Hello. I am looking to develop a new and better evaluation function for an already implmented game. This African game is called morabaraba and is the same as twelve men's morris. To develop a better evaluation function I am going to need to identify features of the game. I am, however, not really good at this game. I have started studying players and their strategies. I have come up with a couple of features. I was just wondering if this is the best way to identify features and how do I know which features are more important then others? These features will then be used in conjunction with genetic programming to develop an evaluation function that replacing the already existing evaluation function will result in a more competitve game-playing program. Thanks for any help. noonybanana

features:

-situations where you can slide a piece back and forth between two mills
-two in a row's (meaning a potential 3 in a row)
-blocking up 2 in a row's of the enemy (that is just the negative of my second point.. which is just the opposite end of the minimax)

if you're using the variant with diagonals.. your AI will easily defeat any human player as it's too tactical for a human to keep up with a simple AI.

this game is a draw with perfect play and has already been solved in case you didn't know.