Guys,
Need some input on a new movement mechanic for my chariot racing game. To help spark some ideas within my head, I've been studying horse racing simulations and the way they simulate horses moving. Here is some ideas I have gleaned from this research:
There are a total of three different speeds for horses: breaking speed (going really fast), average speed (normal average racing speed) and tiring speed (when horse's stamina or energy is all gone).
The average speed number indicates the maximum amount of squares a horse team can travel at. It is a value between 5-7. Each speed value costs average speed chips to travel at that speed for one turn. For right now one average speed chip equals one value of movement. So for example, if my average speed is 6, I can not spend more than 6 chips to move more than 6 squares. I can, however, spend 4 chips to move 4 squares (so as to conserve chips).
The breaking speed works in the same fashion, except the value of the breaking speed is 6-10. Average speed chips can not be used for traveling at a breaking speed.
Typically, the amount of breaking chips will be around 1/4 or less of the amount of average speed chips. This is to provide the player with an opportunity in the game for a short burst of speed. If you look at a lot of racing games, Turf Master, Breaking Away, Auf Trab im Sulkydom and others, you usually have a special card that will allow you to overcome some restrictions that hold you back to allow you to go really fast and get the lead.
Now to make things work, I have a couple of ideas. One idea is that a player spends one breaking speed chip for every point of speed over the average speed up to the breaking speed. So, for example, a horse team with an average speed of 6 and a breaking speed of 8, would spend one breaking chip to go 7 squares and 2 chips to go 8 squares. The problem with this is that if you had an average speed of 5 and a braking of 8, it would cost 3 breaking chips to travel at 8.
Maybe a better idea is to keep the amount standard. If the lowest breaking speed is ever 6, then one breaking chip will travel at 6, two red chips at 7 and so on.
This idea can be continued on to the average speed level as well. If the average speed range is always 5-7, then one average speed chip will go 5, two speed chips 6 squares and so on.
Once the player has expended all of his average speed chips, the horse team automatically begins to travel at their tiring speed: a number between 1-4. I'm not sure if I need tiring speed chips. I think they can just travel at their tiring speed or less for no cost. Any comments on this?
It seems to me that if a horse team wants to travel at a speed that is in their tiring speed range, then they do not pay any chips. So for example, if the tiring speed is 3, and my average speed is 6. I can decelerate to 3 and pay nothing in chips. If I travel at speed 4 which is in the average speed area, however, I pay 4 average chips (or 1 if I keep it standard). Does this seem to work? Maybe I do need tiring chips. What do you guys think?
There are some questions that this mechanic leads to that I'm not so sure about. One question is, what should happen if the player runs out of average speed tokens, begins to travel at its tiring speed but still has breaking speed tokens? Should the player still be allowed to go to breaking speed, even though he has no average ones? I think so. But then this rasies the question of acceleation and deceleration. If my tiring speed is 2 and my breaking speed is 8, can I on one turn go six squares up? If not, and my max acceleration is 4, I then can go to a speed of 6 which is my average speed and not my tiring speed, what do I do then? I don't like the idea of converting chips from one speed level to another (breaking chips to average chips).
I think there needs to be a limit of the max number of squares a horse team can accelerate and decelerate, maybe if you cannot pay for chips in one speed level (as the situation of having no average speed chips but breaking chips) you use chips from the speed level above. To use the above example, where I have no average chips, if I travel to speed 6 (which would cost 6 average chips or 2 average chips to keep things standard) then I would use up 6 or 2 chips from the breaking speed chips (I guess this reflects a penalty for really pushing tired out horses with some reserves).
Do you think it would become too complicated for a horse team to have a maximum acceleration and deceleration rate? If the horse team goes over their max acceleration/deceleration, then the team has to pay maybe a penalty in chips or something. If accelerating/deceleration from one speed level to another, what speed level should the penalty in chips come from?
