November 30, 1994 Issue #14
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_The_'94_Warrior_ is a monthly newsletter dedicated to supporting and
encouraging the game of Corewars. This includes coverage of the more popular
"hills" (which allow users anywhere on the Internet to compete against other
users), and also by encouraging traffic in the rec.games.corewar newsgroup.
The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for the rec.games.corewar newsgroup is
available through anonymous FTP to rtfm.mit.edu, as
/pub/usenet/news.answers/games/corewar-faq.Z. There are also several
tutorials on the '88 and '94 (draft) standard available on
scotch.csua.berkeley.edu (128.32.43.51) that will greatly ease the process of
becoming a proficient "redcoder." I would highly recommend referring to the
FAQ if you are curious about exactly what Corewars is, or if you are
unfamiliar with any of the terms used in this newsletter.
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CHANGES and CORRECTIONS:
It looks as if we may soon have a version of pMARS that is capable of handling
several warriors at the same time. (I, for one, would be very interested in
seeing what types of warriors do well in that type of environment. :)
The FAQ for the newsgroup has also been updated. Be sure to save a copy of
the new one for your collection!
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The ICWS '94 Draft Hill:
Standard: '94 Draft (with extensions)
Core size: 8000 instructions
Max processes: 8000 per program
Duration: After 80,000 cycles, a tie is declared.
Max entry length: 100 instructions
The current ICWS '94 Draft hill on "Pizza":
# %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age
1 50/ 39/ 10 Taking names P.Kline 161 9
2 45/ 31/ 24 Torch t15 P.Kline 159 43
3 44/ 35/ 21 Stimpy 3.0 Brant D. Thomsen 154 15
4 46/ 38/ 16 HeremScimitar A.Ivner,P.Kline 153 63
5 47/ 42/ 10 Agony II Stefan Strack 152 179
6 40/ 28/ 32 Blue Funk 3 Steven Morrell 151 244
7 33/ 17/ 50 B-Panama X Steven Morrell 148 185
8 43/ 38/ 19 SJ-4 J.Layland 147 245
9 39/ 32/ 30 Rude Wind P.Kline 146 93
10 36/ 28/ 36 Blue Funk Steven Morrell 145 556
11 41/ 38/ 22 Leprechaun II Anders Ivner 144 37
12 43/ 44/ 14 Iron Gate 1.5 Wayne Sheppard 141 533
13 41/ 42/ 18 Drowning III Mike Nonemacher 140 26
14 29/ 20/ 51 Ryooki T.Hsu 138 31
15 30/ 24/ 46 Silk Warrior 1.4 J.Pohjalainen 137 186
16 39/ 43/ 18 The Spanish Inquisition Steven Morrell 134 72
17 34/ 34/ 32 Killer Instinct II Anders Ivner 133 38
18 32/ 31/ 37 Jet Black Reptile M R Bremer & Jippo 133 2
19 33/ 51/ 17 Grasp v0.1d Brant D. Thomsen 115 5
Of course, the most obvious change to this hill is the addition of Paul
Kline's new warrior "Taking Names," which has been clinging to first place
since its submission.
("Stimpy" has also jumped up several positions since I tacked a quick-scanner
onto the front of it. Check out the hint section of this newsletter if you'd
like more details! ;)
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The ICWS '94 Draft Experimental Hill:
Standard: '94 Draft (with extensions)
Core size: 55,440 instructions
Max processes: 10,000 per program
Duration: After 500,000 cycles, a tie is declared.
