A paper is a self-replicating program which spawns off multiple copies of itself and executes them in parallel. Modern papers are normally small, resilient, score well against stones and lose to scanners. Papers are often paired with other components, for example paper/stone and paper/imp.
Looping Paper
Early self-replicating programs used a simple loop to copy themselves before splitting to the new copy. Looping papers are only effective against modern warriors in a limited process environment. The first looping paper won the International Core War Tournament for Chip Wendell in September 1986.
step equ 5620
paper mov #5, #0
copy mov <paper, {dest
jmn copy, paper
spl >paper, {-1277
dest jmz step, *0
Silk Paper
A silk paper uses parallel processes to spawn a copy of itself without looping and
splits to the new copy before it's actually been copied. The code for the new copy is
placed just before it's executed. The heart of a silk paper is the
SPL
/MOV
pair which splits and copies. The first silk paper
was demonstrated by Juha Pohjalainen in August 1994.
step1 equ 4832
step2 equ 3416
step3 equ 3600
spl 2 ; 6 parallel processes
spl 1
spl 1
papera spl @papera, >step1
mov }papera, >papera
paperb spl @paperb, >step2
mov }paperb, >paperb
mov {paperb, <paperc
paperc djn.f @paperc, >step3
Sunset Paper
A sunset-style paper copies itself using parallel processes and a split before copy technique similar to silk. When sunset overwrites an opponent its self check make it difficult for the opponent's processes to correctly execute sunset's code. The first example was published by David Moore in June 2003.
step equ 1092
spl 1 ; 4 parallel processes (must be even)
spl 1
paper spl step, {src
mov }src, }paper
src mov *paper+4, }paper ; must be exactly processes/2 lines after paper
jmz.f @paper+1, *src
Example Papers
Note Paper and FlyPaper 3.0 are examples of 88 style papers.
Hector 2 and Blizzard are pure silk papers.
TimeScape (1.0) is a silk paper that bombs with empty core.
Revenge of the Papers is a silk paper with anti-imp clear.
Phq,
unrequited love,
La Bomba
and
Barrage
are silk papers with DAT
bombs.
nPaper II
,
slime test 1.00 and
The Art of CoreWar
are silk papers with anti-imp MOV
bombs.
Sputnik is an example of a paper with a satellite clear.
Further Reading
- Analysis of Silk Warriors." Steve's Guide for Beginners 13 (2 May 1996). . "
- Replicators (part 1)." Core Warrior 1 (16 Oct 1995). . "
- Replicators (part 2)." Core Warrior 3 (30 Oct 1995). . "
- Creating a Paper." Core Explorer 1 (16 Oct 2005). . "
- Creating a Competitive Paper." The '94 Warrior 11 (23 Jul 1994). . "
- Paper Experiments 1. Usenet newsgroup rec.games.corewar, 24 Dec 2005. .
- Paper Experiments 2. Usenet newsgroup rec.games.corewar, 13 Jan 2006. .
- Replicators (part 3)." Core Warrior 60 (11 Jul 1997). . "
- Exploring Replicators." Core Explorer 1 (16 Oct 2005). . "
- Paper Warriors." Intro to Art in '88: Paper — Stone — Scissors Trilogy KOTH.org, 1994. . "