Restart location?

I'm curious how the respawn location for your tank is chosen in 1.13--IIRC it was random in 1.08 or so, and there was discussion about how MacBolo did it (it looked for your friendly bases/pills and spawned you near there, right?). Has 1.13 moved to that algorithm?

I ask b/c on a few occasions I get spawned over and over on the enemy side, which I suspect is because there were no enemy pills there, and our side was spiked. Is my reasoning correct?

Also, a couple of times my man has gotten 'stuck' (I sent him out, he paused ot have a picnic for the rest of the game, and he couldn't be killed). Is there some clever way to get him back that I haven't tried (short of quitting and rejoining)?

I'm curious how the respawn location for your tank is chosen in 1.13--IIRC it was random in 1.08 or so, and there was discussion about how MacBolo did it (it looked for your friendly bases/pills and spawned you near there, right?). Has 1.13 moved to that algorithm?

From the version history file:

Version 1.09 (29/4/01)
* By popular demand Bolo like starts allocation are now implemented. WinBolo
trys to avoid starting you near tanks and enemy pillboxes. From the Bolo
Version History document: "Improved start position allocation for maps with
very few start squares defined, to cope better with certain "creative" map
designs. For example, if you have a map with only two start squares, and
you have a game of two teams where each team has a pillbox close to one of
the start squares, then each team will effectively have their own 'private'
start square, because with only two start squares to choose from when
bringing a new tank into the game, Bolo will choose the one near the
friendly pillbox, not the one near the hostile pillbox."

Also, a couple of times my man has gotten 'stuck' (I sent him out, he paused ot have a picnic for the rest of the game, and he couldn't be killed). Is there some clever way to get him back that I haven't tried (short of quitting and rejoining)?

This will be looked into. Have you filed a report?

Also, a couple of times my man has gotten 'stuck' (I sent im out, he paused ot have a picnic for the rest of the game, and he couldn't be killed). Is there some clever way to get him back that I haven't tried (short of quitting and rejoining)?

This will be looked into. Have you filed a report?

No, I haven't--I didn't really notice any commonality between the cases, and I didn't want to file an unhelpful report...if/when it happens again, what kind of information/documentation should I take note of?

Elvis wrote:

For example, if you have a map with only two start squares, and you have a game of two teams where each team has a pillbox close to one of the start squares, then each team will effectively have their own 'private' start square, because with only two start squares to choose from when bringing a new tank into the game, Bolo will choose the one near the friendly pillbox, not the one near the hostile pillbox."

Interesting. Is this really how Mac Bolo works? One of the interesting things about Mac Bolo is that the algorithm avoids all pillboxes, including friendly ones. It's a bad idea to spike your own starts, as you will respawn in enemy territory (unless they've also spiked their own starts...)

No, I haven't--I didn't really notice any commonality between the cases, and I didn't want to file an unhelpful report...if/when it happens again, what kind of information/documentation should I take note of?

See the Bug Reporting text file located in the Winbolo directory.

Interesting. Is this really how Mac Bolo works? One of the interesting things about Mac Bolo is that the algorithm avoids all pillboxes, including friendly ones. It's a bad idea to spike your own starts, as you will respawn in enemy territory (unless they've also spiked their own starts...)

Actually what is said in the version history files is an exact quote from the Bolo version history file. You can find it in the document: "6. Bolo.VersionHistory" located in the Bolo directory. Its under the Misc section under "0.96. 4th February 1993"

However what is documented versus what actually is present in the game could be entirely different. It would seem a little strange not to allow you to start near your own or your teams pillboxes.

Actually what is said in the version history files is an exact quote from the Bolo version history file. You can find it in the document: "6. Bolo.VersionHistory" located in the Bolo directory. Its under the Misc section under "0.96. 4th February 1993"

However what is documented versus what actually is present in the game could be entirely different. It would seem a little strange not to allow you to start near your own or your teams pillboxes.
More on start locations...

After playing some more with the present ruleset, I definitely think there's some room for tweaking. Specifically, I'm not sure that the location of tanks (enemy or otherwise) should enter the equation at all--a number of times the game has been at a point of relative equilibrium (i.e., no spikes) and I've still ended up starting on the enemy side of the map. The only reason I can come up with is some enemy tank on a base rape run or something. If that's the case, I'd want to start near them anyway!

Whether the present behavior matches MacBolo I have no idea (it's been quite a while for MacBolo), but from memory it sure -seems- like the start location decision was different...better is another matter, of course.

My 2 cents...