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I'm guessing it should be a simple fix. I know that if you cap the enemy bases in the final sapiens mission of the campaign, the games ends automatically (i.e., You don't have to wait for the required number of rounds to pass).
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Nothing really happens when you go over the limit. The only real catch is that you cannot start any new regular games until you have a free slot.
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Just a small tweak, but the ability to adjust the time zone would be nice. In several of the forums I used to be a part of, users could adjust/set the time zone for their specific region. This made it easier for me to tell whether or not I had already read something for I could easily compare the time stamp of a given post with my last login.
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I actually like this idea, but I suspect that safeguards will need to be put in place to ensure that ToS are being followed. Admittedly, many of us behave responsibly. We may engage in a little jovial trash talk, which ties into the notion of "putting one's money where one's mouth is," but all in all we maintain a certain amount of civility. My fear is that some might try to use this system to bully or "shame" others into taking disadvantageous bets (i.e., bets that one knows to be unfair). This sort of behavior happens all the time in the real world, and it would most likely rear its ugly head if such a system were implemented. There is, of course, the possibility that my fears are ill-founded; however, given some of the more recent behavior in chat (i.e., a rise in bellicose rhetoric), I feel that the above should be taken into consideration when designing and implementing such a system.
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I for one can't wait for a proper pc version where I can actually type what I mean to, Actually see the battle on a proper screen (not a pocket version) etc.
While the chat is 'nice' how many key pieces of informantion is lost to time or must be reiterated every week or 2?
But like a car with an old battery we need to also jump start this forum. A social section and those few of us currently on directing traffic here) will help do just that.
I also hate playing on a tiny screen. Part of the reason I take so long to take my turn is that I hate playing on my phone. I'll generally wait until I have access to my tablet, and sometimes that could be a 8-12 hour wait. Since I have access to computers and no one monitors my usage, having a web-based version would allow me to engage more with the game.
Along with adding a social section to the forum, we might want to consider adding the equivalent of the "spam" channel. Admittedly, there would be a lot of overlap, but it might help to further organize the content on the forum. Assuming that the forums do grow more popular, I think it might be wise to add one or two additional moderators. They would not only need to keep an eye out for inappropriate content, but also keep the various threads in check. We have a number of potentially useful threads, but they sometimes get hijacked by tangential thoughts. Sometimes these threads are able to "right" themselves and head in their designated direction, but sometimes they are pulled so far off-keel that a potentially useful discussion becomes lost/destroyed. What constitutes something being completely off-topic is, of course, a judgment call, but a little active guidance in this arena could make a huge difference. There could even be a locked off portion of the forum where off-topic content that doesn't belong in other sections can be sequestered for a limited amount of time (i.e., 30 days).
Please note that these thoughts were generated while under the protection of old school, high-powered bug zappers. Who knew they were equally effective against dragons? 
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Spending some time to revamp the forums would be a good idea, and so too would be creating a "social" forum section. Admittedly, the forums do not get much use as many players are content to confine their conversations to in game chat. That being said, I believe this could change radically once the web-based version of the game goes live. Those who play games via apps are used to checking in constantly and jumping into conversations. Those who prefer to use a computer will probably be a bit slower when it comes to taking turns, and there is a good chance that they will prefer using the forums to converse with others than using the in-game chat. Typing on a phone is cumbersome and often annoying due to typos and other irritants, whereas typing on a keyboard allows for not only quick communication, but also more in depth communication. I'm also guessing that the demographics of the players using the web version of the game will skew older (closer to TheDragons end of the spectrum than my own [I'm in my thirties]), and I have found that this group (despite numerous outliers) tends to avoid app-based communication.
Hope this makes some sense. I'm still recovering from the flu, so my cognitive abilities are a little off.
