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Arimaa >> Site Discussion >> Opponent timed out, but I lost
(Message started by: knak on Apr 21st, 2011, 9:55am)

Title: Opponent timed out, but I lost
Post by knak on Apr 21st, 2011, 9:55am
The bot timed out, then, several seconds after the clock ticked to zero, the bot moved its pieces, and the table showed that I lost.  Linked is an screenshot of the table at the end. http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/5396/picture1nc.png


Title: Re: Opponent timed out, but I lost
Post by Fritzlein on Apr 21st, 2011, 10:57am
Let me guess that your client lost connection to the game room, so that it didn't know it was your move.  This used to happen to me all the time, although I have never seen it reconnect just in time to tell me that I lost, so maybe it is something different.

Anyway, if it is a connection problem, there is no solution, only two ways to mitigate.

First, make sure you unrate the game before playing any more.  Menu item Navigation -> Games -> Unrate Game.

Second, the next time you are playing a bot that moves at a somewhat predictable speed, and the bot is taking longer to move than you expect, consider hitting F5 to refresh the client, in case it is really your time ticking down and not his.

I know that these measures don't actually solve the problem, and only make it slightly less annoying.  Sorry!  :(

Title: Re: Opponent timed out, but I lost
Post by Nombril on Apr 26th, 2011, 2:40pm
You can also try changing the game client (under settings).  I was having a similar problem, and have switching clients I have had very little trouble.  The JavaScript client works better for me, but I think it depends on your browser and internet connection.

Title: Re: Opponent timed out, but I lost
Post by knak on May 2nd, 2011, 2:00pm
I think that it might have been the client....   Nombril, what OS and browser are you using?

I'm doubtful that I simply lost connection and timed out because the time-out occurred after not enough time had passed for my clock to count all the way down, even if the bot had moved very quickly.  (The bot was regularly using all but 20s of its time, and I believe its time before the last move was about 1m). The other reason I don't think it's just what Fritzlein suggests is that the other times that what he described have happened (lost connection causing a timeout), the client shows my time as being zero, not the opponents.  

Title: Re: Opponent timed out, but I lost
Post by Nombril on May 2nd, 2011, 9:33pm
I'm using the JavaScript client in Firefox 3.6.17 on a Mac.



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