A midweek review of Corewar
                               May 28, 1993
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  I.  The Standings:

 #  %W/ %L/ %T                      Name               Author   Score     Age
 1  35/ 25/ 40              FlyPaper 2.0            J.Layland     146     216
 2  44/ 44/ 12              Dragon Spear             c w blue     145     613
 3  31/ 20/ 49                Imprimis 6              P.Kline     143     911
 4  30/ 21/ 49                     Snake       Wayne Sheppard     139     271
 5  39/ 40/ 21             Distance v6.3     Brant D. Thomsen     138       5
 6  42/ 46/ 12           Fire Storm v1.1         W. Mintardjo     138     150
 7  30/ 23/ 47             Night Crawler       Wayne Sheppard     138     511
 8  41/ 45/ 14            Iron Gate 1.01       Wayne Sheppard     137     339
 9  33/ 29/ 38                   ImpTest            J.Layland     136       1
10  30/ 23/ 47              Oak Stake II             c w blue     136       4
11  31/ 25/ 44               Sphinx v2.8         W. Mintardjo     136    1509
12  42/ 48/ 11                 Agony 5.2        Stefan Strack     136     138
13  42/ 49/ 10               Backstabber         Anders Ivner     134      62
14  32/ 30/ 38           ImpsAreMyFriend            J.Layland     134     185
15  29/ 24/ 47               sub-type-os             c w blue     134       3
16  39/ 47/ 14                   Arghhhh     Fredrik Ohrstrom     131       6
17  26/ 22/ 52                     ttest        nandor sieben     131     387
18  35/ 41/ 24             Leprechaun 1b         Anders Ivner     128    1423
19  39/ 49/ 12                Iron Sword       Wayne Sheppard     128      52
20  38/ 49/ 13                  Sucker 6        Stefan Strack     127     533

21  21/ 28/ 51                      test          Joshua Houk     114       0

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 II.  The Basics:

       -Core War Archives are available via anonymous FTP at 
        soda.berkeley.edu in pub/corewar...

       -FAQ for this newsgroup is available via anonymous FTP at
        rtfm.mit.edu as pub/usenet/news.answers/games/corewar-faq.z

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III.  The Scoop:

Another long-standing core-warrior was on the ropes this week as 
competitors pummeled KotH with new and various fighters:

 20  32/ 42/ 25             Leprechaun 1b         Anders Ivner     122    1378

But he's still standing as of this report.

Nomination for worst advice of the week goes to:
  Program "Zorba 0.2" (length 5) by "Jarkko Lindblad"
  (contact address "lindblad@cc.helsinki.fi"):
  ;strategy We don't need no stinkin' strategy

For best advice:
  Program "Kiwi 1.1" (length 97) by "Joshua Houk"
  (contact address "houk@athena.cs.uga.edu"):
  ;strategy
  ;strategy   Imp-spiral with paper mods and bootstrapping.  Oh yeah,
  ;strategy   remember never to "improve" programs without a good bit
  ;strategy   of testing, too... :)

W. Sheppard seems to have established that NO ONE is using a reflection
at a multiple of 4 with his Magic Mirror program - nice idea though.

  Program "Magic Mirror" (length 100) by "Wayne Sheppard"
  (contact address "wsheppar@st6000.sct.edu"):
  ;strategy Reflections for any program with a multiple of 4 distance

And Stefan Strack's tournament goes into the fourth round with only
two undefeated opponents - ahem ahem - yours truly and Dan Nabutovsky.
Break a leg, Dan. (for all you non-USA residents, that is a common
expression of encouragement :-)  Of course I will be sending up my 
favorite warrior "{^&*(....&() v.7"  hmm, seems to be some static on
this line.  Note to SS:  Lucky win?  No way!  That program is designed
to win at least one every time :-)

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 IV.  The Outlook:

 8  39/ 40/ 22             Distance v6.3     Brant D. Thomsen     138       1
 2  46/ 45/  9               Backstabber         Anders Ivner     147       1
 1  33/ 21/ 46               Sphinx v4.6         W. Mintardjo     146       1
 3  33/ 22/ 45               Sphinx v4.7         W. Mintardjo     143       1
 6  29/ 20/ 51                     NC II       Wayne Sheppard     138       1
 9  32/ 29/ 39                   ImpTest            J.Layland     136       1
 7  30/ 23/ 46                 Oak Stake             c w blue     138       1
10  29/ 23/ 48              Oak Stake II             c w blue     135       1

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  V.  The Quick Look:

