trusty (6) nettoe.6.gz

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

           http://nettoe.sourceforge.net/

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 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.