RE: Solitaire Full Thrust?

One problem with simple rules for determining what
an enemy will do is that there can be no long-term
strategy without you being in on it.  Each turn the
opponent makes "decisions" on what to do based purely
on the current situation.  It also can't keep any
secrets from you.

Seems to me that Full Thrust would not be too
hard to write a computer opponent for.	Well,
I mean that it doesn't have the complexities
of other games.  No or little line of sight
to worry about.  No terrain types.  You could
have some format for describing the scenario,
and just enter your orders and results of
firing at appropriate times.  It gives you
the orders for its ships (except cloaked ones).
All you need is a grid system for initial
placement, and then be careful with your measuring
so you don't deviate from where the computer thinks
you are.  If you're close, you wouldn't have to
re-enter positions, just your orders.

The computer could have its own strategy, which
you wouldn't have to be involved with.	Of course,
how good that is depends on the prorammer.  You'd
only have the orders each turn, so you wouldn't
know what it was up to.

I think with the limited number of ships and the
simplicity of the field, this wouldn't be too hard
to implement, or have significant computation speed
constraints.  Not that I'm going to do it, though I
might give it some thought.  :-)  It isn't as
simple as a few rules to take with you, but if you've
got a computer in the room, it wouldn't be too
clumsy to play, either.

andy
andy.skinner@tseng.com