[@Foster]

Yeah, honestly, I find that part of good sportsmanship is to make sure your posts aren't vague in terms of what your character is doing, which is why being able to write battle role-plays involves a good attention to detail. Obviously, if you've got a gambit going then you don't explain this in your post, but generally making it as clear as possible what you actions are is a good idea.

Perhaps it's just the chess player in me, but I've always got pre-planned responses in my head as replies (if I've got time, I can write them up, but I'm usually multitasking), depending on how the opponent responds to whatever I've put up; in fact, I've often got certain responses planned out several posts in advance, catering to a few different possible outcomes. Of course, the opponent could do something unexpected, but I'm usually able to factor most things in.

With that said though, I don't really find that I have this problem people talk about regarding battles 'taking too long' to reach a conclusion. It might just be due to the fact that I prioritize supernatural battles, but I find that they end pretty quickly if I actually want them to. A fist fight could go on for ages if it turns into a slugfest, and the same applies to a sword fight if people have armour. A fight with guns could end almost instantly, but I don't usually partake in those. Most of my battles are supernatural, and I've found that I can end them pretty quickly, because I usually build my characters aren't not so much around 'raw power' so much as having adaptive abilities that allow me to set up gambits that will pretty much guarantee a one-hit kill.

With regards to the other comment that you made, which followed up on what [@ArenaSnow] said, I think it's pretty much just common sense in [i]all[/i] forms of role-play to not overwhelm the other side with too many actions or lines of dialogue, since the other side needs to react in order to make it all flow realistically.