Re: How to hide this formula?

From: js138@cus.cam.ac.uk (John Sloan)

Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1993 10:28:55 +0000

In article <20bs50INN25p@coli-gate.coli.uni-sb.de>, ulim@coli.uni-sb.de (Ulrich Mayring) writes:
|>
|> Hi folks,
|>
|> To take the discussion in a somehow different direction, let me, a strong
|> supporter of giving away formulas, ask how the formula-hiders would deal
|> with this:
|>
|> Suppose you have a strategy/conquest game with, say, 24 players, and it is
|> a complex simulation of the world 200 AD. In this game we have 152
|> different types of troops. They differ in many respects, like:
|>
|> 1. Cost in money to recruit and support them.
|> 2. Cost in weapons and armour to outfit them. (You can't recruit a battle-
|>    chariot without giving it some horses, armoured plates etc.)
|> 3. Armour Class (how good they hold up against hits)
|> 4. Close Combat Fighting Strengths for 8 different terrain types
|> 5. Shooting Strength if applicable
|> 6. Shooting distance (how far they can shoot)
|> 7. Morale Class (When do they run away?)
|> 8. Experience (How much can they be trained)
|>
|> This example taken from an actual game gives you 16 pieces of data for one
|> unit. If you give it all away, you simply list them in a table. Do this for
|> all 152 types of troops and that still leaves you with an impressive
|> knowledge base that takes very, very long to master, even for veteran
|> players. And that although the data is all there.

This strikes me as excessively complex, giving a challenge to even the best of
optimizers!  Not my thang.

|> How would you now hide this data? Would you say:
|> The Roman Legion Infantry is quite expensive as troops generally go, but for a
|> Roman troop it is rather cheap, whereas they want to have lots of weapons
|> compared with most other Roman troops. They are pretty steadfast for an
|> infantry and their morale is exceptionally high. They have an impressive close
|> combat, but only on relatively open terrain. They cannot fight from a
|> distance (no shooting arrows or catapults). They can be trained pretty well.
|>
|> Would you have 152 entries like that? Does anyone think this is conceivable?

No, you would have 152 entries in a table form, which might look like:

Roman Legion Infantry
Cost : High
Cost in weapons/armour : High
Armour Class : Good
Morale : Exceptional
Ranged combat : None
Experience : Good.

|> Curious,
|>
|> Ulrich
|>

You still have your table, but you define ranges of values, rather than exact
values.  Things like the exact cost would approximate to a value, but would tend
to vary according to where you recruit, the time of year, your popularity in
the region (say) and the price of tea in china (a random figure), so you couldn't
simple average it over time to find it out.

And would the game be much worse if it was invoked like that?

References

How to hide this formula?
ulim@coli.uni-sb.de (Ulrich Mayring)
Thu, 24 Jun 1993 09:29:04 +0000

Referenced By

How to hide this formula?
ulim@coli.uni-sb.de (Ulrich Mayring)
Thu, 24 Jun 1993 09:29:04 +0000