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        Arimaa >> Site Discussion >> two questions/suggestions
        
(Message started by: religion on Sep 26^th, 2008, 11:52am)

Title: two questions/suggestions
Post by religion on Sep 26^th, 2008, 11:52am

1: When playing a game, it'd be really nice if the time started flashing or beeping or something when you've only got like 10 seconds left. I think I was beating the blitz Opfor bot just now, but I was doing two things at once and accidentally ran out of time. :( If it had been flashing I might have put my move in a little faster. I only needed one more second...

2: Is there any place to post games for reviews/comments/criticism? That might be useful if I ever learn to stop throwing camels away...

Title: Re: two questions/suggestion
Post by Fritzlein on Sep 26^th, 2008, 12:37pm

on 09/26/08 at 11:52:31, religion wrote:

2: Is there any place to post games for reviews/comments/criticism? That might be useful if I ever learn to stop throwing camels away...

In the game room, in the section titled "Recent Games (5)", if you click on the result ("t 24" for your game against OpFor), it will take you to a page where you can add comments. Or, you can click on the "more" link below all of the five most recent games, and it will take you to a page where you can add comments to the most recent 100 games.

Title: Re: two questions/suggestions
Post by Fritzlein on Sep 26^th, 2008, 12:39pm

on 09/26/08 at 11:52:31, religion wrote:

That's odd. When I play it does make a ticking sound when time gets low. Was the volume on your computer turned up?

Title: Re: two questions/suggestions
Post by religion on Sep 26^th, 2008, 12:53pm

Thanks, Fritzlein. Yes, my volume was very low.

Title: Re: two questions/suggestions
Post by chessandgo on Sep 27^th, 2008, 12:23am

on 09/26/08 at 11:52:31, religion wrote:

2: Is there any place to post games for reviews/comments/criticism? That might be useful if I ever learn to stop throwing camels away...

Yes, check the link Games -> commented games at the top left in the gameroom. You can comment on any finished game by finding this game (for example through the game record of one of the players, that you can get by clicking on his name for instance). When you comment on a game, you usually get someone (Fritzl to be more precise :)) to anwser ...

Title: Re: two questions/suggestions
Post by religion on Sep 27^th, 2008, 10:12am

OK, thanks!

Title: Re: two questions/suggestions
Post by omar on Sep 27^th, 2008, 11:40am

on 09/26/08 at 11:52:31, religion wrote:

The V2 client is pretty good at this; it gives warnings at 30, 20 and 10 seconds. It's still in beta mode, but you can try it out. From the Navigation bar select Settings -> Game Client and select the V2 client.

Title: Re: two questions/suggestions
Post by religion on Sep 27^th, 2008, 6:09pm

I'm actually already using the V2 client. It's ok, I'm just used to KGS (the Go server) which flashes at you when your time is running low. My volume was just down.

On an unrelated note, I finally beat bot_Aamira2006Fast. Does that bot play erratically? It practically begged me to take its pieces this time-- but it beat me four times in row prior to this. I don't think I improved drastically since this morning...

Title: Re: two questions/suggestions
Post by Fritzlein on Sep 27^th, 2008, 7:38pm

on 09/27/08 at 18:09:04, religion wrote:

On an unrelated note, I finally beat bot_Aamira2006Fast. Does that bot play erratically? It practically begged me to take its pieces this time-- but it beat me four times in row prior to this. I don't think I improved drastically since this morning...

Most bots have blind spots: you just happened to stumble onto Aamira's. Its elephant can't defend both of your traps, so it chooses to protect the trap that it will lose a camel for abandoning. While Aamira's elephant is committed, your free camel can kick butt all day, in particular by funneling pieces into your other home trap, or by chopping a path to goal as you did in this game.

Now that you have seen this configuration, you can play for it intentionally every game. Get Aamira's camel committed to one wing with your elephant, which also commits Aamira's elephant, then rampage with your free camel. This bot does nothing to resist giving up a camel hostage, unlike Bomb or Clueless; on the contrary, Aamira will voluntarily advance its camel as long as you don't prevent it.

Aamira is not erractic: it plays with much more consistency than you do. You are the erratic one who plays differently every game. :D But if you learn a simple formula, and iron out a few kinks in it, you can train yourself to be consistent in a way that Aamira simply cannot cope with.

Title: Re: two questions/suggestions
Post by religion on Sep 28^th, 2008, 8:23pm

on 09/27/08 at 19:38:45, Fritzlein wrote:

I read all the strategy pages, so I *think* I've been trying to do that in every game. I guess I just usually blunder a piece away first...

Anyway, I guess this thread has drifted off topic enough that it can be left to die in peace. Thanks for the responses, everyone...