Issue 14 January 29, 1996
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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 ;Stormking
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~pizza/koth ;Pizza
http://pauillac.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/ ;Planar
______________________________________________________________________________
Greetings.
Another issue of the world's premier core war e-zine!
Tuc has gone insane. He spent the weekend popping Vivarin, chasing them with
Mountain Dew, and coding like a maniac. I copied this off the Stormking core
war page. It's copyrighted. Please don't sue me.
Major changes and improvements are being made to SKI-ICWS to prepare for
the release of SKI-ICWS-II, the next generation in Koth service. There are
two major areas that this involves, the front end and the back end.
The front end is the part of the system that processes your mail and
replies back to any immediate requests such as ;status, ;help, etc. These
require no processing other than sending a file or two.
The back end is where the warriors actually do battle. ;kill gets processed
here only because by the time your warrior is ready for battle, it may have
already been pushed off the hill. ;password is associated with this for a
submission, but not for the ;newpasswd command.
Currently, all work is being done on the front end. This means that ;kill
and ;password processing is not working, and any other suggestions for
battle, like ;fight, are not being worked on.
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Phase I - Front End
* Ability to add ;redcode lines to a ;status request to only get certain
hill results - DONE
* Addition of a ;password line in a warrior. If not given, one will be
randomly generated for you. - DONE
* ;newpasswd has been added to change passwords. - DONE
* ;newredcode has been added to allow you to change the ;redcode line to
quiet or verbose or standard - DONE
* A ;version command has been added to see if a new version of the
system is operational and any errors identified fixed. - DONE
* ;url to point to a url when viewing the scores via the web - DONE
* ;newurl to change what url you point to for those viewing on the web -
TBD
* (Add a NEW Function) and your idea could be here
Phase II - Back End
* ;scores to display the last sets of scores for a hill (This is
actually a Front-End modification, but requires Back-End work to
support it)
* ;fight to specifically fight one/more warriors (Front End Mod, but
needs Back-End support for it)
* (Add a NEW Function) and your idea could be here
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Nice to haves
* During reply of a warrior compile and being placed in the pen,
estimate the length of time it will be before the battle is completed.
- MEDIUM PRIORITY
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Your chance to help out with suggestions/bug reports
* Enter a New Function you would like to see
* Enter a Bug Report for either SKI-ICWS or SKI-ICWS-II
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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: 200
instruction set: ICWS '94 Draft
Last challenge: Sun Jan 28 22:12:28 PST 1996
# %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age
1 45/ 39/ 16 Frontwards v2 Steven Morrell 150 405
2 36/ 31/ 33 Tornado 2.7e Beppe Bezzi 140 37
3 37/ 36/ 28 Thermite II Robert Macrae 137 153
4 40/ 43/ 18 Mirage 1.5 Anton Marsden 137 66
5 21/ 6/ 73 Evol Cap 6.6 John Wilkinson 136 167
6 34/ 34/ 32 Mason 2.0 Robert Macrae 135 288
7 25/ 15/ 61 Impfinity v4g1 Planar 135 352
8 38/ 41/ 21 quiz Schitzo 135 552
9 33/ 31/ 36 Torch t18 P.Kline 134 931
10 22/ 11/ 67 Hazy.Shade.Of.Winter John K W 133 99
11 30/ 26/ 44 Jack in the box Beppe Bezzi 133 919
12 37/ 44/ 19 blister soul schitzo 130 39
13 19/ 9/ 72 The Lime Twig 2.1 John K W 130 22
14 25/ 20/ 55 Hector 2 Kurt Franke 130 467
15 36/ 43/ 21 testnorm Maurizio Vittuari 129 2
16 36/ 43/ 21 ajax Kafka and Kurt 129 48
17 34/ 42/ 24 Boombastic Maurizio Vittuari 127 287
18 28/ 28/ 44 La Bomba Beppe Bezzi 127 547
19 24/ 21/ 55 juliet and paper M R Bremer, B. Bezzi 127 548
20 34/ 41/ 25 daedelus Kafka 126 1
21 27/ 29/ 43 patroclus Kafka and Kurt 125 7
22 17/ 9/ 73 Night Train Karl Lewin 125 439
23 27/ 30/ 43 Blue Funk 5 Steven Morrell 124 188
24 35/ 46/ 19 seventyfive Anders Ivner 124 52
25 21/ 21/ 58 Delusion M R Bremer 120 6
Weekly age: 108
Average age: 265 ( 203 last week, 182 the week before )
Average score: 131 ( 135 last week, 120 the week before )
Torch is one tenacious warrior. Many times this week, Torch has fallen into
the 20s, even 24th place for a few challenges. But recent challenges have
boosted it to 9th place. How long can it ( he/she? ) survive? Are warriors
like ships? All female?
