[Freeciv-Dev] Re: [PATCH] Unit movement

[ccrayne@xxxxxxxxxxx]

In <20010115224521.C820@xxxxxxxxxx>, on 01/15/01 
   at 10:45 PM, Reinier Post <rp@xxxxxxxxxx> said:

:First of all, I'm very thankful as a Freeciv user to see
:the problem of client-side AI being addressed in code.

I appreciate your support, and welcome your continued participation in
these discussions.

:Freeciv was designed as an asynchronous message sending system in which
:there is no feedback for requests.

Considering only the communication subsystem, this is true. However, from
the standpoint of a human player, there is feedback for almost every
request. For example, a player presses a direction key and sees a unit
move.

:The two of you seem to approach the
:task of writing client-side AI algorithms as if you're really dealing
:with a synchronous RPC-like system in which the client issues a request,
:waits for the feedback, then continues its operation.

Raimar can speak for himself, but I do not support any change to the
asychronous nature of the existing communications subsystem.

:Having to wait for the result of each unit order before
:being able to specify the next would slow down gameplay immensely.  An
:AI algorithm cannot afford to do this, either.

I strongly oppose any such requirement. However, in fairness to Raimar, I
must point out that his proposed patch does not go that far, but merely
allows any given request to choose to wait, should there be a reason to do
so. Although I do not agree with his proposed implementation, I do agree
with the need for the capability. The goal is not so much to know if the
move took place, as it is to make use of the information which it reveals.

Of course, I probably would have been more supportive of his method, if I
had not alreadly implemented one of my own design. :)



Best,
        -- Chuck Crayne
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ccrayne@xxxxxxxxxxx
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