Rules:
- Each Builder can submit 1 AI per Challenge, unless a Team Challenge is issued.
- All AI's will use the same tank stats; all you can customize is the AI. The AI settings can contain any value that will not crash the program.
- AI's will be submitted by email, and will be confidential. I will erase them from my computer after each Challenge.
- Each Challenge will consist of at least 10 games, to minimize randomness and luck.
- Individual and total scores will be posted.
- Winner will be determined by Average Points Scored per Game.

Challenge 7: Any Tanks @ Indy Battlemode; Random Maps (1/4)
1) DJ Wings (Heavy) 8.75 pts
2) Master TMO (Heavy) 7.4375 pts
3) Big Show (Heavy) 3.854 pts
4) Gold (Heavy) 2.75 pts
5) Racer 445 (Heavy) 1.6 pts
6) CannedSplam (Heavy) 1.5 pts

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PAST CHALLENGES
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The First Challenge: Light Tanks @ Battlemode; Random Standard maps (6/11)
scores
1) ZeBoLoBoT/CompUComp 15.55 pts
2) Master TMO 3.27 pts
Withdrawn: Wiki-Tiki, Racer 445
Forfeit: Niko-ST, Pablo

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Challenge 2: Light Tanks @ Battlemode; Pituitary Plateau (7/11)
scores
1) Master TMO 5.96 pts
2) Trivox 4.54 pts
3) ZeBoLoBoT/CompUComp 4.36 pts
4) DJ Wings 1.86 pts
5) Std Gold 0.54 pts

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Challenge 3: Any Size Tanks @ Battlemode; Freudian Flats (8/11)
scores
1) Master TMO (L) 9.87 pts
2) Racer445 (L) 4.36 pts
3) Trivox (L) 4.23 pts
4) DJ Wings (L) 1.38 pts
5) Std Gold (L) 0.61 pts
Withdrawn: CompUComp

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Challenge 4: Any Size Tanks @ Indy Scrum; Synaptic Slopes (9/11)
scores
1) Racer 445 5 pts
2) Master TMO 4.67 pts
3) Big Show 3.67 pts
4) Trivox (same AI as #3) 3.36 pts
5) Gold 1.88 pts
Withdrawn: CompUComp

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Challenge 5: Medium Tanks @ Indy Battlemode; Greymatter Gorge (10/11)
scores
1) Master TMO 9.87 pts
2) DJ Wings 9.56 pts
3) Racer 445 4.97 pts
4) CannedSplam 0.91 pts
5) Gold 0.56 pts

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Challenge 6: Heavy Tanks @ Indy Battlemode; Cranium Crater (11/11)
scores
1) DJ Wings 10.04 pts
2) Master TMO 6.07 pts
3) Big Show 4.85 pts
4) Gold 3.60 pts
5) Racer 445 2.37 pts
6) CannedSplam 0.59 pts

Last edited: Thursday, January 05, 2006 at 11:23:54 AM

From just a single game it's hard to tell. Luck plays a HUGE factor in one game. I've skimmed through the scores so far and I *think* DJ is winning. But the scores are all over the place.

I thought I'd leave this running until tonight, so if anyone wants to watch for a bit, they're more than welcome to hop in.

CHALLENGE 5 RESULTS:

79 games were played.

1) Master TMO - 780 pts; 9.87 avg
2) DJ Wings - 755 pts; 9.56 avg
3) Racer 445 - 393 pts; 4.97 avg
4) CannedSplam - 72 pts; 0.91 avg
5) Gold - 44 pts; 0.56 avg

scores

Lol! I think I might have emailed the wrond bot's, I'll check the email I sent you... Good job though guise, your bots are great.

Well, you still did nearly twice as well as the Gold bot.... If that helps any. %)

Heavy tanks are next! And then the Grand Finale for the year: The Anything Goes!

Looking into next year, do you guys want to continue the challenges? If so, what would you like to try next? Revisit the Light Battlemodes (especially now that you can watch the battles)? Try Team fights? Or would you rather stop there?

Last edited: Thursday, October 13, 2005 at 8:12:35 PM

I want to join in XD

Aj, for joining you need to make a new bot AI and then sent it to Master TMO.

Aj - http://supra.planetthinktanks2.com/archives/downloads/scripts/original/tankAI.cs

This is the basic set of TankAI's. All you need to do is come up with your own settings for a tank and send them to me. The next challenge is Heavy tanks @ Battlemode in Cranium Crater. Feel free to post here or email me if you have any questions.

@Splam - I'll also doublecheck this weekend to make sure I didn't typo any of your settings from your email. I proofread them before submitting, but something might have still slipped through. If so I'll rerun the challenge.

