Issue 65 6 February, 1998
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Core Warrior is a 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 from:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/games/corewar-faq.Z
http://www.koth.org/corewar-faq.html
FTP site is: ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/corewar
Mirrored at: ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/mirror
and: ftp://www.koth.org/corewar
pMARS itself is also available from:
Stormking web pages--http://www.koth.org/pmars.html
Terry's web page--http://www.ncs.infi.net/~wtnewton/corewar/
Fechter ftp site--ftp://members.aol.com/ofechner/corewar
Web pages are at:
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!
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
______________________________________________________________________________
Hello again.
All change on the '94 Hill this week -- see below for details. Also,
don't forget the Redcode Maniacs Tournament, being run by Christian
Schmidt and myself; visit
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/5427/maniacs.htm for info.
Sorry this issue is a little short, but with Pizza being down my testing has
been somewhat curtailed :-( Thanks to Paul Kline for revealing one of the
secrets behind Alladin's Cave -- see the hint section.
-- Philip Kendall
_____________________________________________________________________________
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
# %W / %L / %T Name Author Score Age
1 42.1/ 38.0/ 20.0 The Next Baron Christian Schmidt 146.2 2
2 37.2/ 33.7/ 29.2 Fire and Ice David Moore 140.6 1
3 41.2/ 43.0/ 15.9 Alladins Cave P.Kline 139.4 12
4 34.0/ 29.1/ 36.9 Fixed Ken Espiritu 138.9 11
5 31.5/ 24.3/ 44.2 Newt Ian Oversby 138.7 105
6 32.7/ 28.0/ 39.2 Vain Ian Oversby 137.4 27
7 39.5/ 42.9/ 17.6 Silver Talon 1.2 Edgar 136.1 13
8 39.8/ 43.6/ 16.5 The Boys are Back in Town Philip Kendall 136.1 9
9 34.3/ 32.5/ 33.2 Nomolos Ian Oversby 136.0 16
10 31.7/ 27.9/ 40.5 Vigor Ken Espiritu 135.5 15
11 28.8/ 22.9/ 48.3 Benchmark [94] Zul Nadzri 134.7 27
12 37.2/ 40.9/ 21.9 Electric Head Anton Marsden 133.5 114
13 35.3/ 37.6/ 27.1 Tornado 4 Beppe Bezzi 132.9 29
14 29.0/ 25.7/ 45.4 Ultraviolet-B Ken Espiritu 132.3 37
15 30.5/ 28.8/ 40.7 Vengeance Robert Hale 132.2 62
16 31.6/ 31.2/ 37.1 obvious to those who know Robert Macrae 132.0 63
17 29.6/ 28.0/ 42.3 Pulp v0.5 Ian Oversby 131.2 62
18 39.7/ 49.1/ 11.2 He Scans Alone P.Kline 130.3 4
19 30.5/ 31.2/ 38.3 test JKW 129.9 1
20 31.2/ 32.7/ 36.1 traumatic smurf bjoern guenzel 129.7 3
21 31.2/ 32.8/ 36.0 Nine Seven Six M R Bremer 129.6 223
22 33.6/ 37.9/ 28.6 Digitalis 3 Christian Schmidt 129.2 5
23 33.3/ 37.7/ 29.0 PAN-TAU-RA Christian Schmidt 128.8 12
24 23.3/ 18.0/ 58.7 Metal IIa Ivan Krajnovic 128.6 6
25 30.2/ 33.8/ 35.9 The Return of the PaperBo Robert Hale 126.7 4
Age since last issue: 6 ( 26 last issue, 31 the issue before )
New warriors: 7 Turnover/age rate 117%
Average age: 34 ( 53 last issue, 63 the issue before )
Average score: 134 ( 142 last issue, 136 the issue before )
The top 25 warriors are represented by 15 independent authors: Oversby with 4,
Schmidt and Espiritu with 3, Kline and Hale with 2, and everyone else with
just the one.
Paul Kline's Alladin's Cave dominated the Hill at the start with a good lead,
before Schmidt came back with The New Baron to take the lead, with David
Moore's Fire and Ice close behind. Also, this week saw the loss of by far the
oldest warrior on the hill, John K Wilkinson's Return of the Jedimp, leaving
the hill with its youngest age since its formation.
______________________________________________________________________________
94 - What's New
# %W / %L / %T Name Author Score Age
?? ??.?/ ??.?/ ??.? Metal IIa Ivan Krajnovic ???.? ?
16 36.0/ 38.6/ 25.5 Digitalis 3 Christian Schmidt 133.4 1
16 41.6/ 50.0/ 8.4 He Scans Alone P.Kline 133.2 0
20 31.9/ 32.8/ 35.4 The Return of the PaperBo Robert Hale 131.0 1
?? ??.?/ ??.?/ ??.? traumatic smurf bjoern guenzel ???.? ?
