Page 3 - [Risk] Risk

Jorgen: you should try to use a trackball instead of a mouse, I had RSI 4 years ago (I had corticoids injections, ouch !), and now, I'm using a trackball (these symptoms appear due to a bad position when using the mouse).
Using a keyboard doesn't lead to RSI.
Another trick is to change your position on your computer: make some room for your mouse, etc...

lphuberdeau: Some 'lucky' games like backgammon have programs that beat the best players in the world !

xs0: About the Risk idea, I have to say that I *hate* it.
Firstly, programming such contests require too much random, as you may have noticed with the Trilite contest. Even Matt changed 3 times the order of the winners (this was not due to the rules !), so even if you run a lot of rounds, I'm sure the winners will change.

Secondly, the best strategies in this kind of game are evolving strategies (you can get an impressive example with the Roshambo contest).
I doubt anybody here will have the time to write such a strategy, since it requires a lot of work even for relatively simple games like Risk.

About the contest, I would like to see something like an HTML compressor written in PHP or whatever which doesn't require running rounds with different opponents.

Now, I have very few time to enter a PHP contest (except if the contest appeals to me).

If you intend to make a contest about Risk, I suggest that you provide 2 PHP sources: one for a simple random player (which will be useful for the participants to test their strategy) and one simple round manager (perhaps a cut/paste of the Trilite manager ?).

A Risk contest is a good idea for PHP beginners, since there is not a lot of code to write, but you'll have to think about a good strategy, like attacking the weakest player, etc...

Finally, I have to say that I very much enjoyed the previous contests, since they forced me to improve the speed of my scripts (something that you don't naturally do when you write PHP). I was a PHP beginner some months ago, and was very happy to discover some of the strange behaviours of the PHP language (like the fact that strings are faster than arrays, etc...). These kinds of tricks gives you the ability to become a 'Master of PHP'.
The Trilite contest was the first contest that didn't require high performance script, and I hope that the future contests will concentrate on performance problems again.

JC

Chess is not that difficult. If you know the game pretty well, and know different attack and defending tactics (?) it's not that difficult. Each piece has a different value, a Queen is of a higher value than a Pawn. When a piece is threatened with capture his value changes and so on...

But risk is cool either!

I think that it can be seen that the code for Risk could be as complicated or as easy as you want it to be (or feel comfortable with)... therefore it should appeal to quite a few levels of coders...

And anything that causes this kind of controversy is well worth a look :laugh:

If we take the random element out as discussed in previous posts - I think it would be a good one to do...

Here are the interim rules. Please tell me what you think.

Grlgrlgrlgrlgrl...

Hi all, I am back. I was waiting for my winner T-shirt to come, but it didn't reach despite all of Matt's efforts. Thanks anyway, Matt!

RISK is a nice proposal. I shall go for it. But I am on the side of a 'little luck'. Without a little luck involved, games are less funny, little brother cannot ever win and we don't enjoy the same. So do my scripts. You allways can play many times to lessen luck impact on results.

Just one thing: I would like a big random map, for all scripts to play free-for-all. Each script should have the same amount of lands at start, all connected so nobody gets kicked fast.

After various rounds, the one with more points would win. You could give points for surviving, for eliminations, for conquest...

--
At the time my favourite board game is Clue-do. When I play I allways think there is much to say for a computer playing Cluedo. Very much. And is has the right amount of luck.

Risk seems to be a nice game but I thought about a very weird idea. There's a card game which has no turns! The faster the player (=script) is, the better it is! Unfortunately the game is so simple that it would be too easy... Darn!

So risk it is. Unless everyone suddenly agrees to play minesweeper

Hi!

What happens if the defender looses all troops and the attacker has only one army left? Looks like the attacked country would be empty after such an attack....

CU
maxhb

You can't attack with all armies - you must leave at least one behind...

xs0 - I like the rules and am all in favor of a Risk variant. I do have some suggestions, though:

Instead of sending the board in the URL, why not store the board in a file called board.txt, or a URL that can be called that returns the current board layout? The file or URL name can then be sent as a parameter instead - much cleaner - and may even allow for boards of varying size, varying player count, etc.

Which brings us to a final fight-out, which someone mentioned earlier. It would be great, even if only for exhibition, if all the scripts fought on one large board at once!

I'm all for it, and the sooner the better - I'm itching for a new competition!

xs0 - I've had a look at the cut-down rules that you posted... and I think it's just mad enough to work :laugh: !

Like gatopeich says above, I'm not adverse to a little luck if you wanted to add it into the rules - gives a bit more reality (although play it over more games if you needed to, in order to reduce the luck content for those that like the full logical approach).

I do like the URL points from lefty above - I think that this would make sense.

As an aside, the formula for battling looks reasonable as well.

What does everyone else think? Viable contest?

Those rules are quite nice. I think the details on the URL parameters should be more detailed and explicative to make sure everyone understands the same thing.

Hi!
When do you plan to start the coding contest and how much time will we have to send in our scripts?

CU
maxbh

I like the risk idea, and I think that xs0 has enough thought already put into it (1st cut at rules) to make it work. I haven't participated in a contest since the second maze one, but i like the idea of a 4 person game. It is complicated enough to offer a good challenge, but resonable enough to have a good number of people enter the competition.

What about a RPG type battle system?

Not sure how to implement it though.

About the bonus token part? How about changing it so you only have to exchange for more soldiers when you have 5 or more tokens so that everyone won't be getting the bonus on the same turn. You can pick a turn when you need the extra soldiers. And also you won't know when your opponent will get the bonus.