Hello everyone!

I have got a question about time wasting in tournaments.

Is there an official rule about how long you may choose your maneuver or make a decision about your actions?

In some cases people take forever to do that, so just finding the right maneuver for their remaining 2 ships can take up to 10 or 15 minutes.

So, is there a rule about how long this may take? What happens if a player takes longer than that?

Tournament Regulations prohibit “intentionally stalling for time” under the “Unsporting Conduct” rule, but there is no fixed time for the planning phase and no standard to determine intentional stalling.

If your opponent appears to be stalling, politely ask them to them to speed things up. Keep in mind it is also against the rules to, “rush an opponent with the intent to force a missed opportunity.” If an opponent is really dragging their feet then call an official.

No rule but if you feel they are taking too long feel free to call an official who can make the decision on whether or not they are actually stalling.

Ten or fifteen minutes for two ships is definitely stalling. It really shouldn't take anywhere near that long.

I've played in one event where a player took an inordinately long time to set his dials. I was a noob, so afterwards I asked an experienced player for advice after he'd played the same guy. He said, since it was a casual event, he wouldn't make a fuss, but in a premier event he'd have called the TO to watch and see what he thought.

So, don't be confrontational; politely ask him to be quicker; if he's still slow, ask the TO to observe.

I've been asked to speed up on two occasions, in both situations I wasn't stalling, I was stuck between several bad moves and trying to spot a barely adequate move that didn't make my situation worse! But a polite 'would you mind making your mind up?' is fine.

I have TO'd many event and are legitimately shocked how many players stall. I make a point to visit each table at least 2-3 times in an event just to make sure players know I am being actively preset. I firmly believe its not intentional... most of the time. They are just used to playing in casual games. But, there are those who know time is getting close to being up so they will slow play. It should not take more than a couple of minutes to place dials.

Its a little bit of a double edged sword, there is no specified time limit in that ship lists can vary from 2 to 8 ships and the logistics of setting a dial will naturally be longer the more ships you have. If you have a rigid time limit in the rules its potentially another thing for rules lawyers to try and catch people out on.

Having said that there really is no justifiable reason to take longer than 3 minutes to set dials for a squad of 4 or less ships. in most games there will be 1-2 critical turns of engagement that can swing a match so exceptions can be made, but enabling "Analysis Paralysis" is not a good thing. part of the game is playing in a timely fashion and taking upwards of 10 minutes to set dials is to put it bluntly, unacceptable.

Currently it is at the judges discretion in terms of determining and appropriately punishing players stalling. players often wont call a judge as many players don't want to be seen as "complaining" so sadly this often allows unscrupulous players to take advantage of these situations.

If possible, should a player get a reputation of changing game tempo depending on if they are winning or losing it should be pointed out to the TO to monitor but at the end of the day there is no hard and fast rule to adhere to.

I'd say that the number of ships you have really shouldn't have so much bearing on how much time it should take to set dials. With few ships how they fly my be paramount but unless you're large numbers are scattered all over the place each dial you set often leads to how you'll set other dials. The planning phase should probably be longest for about 4 ships.

I think fast playing is more common than slow playing to be honest. I know for myself, I’m a very fast player and of it comes down to the end I’m placing dials even faster to get an extra turn in and my opponents end up feeling obligated to place their dials faster than what they’d like. They still should take the time needed and shouldn’t allow me to influence them. So sometimes I have to say, take the time you need. Don’t speed up for me.

It should take no more than 90 seconds per dial you have to set, but maybe that self-imposed restriction is part of the reason I'm so bad at the game.

On 3/23/2018 at 12:20 PM, Tbetts94 said:

I think fast playing is more common than slow playing to be honest. I know for myself, I’m a very fast player and of it comes down to the end I’m placing dials even faster to get an extra turn in and my opponents end up feeling obligated to place their dials faster than what they’d like. They still should take the time needed and shouldn’t allow me to influence them. So sometimes I have to say, take the time you need. Don’t speed up for me.

This is pretty much me, too. In fact, I'm usually planning how I'll set my dials next turn at the beginning of the combat phase.

The other thing worth mentioning: it depends on the context of the game.

If both players ships are far apart and there's very little time on the clock, and someone is taking a long time with dials, that seems like deliberate time wasting.

If a player is in a thorny situation with no good moves and is taking a long time, that's frequently just a hard choice.

This is all, in some ways, kind of obvious, but I felt it was worth stating. I think we've all played games where things just can't go fast.