Issue 48 28 October, 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: (Please note new Stormking's address)
http://www.koth.org/ ;Stormking
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~pizza/koth ;Pizza
http://pauillac.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/ ;Planar
Newbies should check the stormking page for the FAQ, language specification,
guides, and tutorials. Post questions to rec.games.corewar. All new players
are infinitely welcome!
If ftp.csua.berkeley.edu is unreachable, you can download pMARS at:
Terry's web page--http://www.infi.net/~wtnewton/corewar/
Planar ftp site--ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/pmars
Fechter ftp site--ftp://members.aol.com/ofechner/corewar
A collection of Bezzi's hints in the first issues is available at:
ftp://ftp.volftp.vol.it/pub/pc/msdos/games/solutions/bbhints.zip
NEW: Beppe Bezzi web page - http://www.aspide.it/freeweb/Bezzi
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Greetings.
Sorry for the interruption in service. But this issue should be worth the
wait. Marsden is offering some help on how to beat those nasty imp/stones in
this week's hint. Plus get the inside scoop on the warrior that's whipping
all of us--The Machine.
--M R Bremer
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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: 200
instruction set: ICWS '94 Draft
The current ICWS '94 Draft hill:
# %W / %L / %T Name Author Score Age
1 44.9/ 36.6/ 18.6 The Machine Anton Marsden 153.2 10
2 42.6/ 36.6/ 20.8 Damage Incorporated Anton Marsden 148.5 145
3 30.7/ 13.1/ 56.2 Return Of The Jedimp John K W 148.3 104
4 32.1/ 17.6/ 50.3 Trident^2 John K W 146.7 34
5 35.7/ 25.3/ 39.0 Gigolo Core Warrior staff 146.1 158
6 34.9/ 23.9/ 41.1 unrequited love kafka 145.9 202
7 42.3/ 42.0/ 15.8 Blur 2 Anton Marsden 142.6 281
8 44.0/ 46.5/ 9.5 Memories Beppe 141.6 18
9 37.7/ 33.9/ 28.4 Tiberius 3.1 Franz 141.4 21
10 29.4/ 20.3/ 50.3 Impish v0.2 Ian Oversby 138.4 143
11 39.6/ 41.4/ 18.9 Probe Anton Marsden 137.9 282
12 28.7/ 23.2/ 48.1 Rosebud Beppe 134.2 955
13 36.0/ 38.3/ 25.7 Frogz Franz 133.7 162
14 41.3/ 49.2/ 9.5 Q^2 Miro Anders Ivner 133.5 332
15 36.7/ 41.1/ 22.2 Instant Wolf 3.4 Edgar 132.2 165
16 33.4/ 35.8/ 30.8 CC Paper 3.3 Franz 130.9 100
17 31.7/ 32.6/ 35.7 Falcon v0.3 Ian Oversby 130.7 187
18 39.2/ 48.0/ 12.8 Bodge 1 Robert Macrae 130.3 74
19 36.9/ 43.5/ 19.7 Goldfinch P.Kline 130.2 223
20 37.4/ 44.6/ 18.0 Dr. Gate Q Franz 130.2 11
21 36.5/ 43.0/ 20.5 HAL 9000 Justin Kao 129.9 2
22 35.7/ 41.7/ 22.6 Instant Wolf Edgar 129.8 82
23 22.1/ 14.6/ 63.3 ompega Steven Morrell 129.6 397
24 31.6/ 33.7/ 34.6 Simple v0.4b Ian Oversby 129.6 233
25 28.3/ 54.8/ 16.9 mayhem.q harleyQ2 101.9 1
Weekly age: 13 this week, 29 last week ( 56 last issue, 46 the week before )
New warriors: 7 Turnover/age rate 17%
Average age: 173 ( 142 last issue, 169 the week before )
Average score: 136 ( 138 last issue, 133 the week before )
The top 25 warriors are represented by 13 independent authors: Marsden and
Franz with 4; Oversby with 3; and Beppe and Edgar have two.
Long live the King! Anton Marsden has a solid lock on the king position
with The Machine. And his right hand man, Damage Incorporated, barely
nudges JKW's warrior for second place. Gigolo's days at the top appear to
be over, as two of JKW's warriors vault into third and fourth place.
Remember when pspacer ruled the roost? Now they languish in the bottom half
of the hill. Instant Wolf, Falcon, and Goldfinch are the remaining holdouts
of a bygone era. But if bell bottoms can come back ( at least for sassy,
chic college girls ), then I have no doubts that pspace will return in force.
JKW and Franz have provided most of the traffic on the hill these past two
weeks. Where is everyone??
