On Sun, Dec 09, 2001 at 10:04:07PM -0800, Daniel Damouth wrote: > From: "Mark Mielke" <mark at mark.mielke.cc> > intelligent 'bots > > I actually started coding away. As I intend all 'bots to function as > > appendages to a single unit, I've had to take a look at socket code. > What is the point of designing a robot team that cheats by communicating > through sockets instead of normal messaging? The bots will be playing a > different game than the humans. > > Why don't you add some socket code in the server to give your bots more > information, while you're at it? Or just give them 300 shields and hull, > and gonzo phasers. Define 'cheats'. Does 'cheats' mean that rules are violated? By running client side, no rules are violated. In *ANY* game, the ability to win, in terms of potential, can be expressed entirely on how well one is able to exploit the given ruleset to ones advantage. Is "butt-torping" cheating? Perhaps many people look down on it, but is it truly cheating? Is the fact that a few people have found an element of the game that 'runs' in their favour 'cheating'? Why not? Because the intrique is in tackling the problem space. If the 'bots choose to live under horrible restrictions such as 'you can never ever fire a torpedo backwards if you are going faster than warp 4, because some people might consider this cheating', they will never win. Human players do such things all the time. The 'bots have to make up for how 'dynamic' human players are *somehow*. Accuracy and efficiency is where the 'bots have a chance. Is there a problem with the 'bots making use of information more efficiently than human players possibly could? Two netrek players who sit in the same room can say "I'm coming up from behind him, distract while I ogg". Is this not 'communicating on a channel other than the messaging protocol'? Are you worried? :-) mark -- mark at mielke.cc/markm at ncf.ca/markm at nortelnetworks.com __________________________ . . _ ._ . . .__ . . ._. .__ . . . .__ | Neighbourhood Coder |\/| |_| |_| |/ |_ |\/| | |_ | |/ |_ | | | | | | \ | \ |__ . | | .|. |__ |__ | \ |__ | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them... http://mark.mielke.cc/