SeaSerpent

Bot Name

SeaSerpent

Author

Kev

History

• 0.2: rated 2035, ranked 19 (7 PL).
  • Gun tweaked to hit surfers.
  • Uses WaveSerpent 1.2's movement.
• 0.1: rated 1989, ranked 22 (20 PL).
  • Initial release.
  • Uses WaveSerpent 1.101's movement.

Extends

AdvancedRobot.

What's special about it?

Its gun.

Great, I want to try it. Where can I download it?

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/pclark/kc.serpent.SeaSerpent_0.2.jar

How competitive is it?

It looks like it will be pretty competitive; it has one of the best PatternMatching guns ever made and uses WaveSerpent's strong movement. However, the gun still can't compete with good statistical ones yet.

How does it move?

The same as WaveSerpent.

How does it fire?

SeaSerpent uses a non-symbolic PatternMatching gun, matching on LateralVelocity and iterating the other robot's position using velocity and deltaheading. The pattern data is segmented on distance and wall proximity. It also uses MultipleChoice, considering up to 50 firing angles and shooting at the best one.

In melee battles it's still using WaveSerpent's GuessFactor gun.

How does it dodge bullets?

WaveSurfing.

How does the melee strategy differ from one-on-one strategy?

They're totally different.

How does it select a target to attack/avoid in melee?

It attacks the closest enemy with a tendancy to finish weak robots off, only switching targets when it has high gun heat.

What does it save between rounds and matches?

Pattern matching and surfing data between rounds.

Where did you get the name?

I wanted to keep it in the .serpent package, so SeaSerpent it is.

Can I use your code?

Sure, it's released under the terms of the RWPCL.

What's next for your robot?

That depends on how well it preforms. I might modify the targeting to give WaveSerpent a killer melee gun.

Does it have any WhiteWhales?

Probably... the biggest one I can think of now is Cigaret.

What other robot(s) is it based on?

WaveSerpent.

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Comments, questions, feedback:

The choice is obviously yours alone, but I just wanted to say I don't think there's any major reason you shouldn't leave SeaSerpent in the rumble permanently. There are plenty of bots with common movements out there, among some of the top bots (Ali and CC, Toad and X2 at one point and maybe still, RaikoMX and Virus) and plenty more moving down the ranks. I understand if you just feel it's a test bot, but I think you should feel free to leave it in if you'd like to. -- Voidious

It really doesn't make much of a difference to me. I just put it in the rumble as a test; I don't consider it as a competitive bot. I might leave it in for good next time I release it. -- Kev