Subject: MN: Year 2, Week 25: Proposals

From: Kevan Davis <kdavis@i...>
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 14:41:34 +0100 (BST)

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MORNINGTON NOMIC

Proposals for Voting on in Year Two, Week Twenty-Five
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Proposal 519 - Recharge [Multiple]

{ Comment: Clearer explanations and less ambiguous wording, as discussed 
on the list. } 

[Amendment: Current Bun] 
Amend Rule 1.19.1 (Current) to read as follows: 

"Every Station on the LU map has a Current value associated with it, this 
value being directly related to its distance from the Meridian on the map. 
These distances are termed 'radial distances' since they can be treated 
as forming the radii of circles centred on the Meridian. 

"The Current of a Station is the radial distance of that Station divided 
by the largest radial distance (that is the radial distance of Station 
farthest from the Meridian on the Map) expressed as an integer percentage. 
It is calculated using the formula - 

" Current = int(station_radius / max_radius * 100) 

"... where 'int' is a function which removes the real part of a number, 
'station_radius' is the radial distance of the Station under consideration 
and 'max_radius' is the radial distance of the remotest Station. 

"The benefit of defining Current as a ratio is that it removes the units 
used for measurement of radial distances from consideration. 

"As an example, let us calculate the Current of Mornington Crescent itself. 
The units used are pixels as measured on the Map. Following these 
measurements, it was found that Amersham was the farthest Station from the 
Meridian. The relevant radial distances are as follows: 

" Mornington Crescent - 141.57 pixels 
" Amersham - 774.68 pixels 

"... so the calculation works out thus: 

Current = int(station_radius / max_radius * 100) 
= int(141.57 / 774.68 * 100) 
= int(0.1827 * 100) 
= int(18.27) 
= 18" 

{ Comment: Just a bit more detail on how the calculations can be carried 
out although, as I say, you're better off doing them automatically. } 

[Amendment: Positive Charge] 
Amend Rule 1.19.2 (Charge) so that the the second paragraph reads as 
follows: 

"Charge is modified by normal Piece movement: the Piece's Charge has added 
to it the difference between the Currents at the start and end Stations 
using the following formula:" 

{ Comment: I never meant for Charge to be affected by Wilds... careless. } 

[Amendment: Cannon to the Left of Them] 
Amend Rule 1.19.3 (Charge of the Heavy Brigade) to read as follows: 

"A Player may play the Action [Opening MC] for no cost if the Charge of eir 
Piece matches or would match the Current of Mornington Crescent Station 
(both in sign and value) at the point at which eir Piece enters the 
Station. 

"For example, if the Current of MC is 18 and a Player's Piece starts at 
Camden Town (Current = 22) then the Piece must have a Charge of 22 to 
play the [Opening MC] Action without cost since a Move from Camden Town 
to MC would remove 4 from the Piece's Charge. 

"Similarly, if a Player intends to play a Straddle onto MC then e must 
arrange that eir Piece's Charge must be equal to that of MC at the point 
at which the Straddle is played." 

{ Comment: 
I'm sticking to my original definition (albeit with a 'would' clause 
added), but adding some more commentary to clarify what's going on. 
} 

[End of Recharge] 

{ Comment: 
I'm holding off on additional tweaks for now until Charge has been in 
play for a little while longer. 
} 

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Proposal 520 - Pegaholic [Multiple]

{ Comment: Just a couple of tweaks to clarify Pegging and make the Actions 
Post-Move as they should have been in the first place. } 

[Amendment: Just Missed the Post] 
Move the Action entries for Pegging and Unpegging from Rule 1.7.16 
(Neutral Actions) to 1.7.15 (Post-Move Actions). 

[Amendment: (Daddy's Got a Brand New) Peg Bag] 
Amend Rule 1.11.4 (Peg Leg) such the first bullet point reads thus: 

" * no Piece may finish any Turn at a Pegged Station. Hence a Pegged 
Station may not be used as the destination of a Move (unless the 
Piece leaves that Station before the end of the Turn), Straddle, 
Shunt, Wild, or any other Action which modifies the position of 
any Piece where that is final destination of the Piece " 

Replace the last two paragraphs with the following text: 
"A Player may Peg a Station by playing the Post-Move Action [Pegging 
<Station>] on any Station which eir Piece starts at, passes through, or 
is adjacent to at the end of eir Move provided that the Station is 
unoccupied. 

"A Station is Unpegged by the Post-Move Action [Unpegging <Station>] which 
may be played on any Pegged Station which the Actioning Player's Piece 
passes through or is adjacent to at the end of eir Move." 

