AI Evolution - rd 3

[Master TMO]

Not to play them, to run them using custom AIs, so I can test the AIs to see how good they are at playing those games. I don't have the game code (as far as I know) to run a game of Survivor or CTF with my own bots.

[Master TMO]

If there is anyone out there who is mathematically- or engineering-inclined and looking for a challenge, read on. I just came up with this last night, and thought I'd toss it out into the public first. If there isn't anyone interested, I can do it myself no problem.

In the past versions of AI Evolution, I have resisted customizing the tanks, because once you go down that route, the actual AI doesn't matter very much. Just outfit the tanks with max speed, max firepower and max armor, and how they play suddenly isn't quite so important. They'll be a challenge no matter what. So I viewed tampering with the tank stats as cheating, and set out to make a system that would design the most challenging AI given the existing tank builds.

Last night on the drive home (I have an hour-long commute to and from work, and so have plenty of time for random thought processes to strike ;) ) it occurred to me that it was unrestrained tank tinkering that would destroy the evolution process. If there were a cost system and limits in place for tank builds, then it could very easily be incorporated into the evolution. There are 5 (6 with the Jeep) different tanks, and all we'd need is some sort of system that allows you to customize the actual tank settings while keeping the overall challenge of it in balance with the existing tanks. Maybe put some differing limitations on the 6 different tanks (like the heavy has a lower max speed, but higher max armor than the light) and lay out the costs for the 19 fields, and it'd be all good. I'll open this up for public discussion first, see if there's any interest. Then if there are any takers, we can work it out, either alone or in a group.

And, as I said, if no one picks up the ball, then it's something I can work on as I have interest and time. I am having problems getting the old Evolution to work on my home PC, as I had had it running on a different computer at the time. But if I can get those problems licked, I plan on starting it up again where the old one left off and see if it can come up with anything better.

We're currently stuck on the new build since Zbrox still hasn't had any luck getting TT to run on his Linux server, and no one seems to remember how to fix the 'mouse pointer stuck in the bottom right' issue that he's getting.

[Triv]

---works excellent with terrain changes---
3 stock tanks
2 ufos

3 ia green tanks
3 ia tan tanks

3 ia skull green tanks
3 ia skull tan tanks

---works ok or so-so with terrain changes---
jeep
187 admin tank
go kart
airplane
some "star fighter" ship

prolly some more too,,,

[Master TMO]

I think I've only got the Jeep out of that last batch.

More thoughts on the Tank build, it could also be a Car Wars-esque shopping catalog, where the various parts are described and given costs, weights, abilities, etc. And then the tank chassis is assembled by purchasing the parts, like engine, gun, turret mount, amount of armor, etc.