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How to play against humans online

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:46 pm
by feadan
As I learned from Aage Nielson Java is no longer running on Firefox. How can I play using the applet with a computer or can I use it only with a smartphone.
Are there any alternative browsers for java and the applet.

Thanks in advance
Jörg

Re: How to play against humans online

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 3:02 pm
by Hagbard
feadan wrote:Are there any alternative browsers for java and the applet.
The Java tafl applet on this site was written in 2002.
At that time the general wisdom in Denmark was that Hnefatafl was "Skalk Hnefatafl" 11x11 and 9x9. So these are what the applet does, and later extended with "Old Hnefatafl 11x11".

Now, through the work of the tafl community here since 2010, we found the balances of these games to be
Skalk Hnefatafl 11x11: < -3.00 (very bad)
Skalk Hnefatafl 9x9: -1.72 (not good)
Old Hnefatafl 11x11: +1.33 (ok, but too easy to catch the king at a corner)

With the latest version of Firefox, no updated browser exists anymore, which can run a Java applet.
Instead a webmaster can use an alternative technique to run the applet, but it seems somewhat complicated and has not succeeded yet.

A number of players still have the old Firefox and still use the Java applet.

Since we in the tafl community through the recent years have learnt much more about tafl, have gained a lot of experience with the game, and as a result have left those variants (Skalk 11x11, 9x9 and Old Hnefatafl 11x11), it is maybe not worth it to do an effort to get the applet running again with the new technique.


Two sites have emerged recently, where it's possible to play tafl against the computer, and to that they use the tafl variants, which we use now:
Play Tafl Online:
http://www.playtaflonline.com/
Fellhuhn:
http://fellhuhn.com/

Re: How to play against humans online

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 6:42 pm
by feadan
Thanks for the immediate reply!
I playend my first game of H.H. Tawlbrwdd against the monty bot last night and enjoied it very much.