1 43.9/ 37.1/ 19.1 The Next Baron Christian Schmidt 150.7 0
2 37.0/ 33.9/ 29.1 Fire and Ice David Moore 140.1 0
19 30.5/ 31.2/ 38.3 test JKW 129.9 1
______________________________________________________________________________
94 - What's No More
# %W / %L / %T Name Author Score Age
26 1.9/ 2.0/ 0.0 He Scans Again P.Kline 5.9 3
26 (killed) Red Baron Christian Schmidt
26 34.0/ 41.7/24.4 Stasis David Moore 126.3 8
26 ??.?/ ??.?/??.? Return Of The Jedimp John K W ???.? 357?
26 38.2/ 52.0/ 9.8 Memories Beppe Bezzi 124.5 32
26 34.8/ 43.3/21.8 HnK II Ivan Krajnovic 126.3 8
26 ??.?/ ??.?/??.? Head or Tail Christian Schmidt ???.? ???
26 35.5/ 44.8/19.7 It's not a trick Christian Schmidt 126.2 14
If someone could confirm the ages of Jedimp and Head or Tail when they were
pushed off, that would be appreciated.
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94 - What's Old
# %W / %L / %T Name Author Score Age
21 31.2/ 32.8/ 36.0 Nine Seven Six M R Bremer 129.6 223
14 35.6/ 40.3/ 24.1 Electric Head Anton Marsden 131.0 108
5 31.5/ 24.3/ 44.2 Newt Ian Oversby 138.7 105
Two of the old guard (Return of the Jedimp and Head or Tail) are pushed off,
whilst Newt joins the 100+ club.
______________________________________________________________________________
OLD 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 993 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
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NEW HALL OF FAME
* means the warrior is still active.
Pos Name Author Age Strategy
1 Probe Anton Marsden 403 Q^2 -> Bomber
2 Blur 2 Anton Marsden 396 Scanner
3 Damage Incorporated Anton Marsden 373 Q^2 -> Bomber
4 Return Of The Jedimp John K W 357(?) Q^2 -> Stone/imp
5 unrequited love kafka 346 Q^2 -> Paper
6 Impish v0.2 Ian Oversby 345 Stone/imp
7 Gigolo Core Warrior staff 332 Q^2 -> Stone/imp
8 Falcon v0.3 Ian Oversby 275 P-warrior
9 Nine Seven Six M R Bremer 223 * Q^2 -> Stone/imp
10 Rosebud Beppe 218 Stone/imp
11 Q^2 Miro Anders Ivner 214 Q^2 -> Scanner/bomber
12 Instant Wolf 3.4 Edgar 205 P-warrior
13 Goldfinch P.Kline 201 P-warrior
14 Simple v0.4b Ian Oversby 197 QScan -> Stone/imp
15 Trident^2 John K W 195 Q^2 -> Stone/imp
16 ompega Steven Morrell 189 Stone/imp
17 Frogz Franz 172 Q^2 -> Paper
18 The Machine Anton Marsden 164 Scanner
19 Memories Beppe 152 Scanner
20 Head or Tail Christian Schmidt 141(?) Q^2 -> Paper
21 Tiberius 3.1 Franz 130 Q^2 -> Paper
22 Solomon v0.8 Ian Oversby 116 Stone and scanner
23 Electric Head Anton Marsden 108 * P-warrior
24 CC Paper 3.3 Franz 107 Q^2 -> Paper
25 mrb-test m r bremer 106 ?
(Ages with ? need confirming)
Nine Seven Six creeps up a place, whilst Electric Head enters and kicks
T.N.T. pro off; Newt is just outside the top 25.
