Re: (Mac?) Interface q's

[Hans Ronne <hronne@comhem.se>]

>I am concerned that my play habits may be sufficiently unorthodox that
>I may be unintentionally testing little-used portions of the Xconq code
>or little-explored interaction between code segments. Similarly, I fear
>that games I develop would be inadequately tested for "normal" users if
>I'm using a strange set-up. So...

It is only good if you test little used options, since that is where we are
going to find new bugs. Your testing of the Mac survey mode was helpful in
revealing several bugs.

>First, how common is use of the Sequential option? I prefer this form
>of play, since I am usually playing solitaire. Is the structure of the
>Xconq code such that separate testing of a game module is needed to
>assure proper behavior in simultaneous, multi-player mode?

It used to be the case that some games were simultaneous mode only, and
some sequential only. However, I enabled both modes in all games when I
updated the game library earlier this year.  Similarly, the world-seen and
see-all options were also enabled in all games. This in order to provide
more variation and player freedom.

If a game module works in sequential mode, it should also work in
simultaneous mode, and vice versa. So you should not have to worry about
this as a game designer. If you find a feature that works in only one mode,
this is a bug.

>Second, what is the "standard" or most usual setup for the following
>interface parameters:
>
>1) Move on click
>2) Auto jump next
>3) Auto end turn

The standard (default) option is to have all three on. However, the
interfaces differ in how these three settings are handled.

In the tcltk interface, move on click and auto jump next are always toggled
on or off together. The two modes are called "move mode" (both on) and
"survey mode" (both off) and you can toggle mode either by clicking the
button at the top of the control panel, by switching mode in the Side menu,
or by just hitting the "z" key.

The "map" help node in the tcltk interface claims that auto end trun also
is toggled off in survey mode, but this is not true. In fact, you cannot at
present turn auto end turn off in the tcltk interface. This is either a bug
or a documentation error, depending on how you look at it.

In the Mac native interface, you have more freedom. All three settings can
be toggled individually from the Side menu. In addition, move on click and
auto jump next can be toggled together by clicking a control panel button
or hitting the "z" key, just as in the tcltk interface.

I have contemplated some changes that would make the two interfaces more
similar to each other. Specifically, to add the ability to turn off auto
end turn in the tcltk interface, and to eliminate the possibility of
toggling move on click and auto jump next independently of each other in
the mac interface. The latter possibility can give rise to confusing
situations, as your play testing of these little used options revelaed.

>Third, is there some way to manually select the next unit to give
>orders to when "move on click" is true?

No. I always switch to survey mode (by hitting the "z" key) if I want to
pick the next unit myself.

>Fourth, is there any way to control the order in which "auto jump"
>visits my units (at the player interface level, not the game design
>level)?

Not at present. I guess one could write new interface code that prompts the
player to select the new unit, but this would not be trivial to do.

Hans