From: anton@paradise.net.nz (Anton Marsden) Subject: Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ) Date: 1999/08/01 Message-ID: Archive-name: games/corewar-faq Last-Modified: February 25, 1999 Version: 4.1 URL: http://www.paradise.net.nz/~anton/corewar-faq.html Copyright: (c) 1999 Anton Marsden Maintainer: Anton Marsden Posting-Frequency: once every 2 weeks Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ) These are the Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) from the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.corewar. A plain text version of this document is poste= d every two weeks. The latest hypertext version is available at http://www.paradise.net.nz/~anton/cw/corewar-faq.html and the latest plain text version is available at http://www.paradise.net.nz/~anton/cw/corewar-faq.txt. This document is currently being maintained by Anton Marsden (anton@paradise.net.nz). Last modified: Thu Feb 25 20:08:13 NZDT 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To Do * Add the new No-PSpace '94 hill location * Add online location of Dewdney's articles * Make question 17 easier to understand. Add a state diagram? * Add info about infinite hills, related games (C-Robots, Tierra?, ...) * New question: How do I know if my warrior is any good? Refer to beginners' benchmarks, etc. * Add a Who's Who list? * Would very much like someone to compile a collection of the "revolutionary" warriors so that beginners can see how the game has developed over the years. Mail me if interested. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What's New * Vector-launching code was fixed thanks to Ting Hsu. * Changed the location of Ryan Coleman's paper (LaunchPad -> Launchpad) * Changed pauillac.inria.fr to para.inria.fr * Made some changes/additions/fixes based on a good FAQ review by Joonas Pihlaja. Not all of the suggestions have been dealt with yet, but the FAQ is now less ambiguous in some areas. Thanks Joonas! * Added stuff about pMARS under Win95 (question 9), and the location of = a HTML version of the ICWS'94 draft (question 5) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents 1. What is Core War 2. Is it "Core War" or "Core Wars"? 3. Where can I find more information about Core War? 4. Core War has changed since Dewdney's articles. Where do I get a copy o= f the current instruction set? 5. What is ICWS'94? Which simulators support ICWS'94? 6. What is the ICWS? 7. What is Core Warrior? 8. Where are the Core War archives? 9. Where can I find a Core War system for ...? 10. Where can I find warrior code? 11. I do not have FTP. How do I get all this great stuff? 12. I do not have access to Usenet. How do I post and receive news? 13. Are there any Core War related WWW sites? 14. What is KotH? How do I enter? 15. Is it DAT 0, 0 or DAT #0, #0? How do I compare to core? 16. How does SLT (Skip if Less Than) work? 17. What is the difference between in-register and in-memory evaluation? 18. What is P-space? 19. What does "Missing ;assert .." in my message from KotH mean? 20. How should I format my code? 21. Are there any other Core War related resources I should know about? 22. What does (expression or term of your choice) mean? 23. Other questions? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. What is Core War? Core War is a game played by two or more programs (and vicariously by their authors) written in an assembly language called Redcode and run in a virtua= l computer called MARS (for Memory Array Redcode Simulator). The object of th= e game is to cause all processes of the opposing program to terminate, leavin= g your program in sole posession of the machine. There are Core War systems available for most computer platforms. Redcode has been standardised by the ICWS, and is therefore transportable between all standard Core War systems. The system in which the programs run is quite simple. The core (the memory of the simulated computer) is a continuous array of instructions, empty except for the competing programs. The core wraps around, so that after the last instruction comes the first one again. There are no absolute addresses in Core War. That is, the address 0 doesn't mean the first instruction in the memory, but the instruction that contains the address 0. The next instruction is 1, and the previous one obviously -1= =2E However, all numbers are treated as positive, and are in the range 0 to CORESIZE-1 where CORESIZE is the amount of memory locations in the core - this means that -1 would be treated as CORESIZE-1 in any arithmetic operations, eg. 3218 + 7856 =3D (3218 + 7856) mod CORESIZE. Many people get confused by this, and it is particularly important when using the SLT instruction. Note that the source code of a program can still contain negative numbers, but if you start using instructions like DIV #-2, #5 it i= s important to know what effect they will have when executed. The basic unit of memory in Core War is one instruction. Each Redcode instruction contains three parts: * the opcode * the source address (a.k.a. the A-field) * the destination address (a.k.a. the B-field) The execution of the programs is equally simple. The MARS executes one instruction at a time, and then proceeds to the next one in the memory, unless the instruction explicitly tells it to jump to another address. If there is more than one program running, (as is usual) the programs execute alternately, one instruction at a time. The execution of each instruction takes the same time, one cycle, whether it is MOV, DIV or even DAT (which kills the process). Each program may have several processes running. These processes are stored in a task queue. When it is the program's turn to execute an instruction it dequeues a process and executes the corresponding instruction. Processes that are not killed during the execution of the instruction are put back into the task queue. Processes created by a SPL instruction are added to th= e task queue after the creating process is put back into the task queue. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Is it "Core War" or "Core Wars"? Both terms are used. Early references were to Core War. Later references seem to use Core Wars. I prefer "Core War" to refer to the game in general, "core wars" to refer to more than one specific battle. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Where can I find more information about Core War? Core War was first described in the Core War Guidelines of March, 1984 by D= =2E G. Jones and A. K. Dewdney of the Department of Computer Science at The University of Western Ontario (Canada). Dewdney wrote several "Computer Recreations" articles in Scientific American which discussed Core War, starting with the May 1984 article. Those articles are contained in two anthologies: Library of Author Title Published ISBN Congress Call Number The Armchair Dewdney, Universe: An New York: W. QA76.6 .D517 A. K. Exploration of H. Freeman =A90-7167-1939-8 1988 Computer Worlds 1988 The Magic 0-7167-2125-2 Dewdney, Machine: A New York: W.(Hardcover), QA76.6 A. K. Handbook of H. Freeman =A90-7167-2144-9 .D5173 199= 0 Computer Sorcery 1990 (Paperback) A.K. Dewdney's articles are still the most readable introduction to Core War, even though the Redcode dialect described in there is no longer current. For those who are interested, Dewdney has a home page at http://www.csd.uwo.ca/faculty/akd/. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Core War has changed since Dewdney's articles. Where do I get a copy of the current instruction set? A draft of the official standard (ICWS'88) is available as ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/standards/redcode-icws-88.Z. This document is formatted awkwardly and contains ambiguous statements. For a more approachable intro to Redcode, take a look at Mark Durham's tutorials, ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/tutorial.1.Z and ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/tutorial.2.Z. Steven Morrell has prepared a more practically oriented Redcode tutorial that discusses different warrior classes with lots of example code. This an= d various other tutorials can be found at http://www.koth.org/papers.html. Even though ICWS'88 is still the "official" standard, you will find that most people are playing by ICWS'94 draft rules and extensions. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. What is ICWS'94? Which simulators support ICWS'94? There is an ongoing discussion about future enhancements to the Redcode language. A proposed new standard, dubbed ICWS'94, is currently being evaluated. A major change is the addition of "instruction modifiers" that allow instructions to modify A-field, B-field or both. Also new is a new addressing modes and unrestricted opcode and addressing mode combination ("no illegal instructions"). ICWS'94 is backwards compatible; i.e. ICWS'88 warriors will run correctly on an ICWS'94 system. Take a look at the ICWS'9= 4 draft at ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/icws94.0202.Z for more information. There is a HTML version of this document available at http://www.koth.org/info/icws94.html. You can try out the new standard by submitting warriors to the '94 hills of the KotH servers. Two corewar systems currently support ICWS'94, pMARS (many platforms) and Redcoder (Mac), both available at ftp://www.koth.org/corewar. Note that Redcoder onl= y supports a subset of ICWS'94. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. What is the ICWS? About one year after Core War first appeared in Scientific American, the "International Core War Society" (ICWS) was established. Since that time, the ICWS has been responsible for the creation and maintenance of Core War standards and the running of Core War tournaments. There have been six annual tournaments and two standards (ICWS'86 and ICWS'88). The ICWS is no longer active. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. What is Core Warrior? Following in the tradition of the Core War News Letter, Push Off, and The 9= 4 Warrior, Core Warrior is a newsletter about strategies and current standing= s in Core War. Started in October 1995, back issues of Core Warrior (and the other newsletters) are available at http://para.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/. There is also a Core Warrior index page at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/5427/warrior.htm which has a summary of the contents of each issue of Core Warrior. Many of the earlier issues contain useful information for beginners. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Where are the Core War archives? Many documents such as the guidelines and the ICWS standards along with previous tournament Redcode entries and complete Core War systems are available via anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/corewar. Also, most of past rec.games.corewar postings (including Redcode source listings) are archived there. Jon Blow (blojo@csua.berkeley.edu) is the archive administrator. When uploading to /pub/corewar/incoming, ask Jon to move your upload to the appropriate directory and announce it on the net. This site is mirrored at: * http://www.koth.org/corewar/ * ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/ * ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/mirror The plain text version of this FAQ is automatically archived by news.answer= s (but this version is probably out-of-date). [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Where can I find a Core War system for . . . ? Core War systems are available via anonymous FTP from www.koth.org in the corewar/systems directory. Currently, there are UNIX, IBM PC-compatible, Macintosh, and Amiga Core War systems available there. It is a good idea to check ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/incoming for program updates first. CAUTION! There are many, many Core War systems available which are NOT ICWS'88 (or even ICWS'86) compatible available at various archive sites other than www.koth.org. Generally, the older the program - the less likely it will be ICWS compatible. If you are looking for an ICWS'94 simulator, get pMARS, which is available for many platforms and can be downloaded from: * ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/corewar (original site) * ftp://www.koth.org/corewar (Stormking mirror) * ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/mirror (Planar mirror) * http://www.nc5.infi.net/~wtnewton/corewar/ (Terry Newton) * ftp://members.aol.com/ofechner/corewar (Fechter) Notes: * If you have trouble running pMARS with a graphical display under Win95 then check out http://www.koth.org/pmars.html which should have a pointer to the latest compilation of pMARS for this environment. * RPMs for the Alpha, PowerPC, Sparc and i386 can be found at ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/pmars-rpm/ Reviews of Core War systems would be greatly appreciated in the newsgroup and in the newsletter. Below is a not necessarily complete or up-to-date list of what's available at www.koth.org: MADgic41.lzh corewar for the Amiga, v4.1 MAD4041.lzh older version? MAD50B.lha corewar for the Amiga, beta version 5.0 Redcoder-21.hqx corewar for the Mac, supports ICWS'88 and '94 (without extensions) core-11.hqx corewar for the Mac core-wars-simulator.hqx same as core-11.hqx? corewar_unix_x11.tar.Z corewar for UNIX/X-windows, ICWS'86 