We're thinking of instituting a time limit per turn in our games to combat analysis paralysis. What would be a reasonable time limit for committing to a move and action? (I'm thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 minutes - obviously there would have to be exceptions for turns that were actually game-critical.)

It completely depends on who the players in the group are, how fast they think, and how good their first instincts are. I don't think anyone who isn't at your table can answer this,

If players are taking more than a couple of minutes to choose an action, I would definitely implement a timer. If you think about it, there's not really a whole lot of actions you can take. And characters are limited with their skill set.

There are situations that may require more discussion and may require additional time to reach consensus, but that should still be given enough time to resolve.

Agreed, and come on, it is not a strategy game, it is a relationnal and talk-based game. The guy who takes ages dealing with something ? He then must be a frakin toaster, let's put him in the brig next turn so that everyone laugh their head off ! Come on ! He then complains the turn after that ? We put him in the air-lock ! Hurray !

I thought BSG was a Colonial Witch Hunt reenactment with futuristic trappings.

How do you know if an accused witch really is one? You drown them. If they survive, they're a witch.

How do you know if an accused cylon really is one? You execute them. If they survive, they're a cylon.

Right, and if you tell me about comparing the weight of a Human with the weight of a Duck to see if it is a Cylon, I'll answer you I feel some kind of deja-vu...

...and not because I am a duck.

It's the other way around. If the duck weighs as much as a human, the duck is clearly a cylon.

James McMurray said:

Sadly, this is terribly analogous to the Pegasus expansion.

Sinis said:

I think that's the point he was making.

Kinda, though I'd remove the "sadly" and "terribly" from my version. I was mostly just making a joke.

Hem said:

Hem and James are both wrong. You weigh the human, and if it weighs as much as a futuristic toaster, the human is clearly a cylon. Duh.

BSG with turn timer - nonsense.

What about discussions? What about acusations? What about everything whats perfect in BSG?

Aba said:

See, that's the problem, the line between "actively discussing a turn" and "stalling the game through inaction".

I'm thinking the solution may just be "don't play with the agonizingly slow people".

Install a turn timer and you make it terribly easy for cylons to butt in and slow things down, or press others to argue and so slow things up as cylons actively gain from human inactivity and a missed turn from a timer ending the turn steps the game towards the cylons advantage passively.

I really can see no benefit to the humans from a turn timer crimping the cylon player. No matter how I look at it , so for me the idea shifts the balance point of the game and thats an immediate no no.

Excessively slow play is partly subjective in terms of player tolerance but wherever you draw the line then players crossing that line is a player driven problem and one that should be addressed with player based solutions, not game rule based fixes.

My opinion only, your mileage may vary...

Tim