You should rage quit and flip the table. Make sure the cameras are rolling so it makes it to YouTube, please.

While I do not feel as extreme as the OP, I will say this happened to me this weekend. While I want people to start playing, if you are so new to the game that you are unsure of many basic rules and take forever, maybe doing a tournament isn't for you just yet.

Any day of the week I would have been fine playing who I did, but in a tournament where I need the kills and the player takes five- seven minutes for the dials and action phase, and then another seven minutes for the attack phase thus only giving us 6-7 actual rounds. I really wanted to call him out.

Unfortunately many tournaments cost money and are for prizes, and to get snuffed out because you played a player that is too slow and you can't get the win and kills you need, it's a bummer. I encourage newer players to play in tournaments, but just decide whether or not you are ready before making the jump.

If you are playing in a TIMED, COMPETITIVE environment, being able to think through your moves in reasonable time is part of player skill and part of being a courteous competitor. Furthermore, if you are playing to "time out" the match, you have a sporting obligation to play reasonably quickly to give your opponent a chance.

However, I think the current meta and tourney rule set has a big effect on the overall player frustration regarding this, as pointed out by Blail Blerg:

you still cannot slow play. that is literally against the rules and agianst the spirit of the game.

Esepcially in the scenario he described going up against a 2 ship build to his swarm. the 2 ship build has two ships that are hard to kill and thus the MoV is in his favor to slow play. Also, he has a point 6 dials vs 2?

This is a very important point. The current meta has a high proportion of high point, high durability ships which have a massive advantage at winning on time. Perhaps a change in ruleset might be necessary? Something like "If an opponent's undestroyed ship with starting shield and hull points of at least 10 has half or less of its starting combined shield and hull points, count half its point value as destroyed for purposes of determining victory and MoV."

Stay at home, play at home... no need to deal with this sort of thing, like not ever.

Noooo! Don't do this! Despite the original post, tournaments are super fun and are the best opportunity to see some creative lists and flying. The situation the OP is talking about is an exception to the norm.

SLOW PLAYER HERE!

or actually not slow, but I always have my thinking cap on...

I will stay and think about each asteroid. I will stay and think before I put down my ships. I will take every possibility into account and choose the one that favours me. That is the purpose of the game and the way it's meant to be played! Too many times I've asked myself why I haven't stayed a few more seconds to ponder, because I missed a better move (/w perhaps a good followup the following turn), etc.

The better the opponent, the more time it takes me to outmaneuver him. The worse the position I'm, the more I have to think how to even the odds.... If I'm really quick it means bad news for my opponent.

I play fast in casual mode, but I can't stand rushing in a tournament setting. I'm tired, I'm at my 6th game, if I rush I'll forget to trigger cards etc.

Yeah I've had that sensation, playing against a newbie player with a swarm, waiting for him to choose different movements for all of his ships, thinking I might end up with a modified win or a low MoV win because of time. And yet I waited patiently, because he wasn't doing it on purpose.

I had to play against one of the top 3 judges in the world in magic once. Haha. He had to tell me to speed up for a turn or two.

Okay so how about we come up with a reasonable time limit, how would people feel about three minutes?

Personally I don't think I've ever gone over one but three seems plenty to set fail a check and be done.

It's weird. It's like... kind of... people want to get offended, but not actually fix anything.

There are multiple instances scattered through this thread of "oh, this has happened to me but I didn't say anything about it." Well, guess who's not helping the situation get the fix and attention it needs. If someone is legitimately playing slow to drag the game, ask a TO for input. Get them to watch. Maybe that's the not-so-subtle nudge someone may need to pick their speed up a bit.

But really, if the only point of this post and the dozens others like it, is to vent some sort of nerd rage and not actually strive towards challenging the staus quo and helping to fix real issues at tournaments, it's just prolonging the situation.

Okay so how about we come up with a reasonable time limit, how would people feel about three minutes?

Personally I don't think I've ever gone over one but three seems plenty to set fail a check and be done.

Finally. Thank Jebus! This is the point I was trying to make in my post on page 2.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who has felt like OP. Just played in a Store Champion ship against a 2 ship build and I outplayed him so hard. If his green dice hadn't been so hot I would have downed one of his ships way earlier, but the match ended up going to time and he won due because he killed one of my ships, while I got his Fringer down to 2 hull.

