Pitboss 27 IT and Tech Issues Thread

[Krill]

I'd rather the game crash than we start pausing every turn.

[Krill]

Lurkers aren't supposed to play either unless you ask either and most people aren't active enough to be giving the concise orders for a lurker to play the turn.

[GermanJoey]

Post/bump the PYFT thread if you need a lurker to play a turn.

[HitAnyKey]

I did at least check each of the people who hadn't played yet to make sure none of them were going to be missing a second turn in a row. If anyone was going to be missing a second turn, I would have suggested a pause until we could find a lurker to play it.

[Molach]

If we set some rules/procedures at the start of the game how we want to deal with people forgetting to play turns, I vote that we follow those.

[Gavagai]

Sorry guys, I was somehow sure that I've played yesterday. Anyway, I had all essential actions queued for this turn, so no worries.

[AutomatedTeller]

I'd rather the game crash than we start pausing every turn.

Well, it's not like we have been. This is the first time this week it rolled on 24 hours.

[Cheater Hater]

I wish there was a way to promote checking in once in each 24 hour period, even if it isn't necessarily once every 24 hours. Something like:
1. The turn rolls at 12:00 AM Pacific (an arbitrary choice) by default if there are people left to play
2. The turn only rolls if at least 24 hours have elapsed in the current turn (maybe slightly less)
3. If all players have played, the turn still rolls, and if multiple turns roll in a 24 hour period, you can still get ahead of the 1-turn-per-day turnpace

I admit there's a ton of problems with this--the "arbitrary" choice of time ideally would when no one would play normally (a near-impossibility), it doesn't handle turn splits, and there's the obvious challenge of implementing it--but it's just an idea that feels less-punishing while keeping the turn roll at a consistent time. Of course, the other option is to make the turn timer a week or something, but expect that the lurkers will play turns after 24 hours...

[GermanJoey]

The lurkers have been doing our best to cover for players who haven't played, but its like, right now our directive is to try to play for people with under an hour left on their turn who didn't ask for a pause or sub, and since we're not even playing this game I don't think its reasonable that to expect us to just putz around the house waiting for the timer to tick down to 1 hour to play your turn. And, as always, if you can't play, you can always ask for a sub or a pause, in which case you can pretty much always have one. You just need to ask...

[HitAnyKey]

I wish there was a way to promote checking in once in each 24 hour period, even if it isn't necessarily once every 24 hours. Something like:
1. The turn rolls at 12:00 AM Pacific (an arbitrary choice) by default if there are people left to play
2. The turn only rolls if at least 24 hours have elapsed in the current turn (maybe slightly less)
3. If all players have played, the turn still rolls, and if multiple turns roll in a 24 hour period, you can still get ahead of the 1-turn-per-day turnpace

I admit there's a ton of problems with this--the "arbitrary" choice of time ideally would when no one would play normally (a near-impossibility), it doesn't handle turn splits, and there's the obvious challenge of implementing it--but it's just an idea that feels less-punishing while keeping the turn roll at a consistent time. Of course, the other option is to make the turn timer a week or something, but expect that the lurkers will play turns after 24 hours...

I just don't really understand what the problem is though. Turns for PB games have never rolled consistently at even close to the same time very day. And that's why we have civstats. Not only do you get an email when the turn rolls (which basically is the first warning that you have until that time the following day to get your turn played), but we should all have the ability to check the civstats website at various times during the day, even if we can't necessarily play the turn at that time. So if, for example, you normally play your turn in the evening after work and the turn rolls just as you are going to bed you are have until the entire following evening to get your turn played. If something happens that you check civstats and you know you can't get to your civ computer by the time the turn would roll, then you simply post in the thread that you need a lurker to cover for you. Or if the turn is critical enough, and it's not for too long a period of time, then you ask for a pause.

Using my timezone (EST) looking at civstats, you typically play between 3pm & 10pm.
T24 rolled around 7am, you then played around 10pm that day.
T25 rolled around 2am, you then played around 5:30pm that day.
T26 rolled around 11pm, you then played around 5pm the next day.
T27 rolled at 9:30pm, you then played around 3pm the next day.
T28 rolled around 5:30pm, leaving you hours on both ends of your normal play window to play the turn. But based on the times most of your turns were played, doing so last night right after the turn rolled would have been best.

Just a small observation, and more directed at everyone in general. Keep an eye on civstats during the day. Most of us have smartphones and access to the internet even while at work or other such places. If you think there's a chance you might not be able to get to your turn for some reason, speak up. Silence means you are ok with the turn rolling if there aren't any lurkers around to play for you. Most won't do so until the last minute unless they are already notified you need someone to play for you, and by then it may be too late if no one is around when the timer starts to run out.