Over the years many app reviews in the App Store have complained about the computer player being too strong, that playing against such a strong opponent is not a motivating experience, etc.
The idea always was to provide an initial challenge, and if that proves to be too much then users can easily switch to a weaker computer player version. The user would simply switch from the default computer player "Fuego", which uses a GTP engine profile with playing strength 5, to a weaker version "Fuego (weak)", which uses a GTP engine profile with playing strength 1.
If the App Store voices are to be taken seriously, then making this switch is more difficult than anticipated. For this reason the app should change the rationale: Let the default computer player be "Fuego (weak)" to give more players a positive first experience, and let those who want a challenge find out how to increase the difficulty by switching to the stronger "Fuego" player.
A side effect of this change is that the default player no longer uses "Pondering", which is beneficial for battery life. This addresses some App Store reviews where users pointed out that the app consumes a lot of battery.
Over the years many app reviews in the App Store have complained about the computer player being too strong, that playing against such a strong opponent is not a motivating experience, etc.
The idea always was to provide an initial challenge, and if that proves to be too much then users can easily switch to a weaker computer player version. The user would simply switch from the default computer player "Fuego", which uses a GTP engine profile with playing strength 5, to a weaker version "Fuego (weak)", which uses a GTP engine profile with playing strength 1.
If the App Store voices are to be taken seriously, then making this switch is more difficult than anticipated. For this reason the app should change the rationale: Let the default computer player be "Fuego (weak)" to give more players a positive first experience, and let those who want a challenge find out how to increase the difficulty by switching to the stronger "Fuego" player.
A side effect of this change is that the default player no longer uses "Pondering", which is beneficial for battery life. This addresses some App Store reviews where users pointed out that the app consumes a lot of battery.