Re: [piecepack] Re: Alien City Question

[Stephen J Schoessow <steves@...>]

Hi Aaron,

Concerning Alien City and the question of making sure all the empty spaces
are connected together (single road network), using the fact that there are
always 80 spaces total on the board may be helpful to solving this.  If you
apply the algorithm I suggested in an earlier email to form a list of the
connected empty spaces, the number of spaces in this list plus the number
of objects already placed on the board will always sum to 80 (for a legal
move).  When it does not, it means the last piece placed has divided the
road network into more than one network of spaces and the algorithm used to
form the connected empty spaces list has only counted the spaces in one of
these networks. Let me know if this makes sense to you.  I'm sure there are
other, and maybe better, ways to solve this issue.

BTW, as far as a color scheme goes, I think the colored diagrams presented
in the Alien City instructions have good clarity and would be a good scheme
to follow.

-Stephen




                                                                           
             "Aaron"                                                       
             <acdalton@ucalgar                                             
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                                       [piecepack] Re: Alien City Question 
             10/19/2005 12:22                                              
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--- In piecepack@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Schoessow"
<mikeschoessow@c...> wrote:
>
>   First of all, a structure may never be placed that breaks the road
network into two pieces, or that cuts off any lot from access to the
network, whether or not it is on a suit icon, but I assume from the
way you composed your question that this is clear.
>

This is indeed very clear.  No such move will be allowed.

>   At first when I read your question I thought it would be very easy
to answer with a minimum of words. However after more careful
consideration I can see that the resolution for some situations is not
obvious. Below I have tried to answer your query in detail. I don't
like how my answers may give the impression that the rules to Alien
City are convoluted. They aren't in practice.
>

Unfortunately, machines just aren't as smart as humans.  Things that
are perfectly obvious to a person are rarely so to a computer.  I am
finding that although the Alien City rules are very straightforward,
they pose certain problems to a machine.

After reading what you wrote, I am assuming then that as long as
either player has any piece in their possession that can be legally
placed on one of the other lots of that tile, then the suit lot is
forbidden.  At first I was a little less than excited by this
conclusion, but after some extensive ruminations today I have hit upon
a way to solve this particular problem quite simply.  Now all that is
left is to implement it and test for speed.

Speed is going to be the biggest problem and will unfortunately delay
the release of my implementation somewhat.  The primary reason is that
I just realized I not only have to ensure that all buildings are
connected, but all empty spaces as well.  Since the former being true
does not necessarily mean the latter is as well, this multiplies the
amount of time the server has to spend checking connections.  I will
do some benchmarking and see what I can come up with.

Thank you for your reply.  I will be sure to make an announcement here
once the game is online.

Aaron
http://superdupergames.org










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