Just so that this does not get lost in the noise (as suggested by @LouisLotter )
To add to the weird speed /damage / other related issues, I found this perplexing situation ( I suspect it is basically the same problem mentioned by
@rfnel in the phase 3 balancing thread.)
Basically, P2’s speed is reported as 0 in Round 20.
It then uses lizard…and somehow then moves forward.
Speed is still zero though when we get to Round 21
THEN it uses boost…and seems to actually get that movement.
And yet, speed is still apparently zero.
Have our vehicles perhaps discovered FTL, thereby circumventing known physics, and are so able to move without moving? If so, pretty exciting stuff!
The CSV output maybe illustrates the situation a bit more clearly (sorry for the paste, not allowed to upload CSV it seems):
| 14 |
2 |
3 |
85 |
3 |
TURNING_LEFT |
false |
0 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
15 |
1 |
1 |
47 |
| 15 |
2 |
3 |
100 |
0 |
HIT_WALL |
false |
0 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
15 |
1 |
1 |
39 |
| 16 |
2 |
3 |
115 |
0 |
USED_BOOST |
true |
5 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
15 |
2 |
1 |
63 |
| 17 |
2 |
3 |
115 |
0 |
FIXED_CAR |
true |
4 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
15 |
2 |
1 |
63 |
| 18 |
2 |
3 |
115 |
0 |
FIXED_CAR |
true |
3 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
15 |
2 |
1 |
63 |
| 19 |
2 |
3 |
115 |
0 |
NOTHING |
true |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
15 |
2 |
1 |
63 |
| 20 |
2 |
3 |
115 |
0 |
NOTHING |
true |
1 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
15 |
2 |
1 |
63 |
| 21 |
2 |
3 |
124 |
0 |
USED_LIZARD |
false |
0 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
2 |
1 |
63 |
| 22 |
2 |
3 |
139 |
0 |
USED_BOOST |
true |
5 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
2 |
1 |
67 |
1 Like
My opinion on the boost:
I feel using boost with a max speed of 0 should still set your max speed to 15 till broken.
When it breaks however, you go back to max speed.
So I feel boosting with a max speed of zero should still give you the perfect boost state.
I feel this will make for great sport.
That mentioned.
I do feel damage as is will be fairly complex to navigate.
I dont mind the amount of damage we are navigating, I do however feel a leeway would be great.
I can second this as well,
Last challenge I had no time to test my bot against itself. Though I built some good functions.
And as things stand I have not touched my bot since the 2nd event.
But I can make some assumptions from what I read in here.
Im starting hectic development on this next week.
Nothing feels as bad as having needed 2 more days for an entry.
That said. I feel boosting should always go to 15.
Otherwise theres no point of actually having a boost speed in there in the first place. We might as well then say this takes your speed to max.
Rules around boost is clear:
Using a boost will:
- Immediately increase your speed to BOOST_SPEED for 5 turns.
- Any form of deceleration (a DECELERATE command or hitting mud / oil) will cancel the boost bringing speed back down to MAXIMUM_SPEED
- Attempting to use a boost when you have none will default to a DO_NOTHING command.
So when I look at a scenario:
If speed is 0 and a player uses boost, they will get their 15 speed, but only till they hit something.
The reason i mention this is to not have some goosh chase either.
Round 20 you have the state of: boosting:true
Since you are boosting, you still have a speed of 15
Then you use lizard and jump, Moving your 15, your boost seems to expire (boosting: false)
Then in round 21, you use Boost, again moving 15.
So by my assessment, the only mistake here is that the speed state which = 0 does not account for boosting.
What happened in the actual harness seems right in this case.
Mentioning this as there might not be any bugs at all in terms of engine. Nor changes to how its being handled.
Just to shorten my responce a bit, I actually do not see any bug in the way the engine handles this apart from speed which should be shown at 15 for boosting state instead of 0.
Then there is a conflict in the game rules,
This also comes from the rules:
- Immediately increase your speed to BOOST_SPEED for 5 turns
- Any form of deceleration (a DECELERATE command or hitting mud / oil) will cancel the boost bringing speed back down to MAXIMUM_SPEED
- Attempting to use a boost when you have none will default to a DO_NOTHING command.
Given the state of things, Id love to see boost stay the way it is now
My main concern is as things stand now there will always never be a scenario where using boost is viable as max speed and deceleration is essentially the same thing currently. So theres almost no good use for boost.
Theres many fixes for this.
But I do like if players are throttled. Just feel its a bit much now 
