RISK online

[Michael]

We are presently hosting an online game of Diplomacy (using php) on our server here. If anyone is interested, we could also easily host online RISK.

We could also have a new subforum set up for discussions about these games. Anyone interested?

[Dominick]

Sure .

[drgoodtrips]

I'd probably be up for playing Risk or Castle Risk. Although, I don't have a ton of time these days, so it would probably have to be something like you take a turn once per day or something for me to play.

[dilettante]

I like the idea of having strategy games connected to the forum, and of a subforum for discussing them.

However, I also have trouble putting together large chunks of time. The problem with RISK is that everyone (or, at least anyone who is attacking or being attacked in a given turn) has to be present for the game to work. If there were a way around that, I'd be up for it.

BTW, what's "Castle Risk"?

[Michael]

Yes, RISK seems like it needs to played in 'real-time' even online.

Diplomacy seems very well suited to playing 'on-line' at everyone's leisure.

And yes, I second the querry... what is Castle Risk?

[drgoodtrips]

Castle Risk is like regular Risk, except that the whole game takes place in Europe, and there are more cards and whatnot. You also have to defend a special piece - the castle. It's probably been close to 15 years since I played, but I remember it being fun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Risk

[dilettante]

Castle Risk is like regular Risk, except that the whole game takes place in Europe, and there are more cards and whatnot. You also have to defend a special piece - the castle. It's probably been close to 15 years since I played, but I remember it being fun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Risk

That does sound like a neat game.

[Donkey]

I believe there is an online version of risk! called ATTACK! or something like that. It may only be on facebook. I never signed up for it, but I think my brothers did.

[drgoodtrips]

It probably wouldn't be terribly hard to write a minimal interface for such a thing standalone, and not as a facebook plugin.

In fact, it's been a while since I've played, but would there be any reason that the defender would need to be "online" to defend? Couldn't the app just roll the dice for whoever is attacked?

[dilettante]

It probably wouldn't be terribly hard to write a minimal interface for such a thing standalone, and not as a facebook plugin.

In fact, it's been a while since I've played, but would there be any reason that the defender would need to be "online" to defend? Couldn't the app just roll the dice for whoever is attacked?

I guess you could just have the app always roll as many dice for the defender as possible (I'm not sure what the advantages are of rolling one dice instead of two). Can the defender play cards?

[Donkey]

It probably wouldn't be terribly hard to write a minimal interface for such a thing standalone, and not as a facebook plugin.

In fact, it's been a while since I've played, but would there be any reason that the defender would need to be "online" to defend? Couldn't the app just roll the dice for whoever is attacked?
I suppose that is true.
I guess you could just have the app always roll as many dice for the defender as possible (I'm not sure what the advantages are of rolling one dice instead of two). Can the defender play cards?
The defender always wants to roll as many dice as possible. Cards can only be played at the beginning of a turn, I believe, unless you eliminate a player over the course of your turn and have more than five cards.

[Dominick]

One way to find out:
http://www.discussionworldforum.com/risk/index.php

Be advised that it's a beta and it shows.

[Michael]

Cards can only be played at the beginning of a turn, I believe, unless you eliminate a player over the course of your turn and have more than five cards.
Just to be pedantic, apart from the beginning of the turn, one can 'play' a set of cards if one gains any additional cards from any another player during that turn (by eliminating them from the board). If one has five or more cards due to eliminating another player, that person MUST turn in a set immediately at that time (to prevent getting a sixth card at the end of the turn, which is totally against the rules).

[The Drunk Guy]

Let's go, bitches. And remember, never get into a land war in China. ;)

[The Drunk Guy]

Just to be pedantic, apart from the beginning of the turn, one can 'play' a set of cards if one gains any additional cards from any another player during that turn (by eliminating them from the board). If one has five or more cards due to eliminating another player, that person MUST turn in a set immediately at that time (to prevent getting a sixth card at the end of the turn, which is totally against the rules).
Not to mention punishable by drunken heckling.

[Michael]

One way to find out:
http://www.discussionworldforum.com/risk/index.php

Be advised that it's a beta and it shows.
I've registered and joined the game for a test to see how it works.

[The Drunk Guy]

I've registered and joined the game for a test to see how it works.
Yah, I'm in. I'm intrigued to see how this looks and functions.

By the way, I'm signed in as maeson.

[Michael]

By the way, I'm signed in as maeson.
I was curious who that was! :lol:

[The Drunk Guy]

I was curious who that was! :lol:
That's my online-game moniker and the main character of my novel should I ever get it onto paper (or wordprocessor, anyway).

By the way, the game is pretty boring so far. Where's Dominick?

[Dominick]

We all have to be online simultaneously to play ? :shrug:
That'll never work.

[drgoodtrips]

Is the game open source? If it's done in PHP, I could rig it pretty quickly to automate all defensive action, or else, pause the game in the occasional event of necessity for defensive action with a notification to the defender.

