Issue 2 Oct 23, 1995
______________________________________________________________________________
Core_Warrior_ is a weekly newsletter promoting the game of corewar. Emphasis
is placed on the most active hills--currently the '94 draft hill and the
beginner hill. Coverage will follow where ever the action is. If you have
no clue what I'm talking about then check out these five-star internet locals
for more information:
FAQs are available by anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu as
pub/usenet/news.answers/games/corewar-faq.Z
FTP site is: ftp.csua.berkeley.edu /pub/corewar
Web pages are at:
http://www.stormking.com/~koth
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~pizza/koth
______________________________________________________________________________
Greetings.
I can't speak for Beppe Bezzi, but I'm pretty new at this, so bear with our
format and content changes until we produce something nice. Complaints and
criticism are welcome. Mail them to Beppe <bezzi@iol.it>. Praise and
encouragment are also accepted. Just mail those flowery comments to me--
Myer R Bremer <bremermr@ecn.purdue.edu>. We would love to have more people
join our staff. I promise I'll take all the credit for your hard work, too.
How can you resist?
Another note of appreciation to Andersen F. Scholl, for the Core_Warrior_
logo.
______________________________________________________________________________
Tournament Time
NSFCWT round 2 is over, and it's been a tough challenge (so we were told :).
There were lots of interesting and unique solutions to the problem how to
kill the white warrior most effectively. The white warrior was an aggressive
silk style paper which was launched after a brief bombing phase. Most
challengers featured some form of multi-pass core clear (one or more spl
runs followed by a dat clear) teamed up with a scanner. A brief description
of the strategies is below. The winning challenger and the two runners-
up are posted in the next message.
twoOFaKIND
Is two jmn.F scanners that scan in parallel for the white warrior body,
avoiding bombs. The two parts then perform a checksum on the attack
body and commit suicide when overrun by white. Multi-pass core clear
code is then placed inside the found white warrior body where it is
safe from attack. This proved to be the most effective strategy.
v15
Is an unrolled (sne/sne/seq) scanner that bombs with a SPL carpet
and finishes in a multi-pass core clear. For each bombed location,
the scanner also checks 1800 addresses away, which is a likely
place for white to be.
blackTN
Tandem sne/seq scanners bombing with spl/spl/spl/jmp and
finishing with a multi-pass clear.
safeclear
has two redundant quickscan parts that checks for the 80
most dangerous white starting positions before a multi-pass
core clear is executed.
Umbrella
A multi-pass core clear protected by a bomber that concentrates
on the most dangerous locations.
WhiteSimple
Multi-pass core clear
Taking Trains (;-)
sne/seq scanner bombing with spl carpet
Futility
Two redundant multi-pass core clears
Mr Speculative
cmp scan/bomber with spl bomb and single dat core clear
PlinyScan
cmp scanner with spl bomb and multi-pass core clear
so I won't lose a lotta points
imp spiral
Welcome to our new player Anders Scholl, it's good to have you. Now
for the scores; Magnus Paulsson won this round with a comfortable
lead over Steven Morrell and Paul Kline.
Rank Name Author %W %L %T Score
___________________________________________________________________________
1 twoOFaKIND Paulsson 89 5 6 2738
2 v15 Steven Morrell 73 18 8 2283
3 blackTN P.Kline 64 16 20 2128
4 safeclear Anders Ivner 61 16 23 2058
5 Umbrella Beppe Bezzi 56 12 32 1996
6 WhiteSimple John K. Wilkinson 56 14 30 1986
7 Taking Trains Maurizio Vittuari 59 32 10 1853
8 Futility M R Bremer 42 8 50 1768
9 Mr Speculative Derek Ross 45 39 16 1506
10 PlinyScan G. Eadon 41 35 24 1479
11 so i won't lose a lotta Anders Scholl 0 12 88 892
After the first two rounds, these are the points:
Name pts for round 1 2
__________________________________
Beppe Bezzi 7 7
M R Bremer 7 4
G. Eadon 1.5 2
Anders Ivner 5.5 8
P.Kline 7.5 9
Steven Morrell 5 10
Paulsson 7.5 11
Derek Ross 3.5 3
Anders Scholl - 1
Maurizio Vittuari 6.5 5
John K. Wilkinson 4 6
Magnus Paulsson is leading with 18.5 points, followed by Paul Kline with
16.5 and Steven Morrell with 15 points.
