I started off with a very simple bot (banshee.mini.Nexus6), dusting off my math skills in the development process (who would think one forgets trigonometry so fast...?). The important thing is the rule I imposed on self at the beginning of development: I don't peek into others' code (or at least at the very minimum...), I want to implement all basic to intermediate stuff: (from linear, circular guns, to 'prediction' systems: surfing or bullet avoidance in general, targeting based on statistical analysis) all by myself. Only after that phase I'll look for others' ideas to stea^Wborrow :-)
This approach, I believe, will give me most fun while robocoding. On the other hand though, this probably greatly delays the moment my bots will pose any serious threat, but that's something my ego can live with for a while :-) But don't taunt me, please, if my next few releases keep hanging around 400 ;-)
Cheers and thanks for the welcome! :-) -- Anshee
Anytime. =) Here's a couple things I'd like to point out:
Again, welcome! =)
Edit: One more thing - if you change your name in the [Preferences] page, it will appear on the Changes log and the View other revisions page.
-- AaronR
Welcome! Don't be afraid to be 'slow' on improvements. It took me two-and-a-half years before I earned the membership of the prestigious The2000Club. Learning it like I did makes you keen of little details that get more important once you rise in the rankings. -- GrubbmGait
I first learned of Robocode from a friend who also said that once he started looking at other peoples' code, all the fun went away. I started coding Ugluk in .. (checks the source code backup for Ugluk v0.0.1) October 2nd, 2005. So two years now, though I take breaks on occasion. The highest I've reached ratings wise is ~1840, but it's 100% me. If not, it wouldn't really be mine. -- Martin / Ugluk
Welcome to the wiki! It seems everybody brings their own style as to how they most enjoy Robocode. As for me, I am an advocate of OpenSource code (and all of my bots are), but I also find myself far less likely to peek at competitors' code as time goes on. I sort of see Robocode as a similar field to mathematics - few (if any?) mathematicians can become experts without studying the work of those who came before. I also think it's a great idea to start with more basic methods before working up to WaveSurfing and statistical targeting methods; sometimes I look back at the time when I was working my way through the early stuff as almost more fun than anything since. In any case, enjoy and feel free to ask questions. Cheers, -- Voidious