Vyper

Bot Name

Vyper (Yes, it's spelled with a Y)

Author

Kev.

History

• 0.311 rated ?
  • Shrunk code size.
  • A couple very small changes that will hopefully get one more point.
    • Last enemy velocity set to 0 at the beginning of each round.
    • Waves removed when the enemy dies.
    • Minuscule tweaks to distancing and bullet power.
• 0.31 rated 1999, ranked 4 (5 PL) mini and rated 1929, ranked 37 (42 PL) mega.
  • Changed random movement, now it's exactly the same as Thorn.
• 0.3 rated 1987, ranked 4 (6 PL) mini and rated 1920, ranked 37 (42 PL) mega.
  • Cleaned up / improved some stuff.
  • Shrunk code size (I think it still could be a lot smaller though).
  • Gun is now double buffered.
• 0.231 rated 1973, ranked 4 (9 PL) mini and rated 1894, ranked 41 (40 PL) mega.
  • Only 4 distance segments.
  • Fixed wall avoidance problem.
• 0.23 pulled.
  • A few minor gun improvements.
  • Tweaked movement - I don't think RandomMovement can get much flatter than this.
• 0.22 rated 1981, ranked 4 (5 PL) mini and rated 1902, ranked 36 (43 PL) mega.
  • Added rolling again.
  • Lighter energy management.
  • Freed some extra code space.
• 0.21 rated 1963, ranked 5 (7 PL) mini and rated 1884, ranked 42 (48 PL) mega (no real change).
  • Back to old wave weighting.
  • Tweaked segmentation.
  • Filled up extra codesize with better energy management and victory dance.
  • Edit: It turns out the extra space came from me accidentally deleting a fairly important line of code :P. Version 0.21b added the code again at the expense of the victory dance.
• 0.2 rated 1963, ranked 5 (7 PL) mini and rated 1885, ranked 42 (44 PL) mega.
  • Real waves rated twice as high.
  • Improved anti-linear behavior.
  • Gun no longer rolls averages.
  • Minor energy management changes.
  • Change in distancing.
• 0.11 rated 1956, ranked 6 (5 PL) mini and rated 1882, ranked 42 (36 PL) mega.
  • Fixed bugs in energy management.
  • Some tweaking to movement.
• 0.1 rated ?
  • Initial release

Extends

AdvancedRobot.

What's special about it?

It is my first competitive MiniBot.

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

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/pclark/kc.mini.Vyper_0.311.jar

How competitive is it?

It looks like one of the top minis (currently ranked 4), although it isn't as strong as the WaveSurfing ones.

How does it move?

It is a MultiMode robot with the MusashiTrick (to beat HeadOnTargeting), StopNGo movement (to beat LinearTargeting), and RandomMovement against everything else. Very similar to Puzzle's movement.

How does it fire?

It uses a double buffered GuessFactor gun similar to WaveSerpent's.

How does it dodge bullets?

It only dodges simple targeters.

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

It doesn't have any melee capabilities.

What does it save between rounds and matches?

It saves its movement mode and targeting data between rounds, nothing between matches.

Where did you get the name?

A Vyper is another type of sci-fi tank, similar to a WaveSerpent, but smaller.

Can I use your code?

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

What's next for your robot?

I'd love to see Vyper get into the mini 2000club without surfing. I think it already is the strongest non-surfing bot in the rumble.

Does it have any WhiteWhales?

Rammers give Vyper some trouble.

What other robot(s) is it based on?

The movement is very similar to Puzzle's, with the RandomMovement coming directly from Thorn, and the gun is similar to WaveSerpent's. Besides that, I looked to Raiko for code size reducing tricks.

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Comments, questions, feedback:

Seems like a very strong mini, pushing me out of the top-50. Do you know what it scores are in the WaveSurfingChallenge2K6. -- GrubbmGait

Unfortunately, the current version of Vyper gets cornered occasionally by the challenge bots, resulting in a very sad score. When I have a better version, I'll release the MovementChallenge2K6 scores for Vyper. -- Kev

Congrats on this awesome mini! Quite an entrance to the MiniBot rankings at 1950+. It's cool to see new bots making their ways up in both mega and mini classes. And on a side-note, just be sure not to optimize for the MovementChallenge too much... I think I did that once with Dookious. I had some complex anti-getting-cornered code; removing it decreased my MC scores, but increased my rating. Good luck hitting that mini-2K barrier ;) -- Voidious

Thanks! I'm very happy with its rank, but the 2K barrier is a long way off, especially with a non - WaveSurfing bot. The problem with Vyper's MovementChallenge2K6 scores was that it stops using anti-simple movement modes when it dies, making it use RandomMovement after an unlucky encounter with WaveSurfingChallengeBotB or C. However, everything I do to fix it is either too much code size or doesn't work, so I'll work on the gun for now. -- Kev

It's awfully close: 1999.69 after 1204 battles. I'll cross my fingers for you! -- GrubbmGait

Wow, switching to just Thorn's movement is improving your score? Nice. I'm guessing that's saving you some codesize, too, right? I wouldn't have thought that an RM bot could do so well. Stop & go is so effective, yet such a simple concept ... -- Simonton

Ahhh... so close. This reminds me of when WaveSerpent was stuck at 1999 :). The new movement is pretty strong, but weaker against good guns than the old one. I'm finding out that a higher reverse chance usually increases the scores against top guns and decreases it against the weak ones (I've no idea why though). Hopefully the next release will find that last point... -- Kev

You did it, congrats! I'd add you but I gotta get to bed, feel free to add yourself though. =) -- Voidious

Very awesome, making the 2k club, any 2k club with a non-surfer is very impressive. --Chase-san