{ Comment: 
That last just replaces 'Neutral' with 'Post-Move'. 
}

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Proposal 521 - You Missed A Bit [Multiple]

{ Comment: Just a couple of niceties I missed out when putting forward 
Charge and Green Tokens. } 

[Amendment: Green Around the Gills] 
Amend Rule 1.1.8 (Joining In) such that the bullet point referring to 
initial Token totals reads as follows: 

" * E has two Black Tokens, no Blue Tokens, two Red Tokens, no Green 
Tokens, two Bronze Tokens, no Silver Tokens and no Gold Tokens." 

[Amendment: Guilty as Charged] 
Amend Rule 1.2.0 (The Game State Document) such that its second paragraph 
reads thus: 

"A table shall be included at the top of the GSD to list order of play; 
Status of Players (names of Inactive Players shall be marked with an 
asterisk); Players' respective Home Stations, LV, Charge and Token counts. 
It shall be modelled on the following example:" 

Further, make the GSD template read thus: 

+---------------+-------------------+----+----+----------------------+ 
| Player | Home | LV | Ch | Tokens | 
| | | | | Bk Bu Br Go Gr Re Si | 
+---------------+-------------------+----+----+----------------------+ 
|*Drone | | 0 | 0 | 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 
| Rushton | Balham | 3 | 17 | 2 0 7 0 4 0 0 | 
| Cryer | Bethnal Green | 1 | 14 | 2 8 6 3 1 4 1 | 
| Brooke-Taylor | Mudchute | 0 | 0 | 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 | 
+---------------+-------------------+----+----+----------------------+ 

{ Comment: 
Also regularises the template so it looks like the one we actually use 
(tokens in the right order, fewer column borders) 
} 

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Proposal 522 - Bip. Bip. Bip. Beeeeep. [Amendment]

In Rule 0.6.2 (The Week-End), replace "GMT" with "GMT, or BST if British
Summer Time is in effect".

{ Comments : We're nearly out of the clutches of BST anyway, but the
counter-intuitive claimed use of BST is rather irksome. }

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Proposal 523 - I'll Speak More Slowly [Multiple]

1. Which Part Of "Outside" Didn't You Understand? [Amendment]

In Rule 1.4.25 (Release the Pigeons!), replace "Park Station" with "Park
Station in Zone 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7".

2. Well, You Didn't Complain Last Time [Amendment]

In Rule 2.8.3 (An Englishman's Home), replace "Players may not choose a Home
Station outside of Zone 4" with "Players may not choose a Home Station in
Zone 5, 6 or 7".

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Proposal 524 - Clear Your Desks [Multiple]

1. Drink Up, Sir [Other, Resignation]

Jonathan shall be forced to Resign.

2. Haven't You Got Homes To Go To? [Other, Resignation]

Yer_Mom shall also be forced to Resign, damn him.

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Proposal 525 - Da da, dee da dah, de dah dah dah, de dah... [Multiple]

1. Upon this proposal passing, all players will take posession of a
confetti-filled baloon, listed in the luggage rack.

2. Add Action of [Popping Baloon].
If in posession of a confetti-filled baloon, a player may
perform the action of [Popping Baloon], cost 0, duration 0 mins.
The player in question may then add decorative ASCII confetti
to the relevent GSD above the token table. The baloon is removed
from the Player's luggage rack.

3. Confetti lasts one round of Turns, and each Player is responsible for
collecting their confetti.

4. When all confetti-filled baloons have been popped, all relevent rules
will automatically repeal.

{ Comment:

Mr. (PhD. thesis to be examined) Richard Michael Brockie (alias
miKi) married Dr. Fiona Lucy Plows on Friday!!!

Help us celebrate!
}

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---

From: "Dunx (Duncan Ellis)" <DELLIS@U...>
Date: 13 Oct 98 15:23:44 +0100

>Proposal 521 - You Missed A Bit [Multiple] 
I'll claim these up front (like you couldn't have worked it out anyway...). 
Apologies for clogging up the Week's Proposals with my attempts at clearing 
up past failures. 

BTW, when I say I'm holding off on additional tweaks to Charge until it's 
been in play a little longer, I mean either a few more Weeks or after 
someone wins with a Charge match (which could be quite soon, you never 
know). 

>Proposal 522 - Bip. Bip. Bip. Beeeeep. [Amendment] 
Fair enough. We might want a list announcement to that effect as these 
things change over, I suppose, but it hardly seems worth it. 

>1. Which Part Of "Outside" Didn't You Understand? [Amendment] 
The part where 'outside' means 'not in'. The use of the words 'greater 
than' would have helped. 