______________________________________________________________________________
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
# %W / %L / %T Name Author Score Age
1 52.3/ 9.8/ 37.9 Metal IIa Ivan Krajnovic 194.8 22
2 52.2/ 11.7/ 36.1 Metal II Ivan Krajnovic 192.6 60
3 50.2/ 8.0/ 41.9 Vain Ian Oversby 192.4 100
4 45.3/ 23.3/ 31.4 HnK II Ivan Krajnovic 167.3 94
5 31.8/ 14.0/ 54.1 p-U v.2 Ryan Coleman 149.6 24
6 29.7/ 11.7/ 58.6 Moderation II Andy Nevermind 147.7 98
7 33.4/ 26.4/ 40.1 I.R. Baboon v1 Gene Gomez 140.4 31
8 36.5/ 36.5/ 27.0 Voodoo Glow Skull v2.1 Gene Gomez 136.4 33
9 33.9/ 35.8/ 30.3 QScissor Ryan Coleman 132.1 32
10 23.8/ 21.8/ 54.5 cascade 12,41 Steve Gunnell 125.8 1
11 20.7/ 18.1/ 61.1 Paper Test v3 Gene Gomez 123.3 52
12 36.4/ 51.1/ 12.6 Iced Creamer Compudemon 121.7 9
13 26.0/ 31.4/ 42.7 archangel John K. Lewis 120.5 15
14 29.9/ 42.2/ 27.9 Tornado -1.0 George Eadon 117.5 2
15 32.6/ 49.4/ 18.0 I am EMCFDT Compudemon 115.9 13
16 15.8/ 16.4/ 67.8 saturn 3 Steve Gunnell 115.2 36
17 21.6/ 28.0/ 50.4 Werewolf 1.25 Compudemon 115.1 10
18 27.2/ 39.8/ 32.9 KPO 2.02 Csaba Biro 114.6 16
19 16.7/ 28.8/ 54.5 Q-paper v1 Gene Gomez 104.6 21
20 21.5/ 43.1/ 35.3 RTFM John K. Lewis 99.9 17
21 15.7/ 34.2/ 50.2 qDeath v .269 Ryan Coleman 97.2 26
22 16.2/ 39.8/ 44.0 Pure Genius 1.21 Compudemon 92.5 11
23 3.9/ 1.8/ 2.3 Tornado 3.0 Beppe 13.9 6
24 0.2/ 92.9/ 6.9 NO v .069 Ryan Coleman 7.4 4
25 0.3/ 0.3/ 3.4 cascade 27,20 Steve Gunnell 4.3 14
26.9/ 28.7/ 36.9 Top 25 Averages 117.7 29
The very low proportion of wins on the hill (26.9%) suggests to me that a
scanner would be a good idea here. Also, I would tend to say that you learn
more about Core War by trying to write one component very well, rather than a
p-spacer; would anyone object if the b-hill were made no pspace?
______________________________________________________________________________
The Hint
(by Paul Kline)
A while back I posted a 3-line bomber which performed somewhat
better than the usual mod-4/5 version by modifying its step
one or more times during the battle. Since that time I have
uncovered a number of these that actually dat-bomb nearly
ninety percent of core without self-destructing and use
an efficient starting step. These are remarkably effective
against cmp-scanners and also against larger self-splitting
bombers because they have an improved ability to destroy
spl-zero instructions.
The trick in designing these is to find an ascending or
descending sequence of steps that never leads to a self-bomb.
The initial step is somewhat flexible since you can choose the
starting bomb location and the number of bombs dropped, after
that each step will drop 4000 bombs in 12000 cycles. Six full
steps occupy 72000 cycles, leaving one or two partial runs.
So we need a series of seven or eight sequential steps, some of
which are mod-4/5/8 or greater, and some of which are imp
numbers. The imp numbers have to be chosen such that they
can bomb 4000 locations while leaving at least one gap of
three locations for the bomber to hide in. In spite of these
requirements the NUM8000.DAT file reveals quite a few candidate
series.
Tesing a series amounts to choosing a starting position for the
first bomb, and the number of bombs that the first step is allowed.
Watch it run and see how long before a self-bomb. Adjust
the starting position or number and try again.
There must be many, many of these that I did not identify, but
here are some of them, one of which is used by Alladin's Cave.
sStep equ 5266
Stone mov }1629 ,1-sStep
sub.x #sStep ,-1
jmp -2 ,}-2
sStep equ 4954
Stone mov {1601 ,1-sStep
sub.x #sStep ,-1
jmp -2 ,}-2
sStep equ 4154
Stone mov {1685 ,1-sStep
sub.x #sStep ,-1
jmp -2 ,}-2
sStep equ 3174
Stone mov {1545 ,1-sStep
sub.x #sStep ,-1
jmp -2 ,}-2
sStep equ 3054
Stone mov {1481 ,1-sStep
sub.x #sStep ,-1
jmp -2 ,}-2
I have found these bombers to be as close to a silver bullet
against cmp-scanners as can be hoped, and since several of
those scanners have come back to the 94 Hill, this accounts
for much of the success of Alladin's Cave. That plus the
one-shot scanner killer "CLP". AC loses terribly to qscanning
replicators and fast bombers, but also wins 70-90% against
some good opponents. It does not contain a HSA-type scanner
which I miss, but does include a mini one-shot that gets
some wins against replicators.
Now that Christian has replaced Red Baron with The Next Baron
AC looks a little less magical. Red Baron gave up 90% losses
to AC, while The Next Baron only gives up 44%.
Paul Kline
______________________________________________________________________________
Questions? Concerns? Comments? Complaints? Mail them to people who care.
Authors: Beppe Bezzi <bezzi@nemo.it>, Anton Marsden <amarsden@mcs.vuw.ac.nz>,
Christian Schmidt <schmc003@goofy.zdv.Uni-Mainz.de> and Philip Kendall
<pak21@cam.ac.uk>
|
