Maybe the option that would be best would be to have the first pilot logging in be automatically made Bishop, the second made Rook, and the third be Knight, etc...
If a Bishop logged off, the next player logging in would take his spot as a Bishop. No switching sides by personal choice, and no team allowed to have more players than another. 89 Bishops, 89 Rooks, 89 Knights, etc. If 5 Rooks log off, 5 Bishops and Knight are stuck in the tower until the sides can equalize again. Forget permanent squads, as squads could be formed as players logged in each day. Or we could eliminate squads altogether, as they seem to be a common argument against making changes that keep the teams equal.
We could eliminate ALL cross-country communications, and if you log off or are discoed you can't come back for 48 hours. That would really be the only way to assure we have no spies, unless folks are using telephones in the background. After 48 hours any info they had would be out-dated anyway.
Sounds like it could work, eh? Equal numbers for equal teams, and far less spying. This isn't a war, it's a game, and games are lame if the teams aren't equal.
Or I suppose we could assume that spying is a facet of the game that exists, and could even be seen as something that one could become good at. I don't see it as any more or less lame than sinking CV's or capturing undefended fields to tell the truth. CV's and fields can be defended, and spies can be mislead or avoided.
Frankly, I'm one of those that switches sides as I see fit. Sometimes to equal the sides, sometimes to fly with certain folks, sometimes because I just plain feel like it. NEVER to spy, simply because I flat-out don't have any interest in the facets of the game that spying would help or hinder. I commonly play all three sides in the same night.
I'd go so far as to say the vast majority of side-switchers are not spies. I openly switch sides, and anyone who thinks I do it to spy is a fool, plain and simple.