Reports of Blue Funk's imminent demise ( by me ) was premature. Stones still
haven't found the glory they once knew, with Blue Funk 5, seventyfive, and
Delusion in the bottom ranks. Impfinity is the exception. Tornado is also
doing quite well in second place. All that _tweaking_ gave an extra 15
challenges to the age of all the warriors 8)
Anton Marsden is a relatively new name to the '94 draft hill, as is Kafka.
Mirage 1.4 is doing quite well at 4th place utilizing a 2/3c scan/bomb
strategy. Hopefully the recent hints have helped some.
The 25 warriors on the hill are represented by 14 authors.
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94 - What's New
7 40/ 45/ 15 Mirage 1.5 Anton Marsden 136 1
17 38/ 45/ 17 seventyfive Anders Ivner 131 1
17 36/ 42/ 22 ajax Kafka and Kurt 130 1
12 23/ 12/ 65 Hazy.Shade.Of.Winter John K W 134 1
8 39/ 44/ 17 blister soul schitzo 135 1
2 38/ 32/ 30 Tornado 2.7e Beppe Bezzi 144 1
22 23/ 22/ 55 Delusion M R Bremer 125 1
22 38/ 47/ 15 patroclus Kafka 128 1
20 34/ 41/ 25 daedelus Kafka 126 1
And The Lime Twig. I don't have records for it. Sorry JKW!
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94 - What's No More.
26 2/ 5/ 1 Wraith Kurt Franke 5 8
26 31/ 41/ 29 jtest Kafka 121 8
26 33/ 43/ 24 Persistence Kurt Franke 123 12
26 34/ 45/ 21 Mirage 1.3 Anton Marsden 123 18
26 1/ 2/ 1 Tornado 2.3 a Beppe Bezzi 5 57
26 26/ 25/ 49 Hazy Shade Of Winter John K W 127 99
26 29/ 39/ 31 Time Lapse v0.1 David Boeren 120 44
26 34/ 44/ 22 Wraith Kurt Franke 123 33
26 36/ 46/ 19 Harmony P.Kline 126 91
No significant losses. Yes I called your program insignificant.
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HALL OF FAME
* means the warrior is still running.
Pos Name Author Age Strategy
1 Torch t18 P.Kline 931 * Bomber
2 Iron Gate 1.5 Wayne Sheppard 926 CMP scanner
3 Jack in the box Beppe Bezzi 919 * P-warrior
4 Agony II Stefan Strack 912 CMP scanner
5 Blue Funk Steven Morrell 869 Stone/ imp
6 Thermite 1.0 Robert Macrae 802 Qscan -> bomber
7 Blue Funk 3 Steven Morrell 766 Stone/ imp
8 HeremScimitar A.Ivner,P.Kline 666 Bomber
9 myVamp v3.7 Paulsson 643 Vampire
10 Armory - A5 Wilkinson 609 P-warrior
11 Phq Maurizio Vittuari 589 Qscan -> replicator
12 quiz Schitzo 552 * Scanner/ bomber
13 juliet and paper Bremer & Bezzi 548 * P-warrior
14 La Bomba Beppe Bezzi 547 * Qscan -> replicator
15 B-Panama X Steven Morrell 518 Stone/ replicator
16 Hector 2 Kurt Franke 467 * Qscan -> replicator
17 Night Train Karl Lewin 439 * Replicator
18 NC 94 Wayne Sheppard 387 Stone/ imp
19 Cannonade P.Kline 382 Stone/ imp
20 Torch t17 P.Kline 378 Bomber
21 Lucky 3 Stefan Strack 355 Stone/ imp
22 Impfinity v4g1 Damien Doligez 352 * Stone/ imp
23 Derision M R Bremer 351 Scanner
24 Request v2.0 Brant D. Thomsen 347 Qvamp -> vampire
25 Dragon Spear c w blue 346 CMP scanner
Torch t18! Torch t18! Torch t18! Torch t18! Torch t18! Torch t18! Torch t18!
Paul Kline's Torch t18 claims the top spot in the '94 draft hall of fame.
Many of Kline's warriors have reigned on the standard hill and the '94 draft
hill. Why not add one more? Congratulations.
Karl Lewin and Planar also have warriors climbing up the ranks this week at
the expense of Leprechaun on speed. Mason 2.0 is the next in line for
ascension.
