Due to the recent run ins with slow players, consider this your warning. I will be polite and say move it along once or twice, but after that I will call someone over.

Rant foils engaged-

Granted I did win both slow pokes today, in a tounry, is not the place to be slow. When a swarm player is getting his 6 dials down before your 2, that's not right. I know at times it's an important move or set up, but I timed one dude today, and he wasted at least 5 mins probably closer to 10 total in stall tactics. I was happy as all heck to drop his ship last shot, but come on man. It's better for you to get more rounds in to drop me faster.

I got the wins, you guys both lost. So I will take it, but due to you guys today, I will not take slow play lightly any tourny play that I paid to play in. Slow play to learn is totally fine in practice and is fine, but show good sportsmanship and rule number one of life, Don't be a Richard.

Do you have any tolerance at all for someone who is new to tournaments, perhaps a bit apprehensive, doesn't know how things go, etc.?

Do you have any tolerance at all for someone who is new to the game, and has as much right to come to the tournament scene and give it a go?

You are a perfect example of why it can be difficult to expand the universe of potential players, as new people want a pleasant, enjoyable, reasonably stress free environment to have fun.

I hope you and I don't meet in a tournament. If we do, you can be sure that I will call the TO over and suggest that perhaps people such as yourself are a detriment to the game, all the while maximizing the amount of time it takes me to place my dials, move my ships, make decisions about my actions, etc.

/RANT on obnoxious, arrogant players

Richard the lionhearted? The guy who saves Robin Hood, and general hero exmachina? Why wouldn't I want to be him?

You know I once attended a Magic TCG tourney where a guy could have won the tourney, however he forgot one card on the field.

His resulting realization (that he had said card) as he was beaten was to use the F-word very loud, and then he stormed out of the store. Sadly there were Children *Yes those little people under the age of 18* present. The end result was going from 1st place, to 2nd, to expunged from the tourney for breaking a house rule.

You, op, have flamed and trolled. So yes I bit.

We are who we choose to be.

o-kaaay...!

Easy guys, everyone has their pet hates, written text is always easy to alter the emphasis on.. If we looked at these posts for the points they are trying to make and set aside any underlying emphasis'/context everyone has a point;

...bad sportsmanship is poor form and it does happen, in innumerable guises, and it is frustrating...

...not all play is necessarily as it seems and there are indeed players with huge differences in skill, experience and personality...

...being sanguine enough to roll with whatever situations you face is a noble ambition...

for me, the over-riding theme is; i'm playing a game i really enjoy and spending my time with (usually) like-minded people... happy days:-)

Yeah, you call out those people that probably aren't members of this forum. You be all dramatic about how you'll whine to the TO. That'll make you popular and not at all make people say rude things about you behind your back.

Only 5-10 minutes? And you're THIS mad? Can't wait to see your rage post after you play someone who's REALLY stalling.

Setting the dials for only two ships can often be more nerve wracking than for 4-6 ships because one wrong move and you've lost half your points.

OP was trying to rush his opponent. His opponent probably should've called the TO over for that and gotten him DQ'd.

Oh yay! Another thread about sportsmanship.

How many pages until it's locked?

Oh yay! Another thread about sportsmanship.

How many pages until it's locked?

Depends on how many people are offended and feel obliged to rage.

Was the OP playing in real life or on Vassal?

When a swarm player is getting his 6 dials down before your 2, that's not right.

Actually, it's been my experience that if you're flying in formation, swarms play almost as one ship and are thus easier to plan (provided you have at least a few games experience coordinating movements) than a 3 or 4 ship build where you're flying out of formation and set yourself up for different attack angles.

This debate always comes up.

Without being there and knowing the circumstances who are we to judge.

The author of this thread could just be venting in frustration, and later calm down some.

Was the players new?

How many times this happen per game?

How long were the games?

In 60 min games taking 5 min to set dials say happen three times, well that 15 min wasted.

Two ships vs 6 stall tactics are in the two ship build Advantage

He kills one or two small ships and try to run the clock.

Wouldn't surprise me with some people.

I usually find the more ships a player has the longer he will take vs fewer ships.

But as mentioned flying two ships every move is critical.

Even so, having said that I think 5 min is a little long to set dials for two ships.

Another question

Were they speedy from the start, and after destroying a ship start to take longer.

That's the obvious question.

If so then definitely sounds like stall tactics.

If they were slow from the start then, just sounds like they couldnt decide

I actually agree with the OP. yesterday there was a whisper/chiraneau that would take forever to decide for chiraneau, then decide for whisper, then pick his chiraneau back up, redecide, and so on and so forth.

He made top 8 because no one could kill one of his ships in a half hour game.

I actually agree with the OP. yesterday there was a whisper/chiraneau that would take forever to decide for chiraneau, then decide for whisper, then pick his chiraneau back up, redecide, and so on and so forth.

He made top 8 because no one could kill one of his ships in a half hour game.

30 min. format? I mean seriously...

I have played several 75 min. games where the first ship didn't fall until the last 10 minutes. Stalling or not 30 minutes is just not enough to bring many ships down. Especially in the current two ship meta.

I actually agree with the OP. yesterday there was a whisper/chiraneau that would take forever to decide for chiraneau, then decide for whisper, then pick his chiraneau back up, redecide, and so on and so forth.

He made top 8 because no one could kill one of his ships in a half hour game.

30 min. format? I mean seriously...

