ddickey@gonzo.eta.com (Dan A. Dickey) (08/30/88)
As the subject line says...xtrek (chris@ic.berkeley.edu) for X11R2 is being worked on. I basically have it running on X11R2, but need to clean it up a bit. When it resembles the X10 xtrek, I'll put it on expo.lcs.mit.edu for ftp, assuming I'm able to do this. The reason I'm working on this is that it didn't seem anyone else was, and I have never received any replies to my mail to the authors. I'll also be making it more like the VMS conquest game...rotating start systems, etc. And "dumber" robots. The ones there now are impossible to play against. -Dan Dan A. Dickey ddickey%gonzo.eta.com@uc.msc.umn.edu
jef@hot.ee.lbl.gov (Jef Poskanzer) (08/30/88)
In the referenced message, ddickey@gonzo.eta.com (Dan A. Dickey) wrote: }The reason I'm working on this is that it didn't seem anyone else was, }and I have never received any replies to my mail to the authors. Well, someone had xtrek running under X.V11R2 at Usenix, which was in June. It was functionally identical to Guthrie's Xtrek Classic. But I haven't heard anything about it on the nets. }I'll also be making it more like the VMS conquest game...rotating }start systems, etc. Hmm. Even though I think Conquest is a superior game, this seems like a bad move. You are bound to have some dissatisfied users who liked it better the old way. Why not first release a version that plays identically to Xtrek Classic, and then think about upgrades. One thing that I've seen again and again with the various versions of xtrek is hackers adding features with little or no thought, and never fixing any of the old bugs first! And speaking of old bugs: } And "dumber" robots. The ones there now are }impossible to play against. Actually, the only reason that xtrek's robots aren't trivial to kill is that they cheat. For instance, their torps fly straight, while normal players' torps have a random factor added. Also, they can still see you when you are cloaked. And most of their actions, such as firing weapons and cloaking, do not use any fuel or raise their temperature. So, don't make them dumber, just make them play fair! Of course, that means you have to make them a little smarter, so they can deal with little problems like running out of fuel. This sort of thing is dealt with fairly well by the rule-based robots in Conquest. --- Jef Jef Poskanzer jef@rtsg.ee.lbl.gov ...well!pokey "Don't say yes until I finish talking." -- Darryl F. Zanuck
jkh@violet.berkeley.edu (Jordan K. Hubbard) (08/30/88)
In article <606@nic.MR.NET> ddickey@gonzo.eta.com (Dan A. Dickey) writes: >I'll also be making it more like the VMS conquest game...rotating >start systems, etc. And "dumber" robots. The ones there now are >impossible to play against. I would like to vote for having the "intelligence" of the robots as an option. A number of us at UCB got good enought to beat the toughest robots (and we had some pretty tough mutations floating around) and would not enjoy fighting lobotimized ones. How about a command line option for "robot toughness"? Jordan
steve@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Steve DeJarnett) (08/31/88)
In article <891@hot.ee.lbl.gov> Jef Poskanzer <jef@rtsg.ee.lbl.gov> writes: >In the referenced message, ddickey@gonzo.eta.com (Dan A. Dickey) wrote: >}The reason I'm working on this is that it didn't seem anyone else was, >}and I have never received any replies to my mail to the authors. Well, I've been playing Xtrek on X11R2 for about the past 3 months, and, rest assured, it WILL be on the X11R3 tape. There are beta copies out now (no, there aren't going to be any more beta sites, so please don't ask). Be patient a little longer and you will have the latest and greatest Xtrek for X11. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Steve DeJarnett | Smart Mailers -> steve@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU | | Computer Systems Lab | Dumb Mailers -> ..!ucbvax!voder!polyslo!steve | | Cal Poly State Univ. |------------------------------------------------| | San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 | BITNET = Because Idiots Type NETwork | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jeff@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Skippy The Wonder Hacker) (08/31/88)
I have XTrek for X11. I did the port that was running at Usenix and Xhibition. I am running beta test right now, and plan to release it within a week. I am sending it to the MIT X Consortium for inclusion on the X11R3 contrib tape. I will also be making it available for anonymous ftp and will send it to comp.sources.x. It has some enhancements over Guthrie's XTrek Version 4, these include: 1) I have made some attempts to optimize screen redraw. My initial port could not run on a Sun 3/50 because of the non-optimized X server. It runs ok on the 50's now. Forget about color on Sun's now though, the server is just too slow. Works great on color RT's and HP 9000's though. 2) You can now configure your ships by reducing some attribute and increasing others. For example, you could have a ship with no phasers, but bigger torps, of course those bigger torps take more fuel... 3) Added patterns to planets on the mono screen so that people without color are not at such a disadvantage. 4) Made shields change color or pattern as you take more damage. This helps when you are in the heat of battle and don't want to pay attention to the status display. One major thing that is not in this version, but that I want to add later, is to make it a distributed game using rpc, so that all the programs don't have to run on the same machine. I would also like to work on the robots a bit. Note to Jef: I have fixed some old bugs. If you know of any I should look at please let me know ASAP. --Jeff Weinstein -- Jeff Weinstein aka Skippy The Wonder Hacker For Smart Mailers(and Internet) Computer Systems Lab (the OTHER computer center) jeff@polyslo.calpoly.edu Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, CA For Dumb Mailers: (805)756-7180 ucbvax!voder!polyslo!jeff