Use this thread to discuss the WarLight AI Challenge. http://blog.warlight.net/index.php/2014/03/announcing-the-warlight-ai-challenge/

so if i can't write C, C#, C++, Go, Java, PHP or Python = i can't join?

If you want to use a different language, you should suggest it.

English?

I dont know anything about writing computer code but I could write a list of rules in the form if ___ then ___ to beat most of these bots, i took a quick look and they fucking *suck*

If you sketch out your algorithms in english/pseudocode, I'm sure you could find someone that would help you turn it into code. People say Python is basically pseudocode anyway.

why picking mechanism and move order are different than in warlight's? as far as i can understand picking logic, this:

move1 bot1 -> move1 bot2 -> move2 bot1 -> move2 bot2 -> move3 bot2 -> move3 bot1

is looking strange.

Hmm, you're right. That could be a typo. You should post that on their discussion forums and see if they fix it.

how exactly do you "write an AI bot"? seems fun, but i dont have any experience in programming and such :)

Learn to program: https://www.khanacademy.org/cs/programming

Edited 3/18/2014 08:12:27

my brain cannot possibly learn all that soon. it would take months

It sucks that it's announced so late and without any notice.. Its far to late to learn to program right now..

There are so meny great players who don't know how to program..

Edit: i see the few bots which were created early are already playing.. That means the later entries will enter with score handicap . Thats counterproductive as well..

Edited 3/18/2014 09:20:40

It sucks that it's announced so late

This is the very first contest, and it's still two months away. Plus there will be more contests after this one is over. It's just getting started -- it's not too late at all.

i see the few bots which were created early are already playing

The site's been in development for over a year. I don't know why it took so long, but it's received very little traffic/attention until now. As Piggy noted, most of the bots suck. I'm pretty sure it's not too late at all :)

That means the later entries will enter with score handicap

Right now it's just in the learning/experimenting mode. When the actual competition starts, it will be a tournament-style competition from scratch. The scores that you see now are just for improving your bot and won't impact the finals.

Edited 3/18/2014 09:30:54

Interesting.

I see one of the bots is already up to version 332, so I suppose they have been playing for a while :) I'd have guessed it was far too late too, but I saw the best bot in action and it did play important parts of the game at 5 income needlessly, so there's certainly room for much better bots. Question is of course whether anyone here at WL can make a better one in five weeks than these guys have done in a year. If finals were in October or something, I would have given it a go, but since they're right around the corner I don't think I'll have time for meaningful participation.

Do you think other bots than the standard AI will ever be allowed on WarLight?

Also: Is it played at 100% luck?

Edited 3/18/2014 09:46:40

If anyone can code and wants to split the money i will write you pseudo code in english. Im sure we will absolutely clean up.

I will keep it nice and simple. I read some posts in their forum from coders trying to win and I understand why their bots are so bad, none of them can actually play for shit. They are writing about the importance of scouting when most of their bots dont realise that if they can see all the territories of a bonus the no1 priority is completing that bonus. That is warlight 101.

Uh, mail me.

Question is of course whether anyone here at WL can make a better one in five weeks

The finals were recently pushed out - they aren't until the end of May. There might be a reference still on the site for the earlier date but if there is, it's wrong.

I'd bet that the winner of this competition will be a WarLight player, just because you guys understand the game better. But we'll see :)

I see one of the bots is already up to version 332, so I suppose they have been playing for a while

While bots can be tested locally, I think most people are just uploading their code to the server after every change. And even if your code doesn't build or has a significant bug, it still increments the version. As anyone who codes knows, it doesn't take much to get to 332 builds of an app when you're rapidly iterator. One could easily get this high in an hour or two. So a high version doesn't necessarily mean that it's been in progress for a while.

Edited 3/18/2014 10:14:59

i and some friends have read a bit and i cant find out how we can test our bots in privat. can you help me?

i cant find out how we can test our bots in privat.

I think most people are just uploading their bots to the server and testing them there. Also, you can copy/paste a game log into your local console to test a specific game against your bot locally.

But if you really want to run complete games from scratch on your own PC, you can download their build engine code and run it locally. See this post: http://theaigames.com/discussions/warlight-ai-challenge/52f4a5d65d203c41298b456b/conquest-engine-source-code/1/show

This can be useful if you want to run different versions of your bot against each other.

Edited 3/18/2014 10:45:16

Thanks :D

There is no fee to enter and the site has no ads. Where is this prize money coming from?

If I knew how to write an AI that were on par with top human warlight players, I would be a millionaire, probably even a billionaire. It's much more complex a task than what you would think.

That aside, writing an AI that can beat other AI's is much easier.