Max entry length: 200 instructions
The current ICWS '94 Experimental (Big) hill on "Pizza":
# %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age
1 46/ 32/ 22 ivscan6b J.Layland 161 35
2 47/ 36/ 17 Genocide 94x Mike Nonemacher 158 1
3 34/ 16/ 50 Big Phoenix 1.0 J.Pohjalainen 152 6
4 34/ 18/ 48 Aleph 1 Jay Han 150 33
5 44/ 38/ 19 Request-55440 Brant D. Thomsen 149 171
6 42/ 36/ 22 Stimpy v2.0 Brant D. Thomsen 148 26
7 46/ 44/ 10 Test Stefan Strack 147 7
8 43/ 41/ 16 Pyramid v5.3 Michael Constant 145 62
9 44/ 45/ 11 Rave B4.1 Stefan Strack 144 132
10 30/ 16/ 54 Big Silk Warrior 1.0 J.Pohjalainen 143 13
11 34/ 25/ 41 Variation G-1 Jay Han 142 135
12 38/ 39/ 23 Vanity IIx Stefan Strack 137 126
13 39/ 42/ 19 Fscan Jay Han 136 19
14 38/ 41/ 21 Aleph 0 Jay Han 136 34
15 30/ 27/ 43 Splash 1 Jay Han 133 136
16 29/ 26/ 45 Blue Funk Steven Morrell 133 25
17 29/ 25/ 47 NotSoBigImps James Layland 132 31
18 40/ 49/ 11 Squint Mike Nonemacher 131 109
19 31/ 31/ 38 Lucky 13 Stefan Strack 131 177
20 29/ 27/ 44 Der Zweite Blitzkrieg - 9 Mike Nonemacher 131 133
This hill is unchanged since last month.
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The ICWS '88 Standard Hill:
Standard: '88
Core size: 8000 instructions
Max processes: 8000 per program
Duration: After 80,000 cycles, a tie is declared.
Max entry length: 100 instructions
The current Standard KotH hill on "Pizza":
# %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age
1 42/ 26/ 32 Yop La Boum v2.1 P.E.M & E.C. 158 56
2 44/ 44/ 13 Dragon Spear c w blue 144 78
3 32/ 21/ 47 Sphinx v5.1 W. Mintardjo 143 12
4 32/ 21/ 47 Der Zweite Blitzkrieg Mike Nonemacher 142 60
5 43/ 45/ 12 Iron Gate 1.5 Wayne Sheppard 141 109
6 40/ 41/ 19 Vanity II Stefan Strack 140 100
7 29/ 19/ 51 CAPS KEY IS STUCK AGAIN Steven Morrell 140 66
8 39/ 40/ 21 Request v2.0 Brant D. Thomsen 138 79
9 26/ 15/ 59 ttti nandor sieben 136 82
10 28/ 19/ 53 The Plauge Anonymous 136 15
11 27/ 19/ 53 NC Killer Anonymous 135 16
12 37/ 39/ 23 Christopher Steven Morrell 135 52
13 34/ 33/ 32 Annihilator v2.1 Carlos Paredes 135 3
14 27/ 18/ 55 Blue Funk 88 Steven Morrell 135 25
15 27/ 19/ 54 Night Crawler Wayne Sheppard 134 5
16 28/ 24/ 47 B-Panama V.i Steven Morrell 132 10
17 37/ 41/ 22 Titled Steven Morrell 132 2
18 26/ 19/ 55 Imprimis 6 Anonymous 132 17
19 24/ 16/ 61 Peace Mr. Jones 132 1
20 34/ 38/ 28 Keystone t21 P.Kline 131 98
The '88 hill hasn't aged much (1), but don't let that fool you. This hill is
still very busy. The old standards still appear to be holding their own!
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The ICWS '94 Beginner Hill:
Standard: '94 Draft (with extensions)
Core size: 8000 instructions
Max processes: 8000 per program
Duration: After 80,000 cycles, a tie is declared.
