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.