Selecting plans?

Selecting plans?

[Robert Goulding]

I've only just started playing xconq in the last couple of days - I'm 
mainly using the latest binary of the native OSX port.  I've also 
installed the Windows version on a PC, and I noticed a difference in 
the gameplay (of the standard game).  In the OSX version, you are able 
to select a plan for any unit.  In the Windows version (and, as I just 
tested, with the Mac TCL binary) the 'Plan' item in the menu is always 
grayed out.  Am I missing something that I need to do to set the plan 
in the non-Carbon version?

Thanks,
Robert.

-- 
Robert Goulding
Program in History and Philosophy of Science
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame IN 46656

Re: Selecting plans?

[Eric McDonald]

Hi Robert,

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004, Robert Goulding wrote:

> installed the Windows version on a PC, and I noticed a difference in 
> the gameplay (of the standard game).  In the OSX version, you are able 
> to select a plan for any unit.  In the Windows version (and, as I just 
> tested, with the Mac TCL binary) the 'Plan' item in the menu is always 
> grayed out.  Am I missing something that I need to do to set the plan 
> in the non-Carbon version?

No, I don't think so. There seems to have been a 
definite development bias towards the Mac native port. 
Fortunately, I don't own a Mac that is capable of running Xconq, 
and so I cannot be biased towards the more mature Mac native 
interface. So, in the long term I hope to tip the playing field 
against the Mac native interface by either building up the SDL 
interface or adding some missing functionality and polish to the 
Tcl/Tk interface. However, Hans (the primary Mac developer) has 
gotten a few years running start on me. :-)

  Regards,
    Eric

Re: Selecting plans?

[Hans Ronne]

>I've only just started playing xconq in the last couple of days - I'm
>mainly using the latest binary of the native OSX port.  I've also
>installed the Windows version on a PC, and I noticed a difference in
>the gameplay (of the standard game).  In the OSX version, you are able
>to select a plan for any unit.  In the Windows version (and, as I just
>tested, with the Mac TCL binary) the 'Plan' item in the menu is always
>grayed out.  Am I missing something that I need to do to set the plan
>in the non-Carbon version?

No. The reason why the plan menu is not fully implemented yet in the tcltk
interface is that it is a useless feature. Here is how it works:

If you run a unit under manual control, you can set its plan to whatever
you like, but it has no effect. It's your brain that makes the decisions,
not the AI.

If you put a unit under AI control, the first thing the AI does is to scrap
your plan and pick a new one more to the AI's liking. So the plan menu has
no effect in that case either.

I've been planning to use the plan menu for a semi-automatic mode in which
units would be controlled by the AI, but forced to stick to a plan picked
by the human player. I think such a mode would be very useful. But it is
still on the todo-list.

Hans