Sir Gordalot wrote:This occurance is rare but I think it would be a quick fix... it usually only happens in freestyle team games... If one person misses a turn, at the start of the next round any one is allowed to play... This leaves the possiblitity of someone taking a double turn... I think the team of the person who took the last turn should not be able to take a turn untill the other team takes a turn
As was noted in the post below, the actual turn consists of taking no action whatsoever.
However, you use the term "fake double turns" somewhat wide here.
The problem or loophole (which wasn't fixed in the latest upgrade of the game engine) is that in a four player doubles or in any game where only two people or team remains - the player/team that is to start the round can simply wait 23 hours and 58 minutes before making their moves. By doing this, the other player/team merely have a minute or two to make their moves before the 24 hour period is up and the next round kicks in (registering that the other player/team took no action at all) allowing the player/team who last moved to move again.
This is can be a very effective strategy and used correctly you decide the game by doing this. (One can note that it also cannot be considered cheating since it doesn't violate rule 1 or 2 and the game engine allows for it.)
However, used like this the game turns into the old "double turns allowed" setting. This setting is gone on paper, but the double turn can be practiced in this way.
Of course, there are always people who will jump in and say, "hey if you don't want it, play sequential games." That is, of course, a correct observation. And everyone who joins a freestyle game is aware that this event/move can take place. Still, it does violate the spirit of the original game settings. Basically, if I wanted to play a game where double turns were allowed, I would have started or joined such a game when that option was available up until a few days ago.
A way to prevent this occurrence can be to for each new round - the 24 hour round period begins. Then, when the first player/team makes the first move in that round, the round period is reset to 0, i.e. from here you have another 24 hours to finish the round.
These "fake double rounds" may not always be the result of a deliberate move. With people scattered around the world, a player/team simply may not have gotten around to log in to CC until 18-22 hours have already passed for a round. Most people seem (including myself) to have certain times of the day when they check in. With a mismatch between the players, a round can easily slip away from one player/team due to this. Thus, the suggestion made in the paragraph above would also solve the issue/problem with people from different parts of the world playing in the same game since it would create a level playing field for all players.