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All in all, I have mixed feelings on this issue. I know that many of us cannot take multiple turns in a given day, but I also feel that the 24-hour time limit is not so onerous that it excuses people from taking their turn. Of course, each situation needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and I would like to think that most of us are understanding. That being said, we also need to do our best to factor in our own unique style of game play. For example, if you generally like to sleep on moves, you should probably do your best to take your turns in the evening. That way, even if your opponent takes his/her turn right away, you still have time to sleep on your next move.
As for the specifics of TheDragon's situation, there is a huge gulf in taking time in order to think through a complicated move, and being deliberately slow in order to aggravate and/or punish someone else. Such behavior is childish, rude, and simply unbecoming. Furthermore, since this does not appear to be a tournament, the running down the clock strategy cannot be used as an excuse for such behavior. Thus, I have no problem in skipping those sorts of players.
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If someone want qualified (like simsverd or some 2400) wants to do it, that would be nice. But you can learn all that you need to know about it from the forum
I'm hoping that someone like Simverd would be willing to do this. While I do agree that the instructions and advice given in the forums are good, they may not be sufficient for everyone. Coming from an education background, I know that no matter how detailed the instructions are for a given assignment, there will be some who just do not get it. In fact, some of them will make the very mistakes that I desperately warn them to avoid. Of course, I can and do meet with some of them, and this generally results in stronger work. This, I believe, is akin to Simsverd agreeing to test out a player's map and critique it with them via in-game chat. One-on-one is an effective teaching method, but it is also limited as well. After all, you can only work with one person at a time.
Another method of instruction that I have found effective is to perform an "autopsy" of a student's work. This can be an in-depth critique of one work, or it can be a specific/focused look at one aspect of multiple works. This allows me to point out specific issues (especially common and frustrating issues) and discuss possible solutions with a much larger group (such as an entire class). While I think a short video might prove extremely effective, I also think that a series of screen shots of problematic/defective maps might work as well. An experience map maker/analyzer could use a simple program like paint to highlight things on the map that map makers should avoid. For example, "This layout doesn't work for it makes it easy for player 1 as sapiens to cap the opponents bases before they have a chance to get to them."
I think the current instructions found on the forums are great, but there is still room for growth and improvement. Also, map making is mostly a visual exercise, so I think it makes sense to employ a more visual approach when it comes to instructing others in this art/process.
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As we all know, there are a lot of maps out there. While many of them are well designed, there are an equal, if not greater, number that are unbalanced. Furthermore, some of these unbalanced maps have worked their way into random ranked games; a fact seen in the screams of anguish that occasionally reverberate throughout English chat. Now I know that Simsverd has posted rather extensively on map making in the past, but not everyone does well when it comes to text-based learning. Therefore, I was thinking that some of our expert map makers might, when time and inspiration allows, make one or more short YouTube videos on the art of map making. Perhaps select 5-10 problem maps and dissect them so we can all see why they are unbalanced. This would most likely require the use of a PC emulator such as bluestacks, but I think that it could prove extremely useful in the long run.
Why go through all of this trouble? Admittedly, this could prove somewhat time consuming; however, I see a two potential long-term benefits to it. The more obvious of the two is that it could lead to better designed maps. The other is that it could lead to more accurate evaluation of maps. Looking at how some of the maps are rated, I can't help but feel that at least some of those votes are a bit of a knee-jerk reaction; that is, "I lost on this map, therefore it suck" and "I won on this map, therefore it's awesome!" It's worth keeping in mind that the current minimum score for rating a map is only 1700 and while that is a notable achievement, it doesn't mean that someone automatically possesses the knowledge to rate maps. In fact, it may be a fallacy to assume that just because someone is great at playing Uniwar, he or she is equally skilled at evaluating maps. Therefore, for the sake of not only promoting good maps but also voting down flawed maps, I think some sort of visual tutorial might be the way to go. Of course, we still need to get players to actually vote on maps, but that is a problem for another post/thread.
