Xconq bugs

[Alan Wexelblat]

In article <5598 at utah-cs.UUCP>, shebs%defun.utah.edu.uucp at utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley T. Shebs) writes:
> There will be a set of patches soon, although coredumps in beirut are news
> to me.  What system are you using?

Excellent!  I will apply the patches as soon as I see them.  I am using a
Sun 3/160.  The source code was compiled with the C compiler supplied with
Sun OS 3.5.  I am running the xconq program on a local version of the X10R4
server (we have several improvements/speedups over the standard Sun X10
server).

> [...], but then nobody at Utah ever seems to read the help screens. :-(

I find them to be very useful.  I just wish there was some access method
other than sequential...

> Smart machines are incredibly difficult to write, and I think some weightings
> got bolixed in the last round of experiments.

What weightings should I play with to change the robots' behavior?  Are
there some that are easier to understand/manipulate than others?  EG: in the
standard period, the robots place a very high value on building airbases.
They apparently place more value on this than on capturing neutral
towns/cities!

> If anyone has implementable suggestions that work for all periods, I'd
> love to hear about them...

In every game in every period that I've ever played, blitzkrieg seems to be
the optimal strategy for loose units.  There are also some good heuristics
that I've found helpful:
     - Always leave at least one unit sleeping next to a city to recapture
     it if it's taken by the enemy.
     - If a city is producing something that takes a long time to build
     (like a battleship or a deathstar) leave a ring of units around the
     city so that it's hard for the enemy to get in and disrupt production.
     - Try to capture cities on as many land masses as possible.
     - Coastal cities are better than inland ones.

I don't know how easy it would be to code these heuristics into your system,
but that's the way I tend to play xconq.

> If you don't like the settings in the standard period, they're very easy
> to change...

I confess I haven't read that part of the documentation yet (been too busy
playing :-).  But there are some errors in the settings that you may want to
change for future releases:

       - in the Napoleonic period, cavalry can't go onto the plains
       -  "  "     "         "   , the bitmap "artillery" is missing
       -  "  "     "         "   , artillery has a movement of 4 (!!)
       -  "  "     "         "   , artillery can't be unloaded from a
	troopship
       - in the future period, transport subs can't carry anything
       -  "  "  starwars  "  , walkers can't go onto the ice
       -  "  "     "      "  , x-wings can't land on cruisers, even though
	y-wings and tie fighters can

There are also some things I consider odd.  EG: in the standard period, a
tank on the plains can't attack an infantry in the mountains.  However, if
the tank is in a town, it can.  In the napoleonic period, artillery can't
attack a frigate from a town; however, if it's on the plains it can attack.

I hope this helps you; the new xconq is really a lot of fun!!