I think the socket communication could be classified in a category similar to the continuousMouse. It may be borgish, perhaps not, but due to the questionable nature, it may be better to remove it. I think it would be helpful if they used normal message boards, however, since it would make observing/reviewing these games much more interesting. Who wants to stare at an empty team board the entire game? -Shaun ===== > 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