20  20/ 33/ 47                        TP         W. Mintardjo     107       1
20  25/ 44/ 31                       GHD            J.Layland     107       1
21  24/ 75/  1                       ick             KE Lewin      74       0
21  10/ 76/ 14                      Icky             KE Lewin      44       0
21  16/ 75/  9                     Dwarf        A. K. Dewdney      56       0
21  26/ 59/ 15                     Wedge       Rodney Schuler      94       0
21   4/ 70/ 25                     leech             KE Lewin      38       0
21  17/ 58/ 25                     quick     Cliff Fitzmorris      76       0
21  13/ 83/  4                    Blight             KE Lewin      44       0
21   4/ 72/ 24                    Castle             KE Lewin      37       0
21  19/ 37/ 44                    Invest      Andre van Dalen     100       0
21  34/ 51/ 16                    Nova 1              Jay Han     117       0
21  33/ 50/ 17                    Nova 2              Jay Han     116       0
21  12/ 85/  3                    OhYeah             KE Lewin      38       0
19  10/ 15/ 74                    repimp        nandor sieben     105       1
17  39/ 45/ 16                    test 6     Fredrik Ohrstrom     133       1
19  29/ 50/ 21                   CraMPon             c w blue     108       1
21   0/ 92/  8                   memtest        Stefan Strack       9       0
21  13/ 47/ 39                  Fortress         Malcolm Ryan      79       0
21  20/ 67/ 13                  Govern 1              Jay Han      74       0
21  10/ 54/ 37                  Impact 1              Jay Han      66       0
19  24/ 21/ 55                  Kiwi 1.1          Joshua Houk     126       1
18  34/ 40/ 27                 Berserker         Anders Ivner     128       1
21  17/ 78/  5                 Cluster I      Stephen Whiting      55       0
21   2/ 37/ 61                 ENDER 1.3                Lewin      67       0
21  36/ 49/ 15                 Emerald 4              P.Kline     123       0
19  33/ 42/ 25                 Herem III         Anders Ivner     123       1
21  13/ 40/ 47                 Zorba 0.3      Jarkko Lindblad      87       0
20  24/ 30/ 45                 papertest         Anders Ivner     119       1
19  30/ 44/ 27                Early Bird             c w blue     116       1
18  37/ 50/ 13                Eclipse II              P.Kline     124       1
19  38/ 50/ 11                Iron Sword       Wayne Sheppard     127       1
21  33/ 55/ 12                sub-type-c             c w blue     110       0
19  13/ 37/ 50                test paper             c w blue      89       1
21  15/ 75/ 10               Tester V1.0           Tony Halse      56       0
18  39/ 45/ 16               sub-type-v2             c w blue     133       1
17  25/ 23/ 52              Chimera v3.5         W. Mintardjo     128       1
21  12/ 44/ 44              Fortress 1.1         Malcolm Ryan      80       0
20  19/ 53/ 28              Magic Mirror       Wayne Sheppard      86       1
21  22/ 45/ 33              Smolder v1.0     Brant D. Thomsen      98       0
21  12/ 69/ 19              StunGun v1.2     Han-Wen Nienhuys      54       0
21  15/ 34/ 51              toilet paper       Steven Morrell      95       0
20  17/ 60/ 23            DeathLance-2.1         Jonathan Roy      75       1
19  28/ 30/ 42           Gamma Paper 4.0         W. Mintardjo     125       1
18  19/ 18/ 64           Simplicity v2.2     Brant D. Thomsen     120       1
21   4/ 70/ 26          Doppleganger-1.0         Jonathan Roy      38       0
20  16/ 20/ 64          Simplicity v2.3a     Brant D. Thomsen     112       1
20  20/ 44/ 36         Nation Writer 1.0          Joshua Houk      97       2
21  33/ 54/ 12         RoadRunner K (20)         S. Halvorsen     112       0
21  22/ 77/  1         Three Line Wonder       Rodney Schuler      68       0
21  20/ 35/ 45        anti-vampire paper             c w blue     105       0
21  26/ 30/ 43      FlyPaper 2.Something            J.Layland     122       0

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 VI.  The Hint:

Correction from last week's Hint: I was confusing the code from Night
Crawler III with the current version on KotH.  Wayne informed me that
the version on the Hill does not use a forward decrement.  (So how
come it still kills Eclipse II? :-)

Sorry, didn't have time to work up a new hint this week :-(

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VII.  The End:

Paul Kline
pk6811s@acad.drake.edu