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Subterfuge needs a Timeout

PostPosted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 9:46 pm
by calvoria
I have played Subterfuge 6 times in the last 3 months and really enjoyed the banter and strategy that went into each game. However I am reluctant to start another game. The reason, this game is exhausting! The number of times I found myself obsessing over orders at 3am was really disconcerting.

If you play to win you are basically committing yourself to on call status 24hrs a day for 1 to 2 weeks. For people who work/socialize/sleep this commitment is unsustainable in the long term. What I propose is an option during setup to pause the game at specified intervals; essentially a daily timeout. For example if you included an 8 hour pause per day, players could get some needed downtime, sleep, talk to the spouse, etc... then return to the game action feeling refreshed.

I don't believe a game pause would be difficult to implement programmatically, and it would help prevent burnout in the player community. Now I've heard the developers are no longer working on the game, but it doesn't hurt to put it out there.

Re: Subterfuge needs a Timeout

PostPosted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 11:12 pm
by silverberg
I'm sure all of us would concur with the idea, and the devs have heard this suggestion in the past, but with the game dead they're probably not gonna have anything more to do with it.

Really a shame, this inconvenience is also a reason I've not been playing as much as I could be.

Re: Subterfuge needs a Timeout

PostPosted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 9:15 am
by janitorialduties
And here I thought you where suggesting putting subterfuge in the corner and send it to bed without any dinner...



No, I'd totally like this to be thing. Might help me sleep....

Re: Subterfuge needs a Timeout

PostPosted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 9:20 am
by bleatingsheep39
Go to bed at 9pm and wake up at 7am. Never caused me problems.

Re: Subterfuge needs a Timeout

PostPosted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 9:24 am
by janitorialduties
bleatingsheep39 wrote:Go to bed at 9pm and wake up at 7am. Never caused me problems.

And just as I close my eyes, my "ally" comes in with a smuggler and 100 drillers. If I had gone to bed just a litle later, maybe my Double Agent may have had enough time to close the distance an smite those 100.
People take note of when your away and thats when they strike...

Re: Subterfuge needs a Timeout

PostPosted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 1:56 pm
by nojo34
Amen to that janny. I've been killed off night attacks a few times. Not fun

Re: Subterfuge needs a Timeout

PostPosted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 2:09 pm
by blobbydont
Huh, I can't really think of a time when sleep has messed up something bad.

Re: Subterfuge needs a Timeout

PostPosted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 2:46 pm
by mm1menace
I didn't realize that people who played this game actually slept. :o

That said, I love the idea of a "safe time" in game, whether it means the game is paused or just that you can't send attacks.

Re: Subterfuge needs a Timeout

PostPosted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 7:26 pm
by calvoria
So in keeping with the "timeout" concept I have an idea that will get me some sleep, but it runs into a grey area as far as perceived fairness goes. I play in the Pacific West Coast time zone. What if I shared my login account with a player I trust in Asia or Europe to manage the game during my down time? This would give me around the clock coverage in the game but possibly provide an unfair disadvantage to those players going solo.

I believe running a single account as a group could be quite entertaining. Real nations have their own war rooms, why not us? Would you guys consider this legal?

Re: Subterfuge needs a Timeout

PostPosted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 8:11 pm
by mathwhiz9
Just as a side note, we did try this once. We made an account called Element-93, put him into a game, and shared the password with a few trusted forumers. The result: 4 of the 5 forumers didn't really pay attention to it because it was too much work to try to catch up on what you missed since last login, and the other one just played it basically alone and got 2nd. I think trying to have 2 people use one account is pretty difficult unless both are very dedicated to the game.