Subject: Re: Computer Abalone duel

From: [email-masked] (Michael P. Frank)
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 92 00:07:19 EST

Michael Gilbert writes:
 > Hello Mike:
 > Lets plan for a duel by phone.  We have not yet incorporated the tourn.
 > rules. But we can if you so desire.  As it stands now the computer makes
 > it moves within 5 to 15 seconds on the average.  This is on the 486
 > machines only.  However the ST version has been very well with a average
 > time of 30 to 45 sec per move.  The ST version supports both color and
 > monichrome displays.  So let me know what your preference is and we will
 > send BETA copy.  Whenever your ready to duel let me know.
 > Looking forward to hearing from you .      LATER 
 > 

Michael,

Let's not worry about the time limits.  I'll prepare a version of our
program that moves within time that's comparable to yours, and we'll
leave it at that.  Right now we're in the middle of cleaning up and
reorganizing our code; we'll be ready in another couple of days.  I'll
telephone you when we're ready.  In the meantime, let's think about
how we're going to verbally communicate the moves over the phone.  We
need to be careful so that we don't misunderstand the moves.  For
instance, our board coordinate system maps the hexagonal board onto a
rectangular x-y plane like this:

10 - - - - - - - - - - -	Where
 9 - - - - - @ @ @ @ @ -	'@' is a white marble 
 8 - - - - @ @ @ @ @ @ -	'O' is a black marble,
 7 - - - . . @ @ @ . . -	'.' is an empty location, and
 6 - - . . . . . . . . -	'-' is off the board.
 5 - . . . . . . . . . -
 4 - . . . . . . . . - -             NW  NE    The movement directions
 3 - . . O O O . . - - -              + +      are named after compass
 2 - O O O O O O - - - -           W+ O +E     directions like this.
 1 - O O O O O - - - - -            + +
 0 - - - - - - - - - - -          SW  SE
   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 
So, for instance, we might communicate a move by saying, "3 marbles
northeast from (1,1)" to indicate the marbles at (1,1), (2,2), and
(3,3) all moving up and to the right.  Or, "3 marbles east from (3,3)
moving northeast" to indicate a broadside move, and so on.  However, I
realize that this coordinate system isn't standard, so if you'd rather
use a different system, we could hack our coordinate-input routines to
accomodate that.

In the meantime, why don't you send us your Atari ST beta release.
Here's the address of my colleague with the Atari:

	Mark Torrance
	348 Franklin St. #3B
	Cambridge, MA  02139

I'm looking forward to our duel.  Finally we'll get a feel for how
well our program does against an opponent other than itself and its
creators!

Thanks,
Mike