@Splam - Sorry, no typos. I ran your bot exactly the way you sent it to me. :[

@ TMO
im thinking about entering in my bot in this competion... But I have a few questions first

1.what "tank/game type" will be for the next competion?
2. When is the next competion?

Drop me an email..._{oops..thats lone's line....eheh..sorry lone ;)}

No, I think I made an error and sent you my prototype bots. Oh well, always next time! XD I'm already starting some more bots!

Yeah, do you think you could send me the script you made so that you get the results of the games you play?

@Flamin - all challenge information is in the first post. I keep it updated so the latest status can always be found there.

@Splam - I didn't write it. Art Crazy wrote it for me. You'll have to ask him for a copy of it.

Dang! Monkey Lumps! %)

So Wat Makes A good Bot almost unbeatable

Well, if you want truly unbeatable bots, you have to modify the tank settings to make them nearly unkillable. All we're doing in these challenges is modifying the AI settings - how the bot thinks and reacts. No matter how good the AI gets, it still will never match a competent human player. It can't think or plan for itself. All you can do is make it more accurate when it shoots, harder to hit when being shot at by dodging, and not making so many stupid moves.

But they're still just bots. In Indy Battlemode I still score in the 20's against even the good ones from these challenges. But that's still much better than the standard bots.

All of the AIs above are much, much smarter than the standard Gold Brained bots. Sniper bots seem to do the best against other bots, but they don't fare quite so well against human players, as people have this annoying tendency to dodge ! %) Not to mention those stationary tanks make great targets!

A little over a week to go! Looks like I have tank submissions from everybody so far; but there is still time to update them, or for new contestants to enter.

My Heavies are undergoing their final challenges right now to determine which AI gets the honor of competing. I have also begun the process of building AIs for next month's challenge. Wheee!!

Good luck all!

Wow, I have other things that I'm more focused on... I do have an upgraded heavy version for my heavy though. You got major time on your hand there Mastah! :P

Not really. I'm a programmer. ;) I hit a button every few hours (if I'm home). Everything else is taken care of for me by my Excel spreadsheet. XD

I'll be sure to set up a Cron job to mash Refresh on PTT when I get Ubuntu up and running.

Any thoughts on what to do with this after the December challenge? Do we want to continue the concept, or call it quits?

If we continue, there are several directions we can take with it. We can continue the Best AI challenges like we've been doing, to give people chances to improve their AIs or build new ones and test them out. This also allows new contestants a chance to get started. Or we can try some Team challenges, which will be more difficult for me to run and organize, as we can't field 3 or 4 different teams at the same time. I'd have to do a Round Robin style tourney, or something similar.

Your input?

Hmm. Hadn't been thinking mixed AI/human, but I suppose it's possible. We'd need to find a better server than what I have available. I can run the bots because lag doesn't matter.

How many people would participate in a Team series? Either all bot or mixed? I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it if there isn't much interest. After all, we're only getting 4 players for single tank challenges.

We would have to find a good time for everyone to play, not going to be easy. My schedule changes all the time. I do like the idea of not only changing the bot's effects, but also certain effects that the tanks use. We could discuss what codes should we be able to use.

Well, if it's all-bot matches, then this is the right forum group, and scheduling the matches isn't as important.

If it's mixed then Leagues is the right forum, and schedules matter, as well as finding a host.

For simplicity's sake, would you all be alright with a bot-only format for now? We can define the rules and test them out, and then maybe modify them to include human participation.

Unless someone objects, I'll start the competition tonight, and let it run overnight. If you want to make any last minute changes to your AI, you need to do it today.

The matches have started. Big Show won the first game hands down, but game 2 seems to be shaping up differently. We'll have to see how it goes.

Good luck all!

It's quite annoying. Somewhere along the evolutionary line, my tanks have picked up this "wanderlust" trait they can't seem to shake. All of a sudden they'll just take off, driving in a random direction until they hit an obstacle, and then heading out in a different direction. They don't shoot at anyone - they just drive until they die. My mediums evidenced the same tendency sometimes as well. My heavies seem to have gotten it big time.

Harrumph.

Heavy Challenge Results!

1) DJ Wings - 10.04 pts
2) Master TMO - 6.07 pts
3) Big Show - 4.85 pts
4) Gold - 3.60 pts
5) Racer 445 - 2.37 pts
6) CannedSplam - 0.59 pts

Congrats DJ Wings! (or whatever you're calling yourself now ;) )

I'll post up the game scores later tonight. One month until Challenge 7 - any standard tank size, random maps. It oughtta be interesting!

I really sucked! XD Well, I feel much better about the new one... Say hello to 1 1/2 months testing! The 'RDAI' line created by cannedsplam! Can I enter my bot into the 7th Master, or is it too late?

