middle or anywhere near the middle, it's almost all people who come just to try out the game and never return, or addicts who play here all the time and are too good for me. Weirdly, I've noticed the same problem with the MMORPG Dungeons & Dragons Online and the famous FPS Counterstrike. But there's pretty much nothing to be done about this so this is more of a comment and not a question.
The second problem is the timer. When playing against complete noobs you need practically no time to think so there's plenty of time. But in tough games against really good players I need time to carefully analyze the situation and the possibilities each time I have to make a move, which in RL is usually not a problem (unless you really go overboard with your thinking and analyzing, but I usually get no complaints), but here I have had the timer go down to below 0 a couple of times, and once the opposing player took advantage of that and skipped all my moves and won (even though I was close to victory before the timer ran out) and even gave me a thumb down. Now I don't mind losing to a superior player after a tough and closely matched game, but losing because of the timer just frustrates me. I see the need for some kind of time limit to stop infinite procrastination, but I feel the limit should be a lot looser and that players should have all the time they need, within a reasonable limit, even if they are slower on average than the opposing player. That's the way it happens in RL, people usually don't force you to hurry up unless you're really ridiculously slow, and even then they can't force a victory for themselves. I've never played games in RL with a stopwatch and have no wish to do so. So I tried to change the time limit by changing the options of the table when I create it, from Real Time -> Normal to Real Time -> Slow, but that had absolutely no effect on the in-game timer, it's still set at 05:00 in the beginning (I really don't understand why there is an option that does nothing). So is there any way to increase that bloody timer and give both players more time to think ?
The third problem is taking back the last move. In RL you can do this if both opponents agree, and sometimes they do. I have played several games against complete noobs, to whom I gave advice and tips on how to play and tried to teach them the game, however they would make catastrophic mistakes which would end up costing them the game. If I could have (like in RL) I would have let them take back that move (or several even) so I can show them how to play (without restarting the match a 1000 times). On the other hand, I usually don't make such beginner mistakes and don't expect to be able to take them back when I do. However unlike in RL here you can accidentaly click and make a move you weren't even trying to make, or you can move one figure while you thought you were moving another (the selected piece in Hive isn't clearly highlighted). This has happened to me 2 or 3 times so far, and once or twice it cost me the game I would have otherwise won (once more I just barely won after making an accidental click). Losing the game I had been winning due to an accidental click is seriously infuriating ! So I would like to know if there is any way in Hive on BGA to take back your last move if the other player agrees, and to let him do it if you agree ?
The first problem is that out of the 13 or 14 games of Hive I've played here so far all but a few were not nearly as fun as Hive can be from my experience due to either a lack or an overabundance of experience of the opposing player. In many games my opponent was a complete noob who barely understood the basic mechanics of the game and had almost no concept of strategy and tactics, and would repeatedly make such mistakes as to serve up victory for me, which was no fun then. In many other games my opponent was a grandmaster who would just crush me in such a way I couldn't even see how we had gotten to that point. I consider myself a slightly above average Hive player, and have a grasp of basic strategy and tactics, but some people with hundreds of games under their belt are just so damn good they paralyze all my pieces and leave me without much options... Now I know you can limit the table your create to only some levels of player experience, but then no one would join. I usually ask people of average standing to join, but those who eventually do are too often either complete noobs or grandmasters. The problem is there's just not enough people in the middle or anywhere near the middle, it's almost all people who come just to try out the game and never return, or addicts who play here all the time and are too good for me. Weirdly, I've noticed the same problem with the MMORPG Dungeons & Dragons Online and the famous FPS Counterstrike. But there's pretty much nothing to be done about this so this is more of a comment and not a question.
The second problem is the timer. When playing against complete noobs you need practically no time to think so there's plenty of time. But in tough games against really good players I need time to carefully analyze the situation and the possibilities each time I have to make a move, which in RL is usually not a problem (unless you really go overboard with your thinking and analyzing, but I usually get no complaints), but here I have had the timer go down to below 0 a couple of times, and once the opposing player took advantage of that and skipped all my moves and won (even though I was close to victory before the timer ran out) and even gave me a thumb down. Now I don't mind losing to a superior player after a tough and closely matched game, but losing because of the timer just frustrates me. I see the need for some kind of time limit to stop infinite procrastination, but I feel the limit should be a lot looser and that players should have all the time they need, within a reasonable limit, even if they are slower on average than the opposing player. That's the way it happens in RL, people usually don't force you to hurry up unless you're really ridiculously slow, and even then they can't force a victory for themselves. I've never played games in RL with a stopwatch and have no wish to do so. So I tried to change the time limit by changing the options of the table when I create it, from Real Time -> Normal to Real Time -> Slow, but that had absolutely no effect on the in-game timer, it's still set at 05:00 in the beginning (I really don't understand why there is an option that does nothing). So is there any way to increase that bloody timer and give both players more time to think ?
The third problem is taking back the last move. In RL you can do this if both opponents agree, and sometimes they do. I have played several games against complete noobs, to whom I gave advice and tips on how to play and tried to teach them the game, however they would make catastrophic mistakes which would end up costing them the game. If I could have (like in RL) I would have let them take back that move (or several even) so I can show them how to play (without restarting the match a 1000 times). On the other hand, I usually don't make such beginner mistakes and don't expect to be able to take them back when I do. However unlike in RL here you can accidentaly click and make a move you weren't even trying to make, or you can move one figure while you thought you were moving another (the selected piece in Hive isn't clearly highlighted). This has happened to me 2 or 3 times so far, and once or twice it cost me the game I would have otherwise won (once more I just barely won after making an accidental click). Losing the game I had been winning due to an accidental click is seriously infuriating ! So I would like to know if there is any way in Hive on BGA to take back your last move if the other player agrees, and to let him do it if you agree ?