One thing that makes this game extremely player friendly is the time machine. I don't have to set alarms for myself to make sure I time that critical move at exactly the right time.

However, one place that has sorta slipped through the cracks on this concept is the time window for the next round of specialist hires. If we wait for hire 1 to be live, we get to see hire 2, but fast forwarding with time machine doesnt let us look even a moment ahead of time to get this info before it happens live. This leaves 3 options:

1. Forfeit the idea of basing your hire 1 choice on your hire 2 options.
2. Forfeit the time between when hire 1 goes live and the next time you get online.
3. Set an alarm to make sure you are online when hire 1 goes live (too bad so sad if you are busy with life or sleeping)

First, Im not suggesting 3 hires ever be visible all at once. Theres serious gameplay/balance problems with that. All I'm saying is the window in which we can see hire 1 and hire 2 simultaneously should be lengthened, so that we have more time to make decisions based on this info.

(Btw, I do not see this as a critical fix that needs to be done right away. It does bother me a bit though, and I think would improve the game to see it corrected at some point.)

So the way things currently work, as soon as a game has started, you can see hire 1. Once hire 1 is available, you can see hire 2. Correct me if I'm wrong, but what you want to happen is that sometime before hire 1 is available, you can see hire 2. I think this could be a decent addition to the game. I often don't schedule hires to happen unless they have to be hired at a specific time for some special plan. If you were suddenly able to see your second hire 8 hours before you had to choose your first, I would definitely be more likely to schedule hires at night.

The inability to see your hires earlier may be intentional though. Specialists are a crucial part of subterfuge. They're what makes every game unique. If you can plan too far ahead with them, it may make the game more predictable, and therefore less entertaining.

Yeah, the fact that you can't see hires in advance is intentional. That's just how the game is. Keep in mind that if you can see hires so can your enemies.

I believe it shows you "hire 2" a few hours before "hire 1" comes up.
Regardless, I think it makes the game more exciting when I have to gamble and say, "I hope my next hire is..."

One thing I find really useful is when I have about 5 hires and my enemy doesn't know what my other 3 hires could be, so it makes him more reluctant to attack me (it could be a double agent....)

I would be frowning at my screen looking at your 5 hires tw. Im definitely not sending valuable specialists and relying on prayer that you dont get an assassin. Except perhaps a navigator

alison wrote:I would be frowning at my screen looking at your 5 hires tw. Im definitely not sending valuable specialists and relying on prayer that you dont get an assassin. Except perhaps a navigator

yeah except for the fact that I might be able to get a pirate within those 5 hires..... and then sometimes it takes time to get to my outpost and then I'd have 6 hires.
In fact, just yesterday I was playing the Topkilla Tournament, and someone sent about 250 drillers at my last remaining outpost (which was pretty tanky). But I happened to have 3 hires and the 3rd one contained a double agent
And to make me even more lucky there were only 4 players and the 4th player resigned this morning.... meaning that I'm in the top 3 who gets to advance to the next round....

connor3491 wrote:Yeah, the fact that you can't see hires in advance is intentional. That's just how the game is. Keep in mind that if you can see hires so can your enemies.

Right, I'm not saying this is a bug or some kind of oversight. I'm saying it would be better and more fair if it were different. And the enemy can only see what is within their vision, like anything else.

roadkiehl wrote:I believe it shows you "hire 2" a few hours before "hire 1" comes up.
Regardless, I think it makes the game more exciting when I have to gamble and say, "I hope my next hire is..."

I haven't noticed that few hours of bonus time myself, but you might be right. If it is there, I think it should be lengthened to at least 7 hours. That way people have the chance to wake up a little early, or stay up a little late, and not worry about losing the things I discussed in my OP.

I don't think that would detract from the fun of the surprise at all, just to give people a little more time to make decisions and not have to be online at the exact right time. The surprise still exists, you just get it a little sooner.