but not ICWS'88 compatible koth31.tar.Z corewar for UNIX/X-windows. This program ran the former KotH server at intel.com koth.shar.Z older version kothpc.zip port of older version of KotH to the PC deluxe20c.tar.Z corewar for UNIX (broken X-windows or curses) and PC mars.tar.Z corewar for UNIX, likely not ICWS'88 compatible icons.zip corewar icons for MS-Windows macrored.zip a redcode macro-preprocessor (PC) c88v49.zip PC corewar, textmode display mars88.zip PC corewar, graphics mode display corwp302.zip PC corewar, textmode display, slowish mercury2.zip PC corewar written in assembly, fast! mtourn11.zip tournament scheduler for mercury (req. 4DOS) pmars08s.zip portable system, ICWS'88 and '94, runs on UNIX, PC, Mac, Amiga. C source archive pmars08s.tar.Z same as above pmars08.zip PC executables with graphics display, req 386+ macpmars02.sit.hqx pMARS executable for Mac (port of version 0.2) buggy, no display MacpMARS1.99a.cpt.hqx port of v0.8 for the Mac, with display and debugger MacpMARS1.0s.cpt.hqx C source (MPW, ThinkC) for Mac frontend pvms08.zip pMARS v0.8 for VMS build files/help (req. pmars08s.zip) ApMARS03.lha pMARS executable for Amiga (port of version 0.3.1) wincor11.zip MS-Windows system, shareware ($15) [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Where can I find warrior code? To learn the game, it is a good idea to study previously posted warrior code. The FTP archives have code in the ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/redcode directory. A clearly organized on-line warrior collection is available at the Core War web sites (see below). [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. I do not have FTP. How do I get all this great stuff? There is an FTP email server at bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu. This address may no longer exist. I haven't tested it yet. Send email with a subject and bod= y text of "help" (without the quotes) for more information on its usage. Note that many FTP email gateways are shutting down due to abuse. To get a current list of FTP email servers, look at the Accessing the Internet by E-mail FAQ posted to news.answers. If you don't have access to Usenet, you can retrieve this FAQ one of the following ways: * Send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the body containing "send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email". * Send mail to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk with the body containing "send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt". [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12. I do not have access to Usenet. How do I post and receive news? To receive rec.games.corewar articles by email, join the COREWAR-L list run on the Stormking.Com list processor. To join, send the message SUB COREWAR-L FirstName LastName to listproc@stormking.com. You can send mail to corewar-l@stormking.com to post even if you are not a member of the list. Responsible for the listserver is Scott J. Ellentuch (tuc@ttsg.com). Servers that allow you to post (but not receive) articles are available. Refer to the Accessing the Internet by E-Mail FAQ for more information. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13. Are there any Core War related WWW sites? You bet. Each of the two KotH sites sport a world-wide web server. Stormking's Core War page is http://www.koth.org; pizza's is http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~pizza/koth . Damien Doligez (a.k.a. Planar) has a web page that features convenient access to regular newsletters (Push Off, The '94 Warrior, Core Warrior) and a well organized library of warriors: http://para.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/. Convenient for U.S. users= , this site is also mirrored at Stormking. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14. What is KotH? How do I enter? King Of The Hill (KotH) is an ongoing Core War tournament available to anyone with email. You enter by submitting via email a Redcode program (warrior) with special comment lines. You will receive a reply indicating how well your program did against the current top programs "on the hill". There are two styles of KotH tournaments, "classical" and "multi-warrior". The "classical" KotH is a one-on-one tournament, that is your warrior will play 100 battles against each of the 20 other programs currently on the Hill. You receive 3 points for each win and 1 point for each tie. (The existing programs do not replay each other, but their previous battles are recalled.) All scores are updated to reflect your battles and all 21 programs are ranked from high to low. If you are number 21 you are pushed off the Hill, if you are higher than 21 someone else is pushed off. In "multi-warrior" KotH, all warriors on the hill fight each other at the same time. Score calculation is a bit more complex than for the one-on-one tournament. Briefly, points are awarded based on how many warriors survive until the end of a round. A warrior that survives by itself gets more point= s than a warrior that survives together with other warriors. Points are calculated from the formula (W*W-1)/S, where W is the total number of warriors and S the number of surviving warriors. The pMARS documentation ha= s more information on multi-warrior scoring. The idea for an email-based Core War server came from David Lee. The original KotH was developed and run by William Shubert at Intel starting in 1991, and discontinued after almost three years of service. Currently, KotH= s based on Bill's UNIX scripts but offering a wider variety of hills are are running at two sites: koth@koth.org is maintained by Scott J. Ellentuch (tuc@ttsg.com) and pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu by Thomas H. Davies (sd@ecst.csuchico.edu). Up until May '95, the two sites provided overlappin= g services, i.e. the some of the hill types were offered by both "pizza" and "stormking". To conserve resources, the different hill types are now divide= d up among the sites. The way you submit warriors to both KotHs is pretty muc= h the same. Therefore, the entry rules described below apply to both "pizza" and "stormking" unless otherwise noted. Entry Rules for King of the Hill Corewar * Write a corewar program. KotH is fully ICWS '88 compatible, EXCEPT tha= t a comma (",") is required between two arguments. * Put a line starting with ";redcode" (or ";redcode-94", etc., see below= ) at the top of your program. This MUST be the first line. Anything before it will be lost. If you wish to receive mail on every new entrant, use ";redcode verbose". Otherwise you will only receive mail if a challenger makes it onto the hill. Use ";redcode quiet" if you wish to receive mail only when you get shoved off the hill. Additionally, adding ";name " and ";author " will be helpful in the performance reports. Do NOT have a line beginning with ";address" in your code; this will confuse the mail daemon and you won't get mail back. Using ";name" is mandatory on the Pizza hills. In addition, it would be nice if you have lines beginning with ";strategy" that describe the algorithm you use. There are currently seven separate hills you can select by starting your program with ;redcode-94, ;redcode-b, ;redcode-lp, ;redcode-x, ;redcode, ;redcode-94x or ;redcode-94m. The former four run at "pizza"= , the latter three at "stormking". More information on these hills is listed below. * Mail this file to koth@koth.org or pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu. "Pizza" requires a subject of "koth" (use the -s flag on most mailers). * Within a few minutes you should get mail back telling you whether your program assembled correctly or not. If it did assemble correctly, sit back and wait; if not, make the change required and re-submit. * In an hour or so you should get more mail telling you how your program performed against the current top 20 (or 10) programs. If no news arrives during that time, don't worry; entries are put in a queue and run through the tournament one at a time. A backlog may develop. Be patient. If your program makes it onto the hill, you will get mail every time a new program makes it onto the hill. If this is too much mail, you can use ";redcode[-??] quiet" when you first mail in your program; then you will only get mail when you make it on the top 25 list or when you are knocked off. Using ";redcode[-??] verbose" will give you even more mail; here you get mail every time a new challenger arrives, even if they don't make it onto the top 25 list. Often programmers want to try out slight variations in their programs. If you already have a program named "foo V1.0" on the hill, adding the line ";kill foo" to a new program will automatically bump foo 1.0 off the hill. Just ";kill" will remove all of your programs when you submit the new one. The server kills programs by assigning an impossibly low score; it may therefore take another successful challenge before a killed program is actually removed from the hill. Sample Entry ;redcode ;name Dwarf ;author A. K. Dewdney ;strategy Throw DAT bombs around memory, hitting every 4th memory cell. ;strategy This program was presented in the first Corewar article. bomb DAT #0 dwarf ADD #4, bomb MOV bomb, @bomb JMP dwarf END dwarf ; Programs start at the first line unless ; an "END start" pseudo-op appears to indicate ; the first logical instruction. Also, nothing ; after the END instruction will be assembled. Duration Max. Hill Name Hill Core Max. Before Entry Min. Rounds I= nstr. Size Size Processes Distance Fought = Set Tie Length Pizza's ICWS '94 Draft Hill Ex= tended (Accessed with 25 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 IC= WS '94 ";redcode-94") Dr= aft Pizza's Beginner's Hill Ex= tended (Accessed with 25 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 IC= WS '94 ";redcode-b") Dr= aft Pizza's Experimental Ex= tended (Small) Hill 25 800 800 8000 20 20 200 IC= WS '94 (Accessed with Dr= aft ";redcode-x") Pizza's Limited Process (LP) Ex= tended Hill (Accessed 25 8000 8 80000 200 200 200 IC= WS '94 with Dr= aft ";redcode-lp") Stormking's ICWS '88 Standard Hill 20 8000 8000 80000 100 100 250 IC= WS '88 (Accessed with ";redcode") Stormking's ICWS '94 Experimental Ex= tended (Big) Hill 20 55440 55440 500000 200 200 250 IC= WS '94 (Accessed with Dr= aft ";redcode-94x") Stormking's ICWS '94 Draft Multi-Warrior Ex= tended Hill (Accessed 10 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 IC= WS '94 with Dr= aft ";redcode-94m") Note: Warriors on the beginner's hill are retired at age 100. If you just want to get a status report without actually challenging the hills, send email with ";status" as the message body (and don't forget "Subject: koth" for "pizza"). If you send mail to "pizza" with "Subject: koth help" you will receive instructions that may be more up to date than those contained in this document. At "stormking", a message body with ";help" will return brief instructions. If you submit code containing a ";test" line, your warrior will be assemble= d but not actually pitted against the warriors on the hill. At "pizza", you can use ";redcode[-??] test" to do a test challenge of the Hill without affecting the status of the Hill. These challenges can be used to see how well your warrior does against the current Hill warriors. All hills run portable MARS (pMARS) version 0.8, a platform-independent Cor= e War system available at www.koth.org. The '94 and '94x hills allow five experimental opcodes and three experimental addressing modes currently not covered in the ICWS'94 draft document: * LDP - Load P-Space * STP - Store P-Space * SEQ - Skip if EQual (synonym for CMP) * SNE - Skip if Not Equal * NOP - (No OPeration) * * - indirect using A-field as pointer * { - predecrement indirect using A-field * } - postincrement indirect using A-field [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15. Is it DAT 0, 0 or DAT #0, #0? How do I compare to core? Core is initialized to DAT 0, 0. This is an illegal instruction (in source code) under ICWS'88 rules and strictly compliant assemblers (such as KotH o= r pmars -8) will not let you have a DAT 0, 0 instruction in your source code = - only DAT #0, #0. So this begs the question, how to compare something to see if it is empty core. The answer is, most likely the instruction before your first instruction and the instruction after your last instruction are both DAT 0, 0. You can use them, or any other likely unmodified instructions, fo= r comparison. Note that under ICWS'94, DAT 0, 0 is a legal instruction. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 16. How does SLT (Skip if Less Than) work? SLT gives some people trouble because of the way modular arithmetic works. It is important to note that all negative numbers are converted to positive numbers before a battles begins. Example: -1 becomes M-1 where M is the memory size (core size). Once you realize that all numbers are treated as positive, it is clear what is meant by "less than". It should also be clear that no number is less tha= n zero. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17. What is the difference between in-register and in-memory evaluation? These terms refer to the way instruction operands are evaluated. The '88 Redcode standard ICWS'88 is unclear about whether a simulator should "buffer" the result of A-operand evaluation before the B-operand is evaluated. Simulators that do buffer are said to use in-register evaluation= , those that don't, in-memory evaluation. ICWS'94 clears this confusion by mandating in-register evaluation. Instructions that execute differently under these two forms of evaluation are MOV, ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV and MOD where the effective address of the A-operand is modified by evaluation of the B-operand. This is best illustrated by an example: L1 mov L2, mov.i #0, impsize Bootstrapping Strategy of copying the active portion of the program away from the initial location, leaving a decoy behind and making the relocated program as small as possible. B-Scanners Scanners which only recognize non-zero B-fields. example add #10, scan scan jmz example, 10 c Measure of speed, equal to one location per cycle. Speed of light. CMP-Scanner A Scanner which uses a CMP instruction to look for opponents. example add step, scan scan cmp 10, 30 jmp attack jmp example step dat #20, #20 Colour Property of bombs making them visible to scanners, causing them to attack useless locations, thus slowing them down. example dat #100 Core-Clear Code that sequentially overwrites core with DAT instructions; usually the last part of a program. Decoys Bogus or unused instructions meant to slow down scanners. Typically, DATs with non-zero B-fields. Decrement Resistant Property of warriors making them functional (or at least partially functional) when overrun by a DJN-stream. DJN-Stream (also DJN-Train) Using a DJN command to rapidly decrement core locations. example ... ... djn example, <4000 Dwarf The prototypical small bomber. Gate-busting (also gate-crashing) technique to "interweave" a decrement-resistant imp-spiral (e.g. MOV 0= , 2668) with a standard one to overrun imp-gates. Hybrids warriors that combine two or more of the basic strategies, either in sequence (e.g. stone->paper) or in parallel (e.g. imp/stone). Imp Program which only uses the MOV instruction. example mov 0, 1 or example mov 0, 2 mov 0, 2 Imp-Gate A location in core which is bombed or decremented continuously so that an Imp can not pass. Also used to describe the program-code which maintains the gate. example ... ... spl 0, mov.i #0,IMPSIZE Mirror see reflection. On-axis/off-axis On-axis scanners compare two locations M/2 apart, where M is the memor= y size. Off-axis scanners use some other separation. Optimal Constants (also optima-type constants) Bomb or scan increments chosen to cover core most effectively, i.e. leaving gaps of uniform size. Programs to calculate optimal constants and lists of optimal numbers are available at www.koth.org. Paper A Paper-like program is one which replicates itself many times. Part o= f the Scissors (beats) Paper (beats) Stone (beats Scissors) analogy. P-Warrior A warrior which uses the results of previous round(s) in order to determine which strategy it will use. Pit-Trapper (also Slaver, Vampire). A program which enslaves another. Usually accomplished by bombing with JMPs to a SPL 0 pit with an optional core-clear routine. Q^2 Scan A modern version of the Quick Scan where anything found is attacked almost immediately. Quick Scan 2c scan of a set group of core locations with bombing if anything is found. Both of the following codes snips scan 16 locations and check for a find. If anything is found, it is attacked, otherwise 16 more locations are scanned. Example: start s1 for 8 ;'88 scan cmp start+100*s1, start+100*s1+4000 ;check two locations mov #start+100*s1-found, found ;they differ so set p= ointer rof jmn attack, found ;if we have something, get it s2 for 8 cmp start+100*(s2+6), start+100*(s2+6)+4000 mov #start+100*(s2+6)-found, found rof found jmz moveme, #0 ;skip attack if qscan found nothin= g attack cmp @found, start-1 ;does found points to empty space? add #4000, found ;no, so point to correct location mov start-1, @found ;move a bomb moveme jmp 0, 0 In ICWS'94, the quick scan code is more compact because of the SNE opcode: start ;'94 scan s1 for 4 sne start+400*s1, start+400*s1+100 ;check two locatio= ns seq start+400*s1+200, start+400*s1+300 ;check two locatio= ns mov #start+400*s1-found, found ;they differ so set = pointer rof jmn which, found ;if we have something, get it s2 for 4 sne start+400*(s2+4), start+400*(s2+4)+100 seq start+400*(s2+4)+200, start+400*(s2+4)+300 mov #start+400*(s2+4)-found-100, found rof found jmz moveme, #0 ;skip attack if qscan found nothin= g add #100, -1 ;increment pointer till we get the which jmn -1, @found ;right place mov start-1, @found ;move a bomb moveme jmp 0, 0 Reflection Copy of a program or program part, positioned to make the active program invisible to a CMP-scanner. Replicator Generic for Paper. A program which makes many copies of itself, each copy also making copies. Self-Splitting Strategy of amplifying the number of processes executing a piece of code. example spl 0 loop add #10, example mov example, @example jmp loop Scanner A program which searches through core for an opponent rather than bombing blindly. Scissors A program designed to beat replicators, usually a (B-field scanning) vampire. Part of the Paper-Scissors-Stone analogy. Self-Repair Ability of a program to fix it's own code after attack. Silk A replicator which splits off a process to each new copy before actually copying the code. This allows it to replicate extremely quickly. This technique is only possible under the '94 draft, because it requires post-increment indirect addressing. Example: spl 1 mov -1, 0 spl 1 ;generate 6 consecutive processes silk spl 3620, #0 ;split to new copy mov >-1, }-1 ;copy self to new location mov bomb, >2000 ;linear bombing mov bomb, }2042 ;A-indirect bombing for anti-vamp jmp silk, {silk ;reset source pointer, make new cop= y bomb dat >2667, >5334 ;anti-imp bomb Slaver see Pit-Trapper. Stealth Property of programs, or program parts, which are invisible to scanners, accomplished by using zero B-fields and reflections. Stone A Stone-like program designed to be a small bomber. Part of the Paper-Scissors-Stone analogy. Stun A type of bomb which makes the opponent multiply useless processes, thus slowing it down. Example is referred to as a SPL-JMP bomb. example spl 0 jmp -1 Two-Pass Core-Clear (also SPL/DAT Core-Clear) core clear that fills core first with SPL instructions, then with DATs= =2E This is very effective in killing paper and certain imp-spiral variations. Vampire see Pit-Trapper. Vector Launch one of several means to start an imp-spiral running. As fast as Binary Launch, but requiring much less code. See also JMP/ADD Launch and Binary Launch. This example is one form of a Vector Launch: sz EQU 2667 spl 1 spl 1 jmp @vt, }0 vt dat #0, imp+0*sz ; start of vector table dat #0, imp+1*sz dat #0, imp+2*sz dat #0, imp+3*sz ; end of vector table imp mov.i #0, sz [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 23. Other questions? Just ask in the rec.games.corewar newsgroup or contact me. If you are shy, check out the Core War archives first to see if your question has been answered before. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Credits Additions, corrections, etc. to this document are solicited. Thanks in particular to the following people who have contributed major portions of this document: * Mark Durham (wrote the original version of the FAQ) * Paul Kline * Randy Graham * Stefan Strack (maintained a recent version of the FAQ) The rec.games.corewar FAQ is Copyright =A9 1999 and maintained by Anton Marsden (anton@paradise.net.nz). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: "John K. Lewis" Subject: Intelligent Warrior Tourney Date: 1999/08/01 Message-ID: #1/1 I have eight players: Josh Yeager John K. Wilkinson David Matthew Moore Damien Doligez John Metcalf Benjamin Ford Robert Macrae Ryan G. Coleman If you have submitted a warrior and are not listed above, please resend it immediately. I should be running the round robin soon and posting the results. I will be at a convention next week so the results may take a bit longer to compile. One note: With eight entries, there will be a four warrior knockout round. John - From: John Metcalf Subject: Core War Newsletter Date: 1999/08/02 Message-ID: #1/1 Greetings... Is anyone able to convert the copies of TCWN from post-script to ASCII? I can't read post-script and I'm sure a few other people can't either. I can take the time to reformat them so the ASCII version looks nice and then they can be made available in the appropriate places for download. Regards, John From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 08/02/99 Date: 1999/08/02 Message-ID: <199908020400.AAA12949@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/02/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Standard KotH CoreWar Hill : Last battle concluded at : Wed Jul 14 14:50:50 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 35/ 21/ 44 Freight Train David Moore 150 46 2 33/ 24/ 43 sIMPly.Red v0.95 Leonardo Humberto 141 3 3 31/ 22/ 47 Guardian Ian Oversby 140 45 4 39/ 40/ 21 Stasis David Moore 137 153 5 40/ 45/ 15 Iron Gate Wayne Sheppard 135 371 6 36/ 38/ 25 PacMan David Moore 135 75 7 39/ 45/ 16 Blur '88 Anton Marsden 134 83 8 28/ 22/ 50 The Marlboro Man 1.13 M Joonas Pihlaja 133 21 9 25/ 17/ 59 EV Paper John K Wilkinson 133 59 10 36/ 41/ 23 Beholder's Eye V1.7 W. Mintardjo 132 321 11 36/ 40/ 25 Tangle Trap David Moore 132 119 12 38/ 45/ 16 Foggy Swamp Beppe Bezzi 132 42 13 39/ 48/ 13 Blurstone '88 M. J. Pihlaja 131 40 14 34/ 37/ 30 Leapfrog David Moore 131 74 15 35/ 39/ 27 Kitchen Sink Robert Macrae 130 44 16 26/ 24/ 50 Shish-Ka-Bob Ben Ford 129 1 17 23/ 19/ 57 Test I Ian Oversby 127 102 18 24/ 21/ 55 Evoltmp 88 John K W 126 96 19 21/ 20/ 59 Nightfall 2.1cc David Moore 122 9 20 22/ 25/ 52 TESTE Leonardo Humberto 120 4 21 28/ 37/ 35 bomber test 1 mjp 120 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 08/02/99 Date: 1999/08/02 Message-ID: <199908020400.AAA12953@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/02/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Multiwarrior 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 1 08:28:22 EDT 1999 # Name Author Score Age 1 QuiVa John Metcalf 31 80 2 Her Majesty P.Kline 29 6 3 QueensGuard P.Kline 28 7 4 WingShot Ben Ford 25 4 5 BiShot v1.0 Christian Schmidt 23 55 6 QueensGuard P.Kline 22 9 7 Sharkrage Christian Schmidt 22 54 8 Cinderella Ben Ford 21 14 9 pt1 John Metcalf 13 1 10 Neck Bite Ben Ford 11 3 11 1 1 0 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - 94 No Pspace 08/02/99 Date: 1999/08/02 Message-ID: <199908020400.AAA12964@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/02/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG 94 No Pspace CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 1 07:30:21 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 39/ 35/ 26 WingShot Ben Ford 142 31 2 30/ 26/ 44 Vain Ian Oversby 134 266 3 30/ 27/ 43 The Stormbringer Christian Schmidt 134 200 4 40/ 46/ 14 Win! David Moore 133 164 5 42/ 52/ 6 Neon Spring John Metcalf 133 48 6 37/ 43/ 20 Boys are Back in Town 1.1 Philip Kendall 132 191 7 22/ 13/ 65 _romanian_killah_ Costin Bontas rulez 132 158 8 29/ 27/ 43 Ant Factory Christian Schmidt 131 24 9 37/ 43/ 19 Zooom... John Metcalf 131 65 10 28/ 25/ 47 Icen Ben Ford 131 23 11 29/ 28/ 42 Blacken Ian Oversby 131 176 12 30/ 29/ 41 The Pendragon Christian Schmidt 130 2 13 34/ 39/ 26 myVamp v3.7 Paulsson 130 18 14 28/ 27/ 45 Recovery Ian Oversby 130 189 15 31/ 32/ 37 The Outsider Simon Wainwright 129 29 16 29/ 29/ 42 Icepick Ben Ford 128 22 17 32/ 36/ 32 PC WFB 128 15 18 21/ 14/ 65 The Fugitive David Moore 127 268 19 23/ 21/ 56 Fourth Step Leonardo H. Liporati 125 17 20 9/ 12/ 78 pt1 John Metcalf 106 1 21 0/ 0/ 5 Redemption John Metcalf 5 28 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 08/02/99 Date: 1999/08/02 Message-ID: <199908020400.AAA12959@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/02/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG ICWS Experimental 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 1 08:22:13 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 52/ 33/ 15 Black Moods Ian Oversby 171 7 2 45/ 30/ 26 Controlled Aggression Ian Oversby 160 11 3 34/ 16/ 50 Venom v0.2b Christian Schmidt 153 33 4 28/ 6/ 66 Evol Cap 4 X John Wilkinson 150 80 5 24/ 3/ 73 Evolve X v4.0 John Wilkinson 146 28 6 29/ 20/ 51 Rosebud Beppe 137 59 7 36/ 39/ 25 Stepping Stone 94x Kurt Franke 134 66 8 32/ 33/ 34 Draken Fire X Ben Ford 132 2 9 35/ 39/ 27 Dr. Gate X Franz 131 51 10 34/ 37/ 29 BigBoy Robert Macrae 130 105 11 35/ 43/ 22 Tsunami v0.3 X Ian Oversby 127 5 12 38/ 49/ 13 S.E.T.I. 4-X JKW 127 81 13 28/ 31/ 41 Self-Modifying Code X Ben Ford 126 1 14 31/ 36/ 33 Lithium X 8 John K Wilkinson 126 71 15 21/ 16/ 63 Sphere v0.2 Christian Schmidt 126 22 16 35/ 45/ 20 Pagan John K W 125 65 17 35/ 46/ 19 Memories Beppe Bezzi 123 87 18 21/ 19/ 60 Purple v0.1 Christian Schmidt 123 32 19 36/ 49/ 15 WingShot Ben Ford 122 3 20 35/ 49/ 15 BiShot Christian Schmidt 121 19 21 15/ 30/ 55 pt1 John Metcalf 100 0 From: Planar Subject: Re: Core War Newsletter Date: 1999/08/04 Message-ID: <7o9fi1$7lf$1@ites.inria.fr>#1/1 >From: John Metcalf >Is anyone able to convert the copies of TCWN from post-script to >ASCII? I tried ps2ascii, the ugly result is there: I also tried printing and OCRing, which is not much better: I don't know what to try next... -- Planar