Wednesday, January 08, 2025

Proposal: Swift Slitherers

Reached quorum, 4-0. Enacted by JonathanDark.

Adminned at 09 Jan 2025 02:55:03 UTC

Add the following as a new dynastic rule, called Race 5:

Whenever a Snail crosses the finish line they subtract their Track Record from their Plays. This may result in a Snail’s number of Plays being a negative number.

At the time at which an Award Ceremony is carried out, the Snail who finished the Race with the lowest number of Plays has achieved Victory; if multiple Snails are tied for the lowest number of Plays then they have all achieved Victory but must head the next dynasty as a Coregency. If the Coregency contingency occurs then this rule may not be repealed upon Ascension; instead it is replaced with the following text in quotation marks, which is otherwise flavour text, with xxx replaced by the names of all players who will act as Coregent Emperors and the term Emperor or Emperors replaced with the relevant dynasty-specific terminology:

“This Dynasty is a Coregency and as such has multiple Emperors. The Emperors for this Dynasty are xxx. All Emperors have all of the powers and responsibilities of an Emperor. Any vote of DEF cast in this Dynasty is only considered to be the same as the Emperors’ votes if all votes cast on that matter by Emperors are the same; otherwise it is considered to be an unresolved DEF vote as if no Emperor had cast a vote on that matter.”

Comments

ais523:

08-01-2025 14:36:10 UTC

I think this doesn’t work because Plays are by default defined to be non-negative, so the subtraction isn’t possible for Snails who finish in fewer Plays than their Track Record.

Also, I’m not sure “Race 5” is actually defined in the ruleset; it would be clearer as “Whenever a Snail becomes finished, if the Race Number is 5”. The timing is also unclear – the victory is presumably meant to occur during the Award Ceremony but the rule doesn’t actually say that.

Josh: he/they

08-01-2025 14:49:04 UTC

Thanks, have made amendments.

ais523:

08-01-2025 14:58:09 UTC

“Crosses the line” doesn’t work because there are two lines, the starting line and the finish line. The timing of the victory also still isn’t specified.

Josh: he/they

08-01-2025 15:01:01 UTC

Thank you.

Have also corrected a bug where “xxx” was in quotation marks.

Habanero:

08-01-2025 15:20:21 UTC

A few sanity checks, which I’m pretty sure aren’t really issues but would like to see regardless (proposals which modify victory conditions deserve a bit more scrutiny):

- In case someone has a way to cross the finish line multiple times, it might be a good idea to specify that you only subtract the first time you cross the line
- I’ve arguably ‘crossed the finish line’ when my position goes from 104 to 0 at the start of the new race, so it should probably only subtract while a race is ongoing
- Someone might try to argue that they’ve achieved victory because they had the lowest number of Plays in a past Race and the rule doesn’t specify the Race number (and “encouraged to reflect whether or not they agree with the proposition that the poster has achieved victory in the current Dynasty” would count instances where the poster has achieved victory at some time in the dynasty’s past), probably the enacting admin. The argument’s a bit shaky seeing as this rule wasn’t there back then, but I don’t want to risk it

JonathanDark: he/him

08-01-2025 15:44:17 UTC

I had expected a chop among collaborators but this is a nice surprise. Well done.

Josh: he/they

08-01-2025 17:55:36 UTC

@Habanera Sorry, didn’t see this in time. Feel free to propose though (I don’t have slots)

Desertfrog: Jury

08-01-2025 18:44:46 UTC

for

Desertfrog: Jury

08-01-2025 18:48:22 UTC

“the Snail who finished the Race with the lowest number of Plays has achieved Victory” refers to the amount of plays done, not the value of the game variable, so I think it would ignore the Track Record modification

ais523:

08-01-2025 18:49:48 UTC

for

JonathanDark: he/him

08-01-2025 19:55:46 UTC

for

JonathanDark: he/him

08-01-2025 21:53:50 UTC

How was the non-negative Plays issue fixed? It looks like it’s still an issue.

Josh: he/they

08-01-2025 22:24:02 UTC

“This may result in a Snail’s number of Plays being a negative number.”

JonathanDark: he/him

08-01-2025 22:35:36 UTC

Ah, ok, that gives permission for the Plays to be a negative number. I initially read that as a statement of notice, not as a permissive exception to the rules.