XSTRATEGO(6) XSTRATEGO(6)
17 March 1991
NAME
xstratego - X windows based stratego interface for two players.
SYNOPSIS
xstratego login@hostname playername
xstratego -s
DESCRIPTION
The first command line version lets you play against another player,
where
login is your opponents login name.
hostname is the name of the host he (or she) is currently logged
on.
playername is the name under which you want to play. The second
version gives you the opportunity to create a board
setup and save it for later use.
GAME BASICS
Stratego is a famous board game that has been around for many years.
Here is an overview of the rules for those who are not familiar with
them.
The game is played on a board consisting of ten by ten squares. Each
player has forty tiles which are placed upon the lower half of the
board. Each of these tiles has a certain value and move capability.
The value of a tile is symbolized by an army rank. In the table below
is an overview of the tiles and their capabilities. The Amount column
shows the number of tiles you have of each type.
lw(.25i) lw(.25i) lw(.25i) lw(.25i) lw(.25i) lw(.25i). _
Rank Name Amount Can Take Can be taken by Movement
_
1 Marshal 1 All Spy Normal (one square)
2 General 1 Lower rank Higher rank Normal
3 Colonel 2 Lower rank Higher rank Normal
4 Major 3 Lower rank Higher rank Normal
5 Captain 4 Lower rank Higher rank Normal
6 Lieutenant 4 Lower rank Higher rank Normal
7 Sergeant 4 Lower rank Higher rank Normal
8 Miner 5 Lower rank and Bombs Higher
rank Normal
9 Scout 8 Lower rank Higher rank Several squares
10 Spy 1 Flag and Marshall Higher rank Normal
11 Bomb 6 All except Miners Miner None 12 Flag
1 None All None
_
Eight board positions are designated as water. Nobody can swim. The
object of the game is to take your opponents flag. The values of your
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XSTRATEGO(6) XSTRATEGO(6)
17 March 1991
opponents tiles are (of course) not visible to you.
The players now take turns. There are two type of moves, moving or
attacking a tile. A move consists of moving a tile horizontal or
vertical. Diagonal moves are not permitted. When you attack an enemy
tile, both the attacking and attacked tile will reveil their value.
Normally the highest rank will win (see table) and the other tile will
be taken off the board. If you attack the enemy and win, your tile
will take the enemies tile position on the board.
The game has ended if one of the following cases occur:
+ The flag of one of the players is taken. The winner is the one
who's flag is still standing.
+ One of the players can no longer make a valid move. This player
will have lost the game.
+ If the same board setup occurs three times, without a tile being
taken on either side the game is said to have ended in remise.
Xstratego will warn you whenever a board setup occurs for the
second time. It will ask for confirmation for the move that will
end the game in remise.
XSTRATEGO DESCRIPTION
xstratego will start up in setup mode. The tiles are represented by
bitmaps and displayed to the right in the tile window of the
application. They are positioned in two columns and in ranking order,
starting at the flag and moving from the marshal beneath it via the
general, colonel, major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, miner, scout
and spy to the bomb. To the right of each tile is a counter displaying
the number of tiles of that type you still have to place on the board.
You can place a tile on the board by clicking on its bitmap in the
tile window with the left mouse button. Your cursor will change into
the selected tile. Place the cursor on the board position you want to
put the tile and click the left mouse button again. You can remove
tiles from the board by clicking the left mouse button on the
corresponding board position with a neutral cursor (see Cursor below)
Click Ready if you have completed your setup. When your opponent has
finished as well, both players will automatically enter play mode.
The buttons on the right hand side of your screen have the following
meaning:
Cursor This will reset your cursor to the neutral cursor.
Clear Clears your setup.
Load You will be prompted for a filename which should
contain a board setup. Your current setup will be
replaced by the new one.
Store You will be prompted for a filename in which you can
save your (possibly incomplete) board setup.
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XSTRATEGO(6) XSTRATEGO(6)
17 March 1991
Ready If you have placed all your tiles on the board and want
to start play with this setup then click Ready. All you
have to do now is wait for your opponent to do the
same.
Quit If you decide to chicken out.
Message Will give you an opportunity to send a message to your
opponent.
If both players have completed their setup, the
computer will decide who will go first. The tile window
now indicates how many tiles of each type your opponent
has left. You can move a tile by clicking on it with
the left mouse button. This tile will be redrawn in
grey. Click again on the board position you want to
move the tile to. The tile will be placed on the new
position if the move was legal.
You can attack an enemy tile by clicking the tile you
want to attack with first and then the enemy tile you
want to attack. If the movement is legal, you will be
shown the value of the enemy tile and the losing
tile(s) will be taken off the board.
When your opponent has made a move, you will be shown
the results. The tile that moved will be shown in grey
at two places: at the position where it came from and
at the position where it moved to. Pressing any mouse
button at an arbitrary place in the application will
complete the move.
The new buttons on the right hand side have the
following meaning:
Remise This will send a remise offer to your opponent. It can
either be accepted or declined. You will be informed of
the results.
Give Up For losers only!
Message For the diplomatic communication.
XSTRATEGO RESOURCES
Xstratego is build from the following components:
*Stratego Toplevel form widget. Contains all other widgets.
*Stratego.Board
Form widget with defaultDistance resource set to 1.
*Stratego.Board.BoardPosition
Individual command widgets that make up the board.
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XSTRATEGO(6) XSTRATEGO(6)
17 March 1991
*Stratego.Board.Water
Command widgets that contain the water areas inside the
board
*Stratego.Tiles
The tile window form widget that contains the tile
positions.
*Stratego.Tiles.TilePosition
Box widget container for tile bitmap and counter.
*Stratego.Tiles.TilePosition.TileBitmap
Command widget that contains the tile bitmap
*Stratego.Tiles.TilePosition.TileCount
Label widget displaying the counter associated with the
tile.
*Stratego.Message
Label widget at the bottom of the board. Functions as
message display area.
*Stratego.ButtonSet
Form widget functioning as container for right hand
side buttons.
*Stratego.ButtonSet.Button
Command widgets inside ButtonSet.
*PopupShell.Dialog
Dialogbox widget inside popup shell.
BUGS
There should be an option to save and restore a game.
AUTHOR
Michiel Huisjes (huisjes@cs.vu.nl)
I would like to thank Peter Valkenburg (valke@psy.vu.nl) without whom
the random messages would be a lot less funny.
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