Good luck for round 3!
Nandor & Stefan
______________________________________________________________________________
Current Status of the Internet Pizza Server ICWS '94 Draft Hill:
Hill Specs:
coresize: 8000
max. processes: 8000
duration: after 80,000 cycles, a tie is declared.
max. entry length: 100
minimum distance: 100
rounds fought: 250
instruction set: ICWS '94 Draft
Last challenge: Mon Oct 23 11:06:37 PDT 1995
# %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age
1 48/ 40/ 12 Frontwards Steven Morrell 155 201
2 46/ 41/ 13 Leprechaun on speed Anders Ivner 150 62
3 35/ 28/ 37 test r Beppe Bezzi 142 4
4 37/ 32/ 31 Torch t18 P.Kline 142 266
5 35/ 28/ 36 Jack in the box Beppe Bezzi 142 254
6 39/ 36/ 24 Armory - A5 Wilkinson 141 405
7 40/ 40/ 21 myZizzor8 Paulsson 139 1
8 34/ 31/ 35 Father & Son Maurizio Vittuari 137 124
9 41/ 45/ 14 Anti Die-Hard Bevo (3c) John Wilkinson 137 71
10 38/ 39/ 22 session Z M R Bremer 137 20
11 36/ 35/ 29 Brain Vamp B.Bezzi, M.Paulsson 136 136
12 38/ 41/ 21 myVamp v3.7 Paulsson 136 234
13 40/ 45/ 15 Leprechaun deluxe Anders Ivner 134 171
14 34/ 34/ 31 Phq Maurizio Vittuari 134 368
15 41/ 48/ 11 Anti-DieHard Bevo (3f) John Wilkinson 134 29
16 23/ 12/ 65 Die Hard P.Kline 133 10
17 28/ 24/ 48 simple M R Bremer 132 13
18 38/ 46/ 16 blackTN P.Kline 131 27
19 34/ 38/ 28 Tornado 1.8 Beppe Bezzi 130 120
20 40/ 51/ 10 SandBlast 1a John K. Wilkinson 129 30
It's been a difficult time for replicators this week. It seems some authors
are testing their tournament entries on the hill. P.Kline's blackTN appeared
along with myZizzorX from Magnus Paulsson. Paulsson's earlier test program
produced huge losses for papers, but was too specialized to score well on the
hill. simple--a non-pspace replicator/bomber once held a lofty position until
all those scanners came along. It quickly needed to be recoded to survive.
Phq is also suffering a bit from the increased scanner presence.
The many versions of Die Hard have attempted the hill lately. Perhaps Kline
will finally settle on a version he's satisfied with. Maybe then he'll tell
us what's in that thing! For a interesting clue, read Extra Extra for
Paulsson's comments on Die Hard and Kline's response.
______________________________________________________________________________
94 - What's New
3 35/ 28/ 37 test r Beppe Bezzi 142 4
7 40/ 40/ 21 myZizzor8 Paulsson 139 1
10 38/ 39/ 22 session Z M R Bremer 137 20
15 41/ 48/ 11 Anti-DieHard Bevo (3f) John Wilkinson 134 29
18 38/ 46/ 16 blackTN P.Kline 131 27
______________________________________________________________________________
94 - What's No More
21 34/ 39/ 27 Cthulhu v7 John K. Wilkinson 129 66
21 34/ 41/ 24 Thermite 1.0 Robert Macrae 128 802
Congratulations to Thermite for its long and successful run. Armory is now
the oldest program on the hill at 405.
______________________________________________________________________________
Current Status of the Internet Pizza Server Beginner's Hill:
Hill Specs:
coresize: 8000
max. processes: 8000
duration: after 80,000 cycles, a tie is declared.
max. entry length: 100
minimum distance: 100
maximum age: At age 100, warriors are retired.
