Subject: Re: MN: Subject: Moving

From: riffraff@n...
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 18:36:38 -0500

>Moving seems like a sufficiently fundamental place to start.
>
>A number of ways of working it spring to mind:
>
>1) The Mornomic way: The LV can be changed by a small amount each
>turn. A player can move a distance equivalent to eir LV.
>
>2) Turn at a time: Each player can move at most X stations in one
>turn.
>
>3) Time limiting: Moving 1 station takes 10mins. The further e moves
>the less time e has available for shunting, blocking...
>
>With the last 2 no record of the current LV need be made. The first
>may encourage more long-term planning.

I dislike 2) because it reduces the opportunity for strategy. Moving at
maximum speed should carry some sort of balancing penalty (and, conversely,
there should probably be a reward for moving slowly). The original method
got around this by forcing you to gain speed gradually, so you couldn't
instantly start zooming around the board, and likewise you had to plan a
gradual slow-down if you wanted to land at a specific station.

3) is nice, although given a 1 hour turn, 10 mins = 1 station would be very
limiting. 2 or 3 minutes would probably be better, allowing for an average
move of 3 - 5 Stations. Or, for simplicity, you could say 1-4 Stations =
10 mins, 5-8 Stations = 20 mins, 9 or 10 Stations = 30 mins. Thus you'd
have to sacrifice half your turn for really speedy movement.

(Parenthetical aside concerning time: in response to Kevan's earlier
comment about Game Time being too much work for no benefit, I think it's
valuable for two reasons: firstly, it provides for Stations with restricted
hours, which I think is pretty nifty. After all, the symbols are right
there on the map - why not take advantage of them? Secondly, Game Time
provides a tidy and stylish way to limit the number of Actions you can take
in a turn... without them, we'd be forced to use 'Action Points' or
something. Urgh.)

I like LV though, simply because (and I expect some of you disagree) I
_like_ having several strange numbers to keep track of. And I think it
fits in with the whole MC genre - having to pull out charts and graphs to
calculate Beck's Coefficient, and all that.

Perhaps LV could be combined with 3) in some way. How about: you start with
LV = 1, and can add or subtract 1 (or possibly 2) per turn, to a maximum of
5. By subtracting your LV from 6, you get the time it takes to move 1
Station, BUT, you must move at least as many Stations as your LV. So, with
LV 1, each Station takes 5 minutes; LV 3, each Station takes 3 minutes
(half your turn to move 10), but you have to move at least 3; LV 5, you can
move 10 Stations in only 10 minutes, but you can't move less than 5
Stations.

Hmmm. I like it! Complicated on the surface, but it wouldn't take much at
all to get used to it, and there isn't any more to keep track of than in
the original version. And it seems nicely balanced - someone who pushes
their LV up to 5 in order to zoom across the board would have to do some
tricky skidding-about and maneuvering to land at exactly the Station they
want, whereas someone travelling slowly could stop easily whereever they
please. And what makes the improvement over the original version is that
you _can_ move 10 Stations with a LV of only 1, provided you're willing to
sacrifice almost all of your Turn.

>
>Other thing to bare in mind are: changing lines, moving for other
>reasons (shunting, straddling...), how many times per turn a player
>can move (possibly more than 1) and whether the route taken need be
>noted.

I think that for the most part these can be kept the same. One Move per
turn, Actions that move you cost extra time and Tokens, route need only be
noted when it would make a difference. Changing lines should, perhaps,
cost a little extra time - say, 2 mins. Plus the Black Token. With maybe
an option to take a full 10 minutes to change lines and forgo the cost.

>
>I think moves should be made actions to standardize the notation.

<shrug> Hokay - wouldn't really change anything.

[Moving to <Station> {via <Route>}] Time: variable Cost: 0 (Can only be
played once per Turn)

plus a notation of which Action can only be played before (or after) a Move
Action.

--Riff

"This calls for a subtle blend of psychology and extreme violence."
--Vyvyan, "The Young Ones"

---

From: "Snow" <snowl@s...>
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2000 23:27:47 +0100

RiffRaff:
> Moving at
> maximum speed should carry some sort of balancing penalty

Agreed.

> The original method

I would disagree. The original method didn't require slowing down to
land at a specific station, one could just take a longer route. This
is the main problem with it.

> have to sacrifice half your turn for really speedy movement.

It's 30 stations from Edgeware to Morden (the more northerly and
southerly stations on the Northern line) should we really be able to
do this in 3 turns. I would cap LV at 6 as a more suitable speed for
moving around. And even at this speed there should be a heavy
time/token penalty.

> in a turn... without them, we'd be forced to use 'Action Points' or

I would keep the hour limit on a turn, but I can't see the point in
keeping Game Time generally.

> calculate Beck's Coefficient, and all that.

I don't mind having numbers to keep track of provided the effort is
rewarded. Charge takes a lot of effort to track and has nearly no
effect. Game time is fairly easy to track, but still doesn't do much
(except for limiting a Turn to an hour). LV is trivial to use and has
a large effect.

We should bare in mind that part of this exercise is to make the game
more accessable to newbies (and oldies).

> One Move per

I don't think we should use units of time less than 5mins. I think
10mins+black would be good for changing line.

OK, one move per normal turn. I was thinking about having different
types of move Actions. This is more or less what we have now stated
more consistently.

Normal: [Move to <Station> {via route}] (Once per turn)
Pass: [Pass] (Replaces normal move).
Straddle: [Straddle to <Station>] (Only allowed after normal moves).
Special Move to Loop station: [Loop Move to Dollis Hill] (Only allowed
in Dollis Hill loops, replaces normal move.)
...etc

Snow
-I no longer need to spend 10mins adjusting the brightness and
contrast to see Lara Croft.