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94 - What's New
# %W / %L / %T Name Author Score Age
5 30.0/ 19.1/ 50.9 Trident^2 John K W 141.0 1
4 39.2/ 33.0/ 27.8 Tiberius 3.1 Franz 145.3 1
6 44.0/ 46.1/ 9.9 Memories Beppe 142.0 1
23 36.5/ 45.4/ 18.1 Dr. Gate Q Franz 127.6 1
19 36.4/ 43.1/ 20.5 HAL 9000 Justin Kao 129.7 1
25 28.3/ 54.8/ 16.9 mayhem.q harleyQ2 101.9 1
1 44.2/ 36.3/ 19.5 The Machine Anton Marsden 152.2 1
Three new entries in the top ten: new version of Memories, Tiberius and
Trident^2. Didn't I say the exact same thing last issue? Oh, and how can
you forget 'The Machine'.
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94 - What's No More
# %W / %L / %T Name Author Score Age
26 0.0/ 0.1/ 3.9 test John K W 4.0 2
26 0.5/ 0.1/ 7.4 testing t2 John K W 8.9 8
26 0.2/ 0.1/ 3.7 Trident^2 John K W 4.3 17
26 1.6/ 2.0/ 0.3 Memories Beppe 5.3 20
26 1.4/ 1.4/ 1.2 Tiberius Franz 5.5 40
26 36.1/ 46.7/ 17.2 Harmony P.Kline 125.5 60
26 1.2/ 2.3/ 0.5 Eggbeater Anton Marsden 4.0 51
Trident^2, Memories, and Tiberius were all reincarnated and are doing quite
well on the '94 hill.
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94 - What's Old
# %W / %L / %T Name Author Score Age
8 30.4/ 18.4/ 51.1 Rosebud Beppe 142.4 955
16 24.7/ 14.4/ 60.9 ompega Steven Morrell 135.0 397
19 40.3/ 47.5/ 12.2 Q^2 Miro Anders Ivner 133.1 332
15 37.3/ 39.1/ 23.6 Probe Anton Marsden 135.5 282
7 41.1/ 39.1/ 19.8 Blur 2 Anton Marsden 143.1 281
24 31.6/ 33.7/ 34.6 Simple v0.4b Ian Oversby 129.6 233
19 36.9/ 43.5/ 19.7 Goldfinch P.Kline 130.2 223
6 34.9/ 23.9/ 41.1 unrequited love kafka 145.9 202
Simple, Goldfinch, and urequited love all climb over the 200 mark.
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HALL OF FAME
* means the warrior is still active.
Pos Name Author Age Strategy
1 Thermite II Robert Macrae 2262 Qscan -> bomber
2 Impfinity v4g1 Planar 1993 Stone/ imp
3 Jack in the box Beppe Bezzi 1620 P-warrior
4 Tornado 3.0 Beppe Bezzi 1567 Bomber
5 Torch t18 P.Kline 1539 Bomber
6 Chameleon Myer R Bremer 1437 P-warrior
7 Frontwards v2 Steven Morrell 1420 One shot scanner
8 Evol Cap 6.6 John Wilkinson 1299 Imp / stone
9 quiz Schitzo 1262 Scanner/ bomber
10 T.N.T. Maurizio Vittuari 1204 Bomber
11 Grilled Octopus v0.5 David Boeren 1154 P-warrior
12 Hazy Shade II John Wilkinson 1102 P-warrior
13 Stepping Stone Kurt Franke 1049 Qscan -> Vampire
14 Rosebud Beppe Bezzi 955 * Stone/ imp
15 Iron Gate 1.5 Wayne Sheppard 926 CMP scanner
16 T.N.T. pro Maurizio Vittuari 925 Bomber
17 Agony II Stefan Strack 912 CMP scanner
18 Barrage Anton Marsden 876 Qscan -> replicator
19 Blue Funk Steven Morrell 869 Stone/ imp
20 Flurry Anton Marsden 835 Qscan -> pwarrior
21 Thermite 1.0 Robert Macrae 802 Qscan -> bomber
22 Blue Funk 3 Steven Morrell 766 Stone/ imp
23 Night Train Karl Lewin 755 Replicator
24 Mirage 1.5 Anton Marsden 736 Scanner/ bomber
25 Blizzard Anton Marsden 713 Qscan -> replicator
Rosebud moves up another 2 spots to 14th.