From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: Re: A warrior, after the spirit of "troll" Date: 1999/08/05 Message-ID: <19990805211448.23870.rocketmail@web106.yahoomail.com>#1/1 Ben Ford wrote: > In article , > "Ransom Smith" wrote: > > Questions? Comments? It was one of my earlier > attempts, which I came > > back to later and helped a little. Still horrible. > I posted it because > > of our recent strategy discussions about splitting > into enemy > processes. > > I think there is still room for improvement, see my > comments below. Yup, i think too... > > Anyway, I think someone mentioned that it would be > really interesting > if > > someone could get a non-paper on to the "secret > hill". This is maybe > the > > best candidate I have. > > I guess this would count as a non-paper. But all is > does is try to jump > on someone else's paper and tie so its sort of just > a paper-wannabe. I > have a feeling that this won't make it on the hill > tho since it will > probably be overrun a few times before it finds > something and jumps on > properly, and as the hill stands right now, dying 2 > times in 250 battles > in enough to tie for last place and get knocked off. > It would be nice if there was a core-clear or > something to drop into > after the whole core was scanned so at least there > would be a hope of > winning a round instead of tying. Actually, it would be nice to try doing a clear-imp(or maybe thaty clearing imp i've seen talk about in planar's archive).. > > ;redcode > > ;name Paper Clip 0.7 > > ;author Ransom L. Smith > > ; > > ; > > ;strategy| Hey, remember that guy on RGC that took > out his "troll" on > > ;strategy| our criticism? That sort of thing (e. > g., splitting > processes > > ;strategy| into enemy code) was my first idea as a > beginner, too. only > > ;strategy| mine, instead of going straight across, > was incremented > > ;strategy| dwarf-style. Anyway, I added a > 3-process split to hook on > to > > ;strategy| silk-papers, and a scan. > > ; > > ; > > ;assert CORESIZE==8000 > > > > org ghr > > > > dta dat 0, 0 > > ghr ADD.A #130, trg > > chk seq.i dta, *trg > > slt.a #trg, trg > > I think you want slt.ab trg, #dta-trg. Or something > like that, hard to > verify just in my head but I think thats right to > make sure you aren't > splitting to yourself. > I think a f-scanner might be a bit better here, just > as long as the > intial location and step size are carefully chosen > to never self-scan. > Too bad there isn't a way to compare opcodes while > ignoring the a and b > fields. > > > gb0 jmp ghr, < -20 > > spl ghr, <-21 > > There is going to be a problem here. You spl back > to the main code and > the ADD gets executed before you split off to the > code you found, so you > are effectively splitting off blindly. > Easiest fix would be to have the pointer in the > b-field of trg and then > add in a mov.ba trg, trg. This keeps the pointer > looking at the right > spot but will only change where its jumping to if it > finds something new > to jump to. How about: add.ab #step, s jmz.f -1, *s s spl x, Subject: Re: A warrior, after the spirit of "troll" Date: 1999/08/05 Message-ID: <7occb9$frj$1@nnrp1.deja.com>#1/1 In article , "Ransom Smith" wrote: > Questions? Comments? It was one of my earlier attempts, which I came > back to later and helped a little. Still horrible. I posted it because > of our recent strategy discussions about splitting into enemy processes. I think there is still room for improvement, see my comments below. > Anyway, I think someone mentioned that it would be really interesting if > someone could get a non-paper on to the "secret hill". This is maybe the > best candidate I have. I guess this would count as a non-paper. But all is does is try to jump on someone else's paper and tie so its sort of just a paper-wannabe. I have a feeling that this won't make it on the hill tho since it will probably be overrun a few times before it finds something and jumps on properly, and as the hill stands right now, dying 2 times in 250 battles in enough to tie for last place and get knocked off. It would be nice if there was a core-clear or something to drop into after the whole core was scanned so at least there would be a hope of winning a round instead of tying. > Anyone remember the ;redcode-? line for that hill? i'll check in Deja, but > we'll see. Its ;redcode-94xm. Actually, if you go look at the KOTH page, it now lists the secret hills so they are no longer secret. > ;redcode > ;name Paper Clip 0.7 > ;author Ransom L. Smith > ; > ; > ;strategy| Hey, remember that guy on RGC that took out his "troll" on > ;strategy| our criticism? That sort of thing (e. g., splitting processes > ;strategy| into enemy code) was my first idea as a beginner, too. only > ;strategy| mine, instead of going straight across, was incremented > ;strategy| dwarf-style. Anyway, I added a 3-process split to hook on to > ;strategy| silk-papers, and a scan. > ; > ; > ;assert CORESIZE==8000 > > org ghr > > dta dat 0, 0 > ghr ADD.A #130, trg > chk seq.i dta, *trg > slt.a #trg, trg I think you want slt.ab trg, #dta-trg. Or something like that, hard to verify just in my head but I think thats right to make sure you aren't splitting to yourself. I think a f-scanner might be a bit better here, just as long as the intial location and step size are carefully chosen to never self-scan. Too bad there isn't a way to compare opcodes while ignoring the a and b fields. > gb0 jmp ghr, < -20 > spl ghr, <-21 There is going to be a problem here. You spl back to the main code and the ADD gets executed before you split off to the code you found, so you are effectively splitting off blindly. Easiest fix would be to have the pointer in the b-field of trg and then add in a mov.ba trg, trg. This keeps the pointer looking at the right spot but will only change where its jumping to if it finds something new to jump to. > spl 1, <-22 > mov -1, <-23 > spl 1, <-24 I don't think these lines are going to do quite what you want. For one thing the mov -1, <-23 is going to put the spl several locations back in core. I assume you wanted mov -1, 0 to generate a total of 6 processes. One think to note is that it will only work the first time you try to split, the next time the spl will already be there so 8 processes will be created. If you are really trying to make 6 processes, go with: spl 2, <-22 spl 1, <-23 spl 1, <-24 > trg spl dta, < -25 You probably want to use a jmp here so you don't waste time falling off the edge. -Ben Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't. From: "Ransom Smith" Subject: A warrior, after the spirit of "troll" Date: 1999/08/05 Message-ID: #1/1 Questions? Comments? It was one of my earlier attempts, which I came back to later and helped a little. Still horrible. I posted it because of our recent strategy discussions about splitting into enemy processes. Anyway, I think someone mentioned that it would be really interesting if someone could get a non-paper on to the "secret hill". This is maybe the best candidate I have. Anyone remember the ;redcode-? line for that hill? i'll check in Deja, but we'll see. ;redcode ;name Paper Clip 0.7 ;author Ransom L. Smith ; ; ;strategy| Hey, remember that guy on RGC that took out his "troll" on ;strategy| our criticism? That sort of thing (e. g., splitting processes ;strategy| into enemy code) was my first idea as a beginner, too. only ;strategy| mine, instead of going straight across, was incremented ;strategy| dwarf-style. Anyway, I added a 3-process split to hook on to ;strategy| silk-papers, and a scan. ; ; ;assert CORESIZE==8000 org ghr dta dat 0, 0 ghr ADD.A #130, trg chk seq.i dta, *trg slt.a #trg, trg gb0 jmp ghr, < -20 spl ghr, <-21 spl 1, <-22 mov -1, <-23 spl 1, <-24 trg spl dta, < -25 From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: Re: Self Repair? Date: 1999/08/06 Message-ID: <19990806180702.17177.rocketmail@web117.yahoomail.com>#1/1 Marshall wrote: > >Sure does look like die hard...Heh I don't know: i didn't understand the code(wordwrap) > Really? ive never seen die hard's code. does it self > repair? No, it's a silk that launches spirals > >#2 How long do you wait for those processes to die? > > > Hmm...when i come to think about it, i dont think i > would bother with the dat > carpet, since if one silk did get hit with a SPL > carpet then the warrior would > be so slowed down that it would really never get to > try to repair before time > ran out. If it takes 40 cycles processes to scan, > DAT, copy, and jump, it will > take many many more if the warrior is stunned (7970 > useless: 10 productive > ratio) =P If i were to try to self repair, i would > just assume that one silk > had died or become > cancerous,(decremented, had some other > instruction stuck in there) since the battle is > usually lost once the warrior > is stunned, if the warrior can repair or not. Don't scan: it takes as much time to simply bomb the location that to scan, so, always bomb what was like 5 "generations" before(bc the warrior _can_ die after that much time, can't it??) === Vive le Qu�bec libre... d� souverainistes!!! _____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Free instant messaging and more at http://messenger.yahoo.com From: happycan@aol.comjnkkil (Marshall) Subject: Smaller and Faster Date: 1999/08/06 Message-ID: <19990806140610.25865.00004752@ng-cm1.aol.com>#1/1 Since Smaller, Faster, and Limited Intelligence keep beating my ideas into pulp, ive made a smaller, faster, and not very smart warrior =P Its a pretty vanilla stone i guess, with the usual stun -> clear. It produces 2 part stun bombs at 50%C and then clears the core with DATs at 50%C Here is the warrior. It probably look like alot of other stones, unless mine has some big design flaws. ;name Dire Strait ;author Marshall bombz EQU (CORESIZE/7) ;works with any coresize i think org go go MOV bomb1, >bomb1 MOV bomb2, @bomb1 ADD #6, bomb1 DJN.B go, bomb2 ;make sure not to stun itself clear MOV 4 , 5 ;should stick something in here JMP -1, >-1 ;to avoid killing self bomb1 SPL 0, 3 ;2 part stun bomb bomb2 JMP -1, bombz ;makes new processes at 50%C DAT <2666, <5333 ;imp-ring killer, i think is there anything i can do to speed up the stun bombing or make the whole thing smaller? There is another 2 part stun i considered using, which is: SPL 0, 2 MOV -1, >-1 which makes its own SPL carpet. The only problem is that when the enemy reaches the process limit, these can become stunners which may hit the warrior. Thanks Marshall From: happycan@aol.comjnkkil (Marshall) Subject: Re: Self Repair? Date: 1999/08/06 Message-ID: <19990806105326.13144.00008691@ng-bh1.aol.com>#1/1 >Sure does look like die hard...Heh Really? ive never seen die hard's code. does it self repair? >#2 How long do you wait for those processes to die? Hmm...when i come to think about it, i dont think i would bother with the dat carpet, since if one silk did get hit with a SPL carpet then the warrior would be so slowed down that it would really never get to try to repair before time ran out. If it takes 40 cycles processes to scan, DAT, copy, and jump, it will take many many more if the warrior is stunned (7970 useless: 10 productive ratio) =P If i were to try to self repair, i would just assume that one silk had died or become cancerous,(decremented, had some other instruction stuck in there) since the battle is usually lost once the warrior is stunned, if the warrior can repair or not. Marshall From: jkw@austin.rr.com Subject: Re: Self Repair? Date: 1999/08/06 Message-ID: <4.1.19990805215001.00945590@pop-server>#1/1 At 10:35 PM 8/5/99 -0400, you wrote: >Ive made a warrior combining a imp-ring and a silk. It makes 3 silks and sends >them through the core. Here is the code: > >;name Silk Spiral >;author Marshall >;assert MAXPROCESSES > 11 ... Sure does look a lot like Die Hard... heh. >it occurred to me that it might be possible make this warrior self repair by >scanning where another copy should be with SEQ and if not finding an exact copy >laying a DAT carpet over the area (to kill useless stun processes) and writing >a new copy there then jumping to the copy. Would this be worth trying, or would >having the bigger and slower self repairing silks make the warrior too >vulnerable to scanners than if it were small and fast? > >Small and Fast vs. Big Slow and Tough again. =P. maybe ive just answered my >own question... There are two reasons Die Hard doesn't try to scan... #1 it's got parellel procs, and I've only ever seen 1 parellel proc scanner, and it was rather precarious. #2, how long do you wait after the dats to be sure all the spl'd up procs are dead? From: M Joonas Pihlaja Subject: Re: Core War Newsletter Date: 1999/08/06 Message-ID: #1/1 On 4 Aug 1999, Planar wrote: > I don't know what to try next... I converted using ghostview and broke the paragraphs by hand. The result needs some polishing and as I'm leaving for two weeks, I sent the lot to John Metcalf. > -- > Planar > Joonas From: happycan@aol.comjnkkil (Marshall) Subject: Self Repair? Date: 1999/08/06 Message-ID: <19990805210448.09545.00001352@ng-bj1.aol.com>#1/1 Ive made a warrior combining a imp-ring and a silk. It makes 3 silks and sends them through the core. Here is the code: ;name Silk Spiral ;author Marshall ;assert MAXPROCESSES > 11 kick1 EQU 2666 kick2 EQU 5332 step EQU 504 ;this covers the core most efficiently, 50% w/ DAT and 50% with silks (which kill anything with < 4 processes) bomb EQU step+1 ORG splkick boot1 DAT silk, kick1 boot2 DAT silk, kick2 splkick SPL 1 ;\ SPL 1 ;4 processes kick MOV }boot1, >boot1 ;\ MOV }boot2, >boot2 ;makes 2 copies of the first silk SPL kick1-7 ;split to those copies SPL kick2-7 ;/ silk SPL @0, step ;the silk MOV }silk, >silk MOV @kill, }kill kill DAT #bomb, #0 ;if one more process is added, a JMP -1 can be stuck here to make eack silk continue to carpet-bomb it occurred to me that it might be possible make this warrior self repair by scanning where another copy should be with SEQ and if not finding an exact copy laying a DAT carpet over the area (to kill useless stun processes) and writing a new copy there then jumping to the copy. Would this be worth trying, or would having the bigger and slower self repairing silks make the warrior too vulnerable to scanners than if it were small and fast? Small and Fast vs. Big Slow and Tough again. =P. maybe ive just answered my own question... Marshall From: Robert Macrae Subject: One Fat Lady RIP Date: 1999/08/07 Message-ID: <37AC3B81.4858@dial.pipex.com> > KOTH.ORG: Rocking-Chair ICWS vs. One Fat Lady on Annual ICWS Tournament > Sat, 31 Jul 1999 10:35:55 -0400 (EDT) > ... > 21 21/ 30/ 50 One Fat Lady Robert Macrae 112 58 I am sorry to see the old lady go, though it is amazing that she held on for so long given her various handicaps. OFL was written for, and won, the final round of NSFCWT back in 1995. Quoting from the round instructions: > The challenge is to write a > warrior in a minimalist subset of ICWS'88 redcode, using only these opcodes: > > MOV ADD SUB JMP SPL CMP DAT > > and the addressing modes: # $ @ > (i.e. JMZ, JMN, DJN, SLT and < are not allowed in your warrior). OFL is a QS/Vamp/Imp, because the rules made imps hard to kill but vamps seemed to have a chance. After the competition I wrote a long description of the design process and resulting warrior, (available from Dejanews, author ff95@dial.pipex.com in December 1995 rgc) that goes over the whole design process. In terms of the permitted subset of instrucions I think it is quite a good warrior though with hindsight I am sure that there were inefficiencies. For example, it would have probably have been better to have one fewer process in the vamp, the vamp launch is terribly slow, and the pit is far from ideal. However, on the hill these details should be uniportant compared to the crushing disadvantage that the instruction subset appears to impose. I think that re-writing for the full set should permit a much more effective pit which, given the numbers of stone/imps around, should help a lot? This suggests to me that, if someone cares to do a modest rewrite under full '88 rules, the result could do well? >From the original article: > And here it is. Not as aggressive as Paul Kline's warrior, and much more of an > anti-imp specialist than Beppe's (which has an astounding 3rd place on the > _unrestricted_ '88 hill). As far as I can see, none of the various anti-imp measures > are very effective in their own right, but together they come good just often > enough... ;redcode-94 ;name One Fat Lady ;author Robert Macrae ;strategy QS + 54 process Vamp + 10 process 5 pt Imp. ;assert CORESIZE == 8192 ; Warrior based on half of the '88 instructions. It seems very ; hard to kill imps, so I expect a lot of draws. I'll need them... ; QS bombs with DATs because I can't guarantee that the trap will ; suicide. This will work best against other QSs. ; ; Vampire is launched without a SPL, to make a smaller target. ; Imp is compact (Nimbus?) style. ; Pit is not likely to achieve much, but does occasionally manage a coreclear. ; ------------------------------------------------------------- ; QS based on my favourite "special tournament version of Sauron" core equ (look+102) look qscan for 6 cmp look+((qscan+2)*100)+3, look+4096+((qscan+2)*100)+3 mov #look+((qscan+2)*100)-point+3, @point rof cmp #0, point jmp found qscan for 7 cmp look+((qscan+10)*100)+3, look+4096+((qscan+10)*100)+3 mov #look+((qscan+10)*100)-point+3, @point rof cmp #0, point jmp found qscan for 8 cmp look+((qscan+18)*100)+3, look+4096+((qscan+18)*100)+3 mov #look+((qscan+18)*100)-point+3, @point rof cmp #0, point jmp found jmp boot ; Or move boot code here? spb DAT #0, #-7 found cmp core, @point add #4096, point add #4096, point ; point now points to hit mov spb, @point add #45, point cmp core, @point ; Scan at +45, and add #52, point ; Set to +45 add #-52, point ; or to -7 loop mov spb, @point ; 40% bomber, backwards through point mov spb, @0 ; his code add #-14, point cmp core, @point ; Loop over whole target jmp point add #98, point mov spb, @point ; and one for luck! ; --------------------------------------------------------------- STEP equ 1396 OFFS equ -100 FANGOFF equ -41 STEPOFF equ -42 boot spl bootimp boot1 mov vamp-boot1, OFFS boot2 mov vamp-boot1, OFFS boot3 mov vamp-boot1, OFFS mov fang, boot1+OFFS+FANGOFF mov step, boot1+OFFS+STEPOFF spl 1 mov -1, 0 mov -1, 0 mov -1, 0 ; Get 18 processes spl 1 spl j1 ; spread evenly around spl j3 ; the vamp j2 jmp @boot3 j3 jmp @boot1 j1 jmp @boot1 ; and jump to it. Fang jmp pit-boot1-OFFS-FANGOFF, 0 vamp mov FANGOFF, @FANGOFF add vamp+STEPOFF, vamp+FANGOFF jmp vamp step dat #-STEP, #STEP pit SPL 2, boot1+OFFS+STEPOFF-5 MOV bomb, @pit ADD #-2731, pit JMP pit ; Overwritten. Bomb DAT #0, #0 ; ------------------------------------------- ; Nimbus launch for 5 point, 10 process imp. Size is a ; better protection than speed here. Currently has tail ; on the end of my code; not elegant. imp MOV 0, 3277 ; 2731 or 3277 (3 or 5 point) bootimp SPL 1 ; 2 MOV -1, 0 ; 3 MOV -1, 0 ; 5 SPL 1 ; 10 SPL 2 JMP @0, imp ADD #3277, -1 end -- Regards, Robert Macrae From: Robert Macrae Subject: Re: Smaller and Faster Date: 1999/08/07 Message-ID: <37AC1C22.4C90@dial.pipex.com>#1/1 Marshall wrote: > ;name Dire Strait > ;author Marshall > bombz EQU (CORESIZE/7) ;works with any coresize i think > org go > go MOV bomb1, >bomb1 > MOV bomb2, @bomb1 > ADD #6, bomb1 > DJN.B go, bomb2 ;make sure not to stun itself > clear MOV 4 , 5 ;should stick something in here > JMP -1, >-1 ;to avoid killing self > bomb1 SPL 0, 3 ;2 part stun bomb > bomb2 JMP -1, bombz ;makes new processes at 50%C > DAT <2666, <5333 ;imp-ring killer, i think Someof these ideas from Torch might be handy: 1) Incendiary bombing -- half the bombs are "boring" SPLs, but half are MOVs that lay a carpet of SPLs and so are move effective at stunning than a SPL/JMP-1. 2) Better bomb spacing -- the MOV and SPL can be placed a distance apart, which is more likely to hit the enemy than an adjacent SPL/JMP. 3) Self-Splitting -- gives the warrior a chance to draw if hit by a DAT or SPL bomb. > SPL 0, 2 > MOV -1, >-1 > > which makes its own SPL carpet. The only problem is that when the enemy reaches > the process limit, these can become stunners which may hit the warrior. The carpet grows very slowly (because most of the processes stay after the MOV), so I don't think that should be a problem. However against other bombers, it is much better to separate out the two halves of hte incendiary. Something like SPL #123, #STEP+1 ... MOV -STEP, >-STEP Will grow a carpet after the MOV _provided_ that either 1) the MOV lands inside a program loop (like a bomber) or 2) is executed by multiple processes like a Silk. For the other alternatives, a single SPL is likely to do the trick. -- Regards, Robert Macrae From: "Ransom Smith" Subject: Re: Self Repair? Date: 1999/08/07 Message-ID: #1/1 Also, you will find (I've been working on a similar project) that very often (BTW this is just w/ a two-copy experiment. I don't know if yours works different yet.) Some trivial difference will enter into the code of one of the copies, but not disable it. Then both copies will be triggered, and overwrite each other w/ their dat carpets. From: "Joe Salter" Subject: Re: ((( S E X P I C T U R E ))) 5690 Date: 1999/08/08 Message-ID: <7okh5l$20d$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk>#1/1 Hi. Piss off. davidnwgrp@bigfoot.com wrote in message <7ok6ad$hoi$27@news2.inter.net.il>... >Hello sex maniacs, > >http://www.sex.co.am <- CLICK! > >Free pictures is available now for free at the best sex site on net: >Its called: Sex on net - http://www.sex.co.am >This is 200% free adult site - check it now, it's the best. > >(( SEX ARMENIA )) >http://www.sex.co.am <-- CLICK!! > >Above 40,000 pictures are indexed and sorted by categories, >Free video feeds, Free sex material. > >Enter now - Armenia Sex! > >http://www.sex.co.am <- CLICK! >(The page is loaded within 5sec.) > > >Hope I helped you, >Tina Pitongh. >gdncwb > From: davidnwgrp@bigfoot.com Subject: ((( S E X P I C T U R E ))) 5690 Date: 1999/08/08 Message-ID: <7ok6ad$hoi$27@news2.inter.net.il>#1/1 Hello sex maniacs, http://www.sex.co.am <- CLICK! Free pictures is available now for free at the best sex site on net: Its called: Sex on net - http://www.sex.co.am This is 200% free adult site - check it now, it's the best. (( SEX ARMENIA )) http://www.sex.co.am <-- CLICK!! Above 40,000 pictures are indexed and sorted by categories, Free video feeds, Free sex material. Enter now - Armenia Sex! http://www.sex.co.am <- CLICK! (The page is loaded within 5sec.) Hope I helped you, Tina Pitongh. gdncwb From: davidnwgrp@bigfoot.com Subject: ((( S E X P I C T U R E ))) 9824 Date: 1999/08/09 Message-ID: <7omr4v$n08$27@news2.inter.net.il>#1/1 Hello sex maniacs, Free pictures is available now for free at the best sex site on net: Its called: Sex on net - http://www.sex.co.am This is 200% free adult site - check it now, it's the best. Above 40,000 pictures are indexed and sorted by categories, Free video feeds, Free sex material. Enter now - Armenia Sex! http://www.sex.co.am (The page is loaded within 5sec.) Hope I helped you, Tina Pitongh. ngys From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 08/09/99 Date: 1999/08/09 Message-ID: <199908090400.AAA11978@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/09/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Multiwarrior 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Fri Aug 6 15:04:12 EDT 1999 # Name Author Score Age 1 QuiVa John Metcalf 31 80 2 Her Majesty P.Kline 31 6 3 Cinderella Ben Ford 27 14 4 WingShot Ben Ford 25 4 5 QueensGuard P.Kline 24 9 6 BiShot v1.0 Christian Schmidt 19 55 7 Sharkrage Christian Schmidt 13 54 8 pt1 John Metcalf 13 1 9 Neck Bite Ben Ford 13 3 10 QueensGuard P.Kline 11 7 11 qCape Ben Ford 6 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 08/09/99 Date: 1999/08/09 Message-ID: <199908090400.AAA11974@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/09/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Standard KotH CoreWar Hill : Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 8 19:24:08 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 36/ 20/ 44 Freight Train David Moore 152 46 2 32/ 21/ 46 Guardian Ian Oversby 143 45 3 33/ 24/ 44 sIMPly.Red v0.95 Leonardo Humberto 142 3 4 40/ 39/ 21 Stasis David Moore 141 153 5 39/ 40/ 22 Beholder's Eye V1.7 W. Mintardjo 138 321 6 41/ 44/ 15 Iron Gate Wayne Sheppard 137 371 7 40/ 43/ 18 Blur '88 Anton Marsden 137 83 8 37/ 37/ 26 PacMan David Moore 137 75 9 29/ 21/ 50 The Marlboro Man 1.13 M Joonas Pihlaja 136 21 10 39/ 43/ 17 Foggy Swamp Beppe Bezzi 136 42 11 40/ 46/ 14 Blurstone '88 M. J. Pihlaja 135 40 12 25/ 16/ 58 EV Paper John K Wilkinson 134 59 13 35/ 35/ 31 Leapfrog David Moore 134 74 14 36/ 38/ 26 Tangle Trap David Moore 134 119 15 35/ 37/ 28 Kitchen Sink Robert Macrae 133 44 16 27/ 23/ 50 Shish-Ka-Bob Ben Ford 131 1 17 24/ 19/ 57 Test I Ian Oversby 130 102 18 24/ 21/ 55 Evoltmp 88 John K W 127 96 19 21/ 19/ 60 Nightfall 2.1cc David Moore 122 9 20 22/ 24/ 54 TESTE Leonardo Humberto 121 4 21 2/ 49/ 49 Neverland'88 John Metcalf 55 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 08/09/99 Date: 1999/08/09 Message-ID: <199908090400.AAA11984@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/09/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG ICWS Experimental 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 1 08:22:13 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 52/ 33/ 15 Black Moods Ian Oversby 171 7 2 45/ 30/ 26 Controlled Aggression Ian Oversby 160 11 3 34/ 16/ 50 Venom v0.2b Christian Schmidt 153 33 4 28/ 6/ 66 Evol Cap 4 X John Wilkinson 150 80 5 24/ 3/ 73 Evolve X v4.0 John Wilkinson 146 28 6 29/ 20/ 51 Rosebud Beppe 137 59 7 36/ 39/ 25 Stepping Stone 94x Kurt Franke 134 66 8 32/ 33/ 34 Draken Fire X Ben Ford 132 2 9 35/ 39/ 27 Dr. Gate X Franz 131 51 10 34/ 37/ 29 BigBoy Robert Macrae 130 105 11 35/ 43/ 22 Tsunami v0.3 X Ian Oversby 127 5 12 38/ 49/ 13 S.E.T.I. 4-X JKW 127 81 13 28/ 31/ 41 Self-Modifying Code X Ben Ford 126 1 14 31/ 36/ 33 Lithium X 8 John K Wilkinson 126 71 15 21/ 16/ 63 Sphere v0.2 Christian Schmidt 126 22 16 35/ 45/ 20 Pagan John K W 125 65 17 35/ 46/ 19 Memories Beppe Bezzi 123 87 18 21/ 19/ 60 Purple v0.1 Christian Schmidt 123 32 19 36/ 49/ 15 WingShot Ben Ford 122 3 20 35/ 49/ 15 BiShot Christian Schmidt 121 19 21 15/ 30/ 55 pt1 John Metcalf 100 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - 94 No Pspace 08/09/99 Date: 1999/08/09 Message-ID: <199908090400.AAA11988@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/09/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG 94 No Pspace CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 8 06:25:01 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 43/ 41/ 17 goonie David Moore 145 1 2 30/ 21/ 49 Jade Ben Ford 138 8 3 41/ 44/ 16 Boys are Back in Town 1.1 Philip Kendall 138 201 4 38/ 40/ 22 WingShot Ben Ford 137 41 5 33/ 30/ 37 The Stormbringer Christian Schmidt 137 210 6 39/ 41/ 21 myVamp v3.7 Paulsson 137 28 7 42/ 47/ 11 Win! David Moore 136 174 8 33/ 29/ 38 Ant Factory Christian Schmidt 136 34 9 33/ 31/ 36 Blacken Ian Oversby 135 186 10 40/ 45/ 15 Zooom... John Metcalf 134 75 11 32/ 29/ 39 Vain Ian Oversby 134 276 12 32/ 30/ 38 Recovery Ian Oversby 133 199 13 24/ 16/ 60 _romanian_killah_ Costin Bontas rulez 132 168 14 33/ 34/ 32 The Outsider Simon Wainwright 132 39 15 32/ 32/ 36 The Pendragon Christian Schmidt 132 12 16 34/ 37/ 29 PC WFB 132 25 17 42/ 53/ 4 Neon Spring John Metcalf 131 58 18 30/ 29/ 42 Icen Ben Ford 131 33 19 31/ 31/ 38 Icepick 130 32 20 25/ 23/ 52 Fifth Step Leonardo H. Liporati 128 6 21 2/ 2/ 0 goonie David Moore 7 2 From: "Screamer" Subject: Re: ((( S E X P I C T U R E ))) 9824 Date: 1999/08/10 Message-ID: <004101bee369$780642a0$6000a8c0@screamer>#1/1 > Do you guys really think the spammer that posted his advertisement in all > these newsgroups is going to read your response? or even care? More over, in sending those folks replies, you may well be fattening their list of valid email addresses. If you have the knowhow, look at the headers of the mail and use some tools to track him down and report him to his ISP or whatnot. If you don't want to, there's a utility floating around somewhere that lets you reply to a spam message in a way that to the spammer it looks as if that address wasn't valid. Easiest way to spoof yourself out of their lists. From: "Screamer" Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/10 Message-ID: <004001bee369$771b4660$6000a8c0@screamer>#1/1 > The question: with a Scanner (and other warriors that > use loops, like vamps and stones), is it better to be > smaller or faster? I'm mostly lurking here, and haven't written much code either, but I think it's simple and safe to say that you have to find a balance: if the warrior is fast, he'll find his enemy fast - but if he does so with an incredible amount of code, he'll be very vulnerable. How to find that balance? Old optimization wisdom: Tweak, run, measure, ponder, rinse and repeat. :-) Ie, run it against a few warriors for a couple dozen times after each tweak, and see where the ratio heads to. Start by small warrior, keep adding speed-up code, watch it become better, and once you see it start going down again, go back one step. (Beware, don't give up increasing speed at the first sign of worsening, next bigger might actually happen for some reason to do better again.) Regards Screamer From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/10 Message-ID: <19990810212312.10117.rocketmail@send205.yahoomail.com>#1/1 Marshall wrote: > Ive recently figured out how to make a scanner work. > The smallest scanner i can make (and im pretty sure > its as small as it gets) is 4 lines (just the > scanner, > not the stun routine) and it runs at 66% C. > > The scanner: > > ;Minimal Scanner > ;scans 2 locations every 3 cycles > inc EQU step size > scan CMP inc*3, inc*4 > JMP stun > ADD incr, scan > JMP scan > incr DAT #inc*2, #inc*2 > stun (stun routine) Actually, add.ab #step, 1/jmz.f -1, [any addressing mode]x is smaller and easier to process before attacking.. > The question: with a Scanner (and other warriors > that > use loops, like vamps and stones), is it better to > be > smaller or faster? As with everything, the best's a trade off... What you have to decide is the ponderation between size and speed, then do a divide... It seems everyone give an equal importance to both, so the ratio is usually calculated that way: size/speed... The smaller, the better. === Vive le Qu�bec libre... d� souverainistes!!! _____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com From: "John K. Lewis" Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/10 Message-ID: #1/1 Marshall wrote: > The question: with a Scanner (and other warriors that > use loops, like vamps and stones), is it better to be > smaller or faster? It's a very good question, and one that you are nearly on the verge of answering for all of us. Simply finish these warriors off with a nice SPL->SPL->DAT wipe and *test* them against a set number of warrrios. We would all like to know the answer to this one. My guess is that you will find a point at which you no longer get increasing returns from the extra speed... probably at the 80% mark. John K. Lewis From: "Wayne Sheppard" Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/10 Message-ID: <7oq2e8$j5f$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net>#1/1 Use SNE along with SEQ (CMP=SEQ) to make it shorter. ;1 line shorter ADD incr, scan scan SNE inc*3, inc*4 JMP -2 stun (stun routine) incr DAT #inc*2, #inc*2 ;scans 4 locations every 5 cycles ;1 line shorter inc EQU step size x ADD incr, scan1 ADD incr, scan2 scan1 SNE inc*3, inc*4 scan2 SEQ inc*5, inc*6 JMP stun JMP x stun (stunning routine) incr DAT #inc*4, #inc*4 One problem is that you are not checking for selfscans and such. Check the archives. Charon 3.0(?) is about the clearest example of how to make a cmp scanner. As to your main question: > The question: with a Scanner (and other warriors that > use loops, like vamps and stones), is it better to be > smaller or faster? In general, if you double your vulnerabe size, you better double your speed. Going from 0.66C to 0.8C increases your speed by 20%. if your size increases by more than 20%, then you are more likely to get hit that you are to catch your opponent. Marshall wrote in message news:19990810115432.13264.00000101@ng-ba1.aol.com... > Ive recently figured out how to make a scanner work. > The smallest scanner i can make (and im pretty sure > its as small as it gets) is 4 lines (just the scanner, > not the stun routine) and it runs at 66% C. > > The scanner: > > ;Minimal Scanner > ;scans 2 locations every 3 cycles > inc EQU step size > scan CMP inc*3, inc*4 > JMP stun > ADD incr, scan > JMP scan > incr DAT #inc*2, #inc*2 > stun (stun routine) > > By adding 3 lines (another CMP, Jump to Stun, and ADD) > The speed can be brought up to 80% C > > ;Faster, bigger scanner > ;scans 4 locations every 5 cycles > inc EQU step size > scan1 CMP inc*3, inc*4 > JMP stun > scan2 CMP inc*5, inc*6 > JMP stun > ADD incr, scan1 > ADD incr, scan2 > JMP scan1 > incr DAT #inc*4, #inc*4 > stun (stunning routine) > > This could go on, bigger and faster scanners, but > the gain in speed decreases as more lines are added, > the next step is 6 locations in 7 cycles (86% +6%), > then 7 in 8 (87% +1.5%), then 8 in 9 (88% +1%) > > The question: with a Scanner (and other warriors that > use loops, like vamps and stones), is it better to be > smaller or faster? > > Thanks > Marshall From: happycan@aol.comjnkkil (Marshall) Subject: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/10 Message-ID: <19990810115432.13264.00000101@ng-ba1.aol.com>#1/1 Ive recently figured out how to make a scanner work. The smallest scanner i can make (and im pretty sure its as small as it gets) is 4 lines (just the scanner, not the stun routine) and it runs at 66% C. The scanner: ;Minimal Scanner ;scans 2 locations every 3 cycles inc EQU step size scan CMP inc*3, inc*4 JMP stun ADD incr, scan JMP scan incr DAT #inc*2, #inc*2 stun (stun routine) By adding 3 lines (another CMP, Jump to Stun, and ADD) The speed can be brought up to 80% C ;Faster, bigger scanner ;scans 4 locations every 5 cycles inc EQU step size scan1 CMP inc*3, inc*4 JMP stun scan2 CMP inc*5, inc*6 JMP stun ADD incr, scan1 ADD incr, scan2 JMP scan1 incr DAT #inc*4, #inc*4 stun (stunning routine) This could go on, bigger and faster scanners, but the gain in speed decreases as more lines are added, the next step is 6 locations in 7 cycles (86% +6%), then 7 in 8 (87% +1.5%), then 8 in 9 (88% +1%) The question: with a Scanner (and other warriors that use loops, like vamps and stones), is it better to be smaller or faster? Thanks Marshall From: "Wayne Sheppard" Subject: Re: ((( S E X P I C T U R E ))) 9824 Date: 1999/08/10 Message-ID: <7opeu8$oco$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net>#1/1 Simon Carr wrote in message news:7ooj4g$1j9$1@lure.pipex.net... > You sad bastard [clip] Do you guys really think the spammer that posted his advertisement in all these newsgroups is going to read your response? or even care? Not only did your response do no good, you also sent his same spam message to these groups AGAIN in your quoted text. I understand your frustrations and the need to vent. But next time clip out the spam part so everyone doesn't have to see it twice. From: "Simon Carr" Subject: Re: ((( S E X P I C T U R E ))) 9824 Date: 1999/08/10 Message-ID: <7ooj4g$1j9$1@lure.pipex.net>#1/1 You sad bastard davidnwgrp@bigfoot.com wrote in message <7omr4v$n08$27@news2.inter.net.il>... >Hello sex maniacs, > >Free pictures is available now for free at the best sex site on net: >Its called: Sex on net - http://www.sex.co.am >This is 200% free adult site - check it now, it's the best. > >Above 40,000 pictures are indexed and sorted by categories, >Free video feeds, Free sex material. > >Enter now - Armenia Sex! > >http://www.sex.co.am >(The page is loaded within 5sec.) > > >Hope I helped you, >Tina Pitongh. >ngys > From: yt1@eng.cam.ac.uk (Y. Tremblay) Subject: Re: ((( S E X P I C T U R E ))) 9824 Date: 1999/08/11 Message-ID: <7os8e6$kvn$1@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk>#1/1 In article <7opeu8$oco$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net>, Wayne Sheppard wrote: > >Simon Carr wrote in message >news:7ooj4g$1j9$1@lure.pipex.net... >> You sad bastard > >[clip] > >Do you guys really think the spammer that posted his advertisement in all >these newsgroups is going to read your response? or even care? Absolutely right. Responding to spam in the newsgroup is useless and probably even worse. >Not only did your response do no good, you also sent his same spam message >to these groups AGAIN in your quoted text. I understand your frustrations >and the need to vent. But next time clip out the spam part so everyone >doesn't have to see it twice. > Actually, an even better course of action is to complain to the ISP of the spammer. Nothing rude, nothing vulgar, just a business like letter stating the fact, what was posted and why it is inappropriate to be posted in this particular newsgroup. Although some ISP will not care about one person complaining, a few thousand peoples complaining at the same time usually mean that the offender is dealt with quickly. Include the full message with headers in the mail you send to the ISP, and yourself, look at the headers especially the path to see who to complain to and notice obvious fake addresses. Yannick Tremblay yt1@eng.cam.ac.uk -- Y. Tremblay From: anton@paradise.net.nz (Anton Marsden) Subject: Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ) Date: 1999/08/15 Message-ID: Archive-name: games/corewar-faq Last-Modified: February 25, 1999 Version: 4.1 URL: http://www.paradise.net.nz/~anton/corewar-faq.html Copyright: (c) 1999 Anton Marsden Maintainer: Anton Marsden Posting-Frequency: once every 2 weeks Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ) These are the Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) from the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.corewar. A plain text version of this document is poste= d every two weeks. The latest hypertext version is available at http://www.paradise.net.nz/~anton/cw/corewar-faq.html and the latest plain text version is available at http://www.paradise.net.nz/~anton/cw/corewar-faq.txt. This document is currently being maintained by Anton Marsden (anton@paradise.net.nz). Last modified: Thu Feb 25 20:08:13 NZDT 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To Do * Add the new No-PSpace '94 hill location * Add online location of Dewdney's articles * Make question 17 easier to understand. Add a state diagram? * Add info about infinite hills, related games (C-Robots, Tierra?, ...) * New question: How do I know if my warrior is any good? Refer to beginners' benchmarks, etc. * Add a Who's Who list? * Would very much like someone to compile a collection of the "revolutionary" warriors so that beginners can see how the game has developed over the years. Mail me if interested. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What's New * Vector-launching code was fixed thanks to Ting Hsu. * Changed the location of Ryan Coleman's paper (LaunchPad -> Launchpad) * Changed pauillac.inria.fr to para.inria.fr * Made some changes/additions/fixes based on a good FAQ review by Joonas Pihlaja. Not all of the suggestions have been dealt with yet, but the FAQ is now less ambiguous in some areas. Thanks Joonas! * Added stuff about pMARS under Win95 (question 9), and the location of = a HTML version of the ICWS'94 draft (question 5) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents 1. What is Core War 2. Is it "Core War" or "Core Wars"? 3. Where can I find more information about Core War? 4. Core War has changed since Dewdney's articles. Where do I get a copy o= f the current instruction set? 5. What is ICWS'94? Which simulators support ICWS'94? 