Match Timer

[chilly shale]

Instead of a timer, it should be amount of total turns players can perform in a match.
The purpose of having a timer in games is to prevent long stalemate and create tension between players. It would be nice to have this for the spectators to not having to wait long.

There are two types of match timer I would like to see in this game:

Fighting Game
Like in fighting games, when the amount of turns has reach its limit, the player/team with the highest health points wins.

Late Game
Instead of ending a match, it will spawn a hazardous ring in the outer layer of the map. Staying in it will damage your mech. The ring will get closer to the middle of the map for each turn that has passed. This can create interesting strategy to play around and positioning matters a lot more.
(Here's an example of another game with a timer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw6xixmGhxg 1:25).

Of course, this should be an option to be toggle on or off in lobby settings.

This is my first time making a suggestion post, I'm sorry if I get something wrong here.

[icy kettle]

I'd like to see a variety of "sudden death" hazards tbh and the lobby could either pick one or random from a set

fortnite storm, increasingly frequent meteors, worms rising water

and if possible map specific ones that map creators could set

falling platforms and the like

[fickle maple]

I like the total turn timer for something like a tournament mode

[simple sinew]

like, set amount of turns and by the end the one with most hp wins?

[fickle maple]

yeah

[simple sinew]

I think that'd lead to someone getting a lead and then playing run away/super defense

[fickle maple]

maybe, but that's how tournaments have run before here

the maps tend to be designed to make running more difficult

(also i'm of the opinion there should be a judge's call if someone is just stalling vs playing defensive/looking for openings)

[mellow basalt]

Thanks for the suggestions! I have been thinking about stuff like this too, these are good ideas

[icy kettle]

hard disagree

there is a turn timer

if the game mechanics let you run away then you can run away

otherwise you're just a smash player

[simple sinew]

Yeah

[fickle maple]

i'm not sure what this means in the context haha

[simple sinew]

I've played a game where defensive, in many matchups, is stronger for both sides, and it leads to both players just turtling the whole match, especially the one who has the hp lead, as they have better odds winning by going to timeout than to risk attacking

And it's not like you can blame the player when the game rewards that

[icy kettle]

shuttle loop bans

if you have to sit there and count how many times a player is allowed to perform an action

just write the game off

[fickle maple]

had to look it up - that's definitely not what we're talking about here hahaha

[icy kettle]

it kind of is

you're saying a judge or to should have to step in and make an extremely subjective call

[fickle maple]

yes, not under arbitrary "use the move this many times and you're out"

[icy kettle]

it's the same thought cabinet

[fickle maple]

i disagree

very strongly

having someone say "hey go and engage a bit" is different than saying "this move is very broken and so you can only use it so many times"

[icy kettle]

because the arbitrary number was very much decided upon to stop it from being a subjective to decision as to whether shuttle looping was being abused

especially in an actively developed game whose developer is not nintendo

[fickle maple]

any game like this (simultaneous turn based) will tend towards defensive play. having rules to encourage different types of play is a standard in pretty much every competitive format out there

[icy kettle]

if there's is an objective rule you can enforce it should be part of the game itself

or at least an optional ruleset

if you cannot objectively enforce it it's not a rule worth having

[fickle maple]

i think thinking of things in that way (black and white, no room for changes) is shooting yourself in the foot before you even start

[icy kettle]

this is not wimbledon there is no money to pay for line judges

[fickle maple]

you don't need to pay for line judges in a community run game?

well, tournament anyways

[icy kettle]

yes but what happens if, say, person who runs tournaments a

makes a call

and tournament person b makes a different call at a different time

and I'm player c and call a would have won me the tournament

but I'm in tournament b

[fickle maple]

are they run by the same people?

[icy kettle]

no

[fickle maple]

then that's true of any game with rules that require a judgement call

[icy kettle]

which is why this is bad for a video game whose fundamental difference from a board game is automatic rules enforcement

any game with a competitive scene needs to have rules that can be enforced consistently off a piece of paper

from tekken to mtg to chess

[fickle maple]

while i agree that it's good, for something like this where the goal is to encourage aggression (as per what RJ has talked about before), until there is something in game to truly enforce it, I don't believe it is a bad idea for some events to use rulings to determine if someone is just running away the whole time

if everything was already in place, great

but for now

i'd like to avoid another situation like the simulchaos tourney, where one player spent the entire time on the other side of the map and got in the top 3 because of it

personally haha

[simple sinew]

A hp based turn timer would incentivize that further

[fickle maple]

that was present in some of the other tournaments, if you mean what i believe you do

where when time was up, highest hp won

and in a draw with the same hp, person who initiated the endgame won, but even that is subjective

[mortal gate]

I was in a couple tournaments with timers early on and those were the worst experiences tbh.

Everyone clamoring for you to get in there, especially at a point where any error meant instant death pretty frequently during that meta...it just wasn't a good time. It made players salty when they lost too, because players may feel slighted from the opponent not being aggressive enough.

If there is to be a timer, I'd definitely go with a Battle Royale style ring for the mode. At least then it's more of a Sudden Death mode if it drags on instead of a playing footsies and keeping away once you are ahead.

[simple sinew]

^^

It's really not fun having a small hp disadvantage, and the opponent being unwilling to not engage, and knowing you lose unless the opponent really fucks up because they will win by just running away and you have to put yourself at a higher risk to catch them