Max entry length: 100 instructions
The current Beginner KotH hill on "Pizza":
# %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age
1 58/ 31/ 10 Samba2.2 Mr. Jones 185 21
2 57/ 33/ 10 Viewmaster4.0 Ryan Case 181 222
3 56/ 37/ 7 Ecstacy (XTC) Brant Thomsen 176 89
4 35/ 10/ 56 Peace Mr. Jones 160 5
5 39/ 27/ 34 Ox v1.0 Brian Zellner 150 18
6 28/ 12/ 60 Rabid Dwarfs v1.3 Brian Zellner 144 64
7 33/ 23/ 44 Slate, v0.3a Bharat Mediratta 143 143
8 40/ 37/ 23 Bloody Fang v2.1 Bharat Mediratta 142 9
9 37/ 36/ 27 AB Scanner 1.4a Chris Hodson 138 1
10 35/ 36/ 29 Green Knight v1.7 Brian Zellner 134 65
11 33/ 34/ 33 Count Zero #1 Marc Schefer 131 85
12 39/ 50/ 12 It Hari 127 206
13 26/ 25/ 49 Rubarbe et mort-vivant J.P.Laurin 126 92
14 24/ 23/ 53 War Machine v2.65 Matthias Wollnik 125 10
15 21/ 17/ 62 Paperous Mr. Jones 124 14
16 38/ 52/ 10 Cat v2.0 Tim Scheer 123 163
17 23/ 24/ 53 War Machine v2.6 Matthias Wollnik 123 11
18 25/ 30/ 45 strange carpet Erik Hughes 121 3
19 20/ 26/ 53 War Machine v2.5 Matthias Wollnik 114 12
20 18/ 28/ 54 Mostly Harmless Frank J. T. Wojcik 109 53
Congratulations are due to Mr. Jones: his program "Peace" is not only doing
well on the beginner's hill, but has also made a place for itself on the
"Standard" hill. (At least, I assume it's the same program.) Welcome to the
Big League!
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HINTS and HELPS:
For the hint this month, I will be discussing quick-scans.
Scanning, bombing, and movement are often talked about in terms of "C", where
"C" is one instruction per turn. Standard scanning techniques will allow you
to scan one location every two turns, or two instructions every three turns,
giving you a scanning speed of 50% or 67%. (Granted, the numbers can look
even better if you account for mutilation of the core as a side effect as
well.) However, with a quick-scan, you can scan at the fastest possible
speed -- 2 instructions per turn, or 200%. The disadvantage is that you
cannot use this scan in a loop (without reducing the speed), so even a short
scan can be several instructions long.
The original quick-scan, as used in Paul Kline's QuickFreeze, consists of
alternating CMP (SEQ) and MOV statements. When each CMP instruction is
executed, the following MOV instruction will only be executed if the two
instructions compared are not equal. Each MOV instruction, when executed,
will store the values for the previous comparison in a standard location.
This allows you to scan two locations for every two instructions, and keep
track of the last location where you found something of interest.
When the series of CMP instructions is done executing, the process can then
check the standard location referenced by the MOV instructions to see if any
of the comparisons failed. If any did, then your program can take advantage
of this knowledge by attacking whatever was found. Since what was found is
very likely to be your opponent's original code, it is often possible to harm
your opponent while they are still getting started. (Imp-Spirals, for
example, take a long time to setup.)
Below is a quick-scan that will run under the '88 standard. You may need to
shorten it, as it only leaves eleven lines for the program you will execute
after the quick-scan. My recommendation would be to quick-scan fewer
locations if your warrior needs space for a few more instructions.
;redcode
;name Quick-Scan '88 Prototype
;author Brant D. Thomsen
;strategy Add this to the front of your warrior,
;strategy and see if it improves your score.
;assert CORESIZE == 8000
space equ (8000/81) ; Step when scanning for code.
qbomb equ 6 ; Step when bombing whatever we found.
scan cmp space*1+bottom, space*41+bottom
mov #space*1+bottom-found, found
cmp space*2+bottom, space*42+bottom
mov #space*2+bottom-found, found
cmp space*3+bottom, space*43+bottom
mov #space*3+bottom-found, found
cmp space*4+bottom, space*44+bottom
mov #space*4+bottom-found, found
cmp space*5+bottom, space*45+bottom
mov #space*5+bottom-found, found
cmp space*6+bottom, space*46+bottom
mov #space*6+bottom-found, found
cmp space*7+bottom, space*47+bottom
mov #space*7+bottom-found, found
cmp space*8+bottom, space*48+bottom
mov #space*8+bottom-found, found
cmp space*9+bottom, space*49+bottom
mov #space*9+bottom-found, found
cmp space*10+bottom, space*50+bottom
mov #space*10+bottom-found, found
cmp space*11+bottom, space*51+bottom
mov #space*11+bottom-found, found
cmp space*12+bottom, space*52+bottom
mov #space*12+bottom-found, found
cmp space*13+bottom, space*53+bottom
mov #space*13+bottom-found, found
cmp space*14+bottom, space*54+bottom
mov #space*14+bottom-found, found
cmp space*15+bottom, space*55+bottom
mov #space*15+bottom-found, found
cmp space*16+bottom, space*56+bottom
mov #space*16+bottom-found, found
cmp space*17+bottom, space*57+bottom
mov #space*17+bottom-found, found
cmp space*18+bottom, space*58+bottom
mov #space*18+bottom-found, found
cmp space*19+bottom, space*59+bottom
mov #space*19+bottom-found, found
cmp space*20+bottom, space*60+bottom
mov #space*20+bottom-found, found
jmn found, found ; Get out early if found something.
