mctrivia posted this on Feature Requests, but I thought it would be interesting to discuss what we all would like to see in a Ludo Variant if Fencer was to make one.
mctrivia's suggestion:
1) Rolling 6 or 1 will get you out
2) Get to roll again if you roll a 6 or a 1
3) Consective rolls do not need to be done on the same piece. Can use 6 to get out then use next move on a different piece to move.
4) 4 players if possible.
My Suggestions:
1) Rolling 6 or 1 will get you out
2) Roll 2 dice every time. Even if you get a 6 or 1, you get no "bonus" roll
3) Yes, you can use 1 dice on one piece, and the other dice on another pices if wanted.
4) Oh.... yes, 4 player version would be good. Question: If someone wins, do the others play for 2nd & 3rd place, or whoever is closer to finishing is put into 2nd place? Also if someone resigns or times out, do their pieces get removed from the board and the others continue to play? (leaving the removed player in 4th place.)
What other ideas do people have. Maybe if we can come up with 1 set of "variant" rules that most people agree with, we might have a beter chance to get Fencer to make it. Ludo has recently taken over as the 2nd most currently played game on the site, passing Hyper Backgammon (and only behind regular backgammon).
BIG BAD WOLF: tourny's divided into games with up to 4 players each with a deciding game of the individual winners would be very interesting.
problem would be...someone with 700 games who only plays at the last moment...would stretch he matches out to years to finish
Eriisa: Of course now that I think about it, a 4 player version is not really a variant - but should be an additional option to the current game (and of course an additional option to any variants that might also happen.)
I still think if a person is able to roll 2 dice every time (no bonus roll if you roll a 6 or anything like that), plus if you are able to get out on a 1 or 6 - both those things together will be able to help speed up the game. (Since the slow pace of the game at times seems to be one of the bigger complaints)
Vikings: I disagrea that spliting moves and bones roles would be a programing night mare. The computer just keeps giving you dies until you roll something other then 6 or 1(going back to my variant) and you then can use each die in order one at a time.
I.E. A little arrow points to the first die. I click on the person I want to move that far then the arrow advances to the next die and I chose the same piece or another one.
As for autopass that would be very nice but unfortunetly Fencer has an eversion to it so it will not happen.
I personally think that a 4 playuer game should play out for secound third and fourth place. If someone times out there pieces are removed from the board and they automatically come 4th.
mctrivia: I am no programming genius, but I would think that it would be harder than backgammon, the problem as I see it is when you get to the 3rd or 4th roll and there is no move to be made because of the choice that you made earlier
Vikings: Why wouldn't there be a move? Unless you moved to the end. If you did get all your pieces in the end it would just flash up the red screen saying you can't make any valid moves.
Now I guess you should be able to chose the order of dies to use. You would probably want to use the 1 first to get out then the 6 to move ahead. You may also may want to use the 3 then the 5 so you can move ahead 8 spaces landing on someone in the middle.