Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start

From: desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1993 19:16:31 +0000

Graham Matthews <gym@dcs.ed.ac.uk> writes:
> See my reply to someone else re Joe Average vs Maths person
> If formulas published Joe Average has 0 usable knowledge, maths person 100 %.
> If formulas not published Joe Average has 0 usable knowledge, maths
> person < 100 %.

I really have a hard time understanding who this Joe Average is.  Here
are some examples of actual formulas from actual games:

Diplomacy combat resolution:
        Add up attacking units (attacker plus supporters);
        Subtract defending units (defender plus supporters);
        If total is positive, attack succeeds;
        If total is negative or zero, attack fails.

Starweb combat resolution:
        Add 1/2 per ship for firing ISHIPS and PSHIPS (1 if ambushing);
        Add 1 per ship for all other ships except overloaded Merchant ships;
        Divide by two unless firing at loaded ships;
        Multiply by two if ambushing;
        Destroy this number of target ships.

Atlantis combat resolution:
        Add attacker's weapon skill (use -2 if no usable weapon);
        Add 2 if using sword, has horse, riding skill at least 2, in plains;
        Subtract 2 if using longbow;
        Subtract defender's sword skill if attacker using sword or unarmed
          (use -2 if no sword skill);
        Subtract 2 if defender is in building;
        If result is -2 or less, hit probability is 1%;
        If result is -1, hit probability is 10%;
        If result is 0, hit probability is 25%;
        If result is 1, hit probability is 40%;
        If result is 2 or more, hit probability is 49%;
        Multiply hit probability by 1/3 if defender has plate mail;
        Multiply hit probability by 2/3 if defender has chain mail,
          no plate mail.

Tennis:
        Both player's scores start at zero;
        If player scores a point, and player's score is zero, it becomes 15;
        If player scores a point, and player's score is 15, it becomes 30;
        If player scores a point, and player's score is 30, and other
          player's score is not 40, first player's score becomes 40;
        If player scores a point, and player's score is 30, and other
          player's score is 40, both player's scores become 30.

None of these formulas are of _zero_ value to anyone.  Not anyone who is
capable of reading the rules or playing the game in the first place.

It's rare that I have played any PBM game---indeed, any game at all,
including extremely complicated games like ASL---with formulas
significantly more complicated than any of these.  Of course, there may
be many formulas, and their effects may interact, but that's what the
game is about.  The question is not, "Can a player grasp all of the
consequences of all of the interacting formulas and use them to devise a
perfect strategy?" (of course, no one can do that, or the game is
without merit), but "Can a player understand the formulas and make use
of the information that they provide.  I really think the answer is
almost always yes, if the player is capable of playing the game in the
first place.  In most of these games, playing the game is much more
complicated than understanding the rather elementary formulas that it is
based on.

David desJardins

References

Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start
rwallace@cs.tcd.ie (Russell Wallace)
Fri, 02 Jul 1993 14:54:28 +0000
Re: PBM design and formulae - a fresh start
gym@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Graham Matthews)
Fri, 02 Jul 1993 17:52:40 +0000