My apologies for this somewhat lengthy post. It turned out longer than anticipated. Since not everyone likes to post actual responses, I've included a poll as well (and no, this poll is not designed to bully certain map makers into doing anything they don't want to do )
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While creating my story telling post, I had another idea regarding the expanded map editor. There are a number of you who enjoy helping and training others (yes, these people do, in fact exist). Furthermore, you know the sorts of scenarios that tend to stymie less experienced players. Do you think it would be possible to create some maps solely for training purposes? For example, arrange both sides of a battle to recreate a specific issue/challenge so players can practice overcoming it? This could be expanded to have them solve problem scenarios within a fixed number of rounds. Admittedly, this may be difficult given the current limitations of the AI, but I'm curious to know what others think.
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With the recent changes made to the map editor, I'm hoping that some of the more creative members of our community might be open to a sort of challenge. The idea is to create a sort of mini-campaign using a series of related maps, perhaps 5-10 in total, to tell stories of the struggles between the Sapiens, Khraleans, and Titans. These stories do not have to use all three races. For example, perhaps an underdog story of the Khraleans barely pushing back the Titans on a distant moon. You would need to label the maps accordingly (e.g., X-Mission 01) so that other players can find them an proceed with the story. We could even have more detailed story elements here on the forums so that as each mission is completed, the player hops onto the forum to learn what arose from his/her success (Unless, of course, we can convince Xavi to add a feature to map creation that allows a brief story to appear at the end of the mission).
This is a VERY rough idea, and probably one that I will not be able to embark upon. Why? Because I have never been good at either designing maps or telling stories. That being said, do not hesitate to collaborate with others. Perhaps you have an interesting idea for a story and simply need someone to help you make it a reality. Or maybe you are a great mapmaker in need of some inspiration. Try seeking each other out and see what you can accomplish together.
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Age can be rather misleading, especially when it comes to men. As a general rule (not universal, mind you, just general), men don't grow up, but their toys do. Keeping that in mind, the bizarre bordering on ungodly antics taking place in Portugal start to make sense (sort of).
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I'm for option #2. Should that get voted down, then I'll advocate for option #1 with Eclipse +1 for defense.
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I've been having this problem too. I do get them on occasion, but for the most part I need to log in to find out whether or not my turn has come around again.
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This may either prove to be a great idea or a horrible one and since I'm a relatively inexperienced player, I would definitely like to hear the opinion of veteran players. I have no idea how the units specifications would work, but the basic idea would be to have a unit that functions as an amplifier/multiplier of base credits per turn. This is how it would work: The unit would be positioned on a base and once there the player could choose to activate its credit boosting ability. This ability would ONLY amplify the number of credit received from the base it is placed on. So if the credits per base is 100, then that base would produce 200 credit. If you were in control of four bases at 100 credits per base and had one amplifier, then three bases would produce 100 credit each and the fourth base would produce 200 credits for a total of 500 credits.
I believe the above idea is fairly straightforward, so here comes the more complicated elements. As you may have surmised from the above, the increase in credits does come at the expense of unit production. In other words, any base being amplified by this unit cannot produce units for combat. To make this a bit more challenging (this IS a strategy game after all), I think that activating this unit should come with a cost or penalty. This is probably the most complicated aspect of this unit; that once activated the user loses control of the unit for 3-5 rounds (we would need to settle on a specific number, but something in the 3-5 range would probably be best). Here is how it would work: Should a player choose to activate this unit in a game where the bases are worth 100 credits each, he or she would get 200 credits out of that base for three turns or until that unit is destroyed. This player would then have to activate the unit again once the third round has passes (at this point there is no cool down period); however, once activated the player loses all control over the unit until the third round has passed. This means if the player's opponent launches a deviating attack and the player findshim/herself in dire need of units, this player will only have the non-amplified bases to work with. The core idea here is to make this unit one in which careful planning is essential. Yes, it can provide a credit boost and thus allow players to unleash more powerful units more quickly, but if used at the wrong time it could also result in a quick and decisive defeat.
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