.xX$$x. .x$$$$$$$x. d$$$$$$$$$$$ ,$$$$$$$P' `P' , . $$$$$$P' ' .d b $$$$$P b ,$$x ,$$x ,$$x ,$$b $$. Y$$$$' `$. $$$$$$. $$$$$$ $$P~d$. d$$$b d d$$$ `$$$$ ,$$ $$$$$$$b $$$P `$ $$$b.$$b `Y$$$d$d$$$' . . a . a a .aa . a `$$$ ,$$$,$$' `$$$ $$$' ' $$P$XX$' `$$$$$$$$$ .dP' `$'$ `$'$ , $''$ `$'$ `Y$b ,d$$$P `$b,d$P' `$$. `$$. , `$$P $$$' Y $. $ $ $ Y..P $ `$$$$$$$' $$$P' `$$b `$$$P `P `$' `Y'k. $. $. $. $$' $. Issue 28 May 6, 1996 ______________________________________________________________________________ Core Warrior is a weekly newsletter promoting the game of corewar. Emphasis is placed on the most active hills--currently the '94 draft hill and the beginner hill. Coverage will follow where ever the action is. If you have no clue what I'm talking about then check out these five-star internet locals for more information: FAQs are available by anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu as pub/usenet/news.answers/games/corewar-faq.Z FTP site is: ftp.csua.berkeley.edu /pub/corewar Web pages are at: http://www.stormking.com/~koth ;Stormking http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~pizza/koth ;Pizza http://pauillac.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/ ;Planar Newbies should check the stormking page for the FAQ, language specification, guides, and tutorials. Post questions to rec.games.corewar. All new players are infinitely welcome! If ftp.csua.berkeley.edu is still out of service, you can download pMARS at: Terry's web page--http://www.infi.net/~wtnewton/corewar/ Planar fpt site--ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/pmars ______________________________________________________________________________ Greetings. There has been much discussion in the newsgroup about the multi-warrior hill. However, maybe the core war community should make some decisions on previous issues first. Should we eliminate self fights? How can we prevent rampart testing from artificially inflating warrior ages? These are two questions I'd like to see decided one way or the other. Maybe an ambitious soul could set up a forms web page that would let players vote yes or no and add comments, then display the results as they arrive. Then undecided players could review each author's vote and opinion, and add their own. Of course the ultimate power of decision lies with Thos and Tuc, but I'm sure they will conform to whatever the community as a whole decides. --M R Bremer ______________________________________________________________________________ Current Status of the Internet Pizza Server ICWS '94 Draft Hill: Hill Specs: coresize: 8000 max. processes: 8000 duration: after 80,000 cycles, a tie is declared. max. entry length: 100 minimum distance: 100 rounds fought: 200 instruction set: ICWS '94 Draft # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 48/ 41/ 11 Wind-up Toy v1.2c Ian Oversby 155 4 2 45/ 40/ 15 Scanny Boy David van Dam 149 382 3 42/ 35/ 23 Thermite II Robert Macrae 149 1552 4 43/ 37/ 21 The Core Clear V1.3 David van Dam 149 67 5 42/ 36/ 22 testb1> Maurizio Vittuari 148 1 6 41/ 36/ 24 T.N.T. pro Maurizio Vittuari 145 17 7 40/ 36/ 24 testb1<< Maurizio Vittuari 145 2 8 29/ 14/ 57 Hazy Shade II John K W 143 511 9 41/ 38/ 21 Grilled Octopus v0.5 David Boeren 143 768 10 32/ 20/ 48 Impfinity v4g1 Planar 143 1751 11 43/ 43/ 14 Stepping Stone Kurt Franke 143 365 12 39/ 35/ 27 La Bomba 1.3 Beppe Bezzi 143 123 13 34/ 24/ 42 Walk Like An Egyptian John K W 143 110 14 40/ 38/ 22 Chameleon M R Bremer 142 1023 15 40/ 38/ 21 Blanket Party J E Long 142 276 16 27/ 11/ 62 EvolCap XI John Wilkinson 142 261 17 40/ 38/ 22 Gem of the Ocean P.Kline 142 421 18 40/ 38/ 22 Flimsy v0.4a Ian Oversby 141 65 19 32/ 25/ 42 test P.Kline 140 7 20 42/ 45/ 13 Solomon v0.3 Ian Oversby 139 164 21 39/ 40/ 21 Test Anton Marsden 139 8 22 37/ 34/ 29 Tornado 3.0 Beppe 139 1353 23 40/ 41/ 20 Mirage 2 Anton Marsden 138 318 24 35/ 33/ 32 Flurry Anton Marsden 138 513 25 34/ 48/ 18 gtest P.Kline 121 6 Weekly age: 78 ( 53 last week ) New warriors 9 Turnover/age rate 12% Average age: 403 ( 464 last week, 424 the