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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: 200
instruction set: ICWS '94 Draft
Last challenge: Mon Jan 29 04:43:28 PST 1996
# %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age
1 55/ 29/ 16 Mirage 1.0 Anton Marsden 180 31
2 53/ 32/ 15 Koolaid II: The Wrath of David Boeren 175 81
3 37/ 13/ 50 Breeder J. E. Long 162 7
4 32/ 12/ 56 New Papery v0.1 Ian Oversby 153 5
5 44/ 39/ 17 Our Vamp v3 R Bartolome & JS Pul 149 15
6 40/ 30/ 30 Qwiksand Wayne Sheppard 149 25
7 27/ 8/ 66 RingWorm_v2.5 Calvin Loh 146 70
8 30/ 16/ 54 Water Bomb Ian Oversby 144 6
9 31/ 21/ 48 Spacehead 1.3 Warpi & Philemon 142 37
10 24/ 9/ 68 RingWorm_v2.6 Calvin Loh 138 40
11 38/ 41/ 21 Monitor M R Bremer 135 59
12 35/ 37/ 28 RedPixel.2 John Lewis 133 78
13 38/ 44/ 18 Assassin XII Andy Nevermind 133 63
14 23/ 21/ 56 Thunder V 1.0 Andy Nevermind 126 77
15 23/ 27/ 50 Veld Julian 118 11
16 16/ 16/ 68 SpiralTest2 Calvin Loh 117 80
17 34/ 52/ 14 Mary Janes J. E. Long 117 26
18 11/ 6/ 83 Evol Cap 6.1 John Wilkinson 116 60
19 33/ 58/ 9 Our CoreClear v1 R Bartolome & JS Pul 109 4
20 18/ 30/ 52 Veld 3 Julian 107 3
21 27/ 52/ 22 White Rose v0.14 Tomasz Radon 102 29
22 12/ 23/ 64 Spiral Again Calvin Loh 102 69
23 12/ 23/ 64 Spiral Again Calvin Loh 101 71
24 20/ 49/ 31 CounterMeasures V4 Chris Arguin 91 2
25 20/ 66/ 14 Hello Ian Oversby 74 1
Marsden holds first place with Mirage 1.0. An update, Mirage 1.5 holds an
impressive 4th place on the '94 draft hill. Koolaid II has had little
trouble dominating the b-hill being near the top for the last few weeks.
J. E. Long has had a couple impressive warriors. Breeder entered the hill at
number two and has remained in the top 5 since.
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The Hint
The question has been asked many times: is the hill getting more difficult
or does it merely cycle, with warriors being pushed off the hill only to
regain glory at a later date? I looked through some of the old issues of
the '94 Warrior and CoreWarrior to see what was successful a month or a year
ago. Of course the introduction of pspace has changed the dynamics of the
game somewhat, but not many warriors are currently using it. I choose the
following veterans--former kings--to assult the hill.
Porch Swing by Randy Graham
Rank: 19 Score: 38/ 45/ 16 131 points
Did not score decisive victory over any current warriors. Less than 15 wins
against Evol Cap and Night Train. Total inability to handle Die Hard type
warriors. Marginally better than seventyfive and Blue Funk 5. Would have
scored less if not for some beginner warriors at the bottom of the hill.
HeremScimitar by Paul Kline
Rank: 17 Score: 37/ 45/ 18 130 points
No analysis.
nobody special by Michael Nonemacher
Rank: 19 Score: 23/ 18/ 59 128 points
Ties all papers and Impfinity. Frontwards and Torch play even. Mirage
trounces it. seventyfive scores 33% wins which means it has some decent stun
capability. Same with Tornado. Only scores big against Blue Funk 5.
Taking Names by Paul Kline
Rank: 25 Score: 33/ 50/ 17 116 points
Totally inadequate to deal with current replicators. La Bomba has scores
over 50% wins as does Hector 2. Frontwards, quiz, Tornado all score
massively. Wins big over Mirage and ajax.
Pyramid 5.5 by Michael Constant
Rank 25 Score: 29/ 52/ 20 106 points
Gets annihlated by replicators. Simply cannot handle TimeScape style papers.
Night Train destroys it 74% wins, 0% losses. Evol Cap doesn't score like
Night Train at all. Interesting. Marginally wins against a few warriors,
big over seventyfive.
What has happened to make the hill tougher? Replicators have been evolving
into increasingly nastier warriors. First there was Silk Paper which
introduced silk style replicating (obviously). Silks split so quickly, they
are somewhat immune to stunning attempts. Simple split/jump bombs weren't
enough to take them out. Then J. Pohjalainen, the same author, gave us
TimeScape, which is the replicating engine used in most papers today. Not
only does it split faster than Silk Warrior, but leaves behind decoys to fool
scanners. Scanners had to move to spl/spl/jmp bombs and two pass coreclears
to be effective. Warriors that didn't have as much stunning power had to
develop multipass coreclears with multiple split passes. Next Paul Kline
develops Die Hard, combining the TimeScape engine with imps. Even some
multipass clears were unable to handle it!
