Re: Exploration patch

[Jim Kingdon <kingdon at panix dot com>]

> If I capture an enemy unit with this patch, what I get to see is a
> patchwork of seen and unseen hexes that are scattered all over the
> map.  Not very pretty

Well, how about the enclosed which just turns off
see-terrain-if-captured?  That avoids the patchwork effect (or most of
it, anyway - because hexes revealed by see-others-if-captured are more
likely to be contiguous than random hexes).  The enclosed patch has a
comment with some of your ideas for the time when someone has more
time to work more on this.

> However, I suspect the real problem here is need_explorers:

Actually, I was just worried about how it affects human players
(i.e. myself).  I didn't notice an effect on the AI but I'm not sure
how I'd look for one (can't just set "see all" because that changes
the AI's behavior).  If there is an easy way to see the AI's behavior
(preferably in full side_sees_unit detail) without changing it, that
would be useful for other things too.

2001-07-26  Jim Kingdon  <kingdon@panix.com>

	Make it so that there is still reason to explore after the early
	part of the game:
	* lib/standard.g: Don't set see-terrain-if-captured.
	Reduce see-others-if-captured for "town (town city)" from 100%
	to 30%.
	* lib/lhs.g, lib/log.g: Likewise.

Index: lib/lhs.g
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/xconq/xconq/lib/lhs.g,v
retrieving revision 1.3
diff -u -r1.3 lhs.g
--- lhs.g	2001/01/21 00:45:16	1.3
+++ lhs.g	2001/08/04 05:07:38
@@ -91,14 +91,10 @@
 
 (set scorefile-name "lhs.xcq")
 
-(add u* see-terrain-if-captured 10)
-(add town see-terrain-if-captured 50)
-(add city see-terrain-if-captured 100)
-
 (table see-others-if-captured
   (ship ship 50)
   (base u* 10)
   (town u* 20)
-  (town (town city) 100)
+  (town (town city) 30)
   (city u* 100)
   )
Index: lib/log.g
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/xconq/xconq/lib/log.g,v
retrieving revision 1.2
diff -u -r1.2 log.g
--- log.g	2001/01/21 00:45:16	1.2
+++ log.g	2001/08/04 05:07:39
@@ -108,14 +108,10 @@
   (do last-side-wins)
   )
 
-(add u* see-terrain-if-captured 10)
-(add town see-terrain-if-captured 50)
-(add city see-terrain-if-captured 100)
-
 (table see-others-if-captured
   (ship ship 50)
   (base u* 10)
   (town u* 20)
-  (town (town city) 100)
+  (town (town city) 30)
   (city u* 100)
   )
Index: lib/standard.g
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/xconq/xconq/lib/standard.g,v
retrieving revision 1.9
diff -u -r1.9 standard.g
--- standard.g	2001/07/12 19:41:26	1.9
+++ standard.g	2001/08/04 05:07:40
@@ -167,14 +167,19 @@
 
 (set scorefile-name "standard.xcq")
 
-(add u* see-terrain-if-captured 10)
-(add town see-terrain-if-captured 50)
-(add city see-terrain-if-captured 100)
+;; Leave see-terrain-if-captured to zero.  This is so that exploration
+;; does not cease early in the game.  Alternatives might be to 
+;; make all hexes within a fixed or randomly determined radius
+;; from the captured unit visible, or even a make-terrain like
+;; algorithm that generates one single random sized area of visible hexes
+;; that nucleates at the captured unit.  Some terrain info will leak
+;; out via see-others-if-captured - that's a more appropriate quantity
+;; than the all-or-nothing see-terrain-if-captured.
 
 (table see-others-if-captured
   (ship ship 50)
   (base u* 10)
   (town u* 20)
-  (town (town city) 100)
+  (town (town city) 30)
   (city u* 100)
   )