NAME¶
nettoe - Networked version of Tic Tac Toe for the console.
SYNOPSIS¶
nettoe [
OPTIONS]
DESCRIPTION¶
netToe is a console-based version of the classic game "Tic Tac
Toe". It is playable against computer AI, against a player on the same
machine, or against another player over the network.
OPTIONS¶
- -4, --ipv4
- only IPv4 networking
- -6, --ipv6
- only IPv6 networking
- -nc, --no-colors
- disable colors
- -nb, --no-beep
- disable beeps
- -h, --help
- display usage hints, then exit
- -v, --version
- output version information, then exit
HOW TO PLAY VIA NETWORK¶
First decide who will host the game: you or your opponent. The hosting player
must next do the following.
- *
- Start nettoe.
- *
- Pick the third option (Two players over network) of the Main
Menu.
- *
- Choose the first option (Host the Game) at the Network Game
Menu.
- *
- Type name, or nickname.
- *
- Communicate the IP address to the other player. Hostnames work, if
registered. We hope you know how to get your own IP address.
- *
- Wait for the other player to connect to your host.
Now the other player, the one connecting to the game server, must:
- o
- Start nettoe.
- o
- Pick the third option (Two players over network) of the Main
Menu.
- o
- Use the second option (Connect to a host) at the Network Game
Menu.
- o
- Type name, or nickname.
- o
- Type the IP address of the server host, or its hostname. Examples include
192.168.0.5 and ::1, or fenrir.foe.org and
localhost.
- o
- Wait for the game to start.
Enjoy yourselves. If you have any problem, just let us know.
NETWORK PORTS¶
netToe uses TCP port
7501 as listening port of the server engine,
unless configured otherwise during build time. Use "nettoe -v" to
display the configured port.
That port must therefore be usable as destination port over the network.
Otherwise remote games would not be possible. For a local game this is of
course mostly irrelevant, but filtering firewalls might intercept connections
in general.
USING THE AI MODES¶
netToe offers a mode of play where the computer acts as opponent with
some limited built-in abilities to simulate dynamic decisions. Three levels of
AI strength are made available:
- *
- The weaker level first checks a small set of blocking moves, then some
winning moves, and falls back to simple moves in a fixed priority order.
Since neither set is adaptive, the computer is easily fooled.
- *
- The normal level uses slightly larger sets of moves at each step, but is
most importantly playing more aggressively than the weaker level does. It
happens in the sense that initial checks are for winning moves, only later
falling back to blocking moves. This avoids some obvious counterfeit
strategy by a human player.
- *
- The better of the three levels is implemented differently. Its first
action is to scan a complete set of winning moves. That leading nowhere,
it scans through all possible blocking moves, and finally falls back to an
ordered list of simple moves. Since not even this level of play is using a
look-ahead search, a human player can set up traps, but finding those
already demands a fair amount of insight into the game!
There are plans for a further level using a look-ahead search of depth two. This
would improve the usefulness of
netToe as an educational tool. A
further level, which is learning from past plays within each session, could
also be an interesting enhancement.
AVAILABILITY¶
The latest version of this program can be found at
BUGS¶
Report bugs to <meand@users.sourceforge.net>. For a list of known bugs,
see the BUGS file in the netToe source package.
AUTHOR¶
netToe is written by Gabriele Giorgetti
<ggdev@users.sourceforge.net> and by Mats Erik Andersson
<meand@users.sourceforge.net>.
This manual page was initially written by Andras Bali <bali@debian.org>,
for the Debian GNU/Linux system, and was later rewritten by Gabriele Giorgetti
to be distributed in the
netToe source package.
COPYRIGHT¶
Copyright © 2000,2001 Gabriele Giorgetti,
© 2001 Andras Bali,
© 2012,2013,2014 Mats Erik Andersson.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.