Difference between revisions of "Comparison of action systems"

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* Needs rule machinery to handle the turn sequence, and inactive players
 
* Needs rule machinery to handle the turn sequence, and inactive players
 
* With a static queue, may give an advantage to players who are immediately after a careless player
 
* With a static queue, may give an advantage to players who are immediately after a careless player
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* Lots of downtime, very slow-moving
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* Ruleset changing coming mid-route can create a fairness issue, or require delaying mechanisms
 
|| [[Ruleset 155#Crates]]
 
|| [[Ruleset 155#Crates]]
 
|-
 
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Revision as of 19:18, 19 October 2020

This is a comparison of ways in which a BlogNomic dynasty can restrict the performance of actions, using a hypothetical example where the gameplay centres around the building of bricks. (It's assumed that the goal is to build a lot of bricks, but there are unseen other rules in place that make the exact time and method of this more nuanced.)

This still needs expanding, feel free to add more examples, and more pros and cons for those already listed.

System Example rule Pros Cons As seen in
Daily actions "As a daily action, a player may build one brick."
  • Easy to understand how it works
  • Level playing field: on any given day, nobody is better at building than anyone else
  • Game sounds: Clear distinction between active and inactive players
  • Use-it-or-lose-it forces a decision
  • Forces players to grind, remembering to take the action every day
  • Advantages older players over newer ones: by the end of the game, they will have had more chances to build bricks
  • Stalemate: Often pushes players to take the action as late as possible in the day, so that others have less time to react to it, and they have more time to react to other players
Weekly actions "As a weekly action, a player may build seven bricks."
  • Easy to understand
  • Level playing field
  • Some game sounds: Still some distinction between active and inactive players
  • Use-it-or-lose-it
  • Advantages older players
  • Still some grind
  • Stalemate: Pushes players to take the action as late as possible in the week
  • Some game silence: Hard to tell (early in the week) if other players are biding their time, or bored
Weekly topup "At the start of the week, each player gains seven bricks. A player may build a brick at any time."
  • Some distinction between active and inactive players
  • Advantages older players
  • Still some grind
  • Stalemate: Pushes players to take all seven actions as late as possible in the week
  • Game silence: Patience and boredom broadly indistinguishable
  • Encourages stockpiling
Weekly topup with cap "At the start of the week, each player gains seven bricks, to a maximum of 10. A player may build a brick at any time."
  • Some game sound distinction between active and inactive players
  • Use-it-or-lose-it forces a decision
  • Still some advantage to older players
  • Still some grind
  • Stalemate: Pushes players to take the actions as late as possible in the week
  • Game silence: Patience and boredom indistinguishable
Ruleset 181#Stamina
Currency "At any time, a player may pay a coin to buy and build a brick." (Other game rules output coins in a complex way.)
  • Visible status: Easy to see how prepared each player is to take build actions
  • Still advantages older players over newer ones, but easier to balance
  • Stalemate: Players with coins may wait to see what others do, before spending their own
Finite personal resource "Players start with 50 bricks each. At any time, a player may build one of their bricks." (Rules generally do not output additional bricks.)
  • Level playing field: Newer and older players start with the same mechanical budget
  • Game sounds: Bursts of game activity can happen at any time during the day or week
  • Stockpiling: May require a mechanic that pushes players to invest their bricks over time (eg. auctions, where you spend bricks to gain something else of value).
  • The context that brick exist in differ between older and newer players, which may bonus or penalize one or the other.
  • Newcomer advantage: Can give too much power to newer players, late in the game
Ruleset 147#Bankroll (?)
Finite shared resource "The group starts with 250 bricks. At any time, a player may take one of the group's bricks and build it."
  • Game sounds: Bursts of game activity can happen at any time during the day or week
  • Use-it-or-lose-it: Encourages players to act sooner rather than later
  • Tragedy of the Commons: needs balances to stop a bad actor from emptying the pool in one go
Turn-based "The active player may build a brick at any time. It then becomes the turn of the next player."
  • Balanced
  • No timing issues
  • Needs rule machinery to handle the turn sequence, and inactive players
  • With a static queue, may give an advantage to players who are immediately after a careless player
  • Lots of downtime, very slow-moving
  • Ruleset changing coming mid-route can create a fairness issue, or require delaying mechanisms
Ruleset 155#Crates
Simultaneous reveal "Players submit build orders secretly to the Emperor. As a weekly action, the Emperor applies all submitted orders."
  • Balanced
  • No timing issues
  • Complex
  • Players may forget to submit orders
  • Needs Emperor moderation: complex resolution systems can become a dead end
Ruleset 120#Notes