Great! Glad that the chess timer has been added. From the note though, it only sets the overall game time. No per-turn increase? That means that games that go long are going to definately have problems still.

I can understand why you want to have the end date in mind when you start for tournaments, but in normal games I would want to be able to play a game that goes long without any additional pressure, which is what you can get if you have a per-turn increment...

For example, if you start with a 10 day timer, and a per turn increment of 1, then you have 10 days to play the game, plus 1 per turn for that game. If a game goes long and you squander your extra days early, you'll have to make sure to play that game every day, but if you're able to play a couple turns in one day you'll then have some flexibility left in case you have to miss a day down the line.

Thats what I really would like to see, complete flexibility.

Not to say I'm not happy with the new method, it just could be a lot better with a little bit more work.

I need to play with it, but I like the current timer as it is. I always hated it when i'd submit a turn and my opponent would drag their feet on their turns. Now with a set end time, there is a penalty for dragging feet... if you turn it on. You can still play the old way and have the game go on to conclusion.

Of course, I would not be against your method as another option, I just would not like to see the current implementation replaced.

The nice thing about the above solution is that it enforces quick play (if your opponent drags his feet he's going to lose all his remaining time pool pretty quick and be playing catch-up the rest of the game) while still allowing flexibility. Say you go on vacation for a day or can't play on the weekends.

Alternatively, with the new solution, if those things happen and you miss a couple days there may be no way for you to finish the game if it goes long.

I agree that the new solution is Far better then the old solution, just wonder why they just don't throw in the last little bit to make it a Perfect solution.

I agree. The time for each player should be X number of days for the game + Y number of days per turn where the challenging player selects the X and Y.

I have one other question though. Lets say my opponent and I are about 6 hours off on time zones. So I get home in the evening, do my turn, and go to bed, he comes in 6 hours later, does his, and goes to bed. Then 18 hours later, I get home from work again and do my turn. My chess timer went down 18 hours while his only went down 6 hours. I suppose this isn't a problem so long as the minimum value of Y in the above formula is 1 day, but if it is 12 hours, then one player is forced to take his turns at odd hours to avoid running out of time.

It may be a good idea to only start the chess timer once a player has recieved the turn from his opponent. Not when it was sent by his opponent. This will keep players from delaying your specific game purposefully while playing others but wont punish players that have to leave town unexpectedly for a funeral or are sick with the stomach flu because they wont have recieved the turn yet. After a week or so, the chess timer could start automatically regardless of whether or not the player had recieved his opponents turn just to get rid of people who quit playing the game altogether for reasons passing understanding.

I don't know. I am getting over a stomach flu, just got back from a funeral, and recently had a conference that lasted 4 days followed by a disastrous 4 day "vacation" where I contracted said stomach flu. I lost a few games because of time outs during that period, and I wish there was a way around it. But there is no way to fairly tell which players are purposefully stalling just to be jerks and which ones are just busy.

Ok, I'm done rambling

Sounds like a rough time. Maybe you better "find God" while there is still time (hehe).

Hi guys,

I also think X (initial time limit) + Y (per turn limit) is a much better solution.

I understand the need to end games at set time for tournaments. But at the same time, if a game is close and genuinely takes a lot of turns to finish than the person doing turns faster has an advantage - which is not what the tournament should be about. Also, "different time zone" problem is definately a problem and can be exploited.

Most games will end up in a set time limit with X+Y formula anyway, because most games end up in certain average turns. There will only be a few close (and therefore long) games that should be allowed to run a bit longer because I think games in tournaments should be decided by skill and not time. And that is especially true when a game is close - for me those are the BEST and MOST FUN games!!

For example:
If a game limit is 3 weeks = 21 days - and most games are expected to finish within 15 turns then X+Y limit equivalent is 6 (initial) + 1 (per turn), making sure most games will finish in 21 days

Another similair option is to have the following formula:
X (initial) + Y ( per turn after Z number of turns)

Agree with Maelstrom.



And agree with this too.

Both those things would make the timer perfect.

I understand Religion's comments, that of how unexpected illnesses can leave you in trouble, but I think it'd defeat the purpose of the timer if the timer only started when you actually first recieved the turn. In that case its extremely easy to exploit the system by just choosing not to receive turns for a few days.

I think that the time pool (the X in people's comments above) should be enough to handle these kinds of situations. Its true, when you come back you'll have to play faster, but thats the only way that your delay won't inconvenience your opponent too much.

As far as time zones, thats a good point. I suppose if you had a lot of people on normal days playing soon after you, then it might be good to do some turns in the morning before you go to work occassionally just to keep the pool up.

Hello,

The main purpose of check clock is to set a certain time for any tournament or Clan War battle. It will become really convenient in future for moderators to manage tournaments and forecast next rounds.

I'd say that you should consider the entire time given to make all turns in any single game as your <b>initial bonus</b>. How much time do you spend usually when making turn?

I bet it takes from 2 to 30 minutes which mostly depends on planet size and turn number. So considering the longest game takes 40 turns (which happens really occasionally) your top ingame time is 0,5 x 40 = 20 hours. And we have chess clock options from 1 till 4 weeks to complete all turns in a game!

From my personal experience I can say that if the game is so important (like the most of tournaments’ games for you) I reply on turns immediately, which finally leads to meeting opponent online and finishing game like in 30-40 minutes. I believe the same happens to you guys and only in some rare cases you won’t be able to take your turn for 2-4 days(weekends, holidays – I don’t consider vacation here, but if it happens I’d rather pass my account to my friend of the same skills then let loss due to timeout).

So the only option I think chess clock misses at the moment is fast defeat limit which happens when opponent holds turn on his side for 5 or more days. But we’re planning to fix this in one of our upcoming patches.

Dave - I promised to reply on this, guess you remember
Best Regards,
Nick.

Chess clock games should display the time remaining for each player before the game ends. Right now there is no indicator that I see.

You can check the time from Games section in description of game settings. There're two fields indicating time left both for you and your opponent.

But I guess we might add the timer right in game when you're making turn.