Subject: MN: Re: Year 2 Week 44 Proposals

From: "Kevan Davis" <kevan@z...>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 09:53:45 -0000

>Proposal 635 - Prime Time [Amendment]

Nice and useful rewording of things (adding the length of your Turn to Game
Time, extended or otherwise, is a good phrasing, the current Rules being
something of a mess), but I'm not sure that the extra paperwork involved
would give much benefit. The only interesting application that occurs to me
is that of a Team Game - of Player X taking a brief Turn, so that team-mate
Player Y won't be in trouble later on.

As you say, this reduces the chance of trapping Players at Closed Stations,
but with such a thing being rare enough anyway (it's been managed, what,
twice?), I'd rue it being made any more difficult.

>Proposal 636 - Flag Capturing and Dropping (Amendment)

Maybe worthwhile, although it's incredibly easy to set up a Sinkhole at your
Home, if you're worried about invaders. Hard to say if it needs work,
really, never having played a Capture the Flag Game.

>Proposal 637 - Finsbury Option lines (Amendment)

Neatly done. I'm wary of the impact of certain Stations not being in Zones,
but can't foresee anything disasterous.

>Proposal 638 - Line Code Rewrite (Rewrite)
>
>Rewrite the last paragraph of Rule 1.17.4 to read:

Does 1.17.4 have a "last Paragraph"? (It's just a list of Line Codes.) 1.2.0
seems to cover the majority of this already anyway, although the stated Line
Code for Action-based Moves is a necessary thing. It shouldn't go in Section
17, though, which is a mere glossary.

>Proposal 639 - No Zone Bonus for Passing (Amendment)

Some nice repairs to the separate rewards for Passing and Moving, but the
wording seems a little too verbose, and - most critically of all - by
awarding the Move-to-Interchange bonuses according to position at the end of
*Turn*, it makes it impossible to collect them during the Token Collection
Phase (which is before Post-Move Actions).

>Proposal 640 - Spherical Projection [Special Ruleset]

As Paul comments, it makes for a very strange sphere. And I can't see it
adding an awful lot to the Game, other than the occasional surprise attack.
Maybe it'd be interesting to have around, though, for combination with other
Special Rulesets...

>Proposal 641 - Dolly's feeling a little better now (Amendment)
>
>If the previous non-Pass Move in a Game is "Dollis Hill":
>* The current Player's Piece is moved directly to Dollis Hill unless they
>play the [Dollis Escape] Action.

No Sidestep any more, then? Hmm. Maybe a good thing, I suppose; that Dollis
Hill is only worth playing if everyone's moving fairly slowly...

The timing on this one seems a tad suspect, though - when does the Player's
Piece get moved? It seems to equate to "at the very start of your Turn,
unless you're going to perform the Escape Action during your pre-Move
Actions", which seems a little too unwieldy - the current approach of Dollis
Hill being the only Valid Move (which is even re-implemented in this
Proposal) is all that's required.

>* Dollis Hill is the only Valid Move, unless the Player is able to play the
>[Dollis Escape] Action.

"The only Valid Move" contradicts the rule that says "Pass" is always a
Valid Move, and I suppose it overrules it, being a specific case. Being able
to Pass should always be an available option, though, I think (and is
referred to earlier in this Proposal anyway, with mention of a "non-Pass
Move"). And overruling "Timeout" is a little messy.

>* Line Velocity is specifically ignored. LV can be changed in the usual
>manner, but has no effect on Piece Movement unless the [Dollis Escape]
>Action has been played beforehand

Scary, circular logic. Line Velocity is "ignored" (a dangerous word) until
you've played the [Dollis Escape] Action, but you can only play the [Dollis
Escape] Action by examining your LV.

Paul commented:-

>> Proposal 642 - Mornington Crescent On The Buses [Multiple]
>> After submitting eir GSD, the Actioning Player should roll a
six-sided
>> die to determine eir prize -
>
>I submit that this should actually be done by using the dice server at

Rule 0.1.3 has beaten you to it, I'm afraid. Kudos for quoting the usage
instructions, though; I've been putting off Random Courier Calling for ages,
now, lacking the energy to log on and check the Web page for the
dice-rolling commands. Such a summary would make a nice addition to the
Ruleset, I think.

>> Proposal 643 - Playing with Dollis [Amendment]
>> During a Player's Turn, if the previous Active Player's Piece is
>> situated at Dollis Hill, a Dollis Hill Loop is said to be in effect.
>> While a Dollis Hill Loop is in effect, a Move that finishes at Dollis
>> Hill is Valid. A Move which finishes elsewhere is Invalid, unless the
>> Player taking eir Turn has performed a "[Dollis Sidestep]" or "[Dollis
>> Escape]" Action this Turn.
>
>This does nothing to solve the problems in the DH loop and is inferior
>compared to the other DH proposal in this Week.

It solves the problem of a counter-intuitive "Escape" from a Station you
aren't at, it permits the Loop to be broken (and started) by something such
as a Straddle (going by Piece location for Loop continuation, rather than
Move text), and it tidies up the wordings a bit.

Are there really any "problems" in the DH Loop, or are people just not
reading things in the right contexts?

>Proposal 645 - Rewrite My Fire [Multiple]
>
>{ Comment: Two things really - Rewrites are too fiddly to administer and
are
> better served by a higher Proposal limit, and the whole concept of
getting
> additional Kudos for repealing Rules seems a little pointless (not to
> mention being breoken anyway).

Very fair points, but if Rewrites would be better replaced by a higher
Proposal limit, why not - er - allow a higher Proposal limit?

I think I'd rather see the style of Rewrites changed a little - maybe to
allow an amendment that purely reflects "common sense", or the rearranging
of a Rule so that it's written as we've been playing it.

Kevan

--
kevan@d...
http://members.xoom.com/asabove

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