RSHL.blog

With 24 hours left on the 1 Ship Rule vote, just over half of the eligible voters have submitted their opinion on whether to press ahead with limiting teams to one of each ship.

The rule has been trialed during preseason, as well as being used in several previous off-season events. Opinion is split on whether it should be used in our premier league, with some vociferous opponents.

RSHL League Coordinator Gato has declared that for the measure to pass, it must hit at least 55% of the votes. It’s currently unclear which way it will go, with a couple more votes able to swing the decision.

Gato should be commended for putting this to a public vote. Normally, the zone is at the whims of its leaders and the murky Shadow Council, which may or may not exist depending on who you believe.
The only public polls in the past with respect to the RSHL have been regarding whether to run a season as a Draft or Traditional (edit: and changes to the Defensive Crease rules). Our rules still say we should alternate between Draft and Traditional, with Draft always polling strongly when a public poll is allowed. RSHL hasn’t been a draft league since Season 31, but that is a topic for a future post…

Personally, I am still to be convinced on the possible benefits of a 1-Ship Rule. We use it in off-season events to make them distinctive from RSHL. It also helps when exploring ship settings, so that any changes to the less used ships will actually be tested.

It can certainly help with problems with unbalanced ship settings: it matters less if there is an overpowered ship _{*cough warbird cough*} if teams can only have one of it. This means we could go more extreme with the ship settings… give the weasel an insane snipe, let the warbird speed around anyone, turn the levi into the “kill everything” ship from Gimmick League which this iteration was inspired by. However, it’s too late to explore ship settings for Season 39.

I’m concerned that the rule will have had an effect on team stability. Did any teams have to have uncomfortable conversations about who would take which role after rosters were already formed? Was the Four Horsemen’s demise impacted by disagreements about who would have the keys to the Ferrari?

The ability to ship change between periods reduces the value of the bench players: no longer do you need to sub someone out to mix up the tactics or shore up a lead. This could have led to more teams being formed, but we’re only at eight teams, one less than last season.

I’ve tried to garner opinions different to my own on the effects to team tactics. My first instinct is to dislike the limitations to try unusual lineups, but hockey zone is so locked into a certain meta that it is rare for teams to try anything unorthodox anyway. I can still vaguely remember an old game where a team dared to go all levi, and it took the opposing team most of the game to adjust. I am hopeful the 1 Ship Rule will lead to more interesting gameplay, but it’s been difficult to form an opinion on this from the preseason games so far.

This is a rare chance to have your say in the running of the zone, don’t squander it.

edit: The One Ship Rule resolution passed with a vote of 25 to 17.