Was it as miserable as it sounds? When were the clocks off, and when did you pass time to the opponent?

*Mostly copypasta and some additions to what I have posted elsewhere on the webs*

I was the judge covering this one.

It was very well received, but I expect it to not be as popular as some formats since some just found managing the clock offputting and only stuck around for one game. Others got a kick out of the added twist.
Aces High was the run away success for the weekend without question. People were hopping into impromptu Aces High pods all Saturday. Between that and having a limit of 32 seats, it didn't really get a chance to shine.

We did 3 official rounds. First under the rules as presented. Second round we lowered the time allotted to 25 minutes per player since the majority were finishing their games with 28-32 minutes remaining with one exception (an inferno squadron at around ~9 minutes). For the remaining rounds, said player still finished with around 7-9 minutes remaining. No one timed out during these rounds. I could see going 20 minutes or lower would work best within the rules as posted.

Afterwards we did one more round to see if we could break it in some way. We planned on removing the part about pausing the clock while moving and changed the timer back to 40 minutes. One pair of players with inferno squadron and TradeFeds w/SunFac decided to go with 30 minutes instead. We finally had a timeout on the Inferno Squad with ~10ish minutes remaining on a lone Sun Fac with one hull remaining.

You can find pictures of the rules on most of the facebook groups for whatever podcasts. It essentially works as follows: Once a player has dials down (no picking back up), the clock starts on the other. As long as you are on a decision step, be it rolling dice, choosing actions, choosing mods, etc... the clock is running on you. Yes, this leads to some rapid clicking back and forth during some steps. Both players are responsible for keeping the clock going on the correct person. The clock stops at the end step.

If a chess clock is introduced into standard XWing tournaments, then I'm out. There are already so many things to think about. Adding another layer of constant time pressure -- 75 minutes per game + X seconds per dial -- goes against fun gameplay.

There's a common saying our community says often to new and veteran players -- "Fly Casual". Adding a time clock contradicts this very statement.

That's my $0.02. Thanks for reading. Fly True and May the Force be with You.

That's a pretty closed minded approach @FastWalker . I don't think anyone was suggesting that it be introduced as standard, but as an alternative method of play it sounds like it holds a lot of promise, and could be a great deal of fun, even in a Fly Casual environment. Personally speaking I'd love to give this a try.

Quite a lot of people get a kick out of adding different approaches, layers or challenges to a game; this is no different.

I'm a huge fan of tournament play, but adding variety to the game over the standard 200/6 format can only be a good thing, whether that's Epic, Escalation, Cinematic / Campaign play or Timed - all of which have should be more than welcome at side events at least.

6 hours ago, FastWalker said:

There are already so many things to think about. Adding another layer of constant time pressure -- 75 minutes per game + X seconds per dial -- goes against fun gameplay. There's a common saying our community says often to

"Fly Casual". Adding a time clock contradicts this very statement.

The standard 75 minutes is ignored for this mode. It was at player request that we reduced the time per player as much as we did since most felt after the first round that it really didn't affect their gameplay as much as they thought it would. If anything, it just kept them on pace and less likely to get lost in thought, which IMO tends to happen to some people more than they like to admit instead calling it being "methodical", "meticulous" or other descriptors.

It seems like the presence of a clock was more the issue than the clock ticking away from what I saw for some. Unfortunately I cannot be sure if that was the issue for some, or the fact it was Saturday and this was not the best event to be grinding tickets since Sunday most would be doing the FCQ. There was a few more two ship lists than normal, but mostly the usual lists you would see at any tourney. I would recommend trying it out at least once with whatever normal list you run for other extended/hyperspace events.

I think its fine as an alternate format. Play less against swarms and more 2 and 3 ship builds. And games go to 200 destruction unless someone runs out of time.

Only real negative is **** like supernatty Anakin that can just dial in anything click the clock in 1 second, and just avoid being shot at until their opponents clock expires. There needs to be a rule about non engagement or something to prevent this type of abuse.

11 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

That's a pretty closed minded approach @FastWalker . I don't think anyone was suggesting that it be introduced as standard, but as an alternative method of play it sounds like it holds a lot of promise, and could be a great deal of fun, even in a Fly Casual environment. Personally speaking I'd love to give this a try.

@FTS Gecko & @Tarhoraan , you missed the entire point of my soapbox. I never said i did not like this alternative gameplay. What i do NOT want is adding chess clocks to standard tournaments.

I love alternative gameplay. I even make my own for my friends and FLGS.

Chess clocks have been suggested multiple times in these forums to help speed up gameplay and reduce games ending at time. FFG created this alternative gameplay with chess clocks to see how well it is received. If successful, FFG may consider adding chess clocks or a timer to standard tournaments.

I DO NOT like this possible but highly unlikely scenario. The complexity of adding chess clocks or timers to every table in all tournaments makes this change hard to imagine happening.

Personally, i do not care about games ending in time. Hope this clarifies my rant. Thanks for reading.