Boxing by email

From: vivi@westnet.com (Bruce Cota)

Date: Thu, 04 Jan 1996 00:00:00 +0000

We've been running a play-by-email boxing game for a few weeks and things
seem pretty stable so I'm kicking the doors open --- all are welcome!

Right now we get email in "batch" once a day, so you should expect a 12-24
hour delay before your email gets a reply.

If you want to join, please send email to eko@eko.vivi.com *not* directly
to me.

Here is a summary of the game.
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ELECTRONIC KNOCKOUT

This document summarizes a Virtual Victories simulated boxing game,
called "Electronic Knockout", or "EKO".  If you want to play , send
email to eko@eko.vivi.com with the word "register" in the subject
line.  (You can probably just reply to this message and put the word
"register" in the subject line.)  EKO is currently free of charge.

EKO is a simulated boxing league in which you manage a "fighter".
Every week you have a "bout" with another fighter.  Your ranking in
the league increases or decreases as you win or lose.  Your goal is to
win the championship and to keep the championship for as long as
possible.

We run EKO by electronic mail.  Every week we send you email giving
the date of you next bout, the name of your opponent, and information
about your opponent.  You reply by email and describe your strategy
for the bout.  On the appointed date, our gaming software resolves the
match and sends you email telling you what happened.

THE BOUT

A bout consists of up to twelve "rounds".  Every round, each fighter
lands a certain number of punches and each fighter loses some
"endurance points".  If a fighter loses too many endurance points in a
single round, he is "knocked out" and the bout ends.  If a fighter
loses all of his endurance points, then he can no longer continue and a
"technical knock out" is declared.

If neither fighter is knocked out in a round, the fighter who scored
the most punches (according to our simulated judges) is declared the
winner of the round.  If neither fighter is knocked out after twelve
rounds, the fighter who has won the most rounds wins the bout by
"decision".

So, there are three basic ways to win a bout:

1) by doing a lot of damage in a single round and knocking
	your opponent out,

2) by gradually weakening your opponent until he has no more
	endurance points, or

3) by out-scoring your opponent (landing more punches than he did)
	in a majority of rounds without being knocked out yourself.

FIGHTER ABILITIES

To make every manager's fighter a little different, each fighter has
four "abilities" that determine his strengths and weaknesses.  These
are:

* Speed	--- how effective the fighter is at landing blows.

* Agility --- how skillful the fighter is at dodging blows.

* Strength --- how effective the fighter is at reducing his
	  opponent's endurance points.

* Toughness --- determines the number of endurance points the
	  fighter starts the bout with.

Every new fighter has a total of forty points distributed randomly
between these four abilities.  So for a new fighter, an ability of
"10" is average, an ability less than "10" is low, and an ability
above "10" is high.

However, you only know your *own* fighter's abilities --- you have to
guess at your opponent's abilities from information about his past
bouts.  Also, a fighter's abilities change over time.  Abilities
generally increase when a fighter wins and decrease when a fighter
loses, particularly when he is knocked out.

BOUT STRATEGIES

This is the part of EKO that requires some skill on the part of the
manager.  At any time before a bout, you can send an email message to
give your fighter's "strategy" for the bout.  Basically, a fighter has
20 "energy points" to spend every round.  He divides these energy
points into three categories

1) Aggressiveness --- how many punches the fighter will throw
	in that round.

2) Power --- how much power he will put into each punch.

3) Defense --- how worried the fighter is about avoiding his
	   opponent's blows.

Your fighter's allocation of energy points can change every round, and the
way your fighter allocates energy points can depend on a number of things:

- The round number.

- How many endurance points your fighter has left.

- How many endurance points your opponent seems to have left.
	  (you can't tell exactly, but you can approximate.)

- How many rounds the your fighter has won
	  (you can't tell exactly what the judges think, but you can
	   guess.)

This allows you to try a variety of approaches.  You could keep things
simple and make the same allocation of energy points every round, you
could try to play it safe in the early rounds and come on strong at
the end, or you could "go for the kill" when your opponent seems
weakened or hide behind your gloves when you are weak, or you could
try hard to lock up a decision by winning the first several rounds and
then going defensive, etc., etc.

Your strategy for each bout should exploit your best abilities and
your opponent's weakest abilities.  For example, if you are strong and
your opponent has a history of being knocked out, you should put a lot
of energy into power and go for a knockout.  If your opponent seems to
have a high toughness and you are fast, you should throw a lot of weak
punches, defend well, and try to win by decision.