When I was a kid I enjoyed playing the 1984 computer war game Sun Tzu's Ancient Art of War. Last spring I visited Tiger Hill in Suzhou where there is a small temple to the great strategist's memory.
The game is good fun, not least thanks to the scenario editor that was years before its time and allowed an unusual level of creativity. However, my friend David and I eventually discovered an "exploit" that pretty much ruined the game for us. Here's what we did.
The game keeps track of each troop unit's fatigue level. Fresh troops fight way better than tired ones. What we found out was a way to always have fresh troops. You see, fatigue is registered on the unit level, not on the level of individual soldiers.
When on your way to battle with fresh troops, detach one guy (Ernie) to stay behind and take a nap or something. After the battle, your main force will be fatigued, and Ernie will be fresh. If you add Ernie back to the main unit, he will become as fatigued as they are. But if, instead, you add the main unit to Ernie... everybody's suddenly rested again.
I wonder if even old Sunzi knew of this trick.
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