Turn about is fair play

I’ve been wanting to get back to work on Colonial Zoo for a while now but every time I start re-assembling my thoughts they veer off and turn into odd ideas about Trade Winds and/or Muck & Brass or some collision of the two. It has been frustrating.

The main thought for Muck & Brass is that the Pampas Railroads-style action selection mechanism isn’t sufficiently expressive. It provides interesting choices, but they tend to short-term tactical due to the ever-shifting turn order¹. Both Pampas Railroads and Wabash Cannonball exploit right/left binding as a way of providing enough certainty for alliance formation. My largely certain assumption is that fixed turn order isn’t required for emergent alliances, just merely helpful. Emergent alliance formation can still operate in games with variable turn order, as seen with Han’s Riding Series.

Without admitting a problem, perhaps a more free-form action system would make the game more interestingly phase-driven and thus cast a stronger structural light on the game of mergers? Additionally such a system might offer some of the long-term certainties that are missing with variable turn order and thus allow for more interestingly strategic decisions.

The thoughts were solidified by a discussion with Tim Harrison (GamesOnTheBrain) on #bgdf_chat:

[2008-08-27/10:46] <gamesonthebrain> hmmm… JC… I just had an idea… you remember my basic description of my holy grail train game above… I wonder if the Thebes/Neuland AP thing would work well in a game like that

[2008-08-27/10:50] <clearclaw> The Neuland turn-order pattern will tend to drive a longer game.

[2008-08-27/10:51] <clearclaw> Think about it this way: How many turns per player and how many rounds per player per game.

[2008-08-27/10:52] <clearclaw> In general players should have 10-14 turns in non-epic games which feature non-trivial turns. Less and the game is too short to build interest, longer and it bloats.

[2008-08-27/10:52] <gamesonthebrain> Ya, you’re right

[2008-08-27/10:52] <clearclaw> (there are of course exceptions)

[2008-08-27/10:53] <gamesonthebrain> I do tend to like games that have a lot of short turns rather than few long ones though

[2008-08-27/10:53] <gamesonthebrain> like the rondel games

[2008-08-27/10:56] <clearclaw> The Rondel games are interesting. All the rondel really does is present a specific choice-costing structure on each turn.

[2008-08-27/10:56] <clearclaw> His next game does exactly the same sort of choice-costing, just without the rondel and thereby affords a somewhat more interesting graph of choice-relationships.

[2008-08-27/10:56] <gamesonthebrain> I’m really looking forward to princes

[2008-08-27/10:57] <gamesonthebrain> sounds like a must buy for me

[2008-08-27/10:57] <clearclaw> My sense however is that for a game turn to be interesting a player must manage 5-7 (not more!) discrete elements, and must make at least 3 significant and inter-related decisions.

[2008-08-27/10:58] <clearclaw> But that may be more revealing my own preferences than setting an abstract guide.

[2008-08-27/10:58] * clearclaw nods. It does sound interesting.

[2008-08-27/10:58] * clearclaw says things about the implications of the rule of seven etc.

[2008-08-27/10:59] <gamesonthebrain> with the AP thing, wouldn’t a successful player have to be thinking several turns ahead in order to do well? thus, it seems, they would have to be managing 5 or so elements and be making 3 significant decisions per turn.

[2008-08-27/10:59] * clearclaw nods GamesOnTheBrain

[2008-08-27/11:00] <gamesonthebrain> I agree that it might make the game way too long though

[2008-08-27/11:00] <clearclaw> That think-ahead can be one of the dimensions managed on the turn, thus allowing the choices contained within the turn to be simpler. Goa does that trick particularly well.

The brief thought is to make the following changes:

1. A Neuland-style action point track (length TBD, probably in the 7-9 range))
2. One location on the track is called out (colour or other marking)
3. Players may perform any of the standard Capitalise/Develop/Expand actions in the normal manner
4. Each action has an associated AP cost, eg Capitalise 3 AP, Develop (single) 2 AP, Develop (double) 3AP, Expand (single) 1AP, Expand (double) 2AP
5. APs result in the player’s token orbiting the Neuland-style track in the normal manner
6. Turn order is dictated by the action point track Neuland-style (very uncertain about this)
7. Should a players action take them to or past the specially marked location on the action track (cf Imperial’s Investor rondel location) then all the companies of which that player is the plurality shareholder pay dividends

Methinks I need to run some simulations.