As long as we're dreaming, I also have a wish that I think would mean a major overhaul of things that are supposed to stay the same in this new version, but that would lead to a much more streamlined experience especially when playing multiplayer,
Simply put: Allow stuff to be done beforehand when possible.
A simple example would be when player A plays Militia and players B and C have to discard. Let them discard simultaneously so C doesn't have to wait for B to discard. Of course things should
really happen in the order they should happen. The interface would just in many cases to act beforehand in a way that would only be seen by themselves until it's time for it to actually happen.
If C doesn't want to discard until after they've seen if B discards Tunnels that's possible by just waiting, but B have to discard before getting to know what C discarded.
The attacker A on the other hand could go on with their turn without having to wait for anyone if they don't want to. Not until everyone has discarded this actually happens.
Of course it can be important to know how the other players react. In those cases it might be good to wait, but at other times you can just continue playing quickly.
It can be a bit tricky, but I don't think this would have to be
very complicated. There would be a queue of things that have been decided but that haven't actually happened yet, where each player can have one event where they have to decide something. As soon as everyone has seen the first event on the queue it actually happens, etc.
A more complete example with A, B and C and it's A's turn:
1. A plays Village. No interaction, so nothing special.
2. A plays Margrave. Playing an attack is a possible interaction so now things are different. Let's say B has a Horse Traders and thus has to decide if setting it aside. There is a status text "B chooses a reaction" or something like that.
3. A executes the Margrave, getting 3 cards and 1 buy, but this happens only for A for the time being. Also C (who has no choice) draws a card, and then has to discard, but only in "C's reality".
4. Now all three players have something to do. A can play a new action, B still has to decide if setting the HT aside, and C has to discard cards. The status message is still about B (and the clock is on B) and A and C might want to wait to see what happens, but can also act.
Suppose A is first and plays a Masquerade. As before A immediately draws 2 cards in "Reality A". No one else notices anything about this.
5. Next suppose C discards down to 3 to the Margrave. Then C will se A draw cards and play Masquerade, since there are no new decisions for C to do before that. Similarly A will see C discarding cards immediately. Only B is stuck on where the game "actually" is. These are the events on the queue that haven't really happened yet:
- A draws 3 cards and gets 1 buy (seen by A and C)
- B should act out their part of the Margrave (has not happend at all)
- C draws 1 card and discards some cards (seen by A and C)
- A plays Masquerade (seen by A and C)
- A draws 2 cards (seen by A and C)
- A should pass a card (A's current decision)
- B should pass a card (still unknown)
- C should pass a card (C's current decision)
Suppose that B continues to be the slow player. As soon as A and C have passed cards A can continue; maybe trashes a card, plays a bunch of Treasures and buys a couple of cards. In A's and C's reality it is now B's turn while B is still stuck on that Horse Trader.
Finally B sets the Horse Traders aside; gets to see everything happening, drawing, discarding, and passing a card, and then quickly it is their turn and everyone is in synch again.
But there can be information leakage!Yes, that's possible. C may chat "uh oh, I didn't expect a Masquerade" which will warn B before B discards. You could argue that you shouldn't get to see chats before you are in synch with the chatter, but I think a better solution is simply to wait for the others when you want to do something like this. The important thing is to avoid unnecessary waits when it really doesn't matter to you how what the others do.
It can be tricky!Indeed. Suppose A's first buy in the example was a Province and B has a Fool's Gold. Then A should see whether B trashes it before buying the next card (maybe Noble Brigand!). Then we must have A start waiting after that first buy since there is no way to know what B will do or even if B will pass Fool's Gold to C. If the reaction that B is thinking about using for the Margrave is Secret Chamber instead there's even less knowing if Fool's Gold will be in any hand.
But fortunately most of the time it will not be that complicated, and it does not have to be complete at all. Just having some logic for doing like this can come a long way from unnecessary waits that you wouldn't do if playing afk. Also some of the complications will only happen when specific cards are in the game. When Fool's Gold is in the game some things have be done more by the letter. When Caravan Guard is in the game some other things have be done more carefully, etc.