White flag for a surrendered player's troops

I have noticed that some players in here from time to time attack a player who has already resigned/surrendered in a game, before the latter's troops turn grey (neutral). Now there could be strategic reasons for that, meaning that the attacker would have done it regardless, but I believe that, in some cases at least, the attack would not have taken place if the attacker had realised his victim was no longer a threat. Although a white flag is immediately displayed next to a player's name upon surrender, the player's troops on the map remain the same colour until his troops turn grey, at which point everyone in the game probably notice and are aware that the player quit. Or at the very least that his troops are now neutral and do not pose a threat. So what if we did something to make it clearer much earlier that a surrendered player is down and out? We could, technology permitting, for instance add the little white flag to the player's troops on the map as well – one for each army – so that all other players would know for sure what happened. Instantly. It wouldn't help the senior players, for obvious reasons, but others may benefit from a little white flag nudging them in the right direction, before they waste precious troops on pointless attacks.

I guess I don't understand why they wouldn't turn gray immediately. It isn't like you can undo the resign.

There must be a reason why the site distinguishes between the skull and bones symbol and the white flag. I'm guessing the white flag was introduced to help the remaining players understand what happened to another player (perhaps even a teammate) who stopped moving, but wasn't killed by anyone. Especially if the remaining player(s) were not in the habit of reading the game log. This suggestion would continue that line of thought. Once it becomes common knowledge why a player is no longer active, then by all means, make his troops grey/neutral. In the meantime, the white flags on the map would be consistent with the white flag next to the player's name, making the connection obvious beyond a doubt.

[quote=dough_boy]I guess I don't understand why they wouldn't turn gray immediately. It isn't like you can undo the resign.[/quote] [quote=vikingo1337]There must be a reason why the site distinguishes between the skull and bones symbol and the white flag. I'm guessing the white flag was introduced to help the remaining players understand what happened to another player (perhaps even a teammate) who stopped moving, but wasn't killed by anyone. Especially if the remaining player(s) were not in the habit of reading the game log. This suggestion would continue that line of thought. Once it becomes common knowledge why a player is no longer active, then by all means, make his troops grey/neutral. In the meantime, the white flags on the map would be consistent with the white flag next to the player's name, making the connection obvious beyond a doubt.[/quote] I believe the troops don't turn grey for two rounds. This is to signify that the player's cards can still be taken. If the troops turned grey people wouldn't know which territories to kill for the cards.

[quote=Virtuosity98][quote=dough_boy]I guess I don't understand why they wouldn't turn gray immediately. It isn't like you can undo the resign.[/quote] [quote=vikingo1337]There must be a reason why the site distinguishes between the skull and bones symbol and the white flag. I'm guessing the white flag was introduced to help the remaining players understand what happened to another player (perhaps even a teammate) who stopped moving, but wasn't killed by anyone. Especially if the remaining player(s) were not in the habit of reading the game log. This suggestion would continue that line of thought. Once it becomes common knowledge why a player is no longer active, then by all means, make his troops grey/neutral. In the meantime, the white flags on the map would be consistent with the white flag next to the player's name, making the connection obvious beyond a doubt.[/quote] I believe the troops don't turn grey for two rounds. This is to signify that the player's cards can still be taken. If the troops turned grey people wouldn't know which territories to kill for the cards. [/quote] This makes sense! Also, in the first 2 rounds, the decay doesn't set in yet, whereas it does once they turn grey. The suggestion seems fine by me - whatever someone feels like doing with it visually will be fine with me too.

Virt is right. Sometimes a person's strategy centres around taking the cards of another player. We have the player around for two more turns to keep that option open, before removing the cards from the game.

My issue is the useless* attack given the threat strategy has changed after a surrender. I may be focused on the map, troop movement, troop placement and strategy and NOT notice the white flag pop up. Hence making useless attack while another player is now in reality the new bigger threat or the surrender is no longer keeping a player in check, map balance changes, the surrender now becomes a boarder for me or my foe etc