rounds fought: 250
instruction set: ICWS '94 Draft
Last challenge: Mon Oct 23 08:14:39 PDT 1995
# %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age
1 57/ 7/ 36 juliet storm M R Bremer 208 25
2 56/ 31/ 13 Heatseek2 Phil Whineray 182 3
3 49/ 32/ 20 Test-Fc G. Eadon 165 11
4 49/ 38/ 13 Web Gareth Thomas 160 26
5 34/ 11/ 55 ShadowImp Robert J. Street 156 99
6 42/ 32/ 26 Weasel Kurt Franke 153 17
7 44/ 38/ 18 Hint Test M R Bremer 151 5
8 32/ 19/ 49 Cyclone Scott Manley 145 13
9 42/ 41/ 17 Obvious John K. Lewis 143 10
10 42/ 43/ 15 Mythicon v1.1a G. Eadon 142 84
11 42/ 45/ 13 Eradu Scott Manley 139 4
12 29/ 23/ 48 Imp Craze 91.43 Planar 135 1
13 19/ 3/ 78 Cotton-DH 8a Wilkinson 135 20
14 41/ 47/ 12 Skimmer Gareth Thomas 134 52
15 38/ 48/ 14 PlinyScan G. Eadon 128 7
16 33/ 42/ 25 DeathWalker Scott Manley 125 36
17 21/ 43/ 35 Mokkori v0.2 David Boeren 99 47
18 25/ 52/ 23 Enlightenment II Scott Manley 98 38
19 29/ 60/ 12 Apple attack Gareth Thomas 98 53
20 31/ 67/ 2 Banzai0.2 Calvin Loh 96 18
John Wilkinson has decided to play on the beginner hill even though his
programs on the '94 draft hill are doing well. I suppose I shouldn't
talk. juliet storm was just meant to monitor the hill, but has jumped to
the number one position. Below is a copy of the code in case it's not in
your collection already. Simplicity and compactness are the keys to its
success. Is the actual running code ( code that is executed many times--like
a bomber--as opposed to code that is only executed once--like a quick scan )
of your warrior more than 15 lines long? If it is, you're probably trying to
do too much. Keep it simple. Focus on one strategy and do it well.
;redcode-94
;name juliet storm
;author M R Bremer
;strategy bomber--yippee
ptr EQU -1333
gate dat <-445, <-446
s spl #445, <-445
spl #0, <-446
mov {445-1, -445+2
add -3, -1
djn.f -2, <-2667-500
mov 33, <-20
go dat #0, #ptr
start mov {-1, <-1 ;boot the bomber into core
mov {-2, <-2
mov {-3, <-3
mov {-4, <-4
mov {-5, <-5
mov {-6, <-6
mov gate, ptr+24
mov gate, ptr+24
spl @go, <-4000
jmp boot, <-4013
for 73
dat #0, #0
rof
imp_sz equ 2667
boot spl 1 ,#0 ;vector launched imp ala T. Hsu
spl 1 ,#0
spl <0 ,#vector+1
djn.a @vector,#0
imp mov.i #0,imp_sz
jmp imp+imp_sz*7,imp+imp_sz*6
jmp imp+imp_sz*5,imp+imp_sz*4
jmp imp+imp_sz*3,imp+imp_sz*2
vector jmp imp+imp_sz ,imp
end start
______________________________________________________________________________
The hint
Do you often ask yourself: Why do my warriors do well on the beginner's
and get thrashed on the '94 draft hill? This hint should help all newcomers
in writing more viable code.
I have asked the 15th place author to send me his warrior so we can dissect
it as a case study. Thanks to Scott Manley for sharing his code. If you
are in 15th place around the end of the week, you could be getting mail from
me. Unfortunately, Mutagen has dropped off the hill, but I suspect that
Scott will have a brand new version real soon.
;redcode-b
;name Mutagen
;author Scott Manley
;strategy Scan -> SPL/JMP bomb -> split to Imp gate / 2 pass forward
;strategy travelling core clear
;assert CORESIZE==8000
plength EQU 35
inc EQU 6
carpet EQU (CORESIZE-MINDISTANCE)/inc
adds DAT #inc , #inc
begin SPL clear2
start SEQ.I *scan, @scan
JMP scan1
cont ADD.F adds , scan
DJN start , count
JMP clear3
scan1 MOV sbomb , * scan
scan2 MOV sbomb2 , @ scan
JMP cont
scan DAT MINDISTANCE-10 , MINDISTANCE-9
target1 DAT 23 , -23
target2 DAT 22 , -22
target3 DAT -1 , -21
target4 DAT -2 , -20
DAT 0 , 0
DAT 0 , 0
DAT 0 , 0
JMP 0 , } cont
clear2 MOV.I sbomb , } target1
DJN clear2 , target1
JMP clear4
clear3 MOV.I target2 , } target2
DJN clear3 , target2
clear1 MOV.I target4 , { target4
DJN clear1 , target4
JMP 0 , > -10
clear4 MOV.I sbomb , { target3
DJN clear4 , target3
MOV 0,1
sbomb SPL 0 , 0
sbomb2 JMP -1
count DAT #carpet-1,#carpet-1
END begin
The basic concept is to scan and spl coreclear simultaneously. Once
the scan is finished (one pass through core), jump to a dat coreclear to
follow the spl clear. There are other startegies involved but we'll just
focus on the scan engine and multi-pass coreclear.