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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 Oct 28 14:21:53 PST 1996
# %W / %L / %T Name Author Score Age
1 43.5/ 31.4/ 25.1 HAL 9000 Justin Kao 155.6 10
2 37.6/ 21.2/ 41.2 Hammermill 4.0 Matt Lewinski 154.0 4
3 37.0/ 22.4/ 40.6 Dust 0.7 Justin Kao 151.5 65
4 39.2/ 27.2/ 33.6 Enough is enough Ilmari Karonen 151.1 62
5 42.2/ 38.3/ 19.4 Flamberge 101 Matt Lewinski 146.1 69
6 36.6/ 28.8/ 34.6 Sandstorm Q/0.6 Ilmari Karonen 144.3 7
7 30.7/ 18.5/ 50.8 The Lost Snail Edgar 143.0 3
8 35.7/ 29.2/ 35.1 Sandstorm Q/0.6 Ilmari Karonen 142.2 2
9 40.3/ 38.9/ 20.8 Vivid Radiation 1.0 Matt Lewinski 141.7 1
10 35.4/ 29.6/ 35.0 Sandstorm Q/0.6b Ilmari Karonen 141.2 6
11 39.2/ 37.9/ 22.8 mayhem.q harleyQ2 140.5 68
12 23.4/ 8.0/ 68.6 U-lat II Zul Nadzri 138.8 11
13 33.7/ 30.6/ 35.7 Q Yogurt Franz 136.9 88
14 36.3/ 38.1/ 25.6 Daemon of Zteentch Christian Schmidt 134.5 22
15 21.5/ 13.9/ 64.6 test 33 John K W 129.1 61
16 27.2/ 27.1/ 45.8 Vogon Poetry 0.2 Justin Kao 127.2 25
17 34.3/ 43.1/ 22.5 Recover 3 Franz 125.6 63
18 30.9/ 37.4/ 31.7 Sarcasm 2.0 Matt Lewinski 124.3 18
19 13.1/ 4.3/ 82.5 Beast of Nurgle Christian Schmidt 121.9 23
20 35.4/ 49.4/ 15.2 Neverending Brutality 10 Franz 121.4 84
21 33.0/ 47.7/ 19.3 Acid Rain W.A-Worth and Justin 118.2 44
22 30.2/ 45.4/ 24.5 Autumn Leaves 5.0 Matt Lewinski 114.9 17
23 30.6/ 47.6/ 21.8 Misaligned Drudgery 2.0 Matt Lewinski 113.5 16
24 21.6/ 31.2/ 47.2 Vogon Poetry 0.5 beta Justin Kao 112.0 9
25 2.0/ 1.3/ 0.7 Autumn Leaves 6.0 Matt Lewinski 6.7 5
Top 25 Averages:
31.6/ 30.0/ 34.6 129.5 31
HAL 9000 has a low spot on the '94 hill. Lewinski has declared war on the
b-hill. Matt currently has _seven_ warriors on the hill. Now if he can just
beat Kao's HAL 9000 . . .
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The Hint
Imp/Stone Killing
by Anton Marsden
At present, qscan -> imp/stone is a lethal combination on the Hill. In fact,
roughly half of the top ten warriors are imp/stones. Here are some hints on
how to win more against them.
QScan:
- Boot away fast, using one process if necessary. Try not to give the qscan
a chance to attack you.
- If you have a qscan, scan a lot of locations (more than an imp/stone could
scan). Imps are generally slow to boot, especially if a qscan is done before
booting... this is the best time to neutralise the big imps.
Stone:
- Use spl #1,1 as a decoy where possible (or dat 1,1 if your warrior is a
paper). This way, any decrements the stone attempts on your decoy will slow
it down.
- Use 1,1's whenever possible in bombs. The more 1,1's there are around the
core the better your chance of slowing down the stone.
Imps:
- In general, you don't want to target specific warriors in your coreclear
(if you have one). dclear is probably the best weapon against imps you are
likely to find. However, it can be altered to produce more wins against
3-point imps than a simple dclear:
- use more than one MOV in the clear - any imps that don't reach the gate
will have a greater chance of being killed.
- as a coreclear bomb, try DAT <2667,n. This will weaken 3-point imps
substantially.
- Some papers use DAT <2667,<2*2667 as an anti-imp bomb.
- If you want to kill 7-point imps, you could use a spiral clear... but this
will make your warrior much less equipped to deal with papers. This clear is
best combined with a scanner. Memories uses a spiral clear quite successfully.
;redcode-94
;name The Machine
;author Anton Marsden
;strategy Blur 2 with some anti-stone improvements
;assert CORESIZE==8000
step EQU 70; mod-10
gate EQU top
away EQU (clr+1995+660) ; not really :-)
mov.i bomb-top,>-1
FOR 3
dat 0,0
ROF
ptr: mov.i inc+1,>step
top: mov.i bomb,>ptr
scan: seq.i 2*step,2*step+5
mov.ab scan,@top
a: sub.f inc,scan
jmn.b top,@top
inc: spl.i #-step,>-step
mov.i clr,>gate
btm: djn.f -1,>gate
clr: dat.f <2667,clr-gate+2
dat 0,0
spl.i #-step,>-step
dat 0,0
bomb: spl.i #1,#1
dat 0,0
dat 0,0
mov.i {-3,<6
dat 0,0
boot: mov.i clr,<dest
FOR 8
mov.i {boot,<dest
ROF
dest: mov.i bomb,*away
spl @dest,{-1000
mov.i {boot,<dest
dat <dest,<dest
mov.i {-8,<1
FOR 12
spl.a #1,*1
spl.b #1,1
spl.ab #1,@1
spl.ba #1,}1
spl.i #1,#1
ROF
FOR 4
spl.i #1,#1
ROF
END boot
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Questions? Concerns? Comments? Complaints? Mail them to people who care.
authors: Beppe Bezzi <bezzi@nemo.it> or Myer Bremer <bremermr@ecn.purdue.edu>
or Anton Marsden <amarsden@comp.vuw.ac.nz>
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