derekticus wrote:
Simultaneous drift would be ideal, but when a drifter can take her whole move (one hex drift) in the first phase of the turn, it is not fair for the ship whose entire turn is moving 3, as she would only get to move 1/3rd of her move prior to the drift occurring...
I agree that simultaneous drift is better gameplay-wise in my opinion.
It solves many issues, as said here:
http://www.youplay.it/beta/play/forum_showmessage.asp?msgid=6487As for the "not fair" argument of the 3-hexes moving ship vs drifting ship, the same argument could also be used the other way around: it's not fair that the 3-hexes moving ship can move the whole 3 hexes along the drifting ship and pass it without being hit while in theory that ship is already "half" into those hexes during the movement.
It's just a matter of approximation of movement during the simulation..sooner or later you have to move 1 whole hex.
However, even if I think simultaneous is better, I've agreed to change it back because:
1) There were many negative comments against simultaneous drifting.
2) I didn't have time to make new arguments against the negative feedback (maybe I should have waited to discuss the feedback more - I regret this a bit
)
3) Nick had coded the rule differently in the previous version and he wasn't against moving back to that version.
4) The rules are ambiguous enough to be interpreted both ways.
5) After all, it's a game, so any rule we agree to follow is fine, as long as it doesn't break other rules.
So I've accepted to move back the drifting system to the old "drift AFTER all other moves" interpretation.
Luckily at least 1 of the old problems caused by the "AFTER" drifting has been made a bit less severe by the new collision code (now you can stop a ship from drifting by simply hitting it, you don't need to foul with it).
I find myself involved in these "what is realistic" arguments all the time these days w/ the crew who run the WS&IM tournament at the World Boardgaming Championships. In the end there is not necessarily a good or fair resolution to "realism" when we are dealing w/ a boardgame!
DerekA question: does the Boardgaming Championship use the "simultaneous" interpretation or do they drift ships AFTER all other moves?
If the Boardgaming Championship uses simultaneous, maybe I will change it back again
