Why is there no option to Peek the Warship counters (in addition to actually flipping them)? It was present in the older modules - and, if actually played multiplayer, is required for the gameplay (unless you are going to ask people to avert their eyes when you quickly flip the Warship back and fro to check it’s speed…)
More importantly, the fact that Merchant, KC and Warship counters can be deleted, while the option to instead quickly return them to their cup is not present, is a mistake.
Any reason why the optional stack of random chits for determining player turns isn’t present (as it was in the older module?) Sure, it’s not a rule from the original - and I don’t know if it was ever suggested in any magazine or such - but it’s still quite handy to have…
Module-specific questions are best posed directly to the creator, otherwise you have to hope they’re reading these forums. Visit the module’s project page and you can click their username to send a private message.
This is something I’d like to change, but I’m not sure how… One could include an @ for the module’s maintainer in such messages to make it more likely that they’d see them, but that still won’t bring them to the forum.
My own view is that module creators should always include a minimal help document in their modules that includes contact details so users don’t have to resort to sending out general inquiries without any certainty they’ll be seen by the right person. But that’s obviously not enforceable.
I know this is a pretty lofty idea, but I’ve always wished there was a more direct connection to module’s project page where questions about that specific module could be originated from the project page and mirrored in the forum for general viewing. This would appear like the chat window to the right of a youtube live stream, although, functionally, it would remain part of the forum, historically, it would give users a more centralized collection of queries about that module. I also believe it would encourage interaction because it would feel more direct because people would find it easier to provide feedback directly to the project page.
That said, I get that it is a technical leap to develop such a concept if it’s possible at all.
Please give a link to the module you are talking about. I guess it is Blackbeard
Click the user name in the project page, and then click the big blue Message button. Remember to specify a meaningful subject line (i.e., it should contain the module name).
For the specific module in question, the author is @LeeSmith who’s been active in the forum lately, so there’s a good chance that the author - in this case - will read a post - but it will help to give a link to the specific module.
In the meantime, as long as a @-mention doesn’t trigger an email notification (as it does on - say - GitHub), and there’s project specfic “forum”, I think the best practise is
Write a direct message (DM) to the module author(s) by clicking the user name and then the big blue Message button.
If the project mentions some sort of hosting platform - say GitHub or GitLab - use the Issue interface to submit an issue (bug report).
If there’s no reply within a reasonable amount of time, post a message in the forum, making sure to
Mentioning the project name in the subject - perhaps in square brackets [...]
Provide a link to the specific project page
Post to the Module discussion sub-forum
The new Game Library actually makes this all a bit easier, as the module author user name is mentioned and linked to that user’s forum profile. In the Wiki-based library, one had to rely on the author having filled in the appropriate email address.
The 1.16.0 release of Blackbeard does not seem to have that functionality - because no sides are defined, so in that sense it is not a regression.
As long as the module expose the piece database, one can always create the pieces again. Whether that makes sense in terms of Game rules is a different story.
If the resources are limited. For example, a ship is either totally destroyed, or it is active, or it is in a wharf, then those pieces should not be exposed in the piece database, and they should be placed in some map window at the start of the game.
In a sense, the 2.0.0 version of Blackbeard is very different from the 1.16.0 version, and it seems it should have it’s own project page.
As I said, lofty. And to be clear, I’m not suggesting the current method is broke. It works pretty well. I just think it would be great someday to have module specific comments on the module pages. It’s admittedly partly vanity, but it would also be of some benefit to have the history of comments on a module all in a single stream in one location on that module’s page but mirrored in the Forum. This is already being accomplished for News that shows up on the main Vassal page but also shows up in the forum timeline. Same concept but definitely complicated by the question of how the user or the software identifies which module is being discussed.
In my mind’s eye I would envision that if you are originating a message from the Forum, the first action would be to enter or select the module that matches the list of modules in the library search, or if entering the post from the module page, the software automatically assigns module information from the current page.
Well, the thing is that in Blackbeard, the procedure is - with the distinct exception of the Pirate counters specifically - that Merchant, Warship and King’s Commisioner counters are never outright removed from the game; when eliminated off the board in any way, they return to their draw cups to be drawn again when proper circumstances happen again.
And - if not playing solitaire - Warship counters have a rule relying on peeking at the counter without other players seeing that (the movement speed of a Warship is fixed, but differs on various counters, yet the player who gets to move it can move it up to 5 hexes regardless; the move can be then challenged by any other player, with penalties if the move happened to be legal or not)
It’s a good idea in general to allow counters to be deleted in case a player accidentally, or by misunderstanding pulls an unneeded counter into the game that becomes an eyesore or otherwise pollutes the board.
Additionally, it happens sometimes through glitches that a counter can end up in an unfixable state, other than deleting it and replacing it with a fresh counter (Rare, but probably related to old save files and new Vassal/ module versions).
So, as you say, if the players of the game understand the rules of the game, in Blackbeard, they should never voluntarily delete the counters. If they do, no foul, just pull a new copy of the counter and play on.
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