What else has changed? Many scanners didn't color core in the old days. You
could spot a scanner by the lack of instructions in core. Homemade Ice Cream
used this property by scanning in one direction in a small step size knowing
that the scan would either hit a decoy or the scanner itself. Then it would
launch paper. Many scans today are combinations bomb/scans. Not only do
they color core, but increase speed as well.
Stones have been the poor relation. But they may be gaining a new emergence
with continously launching imp spirals ala Impfinity.
Some may argue that we've exhausted the possibilities of the '94 draft
instruction set with these innovations/evolutions. Possible, but doubtful.
If you're interested in the full statistics, just send me mail at bremermr@
ecn.purdue.edu.
______________________________________________________________________________
Planar's Corner
by Stefan Strack
CDB tutorial, part 4
This week, we're going to cover the "mode" commands: pqueue, wqueue and
pspace. We already encountered the pqueue command in the macros covered in
part 2 and 3. The mode commands change what is being displayed and edited:
When you first enter CDB, "list" works on the core address space, that is,
"list 0,10" lists core addresses 0 through 10. We will refer to this
default mode as "core mode". After you entered, e.g. the pqueue command,
"list", "edit" will work on the process queue instead. Let's fire up
Planar's Fahrenheit from part 1 and enter these commands:
pq
@step~list 0,$
The last command steps and then lists the contents of the process queue.
Since Fahrenheit is self-splitting, you'll see two entries in the queue.
Process 0 in the process queue points to the address that is about to be
executed, process 1 is the following process. If you keep hitting <Enter>,
you can watch the process queue grow every time the SPL instruction is
executed. The process queue display is especially helpful if you need to
debug a complex multi-process warrior. The dollar symbol in the list
command is a predefined variable that is assigned the number of the last
element and incremented as the process queue grows. (In core mode, $ is
assigned to the last core address). So if you enter
calc $+1
CDB gives you the number of processes Fahrenheit has running. There are
several examples for the use of $ in the solutions to the macro exercises
from part 3 below.
The pqueue command takes an optional numeric argument. Without it, the
process queue of the current warrior is displayed. "pqueue 1" enters
process queue mode for warrior 1, irrespective of whether it is the current
warrior. "pqueue off" returns back to core mode.
The "pspace" command makes P-space the target of the list, edit and fill
commands. Similar to "pqueue", you use an optional number argument to
select the P-space of a specific warrior. Finally, "wqueue" is useful
if you're running multi-warrior battles: it selects a "warrior queue"
display, with one line for the current process of every warrior. I won't
give any specific examples here, but check the multi-warrior macros
contained in "mw.mac". A feature of the pqueue and wqueue commands that's
useful especially in macros: when you re-enter core mode, the current
address becomes the address of the last line displayed in process or
warrior queue mode.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solutions to exercises from part 3
> 1)The "next" macro only works for battles with one or two warriors. Modify
> it so it skips to the next round even if more than 2 warriors are loaded.
Here the original:
next= echo Advancing to next round~@pq~@f0,$~dat 0,0~@pq off~@go~@st
We'll use the "wqueue" command that we just learned about to get the number
of warriors (N=$+1), and then zero each warrior's process queue in a loop
using "pqueue N". Since the macro now exceeds the line length, we'll break
it up by using a continuation macro:
next= echo Advancing to next round~m _next
_next=@wq~@ca N=$+1~!!~@pq N~@f0,$~dat 0,0~if N=N-1 > 0~!~@pq off~@go~@st
> 2) Write a macro that steps until the number of processes of a warrior
> decreases (Hint: use the pqueue command).
Here's a version that works when exactly two warriors are running:
dying=@pq~@ca N=$~!!~@sk 1~@pq~if $<N~m _dying~@ca N=$~!
_dying=echo Process has died~@pq off~reset
Change the "sk 1" to a larger skip number for greater speed, but make sure
you use an odd number to return to the current warrior. Below the deluxe
version that uses "wq" to get the number of warriors and then "sk X" to
skip over as many executions as are needed to return to the current
warrior. This version works for any number of warriors loaded:
dying=@pq~@ca N=$~!!~@wq~@ca X=$~@sk X~@pq~if $<N~m _dying~@ca N=$~!
_dying=echo Process has died~@pq off~reset
______________________________________________________________________________
Questions? Concerns? Comments? Complaints? Mail them to people who care:
Beppe Bezzi <bezzi@iol.it>, Myer R Bremer <bremermr@ecn.purdue.edu> or
Maurizio Vittuari <pan0178@iperbole.bologna.it>
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