function: automating tedium
That 15-minute setup time for your favorite game takes an instant in TTS. Clunky turn-on- turn administration and upkeep can also be done automatically.
Automation is a double-edged sword as it can misrepresent the actual feel of your game in real life. So my approach is to automate when doing something trivial in real-life proves to be challenging or tedious in TTS.
The setup for Steam Up from Hot Banana Games was especially challenging in Tabletop Simulator since each individual dimsum token needed to be placed inside steamers. The number of dimsum in each steamer is random and the steamers needed to be stacked on top of each other. To do this manually at the start of every game would be very impractical.
To help players get an accurate feel for games, I always advocate keeping digital mods as close to their physical counterparts as possible. However, when a certain activity in real life just doesn't translate well digitally, then that is an opportunity to take advantage of automation via programming/scripting. The setup for Steam Up is a prime example of such an opportunity and seeing all those dimsum flying to very precise positions in the steamers is also immensely satisfying.