Mutagen's scan is 11 lines long--13 lines if the stun bomb is included in
the count. We can reduce the length a bit without affecting the behavior
too much by using the following code:
add.f split, scan
scan sne.i loc1, loc+1
djn.f -2, <DJNSTREAM1 ;djn.f will decrement both the a and b field.
mov.i split, *scan
mov.i jump, @scan
djn.f -5, <DJNSTREAM2 ;need to have a trigger so this falls thourgh
jmp clear ;after scan is complete.
split spl #step, #step ;try to find other uses for these
jump jmp -1 ;can be anywhere in code
Remember that the bigger your executing code is, the more inviting target
you make to the enemy. The split and jump lines can be moved away from the
executing code to provide the smallest possible profile. Also: the scanning
step is not optimal. If an enemy instruction is at location N, most likely
there will be another instruction at N+1. So there is no need to scan there.
There are two basic ways to spread the scan out. One is to scan N and N+step
then bomb every location in between. Another is to bomb N and then check
N+step in a separate step. Check out Agony and Irongate for good examples
of these two methods.
Next let's talk multi-pass coreclears. Muatagen's clear is lengthy and easy
prey for scanners. In a multi-pass coreclear, only a few things change--the
bomb being swept through core and the pointer that does it. We can reuse
the movement instructions and just change the bomb and pointer with this
code:
org a1
ptr1 dat a1, end+100
a4 dat 0, end+2+1
a3 dat 1, end+2+2
a2 spl #2, end+2+3 ; spl #X, <-Y acts like a split 0.
a1 spl #3, end+2+4 ; you can use x and Y as step values
mov *ptr1, >ptr1 ; and use the decrement in the b-field
mov *ptr1, >ptr1 ; as part of an imp gate.
mov *ptr1, >ptr1 ; > (post-increment) keeps adding 1 to
end djn.f -3, <4000 ; the b-field of ptr1 to move the bomb
; through core.
The clear starts with a1 being swept forward through core. Notice that the
move instructions use a pointer (ptr1) to determine which bomb to sweep with.
ptr1's b-field is also used to do the actual clearing. When the clear wraps
around the core, it will eventually overwrite ptr1 with a1. Now the move
instructions will look where the old ptr1 used to be to find what they should
move through core. The new ptr1 (a1) points towards a2, so the move
instructions will move a2 through core. The new pointer also has a new
b-field. The value of this b-field ensures that the clear skips over the
core clear code. Then a2 overwrites the pointer. The pointer is now
points to a3. And so on. This code will continue to clear until time run
out.
7 44/ 38/ 18 Hint Test M R Bremer 151 5
A simple version of these improvements has been submitted to the beginner
hill. The code does reasonably well against bombers and replicators, but
its large size makes it vulnerable to scanners. A good project would be
to pspace it with a small fast bomber.
______________________________________________________________________________
Extra Extra:
P.Kline usually publishes his warriors fairly quickly. However Die Hard has
been a mystery for quite some time. Magnus Paulsson is one of the few
authors who has had some success against the many interations of Die Hard.
Paulsson has been kind enough to share his thoughts ( along with his newest
program--theMystery ) with us:
How does Die Hard work?
That thought came to mind when some version of myVamp didn't score more than
1% wins! It was double disturbing as myVamp has a coreclear spl/spl/dat and
a djn stream at the same time, no normal imp could survive it (nothing else
either if lucky).
Why is that?
If you get the other program in such a clear it will fast spl it self to 8000
processes. No you have about 8000 cycles and then the imp spiral will
execute. In my coreclear I change a location in core every cycle which means
that when the imp-spiral execute it is (should be) overwritten/djned already.
What then?
Now if you place two spirals on top of each other, and plan in which order
they and the rest of the code will be in the execution. In the coreclear the
spl processes will be like 4000 processes, spiral, 4000 processes, spiral.