Anyway, what do guys think about this mechanic. Do you think it has merit, does it logically appear to work. Does it seems to help add interesting decisions? Should the lowest breaking speed (6) be one breaking chip, speed 7 two breaking chips, speed 8 three chips or maybe one breaking chip for speed 6, three breaking chips for speed 7, and then six breaking chips for speed 8 and so on (using a geometric formula: 1, 1+2, 1+2+3, 1+2+3+4 and so on)?
Thanks for your input.
--DarkDream
Sedjtroll,
I guess my post asked a lot of different questions and was hard to nail down exactly what I was asking.
One method I suggested is that there are limits on all horse teams for the the highest and lowest values in each of the three speed catagories. I suggested a value of 4 is the max for a tiring speed, and a minimum of 5 for an average speed, and a maximum of 7 for an average speed. The minimum possible for a breaking speed would be 6 and the ultimate max 10 (there is some cross over). As such, the amount of tokens would start at the lowest possible speed. For average speed, a speed of 5 would be one average token, while speed 6 would be two and so on.
In short, let me use your example of a particular horse team that has a tiring speed of 1-3, an average speed of 4-6 and an breaking speed of 7-8. To make things work, I'll adjust the minimum possible average speed for all horse teams from 5 to 4. To travel at speed 4, it costs one average token, speed 5 two average tokens and speed 6 three average tokens. Now, because the ultimate minimum breaking speed is 6, if I travel at speed 7, I must spend two breaking speed tokens, and at speed 8, three breaking speed tokens.
With your method, which I did mention in my post, is having the number of chips contingent on what the particular horse team's minimum is. So in your case, a speed of 4 (as it is this horse team's minimum) is one average token, 5 two and so on which is the same as the method above because the minimum is the same. It, however, differs when we get to the breaking speed. For the method you mentioned, you would pay 1 breaking chip for speed 7, while with the other method you would pay 2. The only weakness, as I potentially see it with this method, is if you have, say, a horse team with a max low average speed of 5 and a max breaking speed of 9 which equates to a breaking speed of 6-9, then one breaking token will be needed for 6, two for 7, three for 8 and four tokens for 9. Now this value for breaking tokens for a given speed can change fairly drastically if the max average speed now turns to 7, and the breaking speed is 8-9. Now it will cost one breaking token instead of three for the horse team to travel at a speed of 8. Maybe this is better.
This was one of my core questions, which method do you think is better, basing the minimum of chips on the horse team's particular minimum or basing it on a minimum for all horses?
Is that what you were trying to accomplish?
This was one of the issues I was raising, could a horse team travel at a breaking speed if they had breaking speed tokens but no avearge speed ones? I think to make things simple and more realistic, my answer is that you can not go at breaking speed without average speed tokens. I could make simply a rule that says you cannot do this (a player on his turn simply needs to demonstrate he or she has an average token). With your method, Seth, by forcing players to have at least 3 average tokens, this rule is enforced. I'm not sure, though, as it makes things a little more complicated.
I hope I clarified what I was asking.
Great questions. Thanks.
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Ycyclop,
Thanks for your response. To respond to your points:
I agree with this, it makes things more realistic and easier to implement.
Another good point. I do need to set limits to keep with the theme of realism. Do you think it would make things that more complicated by having horse teams have their own maximum acceleration/deceleration numbers or keep it standard across all horse teams?
From a purely logical stand point, I agree with you. If the horse team is traveling at a tiring speed with no tokens left, he is pretty tired out and could tire even more if spending a long period of time at this speed. I was just thinking that maybe I would need too many tiring speed tokens. I thought it would make things easier to just say that it travels at this speed. It maybe would be ok, if during testing, players at the very most only spent a couple a handful of turns at this speed.
As Svan pointed out, without some kind of penalty or chips, players can go at this speed indefinitely to save a lot of tokens. That does not seem right.
Good point. I'll have to try it out in testing.
Thanks for you input. You've helped to clarify some of my thoughts.
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Svan,
This is a good idea. I did not think about players purposely going at a slow speed so as not to use up any tokens. I think players will do this though so there needs to be something to prevent them indefinitely staying at a max tiring speed. I'll think about this one. Thanks.
I really appreciate all of your guys comments. It really helps.
--DarkDream