cmp space*21+bottom, space*61+bottom
mov #space*21+bottom-found, found
cmp space*22+bottom, space*62+bottom
mov #space*22+bottom-found, found
cmp space*23+bottom, space*63+bottom
mov #space*23+bottom-found, found
cmp space*24+bottom, space*64+bottom
mov #space*24+bottom-found, found
cmp space*25+bottom, space*65+bottom
mov #space*25+bottom-found, found
cmp space*26+bottom, space*66+bottom
mov #space*26+bottom-found, found
cmp space*27+bottom, space*67+bottom
mov #space*27+bottom-found, found
cmp space*28+bottom, space*68+bottom
mov #space*28+bottom-found, found
cmp space*29+bottom, space*69+bottom
mov #space*29+bottom-found, found
cmp space*30+bottom, space*70+bottom
mov #space*30+bottom-found, found
cmp space*31+bottom, space*71+bottom
mov #space*31+bottom-found, found
cmp space*32+bottom, space*72+bottom
mov #space*32+bottom-found, found
cmp space*33+bottom, space*73+bottom
mov #space*33+bottom-found, found
cmp space*34+bottom, space*74+bottom
mov #space*34+bottom-found, found
cmp space*35+bottom, space*75+bottom
mov #space*35+bottom-found, found
cmp space*36+bottom, space*76+bottom
mov #space*36+bottom-found, found
cmp space*37+bottom, space*77+bottom
mov #space*37+bottom-found, found
cmp space*38+bottom, space*78+bottom
mov #space*38+bottom-found, found
cmp space*39+bottom, space*79+bottom
mov #space*39+bottom-found, found
cmp space*40+bottom, space*80+bottom
mov #space*40+bottom-found, found
jmz warrior, found ; Don't Quick-bomb if nothing found.
found cmp bottom, 0 ; Find which instruction is not blank.
jmp 2 ; CMP / JMP 2 is the '88 equivalent of SNE.
add #40*space, found ; Goto second location if first is blank.
forward mov jump, @found ; Use a SPL/JMP bomb.
mov split, <found
add #(qbomb+1), found
jmn forward, @found ; Keep bombing while B-Field is not 0.
; Regular warrior starts here.
; The first instruction should be labeled "warrior".
; Must include the code for a two-line bomb.
; (Or, of course, you are welcome to use a different bomb,
; such as a single DAT statement.)
warrior jmp 0, <-100 ; Replace this with your own code.
split spl 0
jump jmp -1
bottom end scan
(One trick QuickFreeze used, that I haven't seen since, was to have two
processes execute two separate quick-scans in parallel. That way, the program
won't be killed if a bomber drops a DAT statement onto one of the CMP
instructions in the quick-scan. If you can handle having more than one
process executing the code for your warrior, this could be a good idea.)
A slightly different type of quick-scan -- first suggested by Wayne
Sheppard -- is possible if you use the SNE instruction. (F.Y.I.: The SNE
instruction is not mentioned in the '94 draft standard as it currently
stands.) By using a combination of SNE and SEQ instructions, the quick-scan
code size can be reduced by 25%. The problem with using a SNE/SEQ quick-scan,
instead of a standard quick-scan, is that there are four possible locations
where the instruction you found could be located. A standard quick-scan
narrows it down to two.
The following quick-scan is very similar to the one I used with Stimpy 3.0.
