The Great Siege Pause debate

Strategy, first and foremost I think.  Quick thinking is still useful, but not as high a priority.  Like the pause idea.

Right now, when I play, I hit spacebar (which pauses the game) before I do anything.  Which does make it a looott easier.  We'll have to make sure everyone knows to do that otherwise they'll get frustrtated -- assuming we have unlimited pauses.

Defense grid didn't start the creeps until the first tower was built.  Maybe something similar?

A TD game where you can't pause and think about tower placement seems like it would be an exercise in frustration.

I too much prefer strategic mastery. Taking my time to plan my perfect tower defense is a big part of the fun.

I think, if the game can pause and think long time, game will lose its identity of "real time" strategy.  

Finite pauses adds another layer of resource management.

Another idea would be to give the option to play with or without pauses and use a challenges toggle at the start of missions. You could then earn achievements to complete challenges, to the delight of those who likes to run after them. I'm sure a whole host of challenges could be imagined. I'm personnaly not that interested in completing every possible achievements, but I'm sure some would appreciate it.

Also, the way it is now, it is similar to what we already have in Ashes, in the sense that you can pause de game and queue multiple buildings (defenses). For me, it felt natural to be able to do the same here.

I also think that optional pause is good.  For example, I love to pause in the game FTL: Faster Than Light but not pausing would be really fun too.

Another possible way to implement time management is giving a limited slowdown or pause ability. Basically, you could pause or slowdown the game, but only for a limited time before it resumes.

How about allowing pausing in the easy and normal game modes, but not allowing it in more difficult game modes. 

Sort of like an "ironman" difficulty?

I like the pausing aspects of it, especially as I am still learning unit and towers strengths/weaknesses.  I feel like pause is absolutely required right now while a number of other quality of life features are missing.  Lack of a minimap can make it tough to keep track of everything on larger maps with multiple lanes and maps that require a large number of towers to be placed sometimes require you to search around a bit for the turrets you are wanting to upgrade.

I think they need to give players better tools for quickly gathering information and making decisions before asking them to make those decisions in real time.

I am for the pausing system as it does help out with strategy and gives you a bit to see the map. I accidentally played without the pause button for a few maps and it worked out ok, but I felt like I had to retry maps a lot just to make sure I got in front of the first wave in time.

Not just an "ironman" difficulty, but it can be implemented into anything above the "normal" difficulty setting.

I vote to leave pause as an option. Currently there are too many issues with camera controls (it scrolls endlessly like it's floating after you try to pan it and it won't just fucking stop making it impossible to place a turret where you want) and there is a very poor feedback system of where turrets can fit or size requirements of different turrets so optimizing your placement takes far longer than you're given. I've also noticed some levels have to 'show' you the level and force your camera around but the enemy has already begun to move and you, again, have trouble placing turrets as you're camera is being force moved on you and you can't cancel this animation.

There are just too many issues to allow the removal of pause.

I vote for keeping the pause option.

I'm all for giving the player the freedom to play how they'd like. The main problem is see is with the leaderboard. If you have people using pause vs. people not using it then you have some unfair comparisons. I think a good compromise is to just remove the pause functionality for the top tier difficulties.

Alternatively, you could add a reward of some sort for not using pause, whether it's an additional star on the map or a score addition/multiplier.

So I love tower defense games, but these days I'm kind of a filthy casual by comparison. I won't replay the same map over and over again to try and eek out a slightly better score. I like to be able to relax and enjoy these types of games at my own (slow) pace.

Pausing is HUGE for accessibility. Anyone with distractions (kids?) or a disability that might effect their play.. well pause makes the game accessible to them.

It would be a mistake to remove it entirely.

Motion to keep pause passed.

I definitely like the Pause option because it helps with planning the initial tower placement. I would love to see an ironman option as mentioned above that allowed no pause option. It would be cool to reward players who want the extra challenge. Of course, we would need to change something in the map on ironman so they wouldn't know what to expect. 

I think I only pause at the beginning because the game doesn't give players enough time to survey the situation before mobs start pouring in.  If, as Liquidaire suggested, the game was effectively paused until the first tower was placed, I don't think I'd ever change the speed.

Tomorrows update will make it so the waves dont strat until the player takes some action. Placing a tower, hitting rush or using an orbital.

That's a great addition!

This might be a little bit off topic but now I really want a rewind ability. I miss the old Prince of Persia games.