my question is about how to compute a database with initial moves for Connect Four, where each board constellation is classified as leading to a win, draw or lose.John Tromp already has done this for the standard 7x6 sized board (https://tromp.github.io/c4/c4.html) and all board configurations with 8 tiles.  Since I'm going to try to make up an AI for a larger board, these are not usable at all.  Moreover I'd like to know more about the theory behind: How is it possible to determine the outcome of an initial position with e.g. 8 placed tiles, while not searching the whole game tree (which shouldn't be feasible i guess)?
Compute connect-four opening moves
artificial intelligence;heuristics