From: [email-masked] (Peter Tax)
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 93 11:04:52 +0200

Hello Mark@Kevin,

> The board evaluation function which I am currently using is even simpler
> than yours in that it does not consider connectivity at all.  The
> position values I use are:

                  10    12    15    12    10

               12    40    45    45    40    12

            15    45    60    65    60    45    15

         12    45    65    80    80    65    45    12

      10    40    60    80   100    80    60    40    10

              etc.

I think this evaluation function sprouts from the same general idea
every programmer trying a positional evaluation function should come
up with; at least, it looks pretty familiar to me.
Did you start with something like 

                  10    10    10    10    10

               10    20    20    20    20    10

            10    20    30    30    30    20    10

         10    20    30    40    40    30    20    10

      10    20    30    40    50    40    30    20    10

              etc. too?

That's what I did; I then tried correcting going from worst-direction
only to some average giving positional values similar to yours.
I then convinced myself the danger in a direction decreases
exponentially with the distance from the edge, giving the positional
values in the function I described to you.
I tried it, and it does play stronger than the (almost) lineair
positinal values I used before.
Giving the program you have, it should not be difficult to implement
this; just a matter of stuffing some other values in the positional
values.

> Looking down 5 levels, it takes an average of about 1
> minute per move per player to generate the output I described above
> (on a Dell 486P/50 PC running DOS).

Seems like you're an efficient programmer, and the Dell is a fast
machine. More than three levels is way too slow on my Mac, in a minute,
I can look about 4 plies deep.

> In the not-to-distant future, I hope to implement your board evaluation
> function in a version of my program so I can try it out against mine. If
> and when I complete that task, I'll let you know how it turns out.

I'm looking forward to our small contest.
---
[email-masked] (Peter Tax)

? LOOK
You are in a brighly lit room. There is a screen device in front of you.
North and East are doors. There is a manager behind you.
? N
The door is locked.
? _