Phase 2 balancing issues/changes

KyleMc · May 13, 2020, 9:45am

Hi everyone, if you have any balancing issues with the phase 2 release, please describe them here.

LouisLotter · May 13, 2020, 10:16am

I have not tested the cybertruck yet but from the description it seems a bit nasty. Dropping a truck in front of your opponent with no way for him to avoid it seems like not much fun. I know if he turns he will miss it but that means you will have to keep turning in the hopes your opponent uses his truck. Also the player in front will have first access to the truck powerup so will be able to get further in front and even block the other player from picking it up. But that’s just my first impression… Will have to test it and see.
Edit: Also the player that is behind more than 20 squares will not even know the player in front has picked up a cybertruck so will not know when to start dodging.

KyleMc · May 13, 2020, 10:49am

Hello @LouisLotter, the cyber truck will only appear next round, so you will have a turn where you see the cyber truck to give you an opportunity to react to it.

Hope that helps

LouisLotter · May 13, 2020, 11:26am

I’ll be honest I was really hoping for some sort of catchup mechanism to make matches more exciting. Like racing games of old.

scavanger · May 13, 2020, 11:48am

Hi Louis, you probably never saw the affects of the oil (because we were eating your dust) but this really played a part in slowing down the guy at the back by clogging up the optimal routes.
The walls will definitely have an impact (pardon the pun) as well as throwing a truck at your opponent.
I am a little disappointed that there is no health implications, still allowing someone to Juggernaut if they so wish.

marvijo · May 13, 2020, 11:50am

Hi, I didn’t see a CYBER_TRUCK_MAP_OBJECT in the game config, was it missed or am I missing something?

styphoiz · May 13, 2020, 12:10pm

State file not updated.

github.com

EntelectChallenge/2020-Overdrive/blob/master/game-engine/state-files.md


[← back to game rules](game-rules.md "The readme file that explain the game rules")

### Json File [*example*](./example-assets/state.json "An example of the JSON state file")

#### A file called "state.json", containing the following game details:
* currentRound → *The current round number.*
* maxRounds → *The maximum number of allowed rounds for this match.*
* player → *Your player's details:*
  * id → *The Id number of your player.*
  * position → *Your player's current position:*
    * y → *The current lane your player is in.*
    * x → *The current block down the track your player is in.*
  * speed → *Your player's current speed.*
  * state → *The state your player is in after the last command.*
  * powerups → *A list of powerups your player has collected.*
  * boosting → *Shows whether or not your player is currently using a boost*
  * boostCounter → *Shows the number of rounds left for which your player will remain in boosted speed*
* opponent → *Your opponent's details:*
  * id → *The Id number of your opponent.*

This file has been truncated. show original

KyleMc · May 13, 2020, 1:01pm

Hello @marvijo it does not appear as a map object, in the console output it would appear as a “C” and in the json output a block should have a boolean that tells you if it is occupied by a cybertruck or not.

I see we left out in the json response update to players. Will update this and do another release this evening.

Will revert once the release is out

KyleMc · May 13, 2020, 1:02pm

Hello @styphoiz will update this with the next release later this evening.

demaniak · May 13, 2020, 1:14pm

Well, fouling an optimal path for your opponent, and potentially killing opponent speed to 3 for the next round does have the flavor of ketchup.

KyleMc · May 13, 2020, 5:47pm

Hello @styphoiz and @marvijo we have a new starter pack out Announcements

LouisLotter · May 13, 2020, 6:58pm

Hi, I notice that the spawn percentages are as follows in the starter pack (lizard seems missing)
“MUD_GENERATION_PERCENTAGE”: 10,
“BOOST_GENERATION_PERCENTAGE”: 1,
“OIL_ITEM_GENERATION_PERCENTAGE”: 1,
“WALL_GENERATION_PERCENTAGE”: 5,
“TWEET_GENERATION_PERCENTAGE”: 1,
The old percentages was as follows:
“MUD_GENERATION_PERCENTAGE”: 10,
“BOOST_GENERATION_PERCENTAGE”: 1,
“OIL_ITEM_GENERATION_PERCENTAGE”: 1,

This means that the chance for any square to be empty went down from 88 % to
81 percent.
After watching some races by the reference bot it’s become clear that the map is way more
hectic now.
Is this intended ?

KyleMc · May 13, 2020, 7:28pm

Hello @LouisLotter I am concerned about the LIZARD_GENERATION_PERCENTAGE not being present, it should be 1. Will investigate that.

As for the map being more intense, yes, that is the intention

WillieTheron · May 14, 2020, 5:00am

Hey, These are amazing and the game will surely change here.

I see I will have some work. I think this update is great because it allows front and back targeting. Have not tested. But if I see any balancing issues I will let you know.

At first glance this offers a fix to many of the issues I had with catchup as well as mud and oil not having that much value. Theres some pretty great stuff here. These powerups work extremely well together. And even untested I see an “optimum” solution to the challenge. I believe matches will get even faster now.

My comments (As someone who was unfortunate and could not partake in Event 1)
A long story about a comment in my Bot.JSON.

This event will be great, Im really amped for event 2.

WillieTheron · May 14, 2020, 5:13am

Balancing Request:
Can we strip Enemy play from the logs?

Event 2 will be a major strategy orientated challenge and I see some amazing things.
I just feel if we allow users free access to enemy logs that a lot of strategy will be copied.

This does go both ways. Like… Nobody can see my tactics and I cant see theirs.

I do feel as things are now matches are too open and I (or some other contestant) might work out optimum powerup usage only to have other players copy it after event 2.

Because of the new updates I feel this needs some addressing.
II feel match logs should be about tweaking your bot against your weaknesses, Not tweaking it against your opponent’s strengths. This is mainly applicable on players in the top 8 whose looking for those minor cases that gives them an edge. Just some concerns.

LouisLotter · May 14, 2020, 7:09am

I disagree with this request. The logs create a really nice way for participants to improve their bots and understand what may have gone wrong. In my opinion it is the best change entelect has made to the contest. If you really feel you have some key strategies that may give you an edge I’d advise you to only use them in the third tournament when no one can change their bots anymore. I for one won’t do that because I’d prefer as much competition as possible.

Leon · May 15, 2020, 3:59pm

Hi, can you please add all the scoring rules to the documentation. The rules given here https://github.com/EntelectChallenge/2020-Overdrive/blob/2020.2.0/game-engine/game-rules.md seem incomplete. The line ‘Using a powerup will increase your score by’ implies that powerups has an effect on score but doesn’t give the rule.

Where can I find the documentation of what the columns in “match_log/date/player - A.csv” means?

demaniak · May 15, 2020, 5:19pm

Hi @Leon .

I think there is an open issue for adding the headers.

Meanwhile, here is how I have it:

Round, ? , Lane, Block, Speed, State, Is Boosting, Remaining Boost Counter, ? , ? , Score

kobus-v-schoor · May 22, 2020, 8:31am

Hi, I’ve opened an issue on github regarding the issue but I’m posting here as well since the balancing freeze is approaching. Can we please get clarification around what would happen if both cars could hit a cybertruck? As far as I can currently tell from the game-engine this seems to be undefined behaviour (player located first in memory hits the cybertruck, other player doesn’t). Linked issue here:

japes · May 22, 2020, 12:58pm

There’s another edge case which favours player 1 (I think): both players lizarding and landing in the same spot. If I understand the code correctly, player 2 will always be placed behind player 1 if this happens.