>2. Well, You Didn't Complain Last Time [Amendment] 
Oh dear, intermittent tweezers. 

>Proposal 524 - Clear Your Desks [Multiple] 
So presumably that means that Game 7 completely dies? 

It's probably for the best - by the time Jonathan comes back, the Ruleset 
will be so different to the one that Game was begun under that the 
boundaries of reality will be strained more than is usually safe. 

>Proposal 525 - Da da, dee da dah, de dah dah dah, de dah... [Multiple] 
Congratulations sir, and to your good lady wife also! 

I might hold off from pinging a timeout in Game 9 for the moment, then. 

-- 
Dunx 
IRL: Duncan Ellis, Senior Software Engineer, Business Modelers, Oracle 
<I work for Oracle, I don't speak for them>

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From: kenningd@w...
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 15:39:31 +0100

>things change over, I suppose, but it hardly seems worth it. 

It hardly seems fair on PaulWay.

>The part where 'outside' means 'not in'. The use of the words 'greater 

How is Zone 5 'greater than' Zone 4? The number 5 may be greater than the
number 4, but in this case the 'numbers' are arbitrary signifiers with very
little semantic content other than the fact of their difference (it may as
well be Zone Wibble and Zone Artichoke), and not being used to refer to
different quantitative values (each number refers to only a single zone). Since
they are being used here to differentiate geographical areas arranged
concentrically, I think it is perfectly clear what 'outside' means in the
context, and picking on the definition like this is not only extremely
pedantic, but just plain WRONG.

But that's just my opinion.

>So presumably that means that Game 7 completely dies? 

...or Kevan just keeps taking eir turn till e wins.

>Congratulations sir, and to your good lady wife also! 

Yes, well done. Many years of happiness etc.

dave

---

From: "Dunx (Duncan Ellis)" <DELLIS@U...>
Date: 13 Oct 98 16:11:30 +0100

>It hardly seems fair on PaulWay. 

Actually, I would have thought PaulWay would be one of those least 
affected since whatever temporal standard we adopt it's going to happen 
in the middle of the night as far as he's concerned. 

(Paul - apologies for speaking for you, but I don't recall you've ever 
posted after about 9 or 10 pm your time) 

>How is Zone 5 'greater than' Zone 4? 
I didn't mean to imply that. I meant that the original Proposal could have 
been worded to say that the Zone number must be greater than 2, or 
something. I also mean to come across as quite so terse. 

> The number 5 may be greater than the 
>different quantitative values (each number refers to only a single zone). 
I absolutely agree. 

>Since 

I disagree, primarily because it is possible to buy a Zone Card for an 
individual Zone. If you move outside of that Zone (ie if you are no longer 
within it) then you no longer gain the Zone Card bonus. Basically, when we 
refer to Zone 2 we mean *only* Zone 2, not the union of Zones 1 and 2. 

What it comes down to is that 'outside' is a flexible term when applied to 
any shape more topologically complex than a circle. 

>But that's just my opinion. 
And I've just stated mine. 

Since there are quite clearly differing opinions, the safest course is to 
use wording which avoids the contentious terms, which is what the amendment 
does very effectively.

---

From: kenningd@w...
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 16:33:18 +0100

>refer to Zone 2 we mean *only* Zone 2, not the union of Zones 1 and 2. 

This is true, but that's a different context and a slightly different meaning
of 'outside'. Just because the same word is used different ways in different
parts of the rules doesn't necessarily mean there's a conflict or ambiguity --
such is the nature of the english language: one word can have more than one
meaning. My point is simply that the context in each case makes the meaning
clear and unambiguous.

>use wording which avoids the contentious terms, which is what the amendment 

Well, there's certainly no arguing with the truth of that, and if I remember to
vote this week, I'll probably vote for this proposal, regardless of what I may
have to say on the matter.

dave

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From: "Dunx (Duncan Ellis)" <DELLIS@U...>
Date: 13 Oct 98 16:26:23 +0100

>I also mean to come across as quite so terse. 

Insert a "didn't" between "also" and "mean" - as if would be deliberately 
rude... except in the Ruttsborough game, of course, but that's just in the 
spirit.

---

From: "Wayper, Paul" <WayperP@p...>
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 17:39:09 +1000

On Wednesday, October 14, 1998 12:40 AM, kenningd@w...
> It hardly seems fair on PaulWay.

Oooh, like an hour's going to make all that difference to three days... :-)

Paul Wayper -- DPI ITS Computer Systems Officer
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