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Order of resolving actions

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Tue, 04/03/2012 - 19:48
rosset37
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Hello,

I'm working on a game that has a modified worker placement mechanic. There are 6 action spaces that players can use, and each space has 2 possible actions that a player can take, which give them a different benefit---and players don't reveal which of the 2 possible actions they are choosing until the end of the round. Players take turns deploying workers during the round, but players are not prohibited from using the same action spaces as other players--so one space may end up with, lets say, 3 different workers on it, all from different players. Then at the end of the round, those 3 players will have to announce which of the 2 actions they are choosing. The choices affect the other players on that action space, so I need a good method for determining the order of resolving the effects of the actions on those spaces (In other words, which of the 3 players chooses to "reveal" first?) Ideas I have are:
*The order in which players placed workers on the space is the order in which they reveal (this is clunky, hard to keep track of)
*The starting player for the round reveals first, and players move to the left (there is a starting player token that passes to the left each round).
*A Race for the Galaxy style turning over of a card to reveal the choice.

I would appreciate any other thoughts!
Thank you!

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Wed, 04/04/2012 - 08:07
#1
Avianfoo
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Some thoughts

Simplest is first player does all his choices then the player to his left etc etc.

Another way is to have the player that is furthest behind choose first (or last depending on which is most beneficial). How you decide who is furthest behind is different from game to game. Keeping track of who is in the lead is sometimes done with a player order track which is updated at the end or start of each round.

Another option is to have their order decided by which of the 6 action spaces they have chosen. e.g. location 1 has weight of 1 for each worker there while location 6 has weight of 6, add them together and there that is the player order. This might require a bit of calculation so a player order track might be useful again.

Actually the order of placement is the order of choice (or reverse order) could work well if you have a numbered track for each location and the first person to place at an action space gets lowest number, the next one places at the next number etc etc.

My vote however goes to simultaneous selection. Each player would reveal cards A or B for each worker space. Though this might suffer from being a bit slow if this is done for 6 action spaces separately. (Alternatively do all 6 spaces at once... which would mean everyone chooses a maximum of 6 cards out of 12. No need to choose if you have no workers at a specific action space) How about having a set number of cards made which each contain a combination of choices. Then all players simply reveal a single card and move workers on all 6 spaces based on the values on that one card. Choosing the exact combinations might be difficult but does allow you to craft relationships between the different action spaces e.g. action space 1 choice 1 is always chosen with action space 4's choice 1.

Just a few thoughts.

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Wed, 04/04/2012 - 09:20
#2
GamingNerd
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This post comes with a

This post comes with a disclaimer: I have not actually sat down and played a game of Dungeon Lords. But I own it, and I have read the rules.

While Dungeon Lords (DL) doesn't have quite the same mechanic you're talking about it does employ a mechanic with action spaces, and a similar strategy might work for you to enable the whoever placed first goes first mechanic. Quite simply, the action spaces have spots for 1st, 2nd, etc. So when you claim that action you put your marker on the first available space for that action. Keeping track is no longer clunky and hard to keep track of.

Avianfoo's suggestion of simultaneous reveal is also really good. While not my favorite mechanic (personal choice as I suck at bluffing and reading people) I've seen it employed to great tension and success. It also forces some more interaction and keeps people engaged. Just keep track of how long something like that would make a round with 6 people choosing actions.

I prefer either of these to letting the starting player go first and then moving clockwise. That would seem to me to create an imbalance where whoever is last in the round has the potential to get screwed over a lot.

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Wed, 04/04/2012 - 21:38
#3
ConMan
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Unless, of course, there's an

Unless, of course, there's an advantage to being the last to play.

Perhaps it's sometimes better to be able to see what everyone else has done, and the wait-and-see strategy happens to be a strong one. Or perhaps the results of an action scale with the number of people who have already done it - first player to pick "harvest" gets 1 resourse, second gets 2, third gets 3? Something of an example of that is in the game Innovation - for example, the dogma effect for "The Wheel" is just to draw two Age 1 cards, but if you can make every other player go before you then you can wind up drawing Age 2 cards instead.

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Thu, 04/05/2012 - 08:44
#4
rosset37
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Great suggestions

Thanks everyone. I've reworked it a bit to bring it down to 4 action spaces, which each have 2 different possible actions on them. I think I am going to try a A/B side simultaneous reveal as to which action at that space each player chooses. If that doesn't work I'll try the 1st to place there / 2nd to place there, etc.

Thanks!

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Fri, 04/06/2012 - 15:21
#5
drktron
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Another idea would be to add

Another idea would be to add an additional action space that itself determines resolution order for the other action spaces. This order resolution action space could have two options: 1st to resolve and last to resolve. Now I realize that you still need a method of order resolution for times when no one chooses this action space but it could be a nice strategic option for players when the resolution order is vital.

Just a thought :)
Good luck!

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Sun, 04/15/2012 - 19:47
#6
federicolatini
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Blind bid to spice it up

There is space in your game for a blind bid interphase to determine turn order?
Bids always add interaction and give a kind autotuning to the game.

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