Re: New xconq game module

[Hans Ronne <hronne at pp dot sbbs dot se>]

>> Right now, the Nazguls are a bit too powerful, so it's a real challenge to
>> play Gondor. But maybe that is as it should be :-).
>
>I let the AIs play, and Gondor dominated the game, although it seemed
>to be confused about its objectives and never really went after Mordor.

That's unusual. When I do that, Mordor usually sweeps the carpet with the
other sides. The confusion about what to do once the local neighbourhood
has been secured is something I have frequently seen, though, and not only
in this game. I think it reflects a weak point in the theater code. Units
do not get reassigned as long as a single enemy unit remains that can
threat the home theater. Typically, it will therefore be full of units
assigned to defending it, leaving little room for further expansion.

>> The game is not finished yet. I haven't quite figured out how to handle the
>> Ring, and more units will definitely be added.
>
>There are the specialized scorekeepers, although you'd have to
>make the AI recognize it.  Another possibility is to somehow
>make it worth more to Mordor than to other sides, that would
>require some tinkering with point handling.  An interesting
>approach would be to reflect the unusual characteristics of
>the Ring by giving Mordor unique city types and letting the
>Ring accelerate construction in them tremendously, then Gondor
>can have a fun time keeping it out of Sauron's hands while
>figuring out how to get rid of it...

Interesting idea. I've been thinking about using it as a weapon. Make
Sauron even more powerful, but also a self-unit so that Mordor looses if he
dies. Make the Ring the only unit that can kill him. Make the ringbearer
invisible to keep Sauron on his toes. Exception: the Nazguls can see it at
close range. I think this setup would produce interesting tactical
situations. Kind of like a sub attack on a carrier that is protected by a
destroyer screen ...

>I tweaked mine to use dirt-road instead of road, looks better
>that way.  River crossing rules are problematic, I noticed lots
>of units accumulating on one side of rivers, unable to get
>across at all (rivers should slow down but not block entirely).

Yeah, you are right. It's almost impossible to find the right level of
resistance, though. I first put mp-to-enter-terrain at 2 for rivers, but
this has almost no effect on movement. Now it is set to 3, and there are
already severe pileups.

The real problem is that the AI does not understand about fords and
bridges. If it did, it would reroute units that pile up on river banks.
This is related to the problem we discussed before with pileups on lake
shores facing the enemy. If the ai move unit code was smarter, both
problems would be solved.

Hans

Hans Ronne

hronne@pp.sbbs.se