LWSteve wrote: Citrine and Obsidian, their playing style is completely different than the following Dave Kittinger programmed computers... (all of which I own)
Diamond
Diamond II
Star Diamond
Sapphire
Star Sapphire
Super Constellation
Super Forte 'C'
Super Forte 'B'
Constellation Forte
Just on another point, why would anyone expect an Obsidian or Citrine to necessarily play like any of those machines on your above list anyway? The Super Constellation, Constellation Forte, Super Forte, etc are much, much older programs that were written to work on much earlier hardware. Programmers will change the way their programs play based on long experience and playing strength tests, but will also adapt programs based upon new opportunities offered by newer hardware.
As for the Diamonds and Sapphires, again, I would not necessarily expect them to play the same way either. They were the top of the line programs that used far superior hardware and they also had hash tables. The programs were much bigger and priced accordingly relative to the 32K range.
The Citrine and the Obsidian are effectively only midrange Novag programs and developed from the first H8 based 32K machines (i.e Ruby, Zircon, Jade, etc). They did not evolve from the contemporary premium line of machines, nor the machines from the 80s or machines that pre-dated RISC processors.
If you were able to conclusively illustrate that, for example, Obsidian and Citrine play nothing at all like Ambers and Emerald Classic Plus once out of book, for example, then you might have a point to argue, but you are going to find that the machines produced after David left (i.e Star Ruby, Obsidian, etc) have a lot in common with the last generation of 32K machines produced whilst he was contracted to Novag.
And as mentioned before, think of the Citrine as a 32K machine, but needing more ROM because of the very large book. But if a Citrine, Amber and Emerald Classic Plus all played exactly the same opening, I would not be able to tell you blind which machine was necessarily which over the course of the game.
The Novag playing style has evolved over the years and in the 80s it was a rather aggressive, tactical and speculative style (similar to how the current 16K programs play). The 32K machines these days tend to be (in my opinion) more solid, assured and technical in relative terms.
Finally, I am not really sure why anyone would necessarily be upset that their Citrine does not play the way those old machines played. Firstly because a lot of people still own the older machines as well as the new ones anyway, and secondly because a Citrine has a higher rating than those old machines.
What I do find upsetting about the Citrine (and Obsidian) are the extremely poor opening books which are full of holes and miss fundamental lines and transpositions. This did not happen in the good old days when the books were done by pasionate experts, so I certainly agree the latest books may well have been written by the person who vacuum cleaned the office in the wee small hours.