Re: [Announcement] Eldritch Commercial Launch

From: David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>

Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Greg Lindahl <lindahl@pbm.com> writes:
> [ Disclaimer: I looked at the Eldrich rules for about 5 minutes... ]
> It looks to me like the time model is identical to Atlantis 2.

[ I looked at the Atlantis 2 rules for about 5 minutes... ]

The time models don't seem identical to me.  If I understand correctly,
Atlantis 2 only has two types of orders: full-turn orders (of which a
unit can perform exactly one), and zero-time orders (of which a unit can
perform any number).  Eldritch still has the concept of full-turn orders
(of which at most one can be performed), but some of the non-full-turn
orders also consume "time", so a unit is limited in what commands it can
perform both by the one-full-turn-order restriction, and by its total
available action points.  A unit which performs many non-full-turn
actions might not be able to move, for example, or might not be able to
move as far.

Whether this is an improvement I don't know, but it's surely a
difference.

> But you have sufficient tools -- message-passing parallel programming
> can be done with just a blocking send and receive.

Well, true parallel programming requires conditionals also, which don't
exist in Olympia.  But I do agree that the tools available in Olympia
for coordinating actions are "sufficient", as well as "relatively
primitive".

David desJardins

References

Re: [Announcement] Eldritch Commercial Launch
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Tue, 14 Jul 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: [Announcement] Eldritch Commercial Launch
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Wed, 15 Jul 1998 00:00:00 +0000