You've got a month to test and refine it. Submit it whenever you want.

I don't know if you logged in and watched the fights any, but the main problem I noticed was that it totally ignored incoming fire. Another tank would start shooting at it and it would just sit there.

Hehehehehehe! Yeah, but my new heavy is SO good! I had problems beating him. After studying the bots made from your competitions, I changed my bos to work with it. You all will be unpleasantly surprised by RDAI!

I'm still in this thing? %) Well, I've made better versions of my heavies which totally wipe out my old ones. I went in the server yesterday and DAMN, all I can say is that DJ's bot is soooo oppurtunistic!

Big Show - I still had your emails, and couldn't remember you withdrawing. Don't know why I never put your name in the first post. Sorry about that.

Guys - would you object if I pushed running this challenge back about 10 days or so? The holiday threw off my testing schedule, and they haven't finished running yet. If it bothers you to postpone the match just because I'm running late, I will run it on schedule, no problem.

Also, this appears to be the final Challenge. Thank you all for participating!!

PS - 10 days should be MORE than enough time to get things finished. I really hope to have them done well before then, but this way I won't have to postpone, and then postpone again, and again, etc.

Last edited: Friday, December 09, 2005 at 8:27:50 AM

Sounds fine, I made some more bots, and tested them. I will email them to you.

Sure thing. Let me know which you want to enter in the challenge! And after the challenge I am always available to run test matches or ad hoc challenges whenever anybody wants.

Due to a death in the family I will not have much TT access over the coming weeks, and will not be able to run the Bot Challenge on the 19th as scheduled. I had planned on running it right before going on the road for the regularly scheduled Christmas vacation; but we are now hitting the road tomorrow and won't be back until the end of the original vacation.

See you all then!

*yeek* We'll keep the thread bumped 'till then, so Dec. 28, maybe?

That'll be the latest. Now that I think about it, I *might* be able to run it as scheduled. I am taking my laptop with me, and all the bot submissions are to my yahoo account, which I will have access to, so the main obstacles will be whether or not TT will run through their network (it ought to) and if I have the time to run it. I'll be down there two weeks, so I *should* be able to somewhere in there, even if the first week is likely to be full.

My boss turned down my offer to work remotely some of the time I will be out, so I'm having to take 3 days without pay (days I was willing to work, but no...) while I'm down there, so that should free up some time too.

But if you don't hear from me I'll set up the challenge on the night of the 28th or on the 29th after I get back.

One problem is that I doubt the laptop can support much in the way of spectators, so I'll probably have to run it locked. :(

I was wondering if we could spice things up a little and modify our bots' tanks? I mean, bots are great, but all bots NEED to cheat to win humans. Ask EA. They make their bots cheat! :)

Humans are actually born with skill, bots do not. What I'm trying to say here is that there will be a change of pace in bot competition and more choices in which one is better off. So changing their antiSlideRate for example, etc. Except for fire rate measurement.

Not sure if you like my idea, but give it a try in your server and see what you think...

CUC

I had thought of that. There are a couple of reasons why I didn't go that route to begin with:

1) Modifying the tank's capabilities would completely replace improving the AI. Why spend all that effort and thought in trying to making it smarter when with just a couple simple changes you can make it stronger, faster and tougher?

2) Where do you limit the changes? IncomingDamageMultiplier = 0. ProjectileDamage = 10000000. Health = 999999999999. It's TOO easy to make invulnerable, invincible tanks. The trick is in modifying them just enough so that human players can still compete.

In order for it to be a true challenge, I just took the easy way out and locked everybody into the standard tanks. Now, that doesn't mean that a future challenge couldn't be done with modified tanks. But it would be best, IMO, that everybody was restricted to the same tank designs, and not be able to design whatever they wished.

But now, we ALL have smarter AIs available. Take that smarter AI of yours, and plug it into an improved tank chassis and see what happens... XD

Also, while I knew a Bot would never equal a human player, I wanted to see how close we could get. These Bots we've built are the Best of the Best. Now that we know where the edge is, we can use that as a basis for more improvements.

How make stuff like tanks and other stuff :(

This is not the thread for it.

Agreed.

Hey guys. Just was about to run the challenge when I realized that I hadn't received any updated tanks from anybody. I just want to confirm if you want to use the same AI as last challenge or not? Please let me know. If you want to change yours, please email it to me.

Thanks - TMO

Use my old Gentoo-class AI. It's worked before.

Eh... TMO? Sure you don't want to call this off?

Sorry, was travelling home. No, I'll run it regardless. No response=Use my old AI. ;)

Besides, they could all be busy for the holidays. If anyone had any changes to make I can always rerun it later. It doesn't pose me any problems to run these things.