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Colorless Counting--A clever concept

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Wednesday, 26 December 2012, at 6:29 p.m.

In Response To: Colorless Counting--A clever concept (Phil Simborg)

Phil wrote:

I have heard some say that since Robertie and Magriel's great books, we've only added "refinements" or adjustments to their concepts, and few really new ideas have come forth. I know that is not true

I think it's a half-truth. For most strategy games, there are a few absolutely fundamental heuristics that produce a big jump in your understanding of the game. Beyond that, there is a plethora of more subtle heuristics that collectively make an important difference, but no single advanced heuristic packs the immense wallop of the basic heuristics, so it can feel that there are "no new ideas" beyond the basic ones.

Othello is a pretty dramatic example of this phenomenon. There are three big ideas in Othello strategy: (1) stable discs, (2) mobility, (3) parity. No other single concept compares to the Big Three. That's not to say that there aren't any other ideas in Othello. It's just that no other single idea is going to affect your understanding of the game as dramatically as these do.

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