[WarInEur] RE: 0.9.56 bug - Vichy units did not place

[Paul S. Person]

On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:18:41 +0100, you wrote:

> Bruce Denney wrote:
>>>
>>> Even at that the computer seemed to roll three 1's on a roll before 
>>> Vichy was declared. Has there been a statistical study done on the 
>>> random number generator? I have no actual statistics but it seems 
>>> that there are a lot of either 1;s of 6's -- no proof -- just a gut 
>>> feeling.
>>>
>
>Well as far as our own gut feelings go, it does seem to be pretty 
>random. One of the first things tested was whether you could rerun a 
>turn and get the same result.
>
>We found that we could not...

All that means is that the last result of the generator is not saved
in the game file, but rather that a new seed is obtained each time the
game is loaded (effectively). 

However, it says nothing whatsoever about the quality of the generator
itself. Was that every studied? Or was one used that is /known/ to be
good? 

In this context, "good" would involve such criteria as:

1) no long runs of the same value (it does not matter which value it
is);
2) if 60,000 values are examined, each of the six values occurs very
nearly (but not exactly) 10,000 times

and that is just an amateur's viewpoint. A mathematician or programmer
who specialized in this sort of thing would probably have a few more
tests to suggest.

>Which made the cheating situation very much more implausable, somebody 
>attempting that would have one hell of a workload if he was stringing 
>together more than a single attack, so i tend to think (if they are daft 
>enough to do that 208turns x 9 or 10 attempts needing to rerun each 
>turn, puts them in aworkload that may result in their death of old age 
>(or  a worn out machine) if they have to do that.
>:-)

Now that is correct. Not saving the last result but obtaining a new
seed when the game is loaded (effectively) will impede the cheating
which saving the last result and so always starting with the same seed
permitted.
-- 
"He who should know the history of words 
would know all history"