He spent a minimum of 3 minutes, yes I timed him, per planning phase and every planning phase my 4 dials were down before his 2. Not only did he take what felt like an eternity planning, but he also had the nerve to ask to use the restroom in the middle of our match. I was seriously raging the next two days in hindsight for not asking him politely to pick up the pace, because he clearly had an advantage in stalling for time. If I had just one more round of combat I could have easily picked off his Fringer for the game. Still a little bitter, but nothing I can do at this point. Life goes on.

There is a reason TOs exist. Utilize them...

Glad to know I'm not the only one who has felt like OP. Just played in a Store Champion ship against a 2 ship build and I outplayed him so hard. If his green dice hadn't been so hot I would have downed one of his ships way earlier, but the match ended up going to time and he won due because he killed one of my ships, while I got his Fringer down to 2 hull.

He spent a minimum of 3 minutes, yes I timed him, per planning phase and every planning phase my 4 dials were down before his 2. Not only did he take what felt like an eternity planning, but he also had the nerve to ask to use the restroom in the middle of our match. I was seriously raging the next two days in hindsight for not asking him politely to pick up the pace, because he clearly had an advantage in stalling for time. If I had just one more round of combat I could have easily picked off his Fringer for the game. Still a little bitter, but nothing I can do at this point. Life goes on.

Personally I would not let my opponent leave the table like that, unless of course it is an emergency. If you're at a tournament you really should make sure to use the restroom and do such things between games, not during.

A lot of cry babies in this thread. Just play the game and quit bitching. And who ever started the thread, please do us all a favor and play Magic or a similar game. It seems you are perfect for that.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who has felt like OP. Just played in a Store Champion ship against a 2 ship build and I outplayed him so hard. If his green dice hadn't been so hot I would have downed one of his ships way earlier, but the match ended up going to time and he won due because he killed one of my ships, while I got his Fringer down to 2 hull.

He spent a minimum of 3 minutes, yes I timed him, per planning phase and every planning phase my 4 dials were down before his 2. Not only did he take what felt like an eternity planning, but he also had the nerve to ask to use the restroom in the middle of our match. I was seriously raging the next two days in hindsight for not asking him politely to pick up the pace, because he clearly had an advantage in stalling for time. If I had just one more round of combat I could have easily picked off his Fringer for the game. Still a little bitter, but nothing I can do at this point. Life goes on.

Personally I would not let my opponent leave the table like that, unless of course it is an emergency. If you're at a tournament you really should make sure to use the restroom and do such things between games, not during.

That's ridiculous. If it fits into a larger pattern of abuse you should call a TO over. But you have zero right to prevent someone from visiting the restroom.

A lot of cry babies in this thread. Just play the game and quit bitching.

When someone is trying to abuse the time limit to get an advantage it's not just someone being a cry baby. It's someone who's dealing with a cheater.

Most if not all tournament games are timed, and no one should be penalized because someone else is playing slowly. Especially when they're playing a list that can possibly win the game just because time run out.

But you have zero right to prevent someone from visiting the restroom.

You have every right to call the TO over in that case. Once the timer starts you have X minutes to finish the match. If someone takes 5 minutes out of the game because they need to visit the restroom, then that's 5 minutes less for you to play.

That can be the difference between first place and not making the final 8. It shows a massive amount of disrespect to your opponent to walk away from the table for any reason in a timed game. If there is simply no other option you should offer to concede.

Not only did he take what felt like an eternity planning, but he also had the nerve to ask to use the restroom in the middle of our match.

Personally I would not let my opponent leave the table like that, unless of course it is an emergency. If you're at a tournament you really should make sure to use the restroom and do such things between games, not during.

That's ridiculous. If it fits into a larger pattern of abuse you should call a TO over. But you have zero right to prevent someone from visiting the restroom.

From the perspective of a polite and sportsmanlike player, that's completely true. Personally, if I ask to step away from the table, I'm only asking to be polite: your response isn't going to actually stop me, because the consequence for staying is far more substantial than the consequence for leaving without my opponent's permission.

If someone is using it as an excuse to stall that's a different story, but it's also really only a reasonable excuse once. If a particular player is hitting the restroom during every match, it's either unsportsmanlike conduct or the kind of unfortunate issue that should really lead to you dropping from the tournament in favor of seeing a doctor.