week before ) Average score: 142 ( 142 last week, 141 the week before ) The top 25 warriors are represented by 13 authors, JKW, Oversby, Vittuari, and Kline all with 3, van Dam, Bezzi, and Marsden with 2. Newcomers Boeren, than van Dam, and now Oversby decide to take the hill by force as Ian's Wind-up Toy vXXX has had its share of the top position. But Ian gets a slap on the wrist for having three versions of Flimsy on the hill earlier this week pushing off Morrell's lone warrior Blue Funk 5. Speaking of push offs, the 94 hill has lost venerable T.N.T. at the grand age of 1204. Scanny Boy is still strong, often sharing the king position. It usually moves around in the top 3, only rarely dipping below that. Thermite II is also stronger than ever, never falling below tenth place and more often in fifth or so. Other 1000+ warriors have been having troubles--Chameleon bounces around a lot, but is proving to be rather resilient. Tornado, on the other hand, has seen its share of rough times lately, dropping as low as 24th in the rankings. While Maurizio may be mourning the loss of T.N.T., he has been busy with T.N.T. pro ( kind of like the Pentium and the Pentium Pro ). The cluster of MV tests surrounding T.N.T. pro suggests some slight variations on the base design. Mirage 2 has been in both 1st and 25th place this week. When The Core Clear V1.3 was introduced, Mirage fell from 2nd to 11th place. Jumping up or down 9 spots seems common for Marsden's program lately. Although there were 78 successful challenges this week, 44 of them were test warriors. ______________________________________________________________________________ 94 - What's New # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 2 40/ 38/ 22 The Core Clear V1.3 David van Dam 143 1 7 38/ 37/ 26 Flimsy v0.4a Ian Oversby 139 1 2 40/ 36/ 24 T.N.T. pro Maurizio Vittuari 144 1 21 38/ 43/ 19 Test Anton Marsden 134 1 15 31/ 25/ 44 test P.Kline 138 1 24 33/ 48/ 19 gtest P.Kline 119 1 1 49/ 41/ 11 Wind-up Toy v1.2c Ian Oversby 156 1 5 39/ 37/ 24 testb1<< Maurizio Vittuari 141 1 5 42/ 36/ 22 testb1> Maurizio Vittuari 148 1 ______________________________________________________________________________ 94 - What's No More # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 26 2/ 2/ 1 coal 3.1 bjoern guenzel 5 5 26 28/ 36/ 35 silkworm v3.2 Brian Haskin 121 4 26 34/ 40/ 25 T.N.T. Maurizio Vittuari 128 1204 26 29/ 33/ 37 Blue Funk 5 Steven Morrell 125 624 26 2/ 2/ 0 The Core Clear V1.2 David van Dam 6 27 26 1/ 2/ 0 Wind-up Toy v0.7 Ian Oversby 4 174 26 2/ 1/ 1 prova Maurizio Vittuari 7 475 26 32/ 33/ 35 Lithium John K Wilkinson 130 523 26 37/ 46/ 17 Naked dancer Beppe Bezzi 129 72 ______________________________________________________________________________ 94 - What's Old # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 13 31/ 21/ 48 Impfinity v4g1 Planar 140 1754 2 42/ 35/ 23 Thermite II Robert Macrae 149 1555 22 36/ 35/ 29 Tornado 3.0 Beppe 137 1356 7 41/ 38/ 21 Chameleon M R Bremer 144 1026 8 41/ 38/ 21 Grilled Octopus v0.5 David Boeren 144 771 23 35/ 34/ 32 Flurry Anton Marsden 135 516 10 29/ 15/ 56 Hazy Shade II John K W 142 514 20 38/ 40/ 22 Gem of the Ocean P.Kline 137 424 3 45/ 41/ 15 Scanny Boy David van Dam 149 385 9 43/ 43/ 14 Stepping Stone Kurt Franke 143 368 16 40/ 40/ 20 Mirage 2 Anton Marsden 140 321 Two new entries in the over 300: Stepping Stone and Mirage 2 ______________________________________________________________________________ HALL OF FAME * means the warrior is still active. Pos Name Author Age Strategy 1 Impfinity v4g1 Planar 1754 * Stone/ imp 2 Jack in the box Beppe Bezzi 1620 P-warrior 3 Thermite II Robert Macrae 1555 * Qscan -> bomber 4 Torch t18 P.Kline 1539 Bomber 5 Frontwards v2 Steven Morrell 1420 One shot scanner 6 Tornado 3.0 Beppe Bezzi 1356 * Bomber 7 Evol Cap 6.6 John Wilkinson 1299 Imp / stone 8 quiz Schitzo 1262 Scanner/ bomber 9 T.N.T. Maurizio Vittuari 1204 Bomber 10 Chameleon Myer R Bremer 1026 * P-warrior 11 Iron Gate 1.5 Wayne Sheppard 926 CMP scanner 12 Agony II Stefan Strack 912 CMP scanner 13 Barrage