That means the clear has to kill spiral in 4000 cycles which isn't possible
in a clear.
Is that how Die Hard works?
(Actually I don't know :-) But I'll keep on guessing for a while.)
So, because there is a thing called gate which kills spirals. In order to tie
you have to have something like 100 processes in a spiral to slow it down as
much that it doesn't reach the gate. Now you can't launch such a monster
without getting killed before the launch is complete.
How then?
Have a look at theMystery!
It is three papers working together to launch imp-rings in such a way that
there will never be more that say 1500 cycles between a ring is executed.
What is the diffrence between Die Hard and theMystery?
Die Hard is a lot better :-(, I don't know how Paul did it but theMystery
doesn't kill anything! (I'm totaly wortless on papers, I can't get the
constants right and it's to bloody complicated to get a paper effective.)
Actually I don't belive that theMystery could ever beat anything 20%,
maybee Paul has taken the idea one step further? (stone?)
(Now I resubmitted theMystery1.5 to the hill and it wins 17% :-)
15 25/ 19/ 57 Die Hard P.Kline 131 3
..
20 17/ 7/ 76 theMystery1.5 Paulsson 127 1
/Magnus Paulsson
(More fun to write this than to think about Peierls substitution)
(I should heve mentioned CottonDH (J.Wilkinson) but I wont :-) )
______________________________________________________________________________
Paul responds:
Magnus' approach is intriguing. Lots of ties but not many wins, which
is about where Die Hard was until I worked in some bombing. Not much but
enough to pump up the score and move him up the Hill. Die Hard doesn't
look much like theMystery, but his kernel is based on something I published
a looong time ago.
Another tidbit about Die Hard. He starts with a very brief quick-scan
and vamp. The pit does a one-pass suicidal clear incorporating a brainwash
which, when it works forces programs like Jack in the Box to revert from
paper to something which Die Hard can kill. Instead of going 1/0
he now goes about 12/0 against JitB :-)
theMystery sure does a lot better against myZizzor than Die Hard does :-(
(I have a pretty good idea what Magnus' missing line in myZizzor might be!)
Paul
______________________________________________________________________________
;redcode-94
;name theMystery1.5
;author Paulsson
;strategy How does Die Hard work? (this way maybee?)
;strategy Looking gooood, could it be somthing that begins
;strategy with an i and ends with p?
;assert CORESIZE > 1
;kill theMystery
org start
step1 equ 1800
step2 equ -1922
start spl 1 ;\
mov.i -1,0 ;- make 7 processes
mov.i -1,0 ;/
mov {ptr2,<ptr2 ; move out second paper
mov {ptr1,<ptr1 ; move out first paper
spl 3
spl 4
jmp @ptr1 ; jump to 1
mov {ptr3,<ptr3 ; move out third paper
jmp @ptr3 ; jump to 3
jmp @ptr2 ; jump to 2
pap spl step1,0 ;\
mov.i >-1,}-1 ;\\ Normal paper, with bad constants
mov.i <-2,<1 ;// (I think I riped it from timescape :-) )
spl @0,}step2 ;/
mov.i #0,2667 ;Impy!
ptr1 dat 5+pap,pap+5+500
ptr2 dat pap+5,pap+5+2667+500
ptr3 dat pap+5,pap+5+2667*2+500
______________________________________________________________________________
Most losses:
Program "myZizzor" (length 58) by "Paulsson"
(contact address "mpn@ifm.liu.se"):
;strategy Cissors (or whatever way you spell it)
;strategy Let's se how hard Die Hard is this time :-)
theMystery1.5 wins: 27
myZizzor wins: 55
Ties: 168
Program "Anti Die-Hard Bevo (3c)" (length 76) by "John Wilkinson"
(contact address "jwilkinson@mail.utexas.edu"):
;strategy I didn't have a single program on my HD that could beat
;strategy my Cotton-DH, so I made this. Let's see how it fares
;strategy against the real Die Hard. :)
theMystery1.5 wins: 60
Anti Die-Hard Bevo (3c) wins: 54
Ties: 136
______________________________________________________________________________
Questions? Concerns? Comments? Complaints? Mail them to:
Beppe Bezzi <bezzi@iol.it> or Myer R Bremer <bremermr@ecn.purdue.edu>
|
