WaveShark

Bot Name

WaveShark

Author

Kev

History

• 0.2, rated ?
  • Shrunk code size.
  • Uses a random/linear gun similar to Splinter's.
  • Doesn't adjust enemy energy when hit.
  • Removed acceleration segments.
  • Fires full power against rammers.
• 0.1, rated 1798, ranked 19 (20 PL)
  • Initial release.

Extends

AdvancedRobot.

What's special about it?

It fits decent WaveSurfing in a micro bot.

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

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/pclark/kc.micro.WaveShark_0.2.jar

How competitive is it?

It looks pretty strong, but not top level. The gun is very weak, and the surfing ironically does worse against simple targeters than stop and go. I wish micros were allowed to be 100 bytes bigger, then it would be scary.

How does it move?

Very shrunk WaveSurfing, segmented on velocity.

How does it fire?

A simple gun that switches randomly between linear and random targeting.

How does it dodge bullets?

Surfing.

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

It freaks out and dies in melee.

What does it save between rounds and matches?

Surfing data between rounds, nothing between matches.

Where did you get the name?

It (sort of) surfs like WaveSerpent, hence WaveShark.

Can I use your code?

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

What's next for your robot?

I'd like to see it pass Artist, another good micro bot that wave surfs. I also want to give it a better gun, but I don't know if it will be worth the decrease in movement performance.

Does it have any WhiteWhales?

RamBots are a huge problem. Even worse, it's currently won't hit MusashiTrick bots.

What other robot(s) is it based on?

None, there was no open source micro surfer to work off of.

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Comments, questions, feedback:

I read somewhere on here that people have tried WaveSurfing in micros with little luck - it's a very expensive thing to do. But with enough persistence and codesize tricks, I still wonder if it could revolutionize the micro field ... I may take a look at your source sometime & see if I get any great ideas :). (unless, of course, you break 2000, at which point I will definitely look and steal ... er ... get ideas) -- Simonton

Keep in mind that the surfing of GresSuffurd, a 2k-bot, is segmented on velocity only, so I think that improving the gun does pay of even in the micro-field. Anxious to see how it will do. -- GrubbmGait

I'd lose the segmentation all together, it might give you enough room to put a nano pattern matcher in there. -- Skilgannon

I think you have a point there. Having acceleration segments did better than having a good gun in my test, but those were against top micros like Thorn, which are harder to hit and better at shooting than most other bots. Also, if I got rid of segmentation, energy management, changing the enemy's energy from onHitByBullet?, rolling averages, and some other minor details, a nano pattern matcher would fit in WaveShark (although that might not be worth it). I guess those will be my next two releases in the micro rumble... -- Kev

I should stop giving advice to anyone that will beat me afterwards . . . Congrats with the best microsurfer! -- GrubbmGait