[GZG] Timescales

["Thomas Barclay" <kaladorn@xxxxxxxx>]

Oerjan, 

I always thought SG2 was 2-5 minutes, and I tend to favour 2, based on movement rates. In
fighting order, even doing "Advance to Contact" (up/he-sees-me/down) style of movement
that we were trained to use in open terrain, I could probably cover 100m in 30-40 seconds.
That's sort of normal. So that equates to about 10" which is more than one average combat
move of 70m. But lets say it was 70m and I was a bit slower (a third or so). Then 140m in
two moves (one activation) would be about right, and that'd be 60-80 seconds. So that, to
me, spoke of 2 minutes. Also, I guess after Goose Green and some other places, that style
of movement was somewhat deprecated as it was found to be *too slow* for the fast pace of
in-contact movement in many situations. So modern forces are probably *faster*. 

5 minutes would be an eternity, and in that time you can only engage one enemy squad?
Hmmm. As I recollect, in five minutes, even firing deliberate (one trigger pull every 3-5
seconds), which is probably a bit unlikely in an actual fight, I'd have expended my
personal ammo allotment (if I was unwise enough to do so) in 4-5 minutes. I'd sure hope I
could engage more than one target in that time. 

Perhaps, on a smaller scale, SG2 suffers from the same problem DS2 suffers from. If you
can run 20 second firefight turns in DS3, perhaps some similar mechanic needs introduced.
But if you think troops don't move far in SG2 turns and the game sometimes bogs down into
hunker-down-and-shoot rather than manouver, then 20 second turns (even with more realistic
movement rates) would surely amplify this.  

I'm not sure what the answer is, but I find having 15 minute turns that telescope in to 20
second tactical combat rounds to be a bit jarring. Maybe I'm alone in that. I understand
the logic for it, I just find it an uncomfortable mechanic, which is why I was suggesting
2-3 minute turns (and maintaining the TCR). This makes the ration of normal turns to TCRs
either 1:10 or 1:15 rather than 1:75. 

When actions were being conducted, things tend to happen pretty quickly. A 5 minute turn
length in SG2 (even notionally) just seems too long. <shrug> And a 75:1 change of time
frame in DS3 just seems a bit much. YMMV. 
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