Though I would need to take a shower after coding in PHP ;)

[andrewl]

Absolutely.

[Dominick]

Is the game open source? If it's done in PHP, I could rig it pretty quickly to automate all defensive action, or else, pause the game in the occasional event of necessity for defensive action with a notification to the defender.
Yes, it's open source, and yes, it's PHP. It's this one :
http://sourceforge.net/projects/phprisk/

The code is rather trivial but as I don't have a clue how the game's supposed to work, I'm not gonna touch it. For that same reason, would you care being 'superadmin' (their term :D) for the game ? I have no idea what options to set in the start phase.


Though I would need to take a shower after coding in PHP ;)
:) Why's that ?

[drgoodtrips]

Yes, it's open source, and yes, it's PHP. It's this one :
http://sourceforge.net/projects/phprisk/

The code is rather trivial but as I don't have a clue how the game's supposed to work, I'm not gonna touch it. For that same reason, would you care being 'superadmin' (their term :D) for the game ? I have no idea what options to set in the start phase.

I'll take a look at the source over the next couple of days, and see what would be required. I'm assuming that it will be more than just a pure configuration issue - probably some source will need editing. If it's easier, I could administrate, otherwise, when I get a chance, I can make the mods and just send you the source code. PHP is interpreted anyway, so there won't be any compiler compatibility issues.

:) Why's that ?

PHP is weakly typed, interpreted and ultra-forgiving, but with constructs like pointers, memory management, etc, which creates an environment where very powerful, ugly, and sloppy code is allowed and even encouraged. It's kind of object oriented, kind of procedural, kind of functional, etc. I'd imagine that this evolved because it's a good way for hacks to get started with some real or even "enterprise" development. As it is, the majority of PHP code written by others that I see is ugly, ugly code. You can write well designed code in PHP, but unlike Java or C/C++, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from deploying an absolute abortion. In that sense, I find it somewhat similar to Visual Basic.

[The Drunk Guy]

I'll take a look at the source over the next couple of days, and see what would be required. I'm assuming that it will be more than just a pure configuration issue - probably some source will need editing. If it's easier, I could administrate, otherwise, when I get a chance, I can make the mods and just send you the source code. PHP is interpreted anyway, so there won't be any compiler compatibility issues.



PHP is weakly typed, interpreted and ultra-forgiving, but with constructs like pointers, memory management, etc, which creates an environment where very powerful, ugly, and sloppy code is allowed and even encouraged. It's kind of object oriented, kind of procedural, kind of functional, etc. I'd imagine that this evolved because it's a good way for hacks to get started with some real or even "enterprise" development. As it is, the majority of PHP code written by others that I see is ugly, ugly code. You can write well designed code in PHP, but unlike Java or C/C++, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from deploying an absolute abortion. In that sense, I find it somewhat similar to Visual Basic.
Technophilia is an affront to God and all His sheep! :D

[drgoodtrips]

Technophilia is an affront to God and all His sheep! :D

God and I have an arrangement... we're cool.

;)

[The Drunk Guy]

So what's the intel? Think we can take daily turns?

[Michael]

Is it done yet?

Is it done yet?

Is it done yet?

:rofl:

[Dominick]

Is it done yet?

Is it done yet?

Is it done yet?

:rofl:
Nothing's been done :shrug:
The problem remains of how to start a game. Whenever I login there's only two players online, always maeson and myself. All other players would be stupid AI bots. As long as there are no other logins, nothing can be done.

Once there are sufficient participators, there remains to be made a choice for the following options :

Manual or automated deployment
Additional armies (0-100)

Any suggestions on that ?

[The Drunk Guy]

Nothing's been done :shrug:
The problem remains of how to start a game. Whenever I login there's only two players online, always maeson and myself. All other players would be stupid AI bots. As long as there are no other logins, nothing can be done.

Once there are sufficient participators, there remains to be made a choice for the following options :

Manual or automated deployment
Additional armies (0-100)

Any suggestions on that ?
That sounds fucked up. FIX IT!

:rofl:

[Michael]

Nothing's been done :shrug:
The problem remains of how to start a game. Whenever I login there's only two players online, always maeson and myself. All other players would be stupid AI bots. As long as there are no other logins, nothing can be done.

Once there are sufficient participators, there remains to be made a choice for the following options :

Manual or automated deployment
Additional armies (0-100)

Any suggestions on that ?
Just say what you need!

1. Take the automated deployment (random if offered). Manual would require that each player (in turn) choose each country in turn to begin the game. That would be very slow and tedious for online play. For online gaming, this option is useless - we aways will want automated/random.

2. For now, just take zero for 'additional armies'. I presume this is 'above' the default amounts.

[The Drunk Guy]

So, we give up on RISK?