Goodluck in the first event

I hope everyone managed to build the bot they wanted.

I am not exactly happy with my entry just yet, It feels like I am missing something though I cannot
get down to what it is.

Now look, Dont get me wrong, I might be 4th tomorrow. That’s just my luck… My bot is okay

But it feels like I can just do so much more. Currently I am running only 16 milliseconds. So I hope the updates pushes so much new stuff in that others bottleneck and I can just ride the wave. But wheres my competitive spirit.

Goodluck everyone. This might be the first event in 2.5 years where I do not make the top 8. Part of me wishes I am first here. But another wishes I get thrashed so that I can up my game. But that would mean a total rewrite. So I am hoping to see my hame highish…

I feel a genetic AI or Neural Net will thrash me. But it all depends on tactics…

Hope you all managed quite well, considering updates and all. This event will be my benchmark.
Any attempt to better my existing bot failed. But even if a bot is good against itself you never know how it will fair against others… Thats part of the fun… Looking forward to the first event, I just pushed my final version.

Cannot wait for the first event. I’m rather excited. Though I will not stay up for it… There seems to be a lot of entrants this year… So I assume that the Round Robin matches will be complete around Wednesday.

Well, Night all, Im rather tired. 3 nights in a row I spent pushing through to 3 AM…

Im out

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And the tournament is running!

I was very confused for a while as to why the different bots have played a different number of games when it’s a round robin, until I realised the scores are still updating and the tournament isn’t nearly finished :slight_smile:

Will we be able to see the replays after the tournament?

I see you have a bit of a beast again.

I would say it will not be good to show replays after this event, Though theres a certain tact that I see nobody followed. (Comparing points to win loss.). I have an unfinished bot that I really wish I could have entered. But its not really working.

If I had 1 more week I might have been a better challenge. Though I know the tournament is not finished, I already know that my bot has a limp in it. Been running around to fix it for days. Its just a timely one. Depending on the second round’s changes, I might have a bot that will put up a fight next event. Now look, I know I am one of the top bots. But there’s still something I missed. I might have a bot that could win my existing one 10 otut of 10 timeS. But currently that bot just sits on the sidelines versus my existing.

Anyways, It will also depend on the second round’s changes. It might completely break my new bot. But looking forward. As long as I am top 8 I am happy, no need to win to play (G)…

It was stressful when I opened and it showed me at 25th. but pending matches. Well, Goodluck, I feel you have a higher chance to win round 1 (Along with some other contestants) unless we tie. Nobody will beat me on points. Not in this round anyways.

Goodluck though.

I’m falling apart!.

Back to square one for me

This is where being able to watch the matches would help, now I have no idea where to go from here

If you consider your entry as “falling apart”, then I must consider my 50% win rate an absolute disaster :thinking:

Not that I am saying it’s good… Then again, I don’t aim to be top 8, just the learning experience every year is already winning in my mind.

Got to hand it to @rkistner and @WillieTheron though, they are doing really well up there. Well done guys

I would not get discouraged. There’s contestants in this tournament that has some pretty extreme qualifications. Masters degrees, People more experience. Maybe a special person or two.

The reason I say I wouldn’t be discouraged is I handle this in the same weight than I would some South African Sports Championship. This is where I get to test myself and what I know. I take this very seriously… Anyone who does not will struggle to keep up.

If you love the challenge, spent a lot of time and you don’t rank as high its still okay. This is my 4th year. Every year I am a bit better and I know a bot more. So even the top guys are evolving with the challenges.

Maybe the next event you make some breakthrough and you break it.

I think I rebuilt my bot 3 times to get the current result.

I even had another build that completely failed and I have a 5th build that I believe when complete will be on a whole different level from my existing bot, so basically Ralph :stuck_out_tongue: .

What I am saying is when building the bot you need the Ultron Effect. You build a bot then you try and beat your own. You do that enough times and your bot gets better. Every time you beat yourself you should actually beat more other contestants.

I can also testify, you don’t need any special skills to do well.

Theres no secret, Neural networks, Genetic AI ect.

My whole bot is if statements, for loops and arrays. A Mush of things I figured out over time.

But I use some pretty deep arrays.

Well, Goodluck further. I have some deadlines that crept up with this that I spent a few days on my bot last week to just refine a little.

I can concur with that statement.

I struggled to make time as well. Though I do not think that time equates to a better bot. Oddly, I spent more time on the visualizer over that one weekend than what I got on my bot total.

I have definitely learnt with this competition that life has some interesting curve balls.

But I digress, I definitely think that minor modifications on the reference bot could lead to impressive results. Last year I over-complicated and over-engineered it seems.

Lot’s of guys I know of that wanted to compete didn’t submit anything because they seemed discouraged.

My bot is two days (1-2hrs a day) worth of work and I know that lots of guys put in much more effort, I just wanted a place in the top half of the log. The aim is to submit something and have fun.

I think the ultron effect is great advice. I just aimed to beat the reference bot this round, but never tried to beat myself. Will be using this going forward :slight_smile:

I think my tone was a bit misunderstood there… I am not disheartened at all :slight_smile:

I have quite a few plans on how to improve my current bot over the next 6 weeks or so before the next tournament. I actually had them already before this tournament, but I decided to instead focus on having something stable that consistently beat the reference bot even under randomized match conditions. I have that, so now it’s simply improving it via the Ultron Effect as you put it.

Having a real life with kids and friends just gets in the way a lot :wink: