Re: Programming Contest
Hmmm...
That's a bigger response than I anticipated, though the gap between "wanting to do" and "doing" is always substantial.
So - are there any suggestions? Some examples:
A system of assuring leader names are not duplicated until all names are used?
A small algorithm that quantifies the power of a single unit? (In other words, it uses the unit's stats, and deterministically generates a number that represents the "threat rating" of the unit. My combat sim is slow and nondeterministic, as it uses pseudorandom simulation. Such a function would be crucial in AI prioritizing and targetting.)
A search-path module that produces an optimal site-finding path for a mage in friendly territory, accounting for movement speed, search status, provincial site richness (e.g., mountain vs farmland) in different terrain types?
A scripting language for the Dominions II strategic AI? If the devs could somehow enable AI modding, a competition for the best strat AI for a given nation would be awesome=) The quantification would be in running multiple all-AI games and counting wins.
Ideally, a winner would have to be correct (or else, the most correct, for hard problems), and some sort of quantification would be needed to select the best of the correct solutions. For example, runtime and code size can be useful. Thus, a problem whose solution's quality can be quantified is always good.
-Cherry
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