I have played several 75 min. games where the first ship didn't fall until the last 10 minutes. Stalling or not 30 minutes is just not enough to bring many ships down. Especially in the current two ship meta.

I agree with the original poster, it is one thing if it is a new player, but an experienced player should be planning out his next move once combat is over and not need 5 minutes on dials for 2 ships

I actually agree with the OP. yesterday there was a whisper/chiraneau that would take forever to decide for chiraneau, then decide for whisper, then pick his chiraneau back up, redecide, and so on and so forth.

He made top 8 because no one could kill one of his ships in a half hour game.

Yup, as TO for this event, I can confirm that this happened. Very frustrating evening for the guy's opponents, and I plan on addressing the issue with our community as soon as possible.

Ah, I took it as the player stalled a total of 5-10 minutes during the whole match. If he was doing that every turn, well, that changes things a LOT. If that's the case, then I do feel your pain OP.

Interpreting rage posts is difficult sometimes

I used to play Axis and Allies with some friends, but had to quit playing because they would literally take an hour to perform their move for one country. The time sink sucked ALL the fun out of that game for me, and it used to be my favorite board game.

Hey, we've all done it.. you set the first dial, set your second, then pick up the first thinking you just moved your ships into a block or overlap... I agree there can be times where it seems someone is taking too much time, or.. possibly stalling. Watch them.. time them, if it's excessive, maybe mention it.

Just remember they might get ticked off that you might appear to be rushing them. We each have our own style of playing the game.

Heck.. I'm old and been hit in the head too often in my life.. I double check so I don't pull a boneheaded move and overlap my own ships..

A little patience goes a long way. Remember you might be taking an extra moment to verify your moves when you hear across from you that heavy exhale of breath signalling you're taking too much time yourself.

Hey, we've all done it.. you set the first dial, set your second, then pick up the first thinking you just moved your ships into a block or overlap... I agree there can be times where it seems someone is taking too much time, or.. possibly stalling. Watch them.. time them, if it's excessive, maybe mention it.

Just remember they might get ticked off that you might appear to be rushing them. We each have our own style of playing the game.

Heck.. I'm old and been hit in the head too often in my life.. I double check so I don't pull a boneheaded move and overlap my own ships..

A little patience goes a long way. Remember you might be taking an extra moment to verify your moves when you hear across from you that heavy exhale of breath signalling you're taking too much time yourself.

There is a big time difference between picking up a dial to check the maneuver you just placed and spending two minutes picking a move for one dial, place it, spending two minutes picking a move for a second dial, place it, then picking up the first dial and spending another two minutes picking a move for the first dial.

I've never seen anybody have a problem with their opponent picking up a dial and checking the position, or even changing said position in a timely manner. But when over a quarter of the game time is spent selecting maneuvers for two ships, there's a big problem, there. It's stalling, it's cheating, and it needs to be dealt with.

Two things should be remembered in these, admittedly frustrating, situations. 1. All humans do not think through things at the same rate, some people need more time, especially in stressful situations. To deny them needed time is ableist. Unfortunately the clock is necessary if many games are to be completed in a day.

2, human nature is to assume the best in ourselves and the worst in others.

I do not doubt that there are people who cheat with stall tactics. I would be loathe to condemn a single person based on one encounter. To me the potential to harm someone who already has a short stick is too high.

If it's actual stalling, sure I agree.. some people haven't gotten the hang of certain ships yet. Like Phantoms... I played a guy the other day, we play all the time.. twice a week even.. but this was his first real use of the phantom (Echo), and he was taking some time.. sure it wasn't a tourney, but around turn 3 he flew it off the matt because he forgot which way he turned, and decloaked the wrong way. As it wasn't a tourny game I told him to check it first.. he said naa, and did his decloak.. we both laughed later about it.

Some people want to make sure thry are making the right moves and cant always rememeber what they did with the first dial... much less the ones after as they moved on.

I try to have an overall strategy from turn to turn as I finish the combat phase, and generally have an idea of where I want my ships to be for the next turn... after setting my dials, I then think about my opponent, and how he plays... that can give me doubts about what I did too.. lol.. I game with a couple trixy hobbitses.. lol.. they keep me thinking and I appreciate that. We all need people in our lives like that..

I'm liking all this hyperbole about slow play. Abloo bloo bloo he took a while to think of a move during a critical phase of the game where it would make or break him.

You're all slow players to me. I don't even wait for movement to end before I start setting the next turn's movement.

Seeing as I had first-hand experience with the situation in question, I'll default to my own judgment on what was happening in this one particular situation, especially since I wasn't the only one in attendance who witnessed it.

But by all means, find something to crusade against. I'll be unsubscribing from the thread and not opening it again. Making excuses for clear cheaters is almost as bad as cheating.

Seeing as I had first-hand experience with the situation in question, I'll default to my own judgment on what was happening in this one particular situation, especially since I wasn't the only one in attendance who witnessed it.

But by all means, find something to crusade against. I'll be unsubscribing from the thread and not opening it again. Making excuses for clear cheaters is almost as bad as cheating.

No need to get all that defensive. There are multiple instances being discussed here as well as slow players in general.

But if you were the TO, and you're saying that he was cheating, what did you do about it?

-edit-

That came out more attacking than I had planned. I mean to ask: how did you handle it, would you do anything different and as TO, how would you prefer players in your tournament handle themselves and the situation if they encounter it?