[Shepard]

I was wondering, are there any rules or conventions against taking notes (either pen and paper, or on your phone) during casual play or in tournaments? I was thinking mainly in terms of dilemmas (noting where your combos are placed and any of opponent's encountered but not overcome), but this could also be used to track opponent's personnel, as well as bonus pts.

[Kaiser]

In casual games, it's whatever people agree on. If it's more fun for you to do it a certain way, go for it.

That said, to me, taking notes about which dilemmas are where (or what requirements they ask) goes against the spirit of the seed phase. I have misremembered which card I saw (or seeded) where, but that's part of the appeal of the game. Some people are happy to tell you which wall stopped you where (especially if it helps to speed up the game), but writing stuff like that down is usually a no.
Bonus points are the most common thing written down. Other occasions are who went first; classification and gender for Soong-type Androids; skills changed with Reflection Therapy or K'chiq; maybe names of support personnel that you have already downloaded with Assign Support Personnel. So basically only stuff that's not on the cards or that can't be seen from the state of the table.

The official rules about note-taking in tournament games are probably in one of the many resources linked on the front page...

[Jono]

I was wondering, are there any rules or conventions against taking notes (either pen and paper, or on your phone) during casual play or in tournaments? I was thinking mainly in terms of dilemmas (noting where your combos are placed and any of opponent's encountered but not overcome), but this could also be used to track opponent's personnel, as well as bonus pts.

per the tournament rules under [7.8 – Tournament Conduct]:
Players may write down the player who took the first turn, the time the game started/is due to end and changes to either player's score. Players may also write any changeable or selectable characteristic of a card (Example: [1E] the classification and gender of a Soong-type Android or [2E] the skill on Vina, Orion Slave Girl) on a slip of paper and insert that in the card's sleeve. No other note taking is permitted during a game.

[BCSWowbagger]

I allow it in casual games for sure, because they're untimed and, hey, I already booked my afternoon for this.

In tournament play, it's problematic, because we're already so pressed for time... and of course the OPG proscribes it anyway.

Welcome to the forums, Alongi!

[Shepard]

Thanks all! Especially good to know about the official tournament guidelines.

[Takket]

thread necro..........

Are you allowed to bring strategy notes to the game to read? I wrote some notes that are along the lines of "If you encounter dilemma X, use defend homeworld to download personnel Y to help overcome it later."

[The Ninja Scot]

thread necro..........

Are you allowed to bring strategy notes to the game to read? I wrote some notes that are along the lines of "If you encounter dilemma X, use defend homeworld to download personnel Y to help overcome it later."

Short answer - No

That being said, there's nothing stopping you from looking at said notes after or before a round.

Michael

[DarkSabre]

thread necro..........

Are you allowed to bring strategy notes to the game to read? I wrote some notes that are along the lines of "If you encounter dilemma X, use defend homeworld to download personnel Y to help overcome it later."

People do use colored dots on their cards to help remember that this plays on this & that. Like yellow little sticker dots on the front of the card that helps remember that it gets to play for free on another yellow dot location.

I use it to help my kids remember since there is so much to remember in 1E

[frakkingoff]

In a tournament, that would feel like cheating to me...

[BCSWowbagger]

I thought marking the front of your sleeve was illegal, but I can't find a rule against it.

Plus, the CC itself marked dilemma combos for a while. As I understand it, that's why all the dilemmas in Homefront II have colored collector's info; it was combo-coding.

So that seems fine. Unless there's a rule I'm missing.

[AllenGould]

I thought marking the front of your sleeve was illegal, but I can't find a rule against it.

Well, you'd need to be *very* careful about not actually "marking" your cards. (In the "I can tell where cards are when I shuffle" sense).

Back in the Decipher days, I remember marking Tent cards was allowed (was pretty common up here to speed up cleanup), but nothing gameplay-relevant.

[DarkSabre]

In a tournament, that would feel like cheating to me...

What putting dot stickers on the cards?

For new players or for players who don't play often I don't see what the big deal is. Also if I put together a deck for my kids to learn to play I'm not going to peel off the little dots on the sleeve before I go ahead and play.

[DarkSabre]

I thought marking the front of your sleeve was illegal, but I can't find a rule against it.

Plus, the CC itself marked dilemma combos for a while. As I understand it, that's why all the dilemmas in Homefront II have colored collector's info; it was combo-coding.

So that seems fine. Unless there's a rule I'm missing.

As far as I know there isn't a rule. I use little dots mainly to teach my kids

[BCSWowbagger]

Back in the Decipher days, I remember marking Tent cards was allowed (was pretty common up here to speed up cleanup), but nothing gameplay-relevant.

But that's gameplay relevant if you're using stocked Q's Tents for their random selection function! *scandalous gasp*

As far as I know there isn't a rule. I use little dots mainly to teach my kids

Even if there were a rule, much of the OPG is ignored in practice (ask me about my observance of the sleeving policy! no, wait, please don't!), so I was mostly interested in whether it was technically legal or not. You should carry on doing it in any event.

[AllenGould]

Back in the Decipher days, I remember marking Tent cards was allowed (was pretty common up here to speed up cleanup), but nothing gameplay-relevant.

But that's gameplay relevant if you're using stocked Q's Tents for their random selection function! *scandalous gasp*

Not the Tents themselves - the contents of the side deck. (And if all thirteen cards are identically marked - and yes, we checked - then it doesn't affect the random selection).