+++ /dev/null
-NAME
- stratego - Interface to manage games of stratego between AI programs and/or human players
-
-WARNING
- This program is still a work in progress. Consider it a Beta version.
-
-SYNOPSIS
- stratego {[-gpirb] [-o output_file ] [-t stall_time] [-m max_turns] {red_player blue_player | -f input_file} | {-h | --help} }
-
-DESCRIPTION
- stratego manages a game of Stratego. It stores the state of the board, and uses a simple protocol to interface with AI programs.
- By itself, stratego does not "play" the game. An external AI program must be used. stratego is intended to be used for the testing of
- various AI strategies, written in any programming language. It will be used for the UCC Programming Competition 2012.
-
- Unless the -h (--help) or -f switch is given, both red_player and blue_player must be supplied.
-
- red_player
- Should be either a path to an executable file which will control the Red player, or "human".
- If set to "human", stratego will request the user to make moves for the Red player using stdin.
- NOTES
- 1. There is no plan to support AI programs named "human". Deal with it.
- 2. The graphical interface for human players is... basic. Deal with it.
- blue_player
- As red_player, except for controlling the Blue player.
-
-A WARNING ABOUT BUFFERING
- The AI programs must unbuffer their stdin and stdout streams, otherwise it will be seen to be non-responsive.
- If you C and you know a way to force the process started by exec() to have unbuffered stdin/stdout, please email the author.
-
- In C or C++, unbuffering is accomplished with the following lines, which should appear near the start of main()
- setbuf(stdin, NULL);
- setbuf(stdout, NULL);
- In python, unbuffering is accomplished by passing the -u switch to the interpreter, ie: The first line of a script reads:
- #!/usr/bin/python -u
-
-
-OPTIONS
- -g
- By default, graphics are disabled. If the -g switch is present, stratego will draw the game as it is played using SDL/OpenGL
-
- -p
- By default, even if graphics are disabled, the board state is not printed. If -p is present, the board will be printed to stdout.
- If the system supports colour, the characters will be in colour.
- Yes, If -p and -g are both present you will see both behaviours (overkill)!
- -i
- By default, stratego will exit if a move which is deemed "illegal" is made. If the -i switch is present, illegal moves will be ignored.
- That is, the move will not be made (effectively the player making the illegal move loses a turn).
-
- NOTE: If -i is not given and a human player accidentally(?) makes an illegal move, they will be asked to make a different move. The game will continue.
- This is intended to prevent fits of rage due to the horrible graphical interface causing humans to make illegal moves.
- -r
- By default, the identities of all pieces are shown. If the -r switch is present, and graphics are enabled, red pieces will be disguised.
- If graphics are disabled, the -r switch has no effect.
-
- Pieces which have previously taken part in combat (and survived) will be revealed.
- -b
- As -r, except blue pieces will be disguised.
- NOTE: Both -r and -b may be used together.
- -o
- By default, stratego does not log moves. If the -o switch is present, the result of each move is printed to a file.
- If output_file is "stdout" then stdout will be used instead of a text file.
- -t
- By default, stratego executes moves as fast as they are recieved. If the -t switch is present, a delay of stall_time will be introduced
- between each move.
-
- If stall_time is negative or "inf", stratego will wait for the user to press enter before moving to the next move.
-
- It is tentatively planned to allow the user to enter various commands to alter the game or proceed to specified turns.
- However this is slightly complicated. So it might never be done.
- -m
- By default, the game is declared a Draw after 5000 turns have ellapsed.
- Use this option to change the maximum number of turns.
- To play for an infinite number of turns, supply "inf" as max_number. This is not recommended for obvious reasons.
-
- -f
- By default, stratego requires red_player and blue_player to enact a game.
- If this option is supplied, a file previously produced by using the -o switch is read, and the game reenacted.
- All switches function as normal with -f.
- NOTE: It is recommended that -g is used with -f.
-
- -h, --help
- If the -h switch is used, this page will be printed and stratego will exit.
-
-
-
-GAME RULES
- Each player controls up to 40 pieces on the Board. The pieces are represented by the following characters:
-
- Piece Name Rank Number Abilities
- 1 Marshal 1 1 Dies if attacked by Spy
- 2 General 2 1
- 3 Colonel 3 2
- 4 Major 4 3
- 5 Captain 5 4
- 6 Lieutenant 6 4
- 7 Sergeant 7 4
- 8 Miner 8 5 Destroys Bombs
- 9 Scout 9 8 May move more through multiple empty squares
- s Spy 10 1 If the Spy attacks the Marshal, the Marshal dies
- B Bomb NA 6 Immobile. If any piece (except a Miner) attacks an enemy Bomb, that piece is destroyed.
- F Flag NA 1 Immobile. If any piece attacks the enemy Flag, the controlling player wins.
-
- Additional pieces, not controlled by the player:
- Piece Name Number Notes
- + Obstacle 8 Immobile. Do not belong to either player. Can't be passed through.
- # Enemy Piece 0 - 40 Indicates that the position on the board is occupied by an enemy piece.
- . Empty NA Indicates that the position on the board is empty.
-
- Players take turns to move their pieces. RED begins the game.
-
- Pieces may only move one square horizontally or vertically unless otherwise stated.
- Pieces may not move through squares occupied by allied pieces, or Obstacle (+) pieces.
- Pieces may move into squares occupied by Enemy Pieces (#), in which case the piece with the lower rank (higher number) is destroyed.
-
- Each player's pieces are hidden from the other player. When two pieces encounter each other, the ranks will be revealed.
-
- The objective is to destroy all Enemy Pieces (#) or capture the Enemy Flag (also #).
-
- Since 20/12 Bombs reflect the traditional rules; they are only destroyed by Miners.
