One interesting thing I've noticed is how the Freestyle option affects gameplay and strategy. Beyond the fact that you don't have to wait for each player to take a turn--the fact that you can take your turns in any order, at any time. This adds a whole extra dimension to gameplay not found in sequential games: timing.
It wasn't until I joined my first Freestyle game that I realized that Conquer Club was about to envelop my life (it's too late now, no need to mourn for it). I found myself driving home at lunch to see if I could take my turn yet, because I just had to take that turn before I lost the continent. Late nights, surfing the web aimlessly, hitting "refresh" repeatedly on the CC tab...
Even in sequential games, RL has a small effect on strategy, in that you need to be able to take your turn in the right 24 hours. But as long as you're able to check the internet once a day, thats no problem. It's in freestyle games that taking your turn at the right time becomes important. Sometimes, you even want to take a turn simultaneously with a player--collecting armies between the beginning of the round, and your opponent's first attack; fortifying your armies into an invading horde's path.
Anyway, I would like to get a discussion going on this aspect of freestyle strategy, and also about how RL affects freestyle, and freestyle can affect your life.
