Chaff is an algorithm for solving instances of the boolean satisfiability problem in programming. It was designed by researchers at Princeton University. The algorithm is an instance of the DPLL algorithm with a number of enhancements for efficient implementation. Flowcharts are often used to represent algorithms. ... The Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) is a decision problem considered in complexity theory. ... Princeton University, incorporated as The Trustees of Princeton University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, is the fourth-oldest institution to conduct higher education in the United States. ... The DPLL/Davis-Putnam-Logemann-Loveland algorithm is a complete, backtracking-based algorithm for deciding the satisfiability of propositional logic formulae in conjunctive normal form, i. ...
Implementations
Some available implementations of the algorithm in software are mChaff and zChaff, the latter one being the most widely known and used. Chaff aims at optimizing various aspects of the DPLL algorithm. zChaff is a notorious SAT instance solver, which consists in a software implementation of the Chaff algorithm. ...
Chaff are ships that take advantage of two aspects of combat in Stars!, the targeting algorithm and the manner damage is calculated for missiles.
Related to combat, you should remember that not only do battles involving large numbers of chaff tend to be one-sided (that is either you or your opponent is utterly destroyed while the other player's main losses are just chaff), but that they can be unpredictable.
It is quite easy to reduce the field by sending chaff through its center while you move your main fleet through the area that used to have the minefield.