Totem stack rotation

In the prior discussion I defaulted without examination to moving forward in the event of a collision¹. Why?

If collisions do not trigger slides then either it must always be possible to avoid a collision (easily proven impossible in 4+ player games) or there must be an ordering function for players resident at the same action slot, perhaps a FIFO or LIFO. Both queue forms have their interesting aspects with LIFOs perhaps being the more interesting as later players can get an instant second turn by ending atop a prior player, perhaps to the earlier player’s discomfort (making turn prediction more difficult and yet more valuable).

Stacking seems inevitably less interesting. Collision sliding offers a few clear interest-benefits:

1. A slide moves the subject player further around the ring thus making their next dividend closer/sooner
   • Situations can be crafted which allow multiple positions to be collision-slid
2. Collision sliding encourages players to chose actions which use/absorb the lost action point. Because this value cuts in both directions, Development gets an extra boost encouraging a slightly more Development-centric game than Expansion-centric
3. Unpreventable slides (can) force players to waste action points in non-income producing movement

Meanwhile almost the same multiple-turn opportunity remains, just trimmed by one action point to not include the collision point.

More simply collision-sliding offers an additional decision: To slide or not to slide. Each side of that decision has significant effects on turn order – effects which are interesting for the subject player and interesting for other players to predict and arrange afore-hand.