Don't think this was posted to the thread yet - but for clarification only - Page 1 of the Tournament rules:

Unsportsmenlike Conduct:

If they need too use the restroom of course let them. Most likely if you ask the TO they will give you couple more minutes once time is called.

It peeves me off when people wanna use the washroom during the game.

Pee between rounds, I say.

A lot of cry babies in this thread. Just play the game and quit bitching.

When someone is trying to abuse the time limit to get an advantage it's not just someone being a cry baby. It's someone who's dealing with a cheater.

Most if not all tournament games are timed, and no one should be penalized because someone else is playing slowly. Especially when they're playing a list that can possibly win the game just because time run out.

But you have zero right to prevent someone from visiting the restroom.

You have every right to call the TO over in that case. Once the timer starts you have X minutes to finish the match. If someone takes 5 minutes out of the game because they need to visit the restroom, then that's 5 minutes less for you to play.

That can be the difference between first place and not making the final 8. It shows a massive amount of disrespect to your opponent to walk away from the table for any reason in a timed game. If there is simply no other option you should offer to concede.

Would it have killed you to quote my entire post rather than just the last sentence? Why don't I post it here:

That's ridiculous. If it fits into a larger pattern of abuse you should call a TO over. But you have zero right to prevent someone from visiting the restroom.

Basically if the opponent has been slowplaying through other tactics and uses "going to the bathroom" as another one, call the TO over.

But in isolation, someone having to perform a normal bodily function is not "massive disrespect", as you say. Massive disrespect would be attempting to deny someone one of their human rights over a game.

Was thinking more about the situation. I have run into this before, in another game. Poker. We had some players , during timed play, sitting on cards much longer then needed, and would fold 95% of the time, just to grind time. SO we went to rounds, and low and behold they stopped doing the slow play or stopped showing up all together.

Now do I think rounds would work in this game, I don't know. 2 ship builds could get in alot more then swarms(just due to the amount of movement required), and you could still "slow-roll" and do 1 straights the whole time. So as for a "fix" everyone is looking for, this may not be it. In the main game of my post I don't think we engaged fire until round 5 and maybe had 10 rounds total? Was not counting, but will be from here on I think to see if there is any correlation.

The only fix currently is calling a TO it seems, which is fine, just more people have to be aware of it I think.

Would it have killed you to quote my entire post rather than just the last sentence?

There was no reason to, in fact quoting a whole post is pretty bad form. Anyone can look at the quote and go from there, look back if they need to to get the whole context.

But in isolation, someone having to perform a normal bodily function is not "massive disrespect", as you say.

Yes it in fact is. There's breaks between games and it's reasonable to expect everyone to take care of things like that when a 5 minute delay isn't going to have an impact on the outcome of a game. It is rude to step away from the table during a timed event.

The TO should still be aware of it, so the TO can put time back on the clock as it were, if it would effect the outcome of the game.

A person with a body that functions like normal should be capable of holding it in if he realizes he need to visit the restroom mid game. I'd be okay if it was something that you couldn't control like if you have diarrhea (not that you need to tell me the details, but THAT's an emergency). It's a competition, some level of seriousness should be expected. I'd be fine with adding the lost time, but it'd end up delaying the entire tournament.

What if I have to go #2? Is there a time limit for this?

I'd be fine with adding the lost time, but it'd end up delaying the entire tournament.

Depends on how much time and how long the breaks are. It may not even be necessary.

But consider the following.

Han has 7 damage cards, including a Disabled Sensor Array and Structural Damage crit, so he can't boost, and can't use 3PO. Time ran out in the middle of the round, which you had hit Han with that 7th damage card.

Next turn, you have 2-3 ships you can get into range 1, which means Han is dead unless you roll all blanks. But because the other guy went to the bathroom, you ran out of time. That's a win and 62 points worth of MoV you just missed out on.

At that point I think it would be quite reasonable to ask the TO for one more round, since the other guy couldn't hold it. Assuming a 15 minute break between rounds, you'd still have 5-10 minutes left even if you do get that other round.

The above situation while perhaps rare is the reason why in general you don't just walk away from the table in a timed event, but if you must the TO should know about it so he can extend the game if doing so would have an impact on the outcome of the game.