You’ll have missed it if you’re not on the Discord, but we took a straw poll a couple of days ago to ask why we’d only had one menu submitted in the first 24 hours of this round (acknowledging that players didn’t have to answer accurately, if they didn’t want to give away private tactics), and the results were:

  “I’ve been discussing things privately with teammates” = 0
  “I’m still deciding what to do” = 0
  “I’ve been busy” = 2
  “Rounds always take a few days, so there’s no rush” = 2
  “I’ve been waiting to see whether the ‘end the game’ proposals pass” = 5
  “I’ve been waiting to see whether other proposals pass” = 1
  “The server has been down when I’ve tried to look at it” = 2

Of the players who still haven’t submitted a menu, Chiiika ticked “rounds always take a few days”, “end the game proposals” and “server down”. Arthexis and Darknight didn’t reply to the poll.

Chiiika’s mind might be focused by a statement from the group about how long they think rounds should take, if Chiiika mistakenly thinks that the typical 4/5 day outcome reflects what the group wants - but that could just be a statement of intention without a fine attached.

Given that Arthexis and Darknight have supported ending the game with someone else winning (and in Darknight’s case being eliminated), and that Darknight has yet to get above their $100 starting balance, I don’t know that a very small fine would change anything for them.

since even very small fines could change the outcome of the game if the scores are close, and this rule will sometimes impose them for things that we probably don’t actually want to punish (like a player being unexpectedly busy, or mostly offline over a weekend, or the server being down, or there being another “end the game” proposal, or a contested Declaration of Victory).

like a player being unexpectedly busy, or mostly offline over a weekend, or the server being down,
——yeah, these might be issues which was why the fine was made very small
or there being another “end the game” proposal,
—-where the fine could not take effect because at least half the trucks would not have submitted menus, and the fine would probably have been reduced to $1 anyway.
or a contested Declaration of Victory
—-wouldn’t that cause a hiatus and NO menus submitted?
I don’t know that a very small fine would change anything [for arthexis & darknight]
—-the fine is meant to be a small symbolic gesture, to try and use group pressure to change things
even very small fines could change the outcome of the game
—-that’s the point, but it would require 9 days of no menus to change even 1 performance point of the winner at the moment

However, I realize that this probably isn’t what the group wants, so

The hiatus is the problem there, with DoVs - the clock is still running. When the hiatus ends we may be handing out some fines for the crime of not submitting a menu during a period when nobody could submit menus.

It’s possible for a single $1 late fine to change the outcome of the game, if two players end up on otherwise equal dollar balances at the end of a Night, and the one who had a fine misses out on 1 Performance.

Group pressure does seem like the way to go - Arthexis, Chiiika and Darknight should definitely feel that the rest of the group is waiting for them - but even if fines worked on them, I think there’d be too much collateral among players who were genuinely trying to play the game quickly.