Anton Marsden 876 Qscan -> replicator 14 Blue Funk Steven Morrell 869 Stone/ imp 15 Thermite 1.0 Robert Macrae 802 Qscan -> bomber 16 Grilled Octopus v0.5 David Boeren 771 * P-warrior 17 Blue Funk 3 Steven Morrell 766 Stone/ imp 18 Night Train Karl Lewin 755 Replicator 19 Mirage 1.5 Anton Marsden 736 Scanner/ bomber 20 Blizzard Anton Marsden 713 Qscan -> replicator 21 HeremScimitar A.Ivner,P.Kline 666 Bomber 22 La Bomba Beppe Bezzi 650 Qscan -> replicator 23 myVamp v3.7 Paulsson 643 Vampire 24 Blue Funk 5 Steven Morrell 624 Stone/ imp 25 Hazy Shade Of Winter John Wilkinson 616 P-warrior No new entries into the hall, but two warrior, T.N.T and Blue Funk 5, were pushed off the hill this week thus locking in their place in the hall of fame. Flurry would be the next warrior to enter currently at 516. ______________________________________________________________________________ Current Status of the Internet Pizza Server Beginner's Hill: Hill Specs: coresize: 8000 max. processes: 8000 duration: after 80,000 cycles, a tie is declared. max. entry length: 100 minimum distance: 100 maximum age: At age 100, warriors are retired. rounds fought: 200 instruction set: ICWS '94 Draft # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 57/ 30/ 13 Violent Micro v0.4 basehead 183 30 2 52/ 31/ 17 coal 3.22b bjoern guenzel 173 13 3 52/ 34/ 14 Extreme Prejudice Scott Manley 171 7 4 44/ 26/ 30 Reluctance Andy Nevermind 162 63 5 49/ 39/ 12 frogskin 4 bjoern guenzel 159 41 6 48/ 37/ 15 why bjoern guenzel 159 88 7 42/ 25/ 33 Fork v0.1-10p Christoph C. Birk 159 10 8 47/ 37/ 16 x-frog 2 bjoern guenzel 158 57 9 47/ 39/ 14 Bloodhound Andrew Fabbro 155 55 10 45/ 38/ 17 magic ruby 0.1k bjoern guenzel 151 1 11 42/ 34/ 23 Toxin III Edgar 151 24 12 41/ 31/ 28 Toxin III Edgar 150 25 13 37/ 28/ 35 So Long Hyakutake Scott Manley 147 9 14 34/ 24/ 42 Toxin Edgar 144 54 15 39/ 41/ 20 bScan test Iain Hogg 138 8 16 39/ 41/ 20 Bye Bye Badman v1.1 Iain Hogg 136 67 17 30/ 24/ 47 waves bjoern guenzel 136 27 18 33/ 30/ 37 Toxin II Edgar 136 53 19 37/ 45/ 18 pScan test Iain Hogg 130 6 20 33/ 40/ 27 test 0.01 Christoph C. Birk 125 3 21 32/ 39/ 29 C Seagal II v 2.0 Test jShelton 124 62 22 35/ 51/ 14 Centurion XIV Edgar 120 26 23 37/ 58/ 5 SideWinder Julian 116 40 24 31/ 47/ 22 Forked Lite Ning 4.1 Ansel Greenwood Serm 114 82 25 30/ 49/ 21 Killer Ian Oversby 111 60 Just 16 challenges! And only 28 last week, which is understandable as many universities had semester exams the last few weeks. Some of the new traffic include a couple of warriors by Scott Manley and bjoern guenzel. Both authors, in addition to Christopher Birk, were seen on the 94 hill briefly. Hopefully, everyone who has finished with college for the year will have net access and plenty a free time in the summer to code. ______________________________________________________________________________ The Hint The Bomber Killer by M R Bremer There was a day long ago where paper actually beat stone, even beat stone-imp combos to some extent. Check out these paper scores against classic stones. Both paper are designed to kill bomber-imps. Match Stick is an '88 warrior by c w blue. Silk Warrior is, you got it, where the term 'silk' comes from written by J. Pohjalainen. ( He also created the TimeScape replicating engine. ) juliet storm ImpsAreMyFriend Match Stick 35/ 4/61 (166) 54/17/29 (191) Silk Warrior 35/ 1/64 (169) 64/ 4/32 (224) Against modern bombers, neither stands a chance. T.N.T. CIA Thermite 1.0 Torch t18 Match Stick 23/68/ 9 ( 78) 15/85/ 0 ( 45) 2/79/19 ( 25) 9/79/12 ( 39) Silk Warrior 28/40/32 (116) 26/49/25 (103) 26/51/23 (101) 18/60/22 ( 76) How to deal with these petulent creatures? The bomb dodger of course. Scan for an opponent's bomb, copy yourself around that location and pray that the rest of the bombing pattern falls around you, and voila--the bomb dodger. Extracting the bomb dodger from Gem of the Ocean gives this: Clisson sne {watch1,{watch1 ; Clisson to beat fast bombers jmz.f -1,@(datone+40) add.a #3,watch1 mov -step,step+1 ;hit add emerald,stone cnt djn.f stone, or Myer Bremer