It uses ranges that are a set distance away from each other, so that I can use
a small loop to re-find the instruction located by the scan. (I use an "X"
instead of a "F" in the comparison to guarantee that the instruction found
will have a non-zero value in one of its fields.) Once this instruction has
been found (again), the the block of code surrounding it is systematically
bombed.
This code, and the code above, is slightly longer than it needs to be,
as I have gone out of my way to make the quick-scan as fast as possible.
Still, there are currently up to 25 lines free for your code and bootstrapping
procedure. (Bootstrapping is highly recommended, since a scanner will find
you really quickly otherwise.)
;redcode-94
;name Quick-Scan '94 Prototype
;author Brant D. Thomsen
;strategy Add this to the front of your warrior,
;strategy and see if it improves your score.
space equ (CORESIZE/81) ; Step when scanning for code.
qbomb equ 6 ; Step when bombing whatever we found.
scan sne.X space*1+bottom, space*3+bottom
seq.X space*2+bottom, space*4+bottom
mov #space*1+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*5+bottom, space*7+bottom
seq.X space*6+bottom, space*8+bottom
mov #space*5+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*9+bottom, space*11+bottom
seq.X space*10+bottom, space*12+bottom
mov #space*9+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*13+bottom, space*15+bottom
seq.X space*14+bottom, space*16+bottom
mov #space*13+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*17+bottom, space*19+bottom
seq.X space*18+bottom, space*20+bottom
mov #space*17+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*21+bottom, space*23+bottom
seq.X space*22+bottom, space*24+bottom
mov #space*21+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*25+bottom, space*27+bottom
seq.X space*26+bottom, space*28+bottom
mov #space*25+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*29+bottom, space*31+bottom
seq.X space*30+bottom, space*32+bottom
mov #space*29+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*33+bottom, space*35+bottom
seq.X space*34+bottom, space*36+bottom
mov #space*33+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*37+bottom, space*39+bottom
seq.X space*38+bottom, space*40+bottom
mov #space*37+bottom-found, found
jmn.B found, found ; Get out early if found something.
sne.X space*41+bottom, space*43+bottom
seq.X space*42+bottom, space*44+bottom
mov #space*41+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*45+bottom, space*47+bottom
seq.X space*46+bottom, space*48+bottom
mov #space*45+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*49+bottom, space*51+bottom
seq.X space*50+bottom, space*52+bottom
mov #space*49+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*53+bottom, space*55+bottom
seq.X space*54+bottom, space*56+bottom
mov #space*53+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*57+bottom, space*59+bottom
seq.X space*58+bottom, space*60+bottom
mov #space*57+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*61+bottom, space*63+bottom
seq.X space*62+bottom, space*64+bottom
mov #space*61+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*65+bottom, space*67+bottom
seq.X space*66+bottom, space*68+bottom
mov #space*65+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*69+bottom, space*71+bottom
seq.X space*70+bottom, space*72+bottom
mov #space*69+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*73+bottom, space*75+bottom
seq.X space*74+bottom, space*76+bottom
mov #space*73+bottom-found, found
sne.X space*77+bottom, space*79+bottom
seq.X space*78+bottom, space*80+bottom
mov #space*77+bottom-found, found
jmn.B found, found ; Quick-bomb if found something.
jmp warrior ; Execute regular code, because nothing found.
add #space, found
found jmz.F -1, 0 ; Goto the location where we found something.
mov.B found, backwd ; Save this value for use in backward bomb.
forward mov.I split, >found
mov.I jump, @found
add #(qbomb-1), found
jmn.F forward, @found
sub #(2*qbomb), backwd ; Don't re-bomb over forward-scan.
backwd mov.I jump, 0
mov.I split, <backwd
sub #(qbomb-1), backwd
jmn.F backwd, @backwd
; Regular warrior starts here.
; The first instruction should be labeled "warrior".
; Must include the code for a two-line bomb.
; (Or, of course, you are welcome to use a different bomb,
; such as a single DAT statement.)
warrior jmp #0, <-100 ; Replace this with your own code.
split spl #0
jump jmp -1
bottom end scan
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Looking to the Future:
Merry Christmas!
This newsletter is published monthly. As always, your comments, suggestions,
criticisms, and submissions are encouraged and appreciated.
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