Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!hot.ee.lbl.gov!jef From: jef@hot.ee.lbl.gov (Jef Poskanzer) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: xtrek coming for X11R2. Message-ID: <891@hot.ee.lbl.gov> Date: 30 Aug 88 00:44:22 GMT References: <606@nic.MR.NET> Reply-To: Jef Poskanzer Organization: Paratheo-Anametamystikhood Of Eris Esoteric, Ada Lovelace Cabal Lines: 37 In the referenced message, ddickey@gonzo.eta.com (Dan A. Dickey) wrote: }The reason I'm working on this is that it didn't seem anyone else was, }and I have never received any replies to my mail to the authors. Well, someone had xtrek running under X.V11R2 at Usenix, which was in June. It was functionally identical to Guthrie's Xtrek Classic. But I haven't heard anything about it on the nets. }I'll also be making it more like the VMS conquest game...rotating }start systems, etc. Hmm. Even though I think Conquest is a superior game, this seems like a bad move. You are bound to have some dissatisfied users who liked it better the old way. Why not first release a version that plays identically to Xtrek Classic, and then think about upgrades. One thing that I've seen again and again with the various versions of xtrek is hackers adding features with little or no thought, and never fixing any of the old bugs first! And speaking of old bugs: } And "dumber" robots. The ones there now are }impossible to play against. Actually, the only reason that xtrek's robots aren't trivial to kill is that they cheat. For instance, their torps fly straight, while normal players' torps have a random factor added. Also, they can still see you when you are cloaked. And most of their actions, such as firing weapons and cloaking, do not use any fuel or raise their temperature. So, don't make them dumber, just make them play fair! Of course, that means you have to make them a little smarter, so they can deal with little problems like running out of fuel. This sort of thing is dealt with fairly well by the rule-based robots in Conquest. --- Jef Jef Poskanzer jef@rtsg.ee.lbl.gov ...well!pokey "Don't say yes until I finish talking." -- Darryl F. Zanuck