Subject: MN: Re: Protoproposal: Spin City

From: Dunx <dunx@d...>
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 13:25:30 AST

On Wed, 15 Dec 1999 12:46:42 +0100 "Ole Andersen" wrote:
> I revised this:
> 
> Protoproposal: Spin City [Multiple]
[...]

Better.

> And how would we record it?

This is still, to my mind, the killer, and I shall address it first if I
may. The options would seem to be:

a/ have another board akin to Disruptions or Stacks to which Spins are
added as they are defined. How bad this would be depends entirely on how
long the Game lasts, but it would probably be infeasible for the Long Game
(~150 Moves played, and less than a fifth of the way through). There is an
obvious limit, though, since there are only 295 Stations on th estandard
board.

b/ give the Spin in the Move. This is manageable, but would radically
change the look of the GSD one way or another. Let's consider this further.

Given a normal enough Move -

Kevan : [LV+3] Queens Park (BL) [Purchasing Knerdling Stick]

... the Spin value (<n>) could go:

1 - in with the Line Code:
Kevan : [LV+3] Queens Park (<n> BL) [Purchasing Knerdling Stick]

This isn't too bad, but doesn't fit in well with Special Moves.

2 - as a prefix to the Play Proper, say replacing the ':' separator:
Kevan :<n>: [LV+3] Queens Park (BL) [Purchasing Knerdling Stick]

... although that doesn't work because again it is not clear which
Station the value applies to if a Special Move had been made. Let's
add the Venbacker Code, then -
Kevan :QUPK=<n>: [LV+3] Queens Park (BL) [Purchasing Knerdling Stick]

(not sure about the exact code - PaulWay's page is not linked and I've
left my printout at home)

3 - as a separate Action somewhere else in the Play:
Kevan : [LV+3] Queens Park (BL) [Purchasing Knerdling Stick]
[Spin Queen's Park=<n>]

(or use the Venbacker Code again)

The downside with all of these is that in a series of Moves to a Station,
only the last one is significant, and that the actual Moves become more
cumbersome.

c/ record the Spin elsewhere - there is a proud history of trying to record
Game information on web pages, but it's never gone well. The values change
too quickly, and anyway this means the GSD is no longer self-contained.

Let's just mark that one down as unworkable, then.

Going back to /a/, consider that Spin could degrade; if Spins are always
reset to Call at the end of a Game Day, then the Spin Board might at least
be workable.

> Now, what could we use such a thing for?

How about:

a/ setting a number of Stations to a given Spin garners you a bonus, or
forming a pattern on the map with Spin-matched Stations could have an
effect (such as invoking an immediate Tithe, or some other Action).

b/ matching Charge and Spin could get a bonus

c/ Spin could have LV effects, or do something strange to Token Stacks, or
add an implied stack at a particular location (one-time-only Straddles?)
(actually, I don't like any of these since they place further emphasis on
Stations with lots of Lines)

d/ Spin would be something else to use in Manoeuvres

The key, however, is interaction - if Spin is to be interesting and
actually worth tracking, it needs to be able to interact with other Game
artefacts in novel ways.

And don't forget that there is the possibility of such things as Spin
Dampening Fields, or Spin Inversions, or whatever.

I do have a further question or two, though: at what point should Spin
effects be calculated? Normal Moves only? After Special Moves have been
executed? What do Shunts do?

Further, how does Spin work on non-Co-Located Stations such as Turnham
Green or Shepherd's Bush? Is Spin allocated by Station/Line Code pair in
these cases? What is the Call of Chalfont & Latimer: 3 or 4?

I think I'll stop there.

Just my tuppence three farthings during a merge/compilation cycle (it's
amazing how long compilations can take sometimes).

--
Dunx
"Fixing HTML is like trying to graft arms and legs onto a hamburger."
Ted Nelson

---

From: "Kevan Davis" <kevan@s...>
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 06:01:42 -0800

> only the last one is significant, and that the actual Moves become
more

Ugh. Indeed. This seems far too much paperwork and arithmetic for
something that's probably going to have minimal impact on most games. I
think Charge is just about enough to keep track of and document; adding
something else that depends on Station stats and varies with each Move
just seems sadistic.

Kevan

--
kevan@s...
http://www.stormloader.com/kevan