Disclaimer: I didn't follow this thread and I don't know what you guys have in mind. Just replying to things related to me or my tool.
|> You could ask Matma if he can make a version of his connection utility that doesn't talk to the WL server and only works on a local SVG file; just to spit out a list of connections which should exist.
The code is open-source, available on GitHub:
https://github.com/MatmaRex/Warlight-Tools/blob/master/connection_uploader.rb - clone the repo, install Ruby 1.9, install gems (Ruby libraries) progressbar, savage, nokogiri, builder and markaby, and run the tool with `ruby connection_uploader.rb`. (To create .exe files, you'll also need the ocra gem.)
The modification you want is simple enough - just kill everything from line 164 onward (`http = Net::HTTP.start('warlight.net')`) and replace it with `puts xml` (for API's XML format) or `pp connections` (for JSON-like format). You can enter bogus map ID and login info and it will work anyway.
|> I'm unsure how Matma's tool handles territories which are only touching with a corner (the Netherlands (Big) map has a few of those). Also, there's a bunch of very weirdly-shaped territories (such as Den Haag) which it might not handle well. However, by and large, it should give you a nearly-accurate list of connections.
The tool uses brute-force - converts Bezier paths to simple polygons, then - for every pair of territories - checks all pairs of their points - and if any pair is within given distance (currently hardcoded to 5 px), considers them neightbors. (It has a simple optimizartion for checking bounding box first.)
This means corner connections are usually found.
Note that multipart territories (and territories with holes) are not handled correctly (only one part is considered).
|> I don't mind talking to Matma, but his code is written in a language (Ruby) which I don't speak, so it'll still be a matter of whether he wants to write it.
Oh come on, Ruby is easy to read and modify :) and you sound like you know what you're doing ;)
