Speeding up the game: Test Results

What's fascinating when introducing a rule to a system is figuring out what has happened to the system when that rule is tested. I tried out the challenge rule in a 3-player game and it didn't work. Or, I should say, it didn't work as I wanted it to work. That is a good thing as a disconfirmation of a hypothesis is much better than the confirmation. The latter yields no new information. The former tells you there is either a flaw in your logic or a problem with your model. 

The challenge rule didn't work because the second player challenged the first player to gain an advantage against the 3rd player without the 3rd player being able to react properly. It felt bad and I saw no significant increase in the speed of play. It didn't work well with a culture of taking ordered turns and waiting for your opponents' best moves.

There was the suggestion that players all activate their systems at once, and resolve in initiative order, which I should also try out. There is some suggestion that this speeds up play. It was made in parallel with the comment that if 'pass' was a card it would be the most popular card to play. There is truth to this as we have seen from the version of capacitors that let players draw additional cards from their decks.  I'm okay with pass being popular, and have considered it making it a card draw, although having a time-out end condition seems important and testing it out as a draw meant the first round did not end. 

Of course the players can voluntarily play faster, to the point of abandoning the mental math entirely, as calculating optimal choices each turn and again at the end of the round, but I really would like some way to put time-pressure on players that isn't a timer or liable to cause arguments.

Titanomachina: Speeding up the Game

Not too long ago Titanomachina games invariably lasted about 75 minutes. It was weird. That stopped happening a few years ago, and since then games have tended to take longer. The 9-round introductory games I've run at Hal-con 2022 and plan to run this year can take up to 120 minutes, which is too much. I have been racking my brain trying to think of a way to speed up the game that isn't unfriendly to beginners, disabled players, and involves incentivizing players rather than punishing them for being slow since some parts of the game are actually kind of slow. Some players could probably smash out a game in as little as 30 minutes, and maybe even faster with some predatory first-round action. But I'm not really worried about them. I want players to enjoy a brisk game, or a tense game, and play at a pace that is good for them. 

Of course, the trick to any creative endeavor is first to figure out all the things that you can break and all the radical changes you could make. Once all the brainstorming is done, then you can analyze these solutions in terms of the requirements, and narrow it down a bit. Then, once something looks promising you can play-test it and find out that it doesn't work, but also find out what does work given the alternative. It's kind of funny that way. 

I think I have narrowed it down to a +1 cog bonus to the player that activates a system before a player preceding them in the turn order. So a bonus for declaring an action before a player has to declare it, and resolving it after someone else's action. 

Often times the player with the highest initiative may want to hold off activating a system, passing instead of activating, in the hopes of being able to react to what the other player(s) might do. This is kind of slow and sometimes backfires as it the other player(s) may then pass as well, ending the round. Now, if a player is unsure of what they are going to do next, that can also be aggravating to a player with something all cued up and ready to go. This gives players an incentive to (a) get cards on the table ASAP, and to (b) narrow the problem-space for those with the first shot (and the most uncertainty). It might also encourage players to egg each other along, which I think is healthy within the code of conduct. 

Titanomachina: What is in a board?

Part of the specifications for Titanomachina as a game is the emphasis on position and terrain. It is designed so that players can build the board before the game, essentially defining the battle they are going to have. Despite that, I have implemented quick-start set ups in Tabletop Simulator because I think that people playing for the first time (or the umpteenth time, so as myself) might appreciate getting straight to the action. I do like the idea of choosing the board at such a finely-grained level, but it virtually doubles the time spent on the game, which can stretch pretty long if a player is indecisive or simply slowly counting up all math which might determine move A rather than move B. The variable board is essentially for players that have excelled themselves at card management, and what to increase the difficulty level and add content to the experience. Which brings me back to the quickstart setup. 

Previous setups interfered with Titans' ability to smash themselves and each other through buildings. The latest is intended to reverse that, putting rows of buildings offset to each other so that Titans with Impact and Grapple weaponry can be extra smashy, as collateral damage is definitely a player favourite. An offset grid pattern drastically increases the opportunities to inflict another player's Titan on nearby buildings. Hopefully this hooks people's attention and kindles their imaginations. Hopefully this increases engagement during demo games, as the carrot to the stick of all the game mechanics. 

In addition here are a couple of highly specific rules I thought I might add before Hal-con 2023, and that would be:

(1) the ability to kick other Titans in the shin, which is to say allow Titans to attack other Titans directly in front of them with their legs, while limiting the available targets to the other Titan's legs. Essentially players are dis-satisfied with Titans' inability to kick directly forward without the aid of sponsons. Sponsons and the vivacious personality both exist, but apparently it's an issue. 

(2) the ability for Titans with a Hand or Claw to bottle another Titan with a nearby habitat. Which honestly is really specific but also hilarious. Also, it harkens back to the Gypsy Danger using shipping containers to loads its fists, which is so silly but also hilarious. With hilarity in mind, it would be neat to allow a Titan to convert the Grapple trait of its weapon to Impact if they destroy a habitat in range, arc, and line of sight. 

Which brings to me to a couple of outstanding problems with the game: 

The first is that play can be very slow when players pay close attention, and even slower when they don't. There's no punishment, except boredom, when the game takes too long, and no real incentive to play faster. I'm inclined to figure out a reward for players that play faster. I'm not sure how to do this, however. I'm not even sure it should be done. 

The second problem is communicating the granularity of the game. Players are generally used to bouncing across the board in a very loose abstraction of combat, usually a matter of moving into position to roll dice rather than more gradually developing a position and attack/defense strategies. I think a pre-amble about how the Titans are very big and have a lot of momentum, and how combos are built up over time helps somewhat but doesn't really prepare players for how to set things up and the violence of contact. 

The third problem is that having bits getting ripped off your Titan can be a psychological blow as much as it seems to disadvantage a player that can't use that card anymore. While a Titan missing systems will act faster, the reduction in both options and charge for systems will see it at a disadvantage, as well as giving them a vulnerable point: Getting through enemy shields and then enemy armour can be a turning point in a game. I'm personally very very pleased with how it works, but I get that it can be a bit much for other people. Not everyone wants to be Raleigh Beckett. 

The fourth problem is when someone uses a laser weapon for the first time, as they're pretty underwhelming when faced with shields, and there is also something somewhat innately cruel about them being used on unshielded opponents. To a degree they're meant to be cruel, both as a brake to heavily armoured opponents, and to have a particular character whereby the player feels like their Titan has been stabbed. It is a problem to the degree that players using lasers for opening shots are going to feel like they're at a disadvantage, particularly compared to guns. Plasma weapons have the dual advantages of hitting really hard and knocking a card out of an opponent's hand. Laser weapons, except maybe the laser blade, aren't really all that great for a player's first shot. Not a huge problem, but these things can add up.