The strategy game based on and around the London Underground. Royal Oak... Marble Arch... Pimlico... Euston Square... Hainault... It may sound like a shredded station timetable to you, but to experienced players of Mornington Crescent, they'd recognise the sucidial antics of reversing a shunt via Hainault.
Yes, the highly charged game of Mornington Crescent slowly made its way onto the Psion Series 3 in 1997. The game of MC (as it's abbreviated to by those who play) has been around since Roman Times, but it was the invention and construction of the London Underground which focused the mind of the Victorian MC'ers to create a new ruleset based on these fixed points of travel.
Modern MC has it's annual championship, made stars out of some of it's masters (witness the meteroic fame of Mrs Trellis, of North Wales - the best MC player alive), been broadcast to the nation via the Radio 4 show "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue", but as yet, hs never been mastered by a computer.
December1997 saw a fledgling programmer (me!) begin the alpha testing of a Series 3x version of MC. It showed all the hallmarks of becoming the victor in a race to be the first effective AI engine of MC. Unfortunatly, it took way to long to make each move.
The Series 5 saw new light. The new processor, and various hints both MC players and OPL programmers gave me meant the engine was ported within months of me recieving the S5. You may even have seen the press release on 5 Alive! The signs were good.
But disaster. An experienced MC player spotted a flaw in the AI logic, which has sent me back to the drawing board to work on the AI engine. If there's any news, it'll be posted here - until then, stay alert, keep practicing, and watch those shunts!
Any help with the AI of MC would be received with open arms. You can contact me via email, and I'd be grateful for any help you could offer.
Posted by Ewan at October 12, 2003 06:52 PM