I would like to make a turn based hex-map war game. Something like a world war between several countries. I would like a war to last several days so that you can play it sparrodically from your mobile: Check in twice a day and organise your attack/defense. But I also need to allow players to play for a decent stretch of time when they login. This should mean that players from different time zones can:
1. Play vs each other at different times ( like email chess )
2. Have enough to do when they log on to play ( unlike chess, where the user can only make one move before waiting for his opponent ).

So my current thought is to limit the amount of moves your units can make each day.
This takes care of the first problem. But does not take care of the 2nd one. Once a user exhausts his moves, he has no reason to stay in the game.

So, I am looking for a solution to this problem, but one which will not penalize players with less time on their hands too much.

Any ideas?

The easiest solution: Allow a player to have more than one game running at the same time.

It is almost impossible to give a player with more time enough to do in a single game against a player with far less time on his hands without also giving the player with more time a significant advantage, thus its a bad idea to do so.

Also, rather than limiting the number of moves on a daily basis, limit the number of moves per turn instead, (So that once the opponent has exhausted his moves aswell (or a turn timer expired, whichever happens first) both players get a new set of moves to spend allowing games to progress at a higher pace if all players are active.

Do you want them to stay in the game longer as a convenience to the player or as a way of better monetizing their play time (more ads, etc)? If it's the latter, one thing you could do is implement mini-games or side tasks that if they complete give them an extra move or two in the game that day. There would need to be an upper limit otherwise it would get out of hand.

Do you want them to stay in the game longer as a convenience to the player or as a way of better monetizing their play time (more ads, etc)? If it's the latter, one thing you could do is implement mini-games or side tasks that if they complete give them an extra move or two in the game that day. There would need to be an upper limit otherwise it would get out of hand.

The way I see it, to get players "hooked" they should be able to immerse themselves in the game. I do not see players joining a game that they can only play for 10 consecutive minutes. However, I do not see players persevering over a long period of time if they are forced to spend more then 5 minutes checking their and updating their status

The easiest solution: Allow a player to have more than one game running at the same time.

It is almost impossible to give a player with more time enough to do in a single game against a player with far less time on his hands without also giving the player with more time a significant advantage, thus its a bad idea to do so.

Also, rather than limiting the number of moves on a daily basis, limit the number of moves per turn instead, (So that once the opponent has exhausted his moves aswell (or a turn timer expired, whichever happens first) both players get a new set of moves to spend allowing games to progress at a higher pace if all players are active.

I could perhaps open several maps. Short turns for beginners, and longer turns for seasoned players

You could use action points for everything in the game and those action points are given at a fixed interval.

There should be enough action points for frequent players to play none stop but not enough to do everything they want at once. And for ocasional players you could give extra points for being "off-line" so they can keep up with the more frequent players. Obviously the more frequent player should have the advantage but this system makes sure the advantage won't get too big too fast like in tribal wars where you really need to check on your account each 15 to 30 minutes.

This obviously needs to be balanced very well, so it's not beneficial to wait a couple of hours to get these extra action points and vice versa as don't award the frequent player too much but just give them a slight edge.

What about maybe processing different turn phases at different times? Processing of economic decisions takes place at 1pm. Battle resolution takes place 4pm. Production orders complete at 10am. That sort of thing, assuming that you're going to have those kind of game elements. That way, a person could sign in once a day and the same number of phases would pass each time. Or a person could log in several times a day to check on what's going on. They wouldn't really have much of an advantage other than they know they have x hours to decide what to do before the next phase. Maybe if you want to give a greater advantage to signing in frequently you could have potential reports from spys a few times a day. You'd have more up to date information but everyone's ability to act on it is the same.

What about maybe processing different turn phases at different times? Processing of economic decisions takes place at 1pm. Battle resolution takes place 4pm. Production orders complete at 10am. That sort of thing, assuming that you're going to have those kind of game elements. That way, a person could sign in once a day and the same number of phases would pass each time. Or a person could log in several times a day to check on what's going on. They wouldn't really have much of an advantage other than they know they have x hours to decide what to do before the next phase. Maybe if you want to give a greater advantage to signing in frequently you could have potential reports from spys a few times a day. You'd have more up to date information but everyone's ability to act on it is the same.

Thanks, this actually sounds like quite a good idea. This would keep the "hooked" players constantly check what's happening.