- In previous versions contact of an attacker other than a Miner with a Bomb destroyed the Bomb as well as the attacking piece.
-
-
-PROTOCOL
- In order to interface with stratego, an AI program must satisfy the following protocol.
- Each query is followed by a newline, and responses are expected to be followed with a newline.
- The queries are recieved through stdin, and responses should be written to stdout.
-
- 1. SETUP
- QUERY: YOUR_COLOUR OPPONENT_ID BOARD_WIDTH BOARD_HEIGHT
-
- RESPONSE: 4 lines, each of length BOARD_WIDTH, of characters. Each character represents a piece. The characters are shown above.
-
- RED's pieces are placed at the top of the board, and BLUE's pieces are placed at the bottom.
-
- An AI program does not have to place all 40 pieces, but must at least place the flag ('F').
-
- 2. TURN
- QUERY: START | CONFIRMATION
- BOARD_STATE
-
- On the first turn, "START" is printed to the Red player.
- On subsequent turns, the CONFIRMATION of the opponent's last turn is printed (see below).
-
- BOARD_STATE consists of a BOARD_HEIGHT lines of length BOARD_WIDTH characters, each of which represents a single piece
- as described in the GAME_RULES section. Each line ends with the newline character.
-
-
- RESPONSE: X Y DIRECTION [MULTIPLIER=1] | NO_MOVE
- X and Y are the coords (starting from 0) of the piece to move
- DIRECTION is either UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT
- MULTIPLIER is optional and only valid for units of type Scout. Scouts may move through any number of unblocked squares
- in one direction.
-
- The AI program should print "NO_MOVE" if it is unable to determine a move.
- This will typically occur when the only pieces belonging to the AI program are Bombs and the Flag.
-
- CONFIRMATION: X Y DIRECTION [MULTIPLIER=1] OUTCOME | NO_MOVE {OK | ILLEGAL} | QUIT [RESULT]
-
- OUTCOME may be either OK, ILLEGAL, KILLS or DIES
- OK - Move was successful
- ILLEGAL - Move was not allowed. If stratego was not started with the -i switch, the game will end.
- KILLS ATTACKER_RANK DEFENDER_RANK - The piece moved into an occupied square and killed the defender.
- DIES ATTACKER_RANK DEFENDER_RANK - The piece moved into an occupied square and was killed by the defender.
-
- Most turns will be confirmed with: "X Y DIRECTION [MULTIPLIER=1] OUTCOME"
-
- A confirmation of "NO_MOVE OK" occurs when the AI program made no move for a legitimate reason.
- "NO_MOVE ILLEGAL" is printed if the AI program made no move for an illegitimate reason.
-
- If both AI programs successively make a "NO_MOVE" response, then the game will end.
- The player with the highest piece value will win, or a draw will be declared if the values are equal.
-
- 3. END GAME
- If the CONFIRMATION line is of the form:
- QUIT [RESULT]
- Then the game is about to end.
-
- If present, RESULT will be a direct copy of the message to stdout described in the EXIT/OUTPUT section below.
-
-
- 4. TIMEOUTS
- If a program fails to respond to a query within 2 (two) seconds, the game will end and that AI will be sent the ILLEGAL result.
- Human players are not subject to the timeout restriction.
-
-
-
-EXIT/OUTPUT
- If the game ends due to a player either winning, or making an illegal move, stratego will print one of the following result messages to stdout.
-
- NAME COLOUR OUTCOME TURN_NUMBER OUTCOME RED_PIECE_VALUE BLUE_PIECE_VALUE
-
- Where:
- NAME is the name of the player on whose turn the game ended,
- COLOUR is the colour of that player,
- OUTCOME is one of the following:
- VICTORY - The indicated player won
- DEFEAT - The indicated player lost
- SURRENDER - The indicated player surrendered
- DRAW - The game ended in a draw because neither player moved
- DRAW_DEFAULT - The game ended in a draw because the maximum number of moves was exceeded
- ILLEGAL - The indicated player loses due to an Illegal move/response
- DEFAULT - The indicated player wins by default due to the other player making an Illegal move/response
- BOTH_ILLEGAL - Both players made an Illegal move/response. Usually occurs due to simultaneous setup errors, or bad executable paths.
- INTERNAL_ERROR - The game ended, even though it shouldn't have.
-
- TURN_NUMBER is the number of turns that elapsed before the game ended
-
- RED_PIECE_VALUE and BLUE_PIECE_VALUE are the summed piece values of the pieces of RED and BLUE respectively.
- Bombs and Flags are worth zero, and the ranked pieces (Spys -> Marshal) are worth (11 - rank).
- So the Spy is worth 1 point, ... the Marshal is worth 10.
-
- (The initial piece values can be determined by running with -m 0)
-
-
- stratego will then return exit code 0.
-
- If an error occurs within stratego itself, an error message will be printed to stderr and return exit code 1.
- If possible, stratego will print the message "QUIT" to both AI programs, and they should exit as soon as possible.
-
-
-BUGS
- Occasionally the result is not printed at the end of the game.
- So far this has only been observed to occur when RED wins the game by Flag capture.
-
- stratego is still a work in progress. Report another bug to the AUTHOR (see below).
-
-
-AUTHORS
-
-NOTES
- 0. This program is still a work in progress and subject to changes.
-
- 1. UCC Programming Competition 2012 Description
- http://matches.ucc.asn.au/stratego/
-
- 2. UCC Programming Competition 2012 Git repository
- git://git.ucc.asn.au/progcomp2012.git
-
-
- 3. IRC Channel
- irc://irc.ucc.asn.au #progcomp
-
-THIS PAGE LAST UPDATED
- 20/12/11 by Sam Moore
-
git.ucc.asn.au / progcomp2012.git / blobdiff
UCC git Repository :: git.ucc.asn.au