[This is the same post as in the discord channel]
[TLDR below]
My thoughts so far (didn't follow the whole discussion though, sorry if I miss something important):
Making the rules a bit more on point in terms of descriptions, formatting etc. is a good thing. Thanks!
However, here are my thoughts about the overtime rule:
What do you mean by "ignore clouds"? If there is a LOS in theory but clouds are blurring the view making it impossible for both teams to see eachother, the the ref should still not end overtime? This could easily lead to some wrong decisions. If it's meant the other way around the wording is unclear to me.
The passage "Ships are within 1000 meters of each other" could cause similar problems. What if they are very close to 1000 m?
Are those rules necessary? Can't we just say, overtime ends when ships stop dealing damage to each other for a specific ammount of time (like you proposed something around 30 seconds?). I admit that this might also lead to some problems when ships start shooting the exact moment when the timer runs out though ...
Another thing came into my mind. Since this game doesn't provide the mechanics to clearly determine if there is a LOS / reasonable engagement range / active engagement or not, why not simply make it so that in case of a tied match:
- either there is no overtime at all; match ends after 20 min
- or an overtime applies which always takes 3 min regardless if there's an engagement / LOS or not.
If the score is still even after 20 or 23 min, the firstkill or the infamous coinflip decides - I believe it was Nietzsche's Mustache saying in an older discussion in a similar context "both teams lose". And one is lucky enough to win by the firstkill or a coinflip.
However, there is something else I want so say. There is one important thing every ref should consider and respect in my opinion.
Every single announcement a ref makes should be obligatory. No ref should ever change his opinion afterwards when he already announced a decision in the match chat. This can lead to unfair advantages and disadvantages.
Example:
Ref says: "Engagement ends, match is over"
Some (but maybe not all) players immediately stop repairing/moving the ship etc.
Ref says: "Nevermind, continue"
One team might have a disadvantage now because some it's players stopped doing their jobs due to the previous announcement.
(We had a similar incident in one of our matches some time ago, which would now lead too far to talk about)
This is a thing which actually could have been the case in the unfortunate (yet extremely exciting) match on ashen scuffle last week (wp everyone
). We should try to avoid things like that. I'm not blaming the ref though, it was difficult to decide what's right and what's wrong and the cancellation of the decision came in immediatlely. The good thing is that it almost never comes to such an unlikely event anyway. The rules are already pretty good and work in perhaps 99% of the time.
TLDR:
- Thanks for putting work into making the rules more clear!
- Proposal (feel free to discuss): Make the rules as easy as possible (if a match is tied either #1 no overtime at all or #2 overtime always applies for 3 min regardless of active engagements).
- Ref decisions (at least if they involve calling out the end of a match) which have already been announced in the match chat should always be obligatory and never be cancelled.
