AI Wars

AI Wars is a shareware program similar to a game but instead of controling your cybug(robot) manually you have to write an artificial intellignce to control it. The built-in language is very simple to learn so it is not difficult to get started. Once you have written your AI you let it loose in an arena to fight other cybugs. It is good practice for writing efficient code because in the arena each instruction takes time. This means cybugs with complicated instuctions can be slower to react. You have to comprimise between intelligence and reaction time and write compact, imaginative code to get the best cybug. You can get it from Tactical Neuronics.

I have written several cybugs for the shareware version of the software. Click here to download them (21KB). I have also written several for the registered version only. Most of them were entered in tournaments at The Arena of Champions.

Quantum is a modification of my last shareware bug and was entered in three tournaments at the end of an Arena season.

Assassin 2 was my first serious contender. It began with modified versions of Borg's navigation and cloaking routines but moving forward and shooting with 'fire weapon'. It quickly evolved to use grenades and missiles too and has won several tournaments. It finished third overall in my first full season. It has been revised many times and is now on version 3.1.

Homeguard is a team for the capture the flag tournament. It is one file which then enters different routines depending on its starting position so each bug has a different name and role. The queen is called Britain and the homeguard are named Cpt Mainwaring, Prvt Pike, Sgt Wilson and corp Jones after the character's in 'Dad's Army'. Cpt Mainwaring sets up a fortress of mines and defends the queen while the others attack. They ignore enemy troops and go straight for the queen. It took a while to perfect the strategy but it is now winning tournaments.

One of my most interesting cybugs is 'Borg'. It does not cause any damage to it's opponents, instead it attempts to insert a command into their program to make them change sides. I believe it is the first serious attempt to write a cybug using the data link command. I have designed a map and a scenario to go with the Borg; it is a 6 v 4 team battle. If it is too easy for your cybug then try a smaller team. Since Borg is not good enough to enter in tournaments it is not password protected. The code is heavily anotated and may be interesting for cybug programmers to read. Assassin 2 was originally based on Borg code, but moving forward and shooting instead of moving backward and hacking!

Schrödinger's Cat 2 is my latest creation. It uses a similar method to CTS to make decisions, though it is very complicated and needs four cmath statements, and its strategy is very different. It is even more cautious than CTS and Schrödinger's Cat 2 will only move in to attack if the enemy is facing the other way. When I first wrote Assassin 2 it did not detect enemy cloaking, and when I added detection I could not make it very efficient within the subclicks I had. Assassin 2 works fine one on one, but only a few main routines have the capability to detect enemy cloaking when there are more cybugs around. Schrödinger's Cat 2 not only detects all cloaking - it uses gps scans to track cloaked enemy based on their last known position. It is the first bug to successfully do this.

Click here to download the cybugs for the registered version and the Borg scenario (89KB).

I also set the Maze Navigation Challenge to other cybug programmers. They had to write a cybug which navigates to the Strategy node at the centre of a maze.

Here is a summary of the tournaments that I have entered:

Date	Tournament	Cybug(s)	Place	Number of entrants
3/10/99	Tournament of Champions	Quantum	6th	20
10/10/99	Team Championships	Quantum	9th	11
17/10/99	Total Mayhem	Quantum	8th	14
5/12/99	Tournament of Champions	Assassin 2	2nd	7
12/12/99	Team Championships	Assassin 2	2nd	7
19/12/99	Total Mayhem	Assassin 2	1st	7
26/12/99	Capture the Flag	Britain, Cpt Mainwaring, Sgt Wilson, Prvt Pike, Crp Jones	3rd	5
2/1/00	Tournament of Champions	Assassin 2*	5th	8
9/1/00	Team Championships	Assassin 2	1st	8
18/1/00	Total Mayhem	Assassin 2	3rd	8
23/1/00	Capture the Flag	Britain, Cpt Mainwaring, Sgt Wilson, Prvt Pike, Crp Jones	3rd	7
30/1/00	Tournament of Champions	Assassin 2	1st	10
6/2/00	Team Championships	Assassin 2	4th	10
13/2/00	Total Mayhem	Assassin 2	2nd	11
27/2/00	Capture the Flag	Britain, Cpt Mainwaring, Sgt Wilson, Prvt Pike, Crp Jones	2nd	8
5/3/00	Tournament of Champions	Assassin 2	2nd	11
12/3/00	Team Championships	Assassin 2	6th	10
19/3/00	Total Mayhem	Assassin 2	6th	12
26/3/00	Capture the Flag	Britain, Cpt Mainwaring, Sgt Wilson, Prvt Pike, Crp Jones	2nd	8
7/5/00	Tournament of Champions	Assassin 3	1st	9
14/5/00	Team Championships	Schrödinger's Cat 2	1st	9
21/5/00	Total Mayhem	Schrödinger's Cat 2	3rd	11
28/5/00	Capture the Flag	Britain, Cpt Mainwaring, Sgt Wilson, Prvt Pike, Crp Jones	1st	9
4/6/00	Tournament of Champions	Assassin 3	2nd	12
16/6/00	Team Championships	Schrödinger's Cat 2	2nd	12
18/6/00	Total Mayhem	Schrödinger's Cat 2	2nd	13
25/6/00	Capture the Flag	Britain, Cpt Mainwaring, Sgt Wilson, Prvt Pike, Crp Jones	1st	10
2/7/00	Tournament of Champions	Assassin 3	2nd	12
5/7/00	Another AI Wars Tourney	Schrödinger's Cat 2 and Assassin 3	1st
9/7/00	Team Championships	Schrödinger's Cat 2	4th	12
16/7/00	Total Mayhem	Schrödinger's Cat 2	4th	13
20/7/00	Another AI Wars Tourney	Schrödinger's Cat 2 and Assassin 3	2nd
23/7/00	Capture the Flag	Britain, Cpt Mainwaring, Sgt Wilson, Prvt Pike, Crp Jones	1st	10
30/7/00	Tournament of Champions	Schrödinger's Cat 2	1st	12
2/8/00	Another AI Wars Tourney	Schrödinger's Cat 2 and Assassin 3	1st
6/8/00	Team Championships	Schrödinger's Cat 2	2nd	12
13/8/00	Total Mayhem	Schrödinger's Cat 2	1st	13
20/7/00	Capture the Flag	Britain, Cpt Mainwaring, Sgt Wilson, Prvt Pike, Crp Jones	1st	10
30/8/00	Another AI Wars Tourney	Schrödinger's Cat 2 and Assassin 3	5th	7
6/9/00	Another AI Wars Tourney	Schrödinger's Cat 2 and Assassin 3	1st	7
13/9/00	Another AI Wars Tourney	Schrödinger's Cat 2 and Assassin 3	3rd	6
9/00	Dutch AI Open	Schrödinger's Cat 2	1st	7
20/9/00	Another AI Wars Tourney	Schrödinger's Cat 2 and Assassin 3	6th	8
27/9/00	Another AI Wars Tourney	Schrödinger's Cat 2 and Assassin 3	2nd	8

Note that 5/12/99 and 7/5/00 were both the start of new seasons. In the italicized Capture the Flag on the 20/7/00 I won the season. The current standings are here.

Complete results of all the tournaments can be found here.

*James accidently entered an older version of Assassin 2.

Another AI game that I play sometimes is Fleet Commander. I have written several fleets, the best of which can be downloaded here (6KB). There are six versions of 'Jedi Squadron 2'. They are all basically the same but with small alterations in strategy to complete different types of missions.