The Internet: Finding songs you heard when you were 9 that speak to you. I salute you HyperTextTransferProtocol!
Currently Listening To: Runaway Train from the album "Grave Dancers Union" by Soul Asylum
I saw Time Commanders last night on BBC2. Its a show where, through the use of a massive computer cluster and some brilliant AI coding massive battles can be fought. The Television Show picks random people up off the street and demonstrates that they have no strategic ability whatsoever. You get to watch them commanding the legions of rome or Hannibals lybian phalanxes like utter n00bs whilst the computer violates their battle plans. Admittedly this isn't always the case and I have witnessed a few defeats for the AI. However they have always been in spite of the players' command and not because of it.
Whether it was their ridiculously poor deployment of Caesar's forces against the Helveti where several units were needlessly sacrificed and the day was won purely as a result of their heavy infantry hopelessly outclassing the roving bands of gauls, or watching the computer AI fail miserably at working out what the hell it was supposed to do with a river crossing I just couldn't believe the level of sheer jamminess displayed by the Joe Bloggs general.
Last night I just decided I couldn't take any more of the frustration of being an armchair general and just tuned in afterwards to see their last units fleeing the battlefield so I could learn from the Head of War Studies at Sandhurst explain how the battle was actually won when the generals in question actually had skill. I swear they either set the AI to 'n00b' state or it's just a very poor system. I have a feeling its the former as otherwise it would be a total waste of time.
I booked an appointment with a counsellor for monday. It took quite a bit to pick up the phone but eventually after last night I just decided it wasn't worth putting off any longer.
Thankfully my Property Lecturer (Frank Webb) has a ridiculously comprehensive set of lecture notes and text materials in his handout so I could read the lecture this morning as opposed to going into uni in the state I was in. Frank Webb, despite being a perfect 50/50 mixture of Matthew's Dad and Ricky Tomlinson you are a god.
Oh boy! Home for a weekend of pain! Still I really want to be there for my siblings and things arent any better when I'm on my own in London so I'll be off to catch a train :)
Later
John
Posted by John Swaine at October 17, 2003 01:37 PM