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Time controls

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Carl:
I have found that my games often take longer than I'd like. I'm not sure if it's because people want to play more carefully against me because of my rating, or if it's just because I'm a fast player in general (or both).

I feel that the best way to improve this would be to adjust the time control. Here are my best suggestions so far:


* Fixed time per player for the whole game (6-10 minutes default)
* Fixed time per player with additional time per move (e.g. 3 minutes per game and first 15 seconds per move are 'free')
* Shorter fixed time per move (e.g. 30 secs or 1 minute) with a small reserve for the whole game to avoid time outs
For reference, my sweet spot in terms of game length would be just short of 10 minutes. Currently, most games fall in 10-15 minute range and some of the slower one run to about 20 minutes.

Sadly I realize this may fall below the line since it is mostly important for competitive play, but I think it would make competitive play more fun.

Geraldine M.:
I posted about this before elsewhere.

I agree, and don't just think it applies to competitive play. Anyone who has played against someone who agonises for more than a minute for almost every move in Lost Cities or Finito knows there is nothing fun in a casual game about an ultra-slow opponent.

The alternative would be for players to have the option of selecting a 'relaxed' or 'fast' game when setting up a table.

Thanthamthomap:
Obviously, for games like Finito, players tend to need less time to think, but other games will require much more time to contemplate.

The web is fixing a time control of 2 min each turn for every game, which could be quite frustrating for some games.

So I suppose that the suggestion should be re-calculated for each game:
- Fixed time per player for the whole game (6-10 minutes default) -> Fixed time per player for each game , depend on the food spent to create a table (e.g: finito: 4 min, hanamikoji and lost cities: 6 min, cartographer: 11 min ...)
- Fixed time per player with additional time per move (e.g. 3 minutes per game and first 15 seconds per move are 'free') -> For example, in chess, the setting 5 min + 3 sec/move is used in many online website, however this option also need to be adjusted for each game. I would suggest all the games can be set into X min + X*10 sec/move, where X is the amount of food spent to create a table.

- Shorter fixed time per move (e.g. 30 secs or 1 minute) with a small reserve for the whole game to avoid time outs -> I like this idea most. For example, in game like Stratego, each player has 2 clocks: clock A has 5 min and clock B has 30 sec. After each turn: clock B always resets to 30 sec, if the player uses more time than that, he will use the time on clock A. The player will lose if he used up all the time in clock A. Again, I would suggest clock A=X min and clock B = X*10 sec , where X is the amount of food spent to create a table.

If we applied this rule, some games might need to reduce the food cost. For example, I don't think migrator need 7 minute per player.

Haplo:
Having a fixed time per game for each player might not work, since random variables can cause games to go on longer than usual (I've played a game on Finito that lasted more than 10 minutes because the dice would not roll certain numbers. However, I do think that the time per turn should be modified to fit each game.

Wendy S.:
I think time should also have an option to not play super-fast. Not everyone wants their turns to be made in a hurry because of a clicking clock. So an option to choose which speed would be best in my opinion. I think since the site is called happy meeple it should be inclusive to all players, not only the fast ones.

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