2 stratego - Interface to manage games of stratego between AI programs and/or human players
5 This program is still a work in progress. Consider it a Beta version.
8 stratego {[-gpirb] [-o output_file ] [-t stall_time] [-m max_turns] {red_player blue_player | -f input_file} | {-h | --help} }
11 stratego manages a game of Stratego. It stores the state of the board, and uses a simple protocol to interface with AI programs.
12 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
13 various AI strategies, written in any programming language. It will be used for the UCC Programming Competition 2012.
15 Unless the -h (--help) or -f switch is given, both red_player and blue_player must be supplied.
18 Should be either a path to an executable file which will control the Red player, or "human".
19 If set to "human", stratego will request the user to make moves for the Red player using stdin.
21 1. There is no plan to support AI programs named "human". Deal with it.
22 2. As of writing, human players must use stdin. A graphical interface may be added later.
25 As red_player, except for controlling the Blue player.
29 By default, graphics are disabled. If the -g switch is present, stratego will draw the game as it is played using OpenGL
31 By default, even if graphics are disabled, the board state is not printed. If -p is present, the board will be printed to stdout.
32 If the system supports colour, the characters will be in colour.
33 If -p and -g are both present you will see both behaviours (overkill)!
35 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.
36 That is, the move will not be made (effectively the player making the illegal move loses a turn).
38 By default, the identities of all pieces are shown. If the -r switch is present, and graphics are enabled, red pieces will be disguised.
39 If graphics are disabled, the -r switch has no effect.
41 As -r, except blue pieces will be disguised.
42 NOTE: Both -r and -b may be used.
44 By default, stratego is silent. If the -o switch is present, the result of each move is printed to a file. If output_file is "stdout"
45 then stdout will be used instead of a text file.
47 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
51 By default, the game is declared a Draw after 5000 turns have ellapsed.
52 Use this option to change the maximum number of turns.
53 To play for an infinite number of turns, supply "inf" as max_number.
56 By default, stratego requires red_player and blue_player to enact a game.
57 If this option is supplied, a file previously produced by using the -o switch is read, and the game reenacted.
58 All switches function as normal with -f.
59 NOTE: It is recommended that -g is used with -f.
62 If the -h switch is used, this page will be printed and stratego will exit.
67 Each player sets up 40 pieces on the Board. The pieces consist of the following:
69 Piece Name Rank Number Abilities
70 1 Marshal 1 1 Dies if attacked by Spy
77 8 Miner 8 5 Destroys Bombs without being killed
78 9 Scout 9 8 May move more through multiple empty squares
79 s Spy 10 1 If the Spy attacks the Marshal, the Marshal dies
80 B Bomb NA 6 Immobile. If an enemy piece (except a Miner) encounters a Bomb, both pieces are destroyed
81 F Flag NA 1 Immobile. If any enemy piece encounters the Flag, the controlling player wins.
83 Pieces may move one square horizontally or vertically unless otherwise stated.
84 Pieces may not move through squares occupied by allied pieces.
85 Pieces may move into squares occupied by enemy pieces, in which case the piece with the lower rank (higher number) is destroyed.
87 Each player's pieces are hidden from the other player. When two pieces encounter each other, the ranks will be revealed.
89 The objective is to destroy all enemy pieces or capture the Flag.
93 In order to interface with stratego, an AI program must satisfy the following protocol.
94 Each query is followed by a newline, and responses are expected to be followed with a newline.
95 The queries are recieved through stdin, and responses should be written to stdout.
98 QUERY: YOUR_COLOUR OPPONENT_ID BOARD_WIDTH BOARD_HEIGHT
100 RESPONSE: 4 lines, each of length BOARD_WIDTH, of characters. Each character represents a piece. The characters are shown above.
103 QUERY: START | CONFIRMATION
104 On the first turn, "START" is printed to the Red player.
105 On subsequent turns, the CONFIRMATION of the opponent's last turn is printed (see below).
107 RESPONSE: X Y DIRECTION [MULTIPLIER=1]
108 X and Y are the coords (starting from 0) of the piece to move
109 DIRECTION is either UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT
110 MULTIPLIER is optional and only valid for units of type Scout. Scouts may move through any number of unblocked squares
113 CONFIRMATION: X Y DIRECTION [MULTIPLIER=1] OUTCOME
114 OUTCOME may be either OK, ILLEGAL, KILLS or DIES
115 OK - Move was successful
116 ILLEGAL - Move was not allowed. If stratego was not started with the -i switch, the game will end.
117 KILLS ATTACKER_RANK DEFENDER_RANK - The piece moved into an occupied square and killed the defender.
118 DIES ATTACKER_RANK DEFENDER_RANK - The piece moved into an occupied square and was killed by the defender.
121 QUERY: VICTORY | DEFEAT | ILLEGAL | DEFAULT
122 VICTORY - This player won the game
123 DEFEAT - The other player won the game
124 ILLEGAL - Game ended because this player made a bad response or timed out
125 (NOTE: Even if the -i option is provided, the game may end with an ILLEGAL signal if a bad response is made)
126 DEFAULT - Game ended because the other player made a bad response.
128 No response is necessary; the program should exit or it will be sent a SIGKILL signal.
131 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.
132 Human players are not subject to the timeout restriction.
137 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.
140 WINNING_NAME WINNING_COLOUR TURNS
143 When the result was a draw
147 When for some reason both the AI programs failed to respond or crashed.
149 stratego will then return exit code 0.
151 If an error occurs within stratego itself, an error message will be printed to stderr and return exit code 1.
152 If possible, stratego will print the message "QUIT" to both AI programs, and they should exit as soon as possible.
156 There are no known bugs at this time. However, stratego is still a work in progress. Report a bug to the AUTHOR (see below).
162 0. This program is still a work in progress and subject to changes.
164 1. UCC Programming Competition 2012 Description
165 http://matches.ucc.asn.au/stratego/
167 2. UCC Programming Competition 2012 Git repository
168 git://git.ucc.asn.au/progcomp2012.git
172 irc://irc.ucc.asn.au #progcomp