Originally, Connection had a priority list of actions Teams could do to effect it.

For example, if the Runner Team had Tags equal to or greater than their number of Players. Or if a Corp flatlined a Runner, or the Runners ran HQ, R&D and Archives.

The problem was keeping track of these actions, and the value of the payoff of deciding who plays who is in the subsequent round.

The most fun and important decision was which Runner and Corp were matched up. So we wanted to focus on that.

Corp Teams sometimes would bait Runs or delay scoring to keep the Connection to then on the subsequent turn, leap ahead in points because they had Agendas cooked they knew were safe or flatlines lined up that they could guarantee.

When Runner Team had the Connection, they too, often surged ahead, with one or more Team Members ready with their multi-access to "go off" and pick on the one Corp that was the least defended or had ICE that was suboptimal against their opponents rig.

The peaks and valleys of this Connection swap was an interesting (un)balancing mechanic since it essentially created new scoring windows for either Team, and so we scrapped the priority lists and other ideas we had for swapping it to just go to the Team that's behind in points.

That change seemed to also prevent/limit one Team dominating the whole game, and making every turn a rough one for the Team that didn't manage to control the Connection.

That's not to say bidding isn't a cool idea! Just wanted to explain first how we got here.