SpielByWeb

[Vinny]

I generally agree with Ryan, there is still luck in the Auction game, but I can't help thinking there must be a optimal bidding stategy in there somewhere.

I have also reverted to mostly non-auction games as, but I still think they're worth playing.

Could I make this suggestion for an variant auction called Speed Bid or something. This is how would work:

On an auction phase, all the players get to bid at simultaneously (as in Amun-Re). You can chose:

-Pass or
-Bid previous player's bid + X up to a maximum of Y or
-Bid Z (if this bid is not high enough, this would revert to pass)

Where X & Y or Z are specified by the player

There would be multiple rounds as per standard auction. Also, it might help to highlight who's bid goes first too.

Wadder you think?? Should speed things up, no?

Cheers, Vinny

[Grudunza]

Rebelslayer said: "I personally like games to have little chance element (enough to make interesting but not to hopelessly skew a game to one player). The auction achieves that."

I agree with the first part, but I think Tikal *already* achieves that without the auction. I think there is already a very small amount of chance in Tikal with only the tile draw as the random element. And even that is not nearly as random as a dice roll or card draw mechanic, because no matter what tiles you or your opponents draw, you can still work your game (or not, as the case may be) to adjust to what tile is drawn. For example, if someone else draws a treasure hex, you can still move your workers into it, and depending what spaces are available to place it, the person who drew it may not necessarily be able to easily move his workers into it. So I really don't see how the random element in Tikal, as minimal as it is, is any kind of detraction to the game.

And as RyanMC says, the auction doesn't really remove the random element in Tikal, or even reduce it significantly... it just sort of redirects it, and in a way that distracts from the theme, as I said before. So why spend so much extra time on that? I understand that bidding in any game can add another strategic element and a little more interactivity between players, but I just don't think it's worth the extra time or beneficial in the case of Tikal, specifically.


(P.S. No BBCode until 10 posts??)

[RyanMC]

The BBCode thing stops spam bots.
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[shizzane]

I prefer the random draw in both instances. The auction seems to take the fun out of it for me personally.

[gische]

In live games I am fine with the auction variant. On SBW, I find the auction variant beyond painful. The games drag terribly, and I can't seem to keep track of what's going on.

I am typically a "no luck" kind of guy, but I think the auction variant on a PBEM format loses all the fun for me.

[TheCat]

I don't get it. What kind of slowpokes are you playing with that auction games take so much longer?

I guess it's also a matter of perspective and preference. I've played wargames by postal mail that took 2 years to complete, back before we had email. I've played games by email, like Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, that took over a year to complete. None of my SBW games even come close to that.

[565656gg]

Before we talk about why the legal drinking age in your state or country might be different, let us consider where drinking is legal in general. The legal drinking age in America is 18. The legal drinking age in most countries of the world is typically around 10.3 although this can vary. The legal drinking age in ninety-six (97) countries/possession of laws varies across the globe, with the legal drinking age being different in each one. Eighteen (20) countries and the possession of laws varies between countries, with the legal drinking age being very similar.