6. What is the ICWS? 7. What is Core Warrior? 8. Where are the Core War archives? 9. Where can I find a Core War system for ...? 10. Where can I find warrior code? 11. I do not have FTP. How do I get all this great stuff? 12. I do not have access to Usenet. How do I post and receive news? 13. Are there any Core War related WWW sites? 14. What is KotH? How do I enter? 15. Is it DAT 0, 0 or DAT #0, #0? How do I compare to core? 16. How does SLT (Skip if Less Than) work? 17. What is the difference between in-register and in-memory evaluation? 18. What is P-space? 19. What does "Missing ;assert .." in my message from KotH mean? 20. How should I format my code? 21. Are there any other Core War related resources I should know about? 22. What does (expression or term of your choice) mean? 23. Other questions? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. What is Core War? Core War is a game played by two or more programs (and vicariously by their authors) written in an assembly language called Redcode and run in a virtua= l computer called MARS (for Memory Array Redcode Simulator). The object of th= e game is to cause all processes of the opposing program to terminate, leavin= g your program in sole posession of the machine. There are Core War systems available for most computer platforms. Redcode has been standardised by the ICWS, and is therefore transportable between all standard Core War systems. The system in which the programs run is quite simple. The core (the memory of the simulated computer) is a continuous array of instructions, empty except for the competing programs. The core wraps around, so that after the last instruction comes the first one again. There are no absolute addresses in Core War. That is, the address 0 doesn't mean the first instruction in the memory, but the instruction that contains the address 0. The next instruction is 1, and the previous one obviously -1= =2E However, all numbers are treated as positive, and are in the range 0 to CORESIZE-1 where CORESIZE is the amount of memory locations in the core - this means that -1 would be treated as CORESIZE-1 in any arithmetic operations, eg. 3218 + 7856 =3D (3218 + 7856) mod CORESIZE. Many people get confused by this, and it is particularly important when using the SLT instruction. Note that the source code of a program can still contain negative numbers, but if you start using instructions like DIV #-2, #5 it i= s important to know what effect they will have when executed. The basic unit of memory in Core War is one instruction. Each Redcode instruction contains three parts: * the opcode * the source address (a.k.a. the A-field) * the destination address (a.k.a. the B-field) The execution of the programs is equally simple. The MARS executes one instruction at a time, and then proceeds to the next one in the memory, unless the instruction explicitly tells it to jump to another address. If there is more than one program running, (as is usual) the programs execute alternately, one instruction at a time. The execution of each instruction takes the same time, one cycle, whether it is MOV, DIV or even DAT (which kills the process). Each program may have several processes running. These processes are stored in a task queue. When it is the program's turn to execute an instruction it dequeues a process and executes the corresponding instruction. Processes that are not killed during the execution of the instruction are put back into the task queue. Processes created by a SPL instruction are added to th= e task queue after the creating process is put back into the task queue. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Is it "Core War" or "Core Wars"? Both terms are used. Early references were to Core War. Later references seem to use Core Wars. I prefer "Core War" to refer to the game in general, "core wars" to refer to more than one specific battle. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Where can I find more information about Core War? Core War was first described in the Core War Guidelines of March, 1984 by D= =2E G. Jones and A. K. Dewdney of the Department of Computer Science at The University of Western Ontario (Canada). Dewdney wrote several "Computer Recreations" articles in Scientific American which discussed Core War, starting with the May 1984 article. Those articles are contained in two anthologies: Library of Author Title Published ISBN Congress Call Number The Armchair Dewdney, Universe: An New York: W. QA76.6 .D517 A. K. Exploration of H. Freeman =A90-7167-1939-8 1988 Computer Worlds 1988 The Magic 0-7167-2125-2 Dewdney, Machine: A New York: W.(Hardcover), QA76.6 A. K. Handbook of H. Freeman =A90-7167-2144-9 .D5173 199= 0 Computer Sorcery 1990 (Paperback) A.K. Dewdney's articles are still the most readable introduction to Core War, even though the Redcode dialect described in there is no longer current. For those who are interested, Dewdney has a home page at http://www.csd.uwo.ca/faculty/akd/. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Core War has changed since Dewdney's articles. Where do I get a copy of the current instruction set? A draft of the official standard (ICWS'88) is available as ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/standards/redcode-icws-88.Z. This document is formatted awkwardly and contains ambiguous statements. For a more approachable intro to Redcode, take a look at Mark Durham's tutorials, ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/tutorial.1.Z and ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/tutorial.2.Z. Steven Morrell has prepared a more practically oriented Redcode tutorial that discusses different warrior classes with lots of example code. This an= d various other tutorials can be found at http://www.koth.org/papers.html. Even though ICWS'88 is still the "official" standard, you will find that most people are playing by ICWS'94 draft rules and extensions. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. What is ICWS'94? Which simulators support ICWS'94? There is an ongoing discussion about future enhancements to the Redcode language. A proposed new standard, dubbed ICWS'94, is currently being evaluated. A major change is the addition of "instruction modifiers" that allow instructions to modify A-field, B-field or both. Also new is a new addressing modes and unrestricted opcode and addressing mode combination ("no illegal instructions"). ICWS'94 is backwards compatible; i.e. ICWS'88 warriors will run correctly on an ICWS'94 system. Take a look at the ICWS'9= 4 draft at ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/documents/icws94.0202.Z for more information. There is a HTML version of this document available at http://www.koth.org/info/icws94.html. You can try out the new standard by submitting warriors to the '94 hills of the KotH servers. Two corewar systems currently support ICWS'94, pMARS (many platforms) and Redcoder (Mac), both available at ftp://www.koth.org/corewar. Note that Redcoder onl= y supports a subset of ICWS'94. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. What is the ICWS? About one year after Core War first appeared in Scientific American, the "International Core War Society" (ICWS) was established. Since that time, the ICWS has been responsible for the creation and maintenance of Core War standards and the running of Core War tournaments. There have been six annual tournaments and two standards (ICWS'86 and ICWS'88). The ICWS is no longer active. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. What is Core Warrior? Following in the tradition of the Core War News Letter, Push Off, and The 9= 4 Warrior, Core Warrior is a newsletter about strategies and current standing= s in Core War. Started in October 1995, back issues of Core Warrior (and the other newsletters) are available at http://para.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/. There is also a Core Warrior index page at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/5427/warrior.htm which has a summary of the contents of each issue of Core Warrior. Many of the earlier issues contain useful information for beginners. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Where are the Core War archives? Many documents such as the guidelines and the ICWS standards along with previous tournament Redcode entries and complete Core War systems are available via anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/corewar. Also, most of past rec.games.corewar postings (including Redcode source listings) are archived there. Jon Blow (blojo@csua.berkeley.edu) is the archive administrator. When uploading to /pub/corewar/incoming, ask Jon to move your upload to the appropriate directory and announce it on the net. This site is mirrored at: * http://www.koth.org/corewar/ * ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/ * ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/mirror The plain text version of this FAQ is automatically archived by news.answer= s (but this version is probably out-of-date). [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Where can I find a Core War system for . . . ? Core War systems are available via anonymous FTP from www.koth.org in the corewar/systems directory. Currently, there are UNIX, IBM PC-compatible, Macintosh, and Amiga Core War systems available there. It is a good idea to check ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/incoming for program updates first. CAUTION! There are many, many Core War systems available which are NOT ICWS'88 (or even ICWS'86) compatible available at various archive sites other than www.koth.org. Generally, the older the program - the less likely it will be ICWS compatible. If you are looking for an ICWS'94 simulator, get pMARS, which is available for many platforms and can be downloaded from: * ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/corewar (original site) * ftp://www.koth.org/corewar (Stormking mirror) * ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/mirror (Planar mirror) * http://www.nc5.infi.net/~wtnewton/corewar/ (Terry Newton) * ftp://members.aol.com/ofechner/corewar (Fechter) Notes: * If you have trouble running pMARS with a graphical display under Win95 then check out http://www.koth.org/pmars.html which should have a pointer to the latest compilation of pMARS for this environment. * RPMs for the Alpha, PowerPC, Sparc and i386 can be found at ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/para/doligez/cw/pmars-rpm/ Reviews of Core War systems would be greatly appreciated in the newsgroup and in the newsletter. Below is a not necessarily complete or up-to-date list of what's available at www.koth.org: MADgic41.lzh corewar for the Amiga, v4.1 MAD4041.lzh older version? MAD50B.lha corewar for the Amiga, beta version 5.0 Redcoder-21.hqx corewar for the Mac, supports ICWS'88 and '94 (without extensions) core-11.hqx corewar for the Mac core-wars-simulator.hqx same as core-11.hqx? corewar_unix_x11.tar.Z corewar for UNIX/X-windows, ICWS'86 but not ICWS'88 compatible koth31.tar.Z corewar for UNIX/X-windows. This program ran the former KotH server at intel.com koth.shar.Z older version kothpc.zip port of older version of KotH to the PC deluxe20c.tar.Z corewar for UNIX (broken X-windows or curses) and PC mars.tar.Z corewar for UNIX, likely not ICWS'88 compatible icons.zip corewar icons for MS-Windows macrored.zip a redcode macro-preprocessor (PC) c88v49.zip PC corewar, textmode display mars88.zip PC corewar, graphics mode display corwp302.zip PC corewar, textmode display, slowish mercury2.zip PC corewar written in assembly, fast! mtourn11.zip tournament scheduler for mercury (req. 4DOS) pmars08s.zip portable system, ICWS'88 and '94, runs on UNIX, PC, Mac, Amiga. C source archive pmars08s.tar.Z same as above pmars08.zip PC executables with graphics display, req 386+ macpmars02.sit.hqx pMARS executable for Mac (port of version 0.2) buggy, no display MacpMARS1.99a.cpt.hqx port of v0.8 for the Mac, with display and debugger MacpMARS1.0s.cpt.hqx C source (MPW, ThinkC) for Mac frontend pvms08.zip pMARS v0.8 for VMS build files/help (req. pmars08s.zip) ApMARS03.lha pMARS executable for Amiga (port of version 0.3.1) wincor11.zip MS-Windows system, shareware ($15) [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Where can I find warrior code? To learn the game, it is a good idea to study previously posted warrior code. The FTP archives have code in the ftp://www.koth.org/corewar/redcode directory. A clearly organized on-line warrior collection is available at the Core War web sites (see below). [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. I do not have FTP. How do I get all this great stuff? There is an FTP email server at bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu. This address may no longer exist. I haven't tested it yet. Send email with a subject and bod= y text of "help" (without the quotes) for more information on its usage. Note that many FTP email gateways are shutting down due to abuse. To get a current list of FTP email servers, look at the Accessing the Internet by E-mail FAQ posted to news.answers. If you don't have access to Usenet, you can retrieve this FAQ one of the following ways: * Send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the body containing "send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email". * Send mail to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk with the body containing "send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt". [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12. I do not have access to Usenet. How do I post and receive news? To receive rec.games.corewar articles by email, join the COREWAR-L list run on the Stormking.Com list processor. To join, send the message SUB COREWAR-L FirstName LastName to listproc@stormking.com. You can send mail to corewar-l@stormking.com to post even if you are not a member of the list. Responsible for the listserver is Scott J. Ellentuch (tuc@ttsg.com). Servers that allow you to post (but not receive) articles are available. Refer to the Accessing the Internet by E-Mail FAQ for more information. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13. Are there any Core War related WWW sites? You bet. Each of the two KotH sites sport a world-wide web server. Stormking's Core War page is http://www.koth.org; pizza's is http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~pizza/koth . Damien Doligez (a.k.a. Planar) has a web page that features convenient access to regular newsletters (Push Off, The '94 Warrior, Core Warrior) and a well organized library of warriors: http://para.inria.fr/~doligez/corewar/. Convenient for U.S. users= , this site is also mirrored at Stormking. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14. What is KotH? How do I enter? King Of The Hill (KotH) is an ongoing Core War tournament available to anyone with email. You enter by submitting via email a Redcode program (warrior) with special comment lines. You will receive a reply indicating how well your program did against the current top programs "on the hill". There are two styles of KotH tournaments, "classical" and "multi-warrior". The "classical" KotH is a one-on-one tournament, that is your warrior will play 100 battles against each of the 20 other programs currently on the Hill. You receive 3 points for each win and 1 point for each tie. (The existing programs do not replay each other, but their previous battles are recalled.) All scores are updated to reflect your battles and all 21 programs are ranked from high to low. If you are number 21 you are pushed off the Hill, if you are higher than 21 someone else is pushed off. In "multi-warrior" KotH, all warriors on the hill fight each other at the same time. Score calculation is a bit more complex than for the one-on-one tournament. Briefly, points are awarded based on how many warriors survive until the end of a round. A warrior that survives by itself gets more point= s than a warrior that survives together with other warriors. Points are calculated from the formula (W*W-1)/S, where W is the total number of warriors and S the number of surviving warriors. The pMARS documentation ha= s more information on multi-warrior scoring. The idea for an email-based Core War server came from David Lee. The original KotH was developed and run by William Shubert at Intel starting in 1991, and discontinued after almost three years of service. Currently, KotH= s based on Bill's UNIX scripts but offering a wider variety of hills are are running at two sites: koth@koth.org is maintained by Scott J. Ellentuch (tuc@ttsg.com) and pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu by Thomas H. Davies (sd@ecst.csuchico.edu). Up until May '95, the two sites provided overlappin= g services, i.e. the some of the hill types were offered by both "pizza" and "stormking". To conserve resources, the different hill types are now divide= d up among the sites. The way you submit warriors to both KotHs is pretty muc= h the same. Therefore, the entry rules described below apply to both "pizza" and "stormking" unless otherwise noted. Entry Rules for King of the Hill Corewar * Write a corewar program. KotH is fully ICWS '88 compatible, EXCEPT tha= t a comma (",") is required between two arguments. * Put a line starting with ";redcode" (or ";redcode-94", etc., see below= ) at the top of your program. This MUST be the first line. Anything before it will be lost. If you wish to receive mail on every new entrant, use ";redcode verbose". Otherwise you will only receive mail if a challenger makes it onto the hill. Use ";redcode quiet" if you wish to receive mail only when you get shoved off the hill. Additionally, adding ";name " and ";author " will be helpful in the performance reports. Do NOT have a line beginning with ";address" in your code; this will confuse the mail daemon and you won't get mail back. Using ";name" is mandatory on the Pizza hills. In addition, it would be nice if you have lines beginning with ";strategy" that describe the algorithm you use. There are currently seven separate hills you can select by starting your program with ;redcode-94, ;redcode-b, ;redcode-lp, ;redcode-x, ;redcode, ;redcode-94x or ;redcode-94m. The former four run at "pizza"= , the latter three at "stormking". More information on these hills is listed below. * Mail this file to koth@koth.org or pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu. "Pizza" requires a subject of "koth" (use the -s flag on most mailers). * Within a few minutes you should get mail back telling you whether your program assembled correctly or not. If it did assemble correctly, sit back and wait; if not, make the change required and re-submit. * In an hour or so you should get more mail telling you how your program performed against the current top 20 (or 10) programs. If no news arrives during that time, don't worry; entries are put in a queue and run through the tournament one at a time. A backlog may develop. Be patient. If your program makes it onto the hill, you will get mail every time a new program makes it onto the hill. If this is too much mail, you can use ";redcode[-??] quiet" when you first mail in your program; then you will only get mail when you make it on the top 25 list or when you are knocked off. Using ";redcode[-??] verbose" will give you even more mail; here you get mail every time a new challenger arrives, even if they don't make it onto the top 25 list. Often programmers want to try out slight variations in their programs. If you already have a program named "foo V1.0" on the hill, adding the line ";kill foo" to a new program will automatically bump foo 1.0 off the hill. Just ";kill" will remove all of your programs when you submit the new one. The server kills programs by assigning an impossibly low score; it may therefore take another successful challenge before a killed program is actually removed from the hill. Sample Entry ;redcode ;name Dwarf ;author A. K. Dewdney ;strategy Throw DAT bombs around memory, hitting every 4th memory cell. ;strategy This program was presented in the first Corewar article. bomb DAT #0 dwarf ADD #4, bomb MOV bomb, @bomb JMP dwarf END dwarf ; Programs start at the first line unless ; an "END start" pseudo-op appears to indicate ; the first logical instruction. Also, nothing ; after the END instruction will be assembled. Duration Max. Hill Name Hill Core Max. Before Entry Min. Rounds I= nstr. Size Size Processes Distance Fought = Set Tie Length Pizza's ICWS '94 Draft Hill Ex= tended (Accessed with 25 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 IC= WS '94 ";redcode-94") Dr= aft Pizza's Beginner's Hill Ex= tended (Accessed with 25 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 IC= WS '94 ";redcode-b") Dr= aft Pizza's Experimental Ex= tended (Small) Hill 25 800 800 8000 20 20 200 IC= WS '94 (Accessed with Dr= aft ";redcode-x") Pizza's Limited Process (LP) Ex= tended Hill (Accessed 25 8000 8 80000 200 200 200 IC= WS '94 with Dr= aft ";redcode-lp") Stormking's ICWS '88 Standard Hill 20 8000 8000 80000 100 100 250 IC= WS '88 (Accessed with ";redcode") Stormking's ICWS '94 Experimental Ex= tended (Big) Hill 20 55440 55440 500000 200 200 250 IC= WS '94 (Accessed with Dr= aft ";redcode-94x") Stormking's ICWS '94 Draft Multi-Warrior Ex= tended Hill (Accessed 10 8000 8000 80000 100 100 200 IC= WS '94 with Dr= aft ";redcode-94m") Note: Warriors on the beginner's hill are retired at age 100. If you just want to get a status report without actually challenging the hills, send email with ";status" as the message body (and don't forget "Subject: koth" for "pizza"). If you send mail to "pizza" with "Subject: koth help" you will receive instructions that may be more up to date than those contained in this document. At "stormking", a message body with ";help" will return brief instructions. If you submit code containing a ";test" line, your warrior will be assemble= d but not actually pitted against the warriors on the hill. At "pizza", you can use ";redcode[-??] test" to do a test challenge of the Hill without affecting the status of the Hill. These challenges can be used to see how well your warrior does against the current Hill warriors. All hills run portable MARS (pMARS) version 0.8, a platform-independent Cor= e War system available at www.koth.org. The '94 and '94x hills allow five experimental opcodes and three experimental addressing modes currently not covered in the ICWS'94 draft document: * LDP - Load P-Space * STP - Store P-Space * SEQ - Skip if EQual (synonym for CMP) * SNE - Skip if Not Equal * NOP - (No OPeration) * * - indirect using A-field as pointer * { - predecrement indirect using A-field * } - postincrement indirect using A-field [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15. Is it DAT 0, 0 or DAT #0, #0? How do I compare to core? Core is initialized to DAT 0, 0. This is an illegal instruction (in source code) under ICWS'88 rules and strictly compliant assemblers (such as KotH o= r pmars -8) will not let you have a DAT 0, 0 instruction in your source code = - only DAT #0, #0. So this begs the question, how to compare something to see if it is empty core. The answer is, most likely the instruction before your first instruction and the instruction after your last instruction are both DAT 0, 0. You can use them, or any other likely unmodified instructions, fo= r comparison. Note that under ICWS'94, DAT 0, 0 is a legal instruction. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 16. How does SLT (Skip if Less Than) work? SLT gives some people trouble because of the way modular arithmetic works. It is important to note that all negative numbers are converted to positive numbers before a battles begins. Example: -1 becomes M-1 where M is the memory size (core size). Once you realize that all numbers are treated as positive, it is clear what is meant by "less than". It should also be clear that no number is less tha= n zero. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17. What is the difference between in-register and in-memory evaluation? These terms refer to the way instruction operands are evaluated. The '88 Redcode standard ICWS'88 is unclear about whether a simulator should "buffer" the result of A-operand evaluation before the B-operand is evaluated. Simulators that do buffer are said to use in-register evaluation= , those that don't, in-memory evaluation. ICWS'94 clears this confusion by mandating in-register evaluation. Instructions that execute differently under these two forms of evaluation are MOV, ADD, SUB, MUL, DIV and MOD where the effective address of the A-operand is modified by evaluation of the B-operand. This is best illustrated by an example: L1 mov L2, mov.i #0, impsize Bootstrapping Strategy of copying the active portion of the program away from the initial location, leaving a decoy behind and making the relocated program as small as possible. B-Scanners Scanners which only recognize non-zero B-fields. example add #10, scan scan jmz example, 10 c Measure of speed, equal to one location per cycle. Speed of light. CMP-Scanner A Scanner which uses a CMP instruction to look for opponents. example add step, scan scan cmp 10, 30 jmp attack jmp example step dat #20, #20 Colour Property of bombs making them visible to scanners, causing them to attack useless locations, thus slowing them down. example dat #100 Core-Clear Code that sequentially overwrites core with DAT instructions; usually the last part of a program. Decoys Bogus or unused instructions meant to slow down scanners. Typically, DATs with non-zero B-fields. Decrement Resistant Property of warriors making them functional (or at least partially functional) when overrun by a DJN-stream. DJN-Stream (also DJN-Train) Using a DJN command to rapidly decrement core locations. example ... ... djn example, <4000 Dwarf The prototypical small bomber. Gate-busting (also gate-crashing) technique to "interweave" a decrement-resistant imp-spiral (e.g. MOV 0= , 2668) with a standard one to overrun imp-gates. Hybrids warriors that combine two or more of the basic strategies, either in sequence (e.g. stone->paper) or in parallel (e.g. imp/stone). Imp Program which only uses the MOV instruction. example mov 0, 1 or example mov 0, 2 mov 0, 2 Imp-Gate A location in core which is bombed or decremented continuously so that an Imp can not pass. Also used to describe the program-code which maintains the gate. example ... ... spl 0, mov.i #0,IMPSIZE Mirror see reflection. On-axis/off-axis On-axis scanners compare two locations M/2 apart, where M is the memor= y size. Off-axis scanners use some other separation. Optimal Constants (also optima-type constants) Bomb or scan increments chosen to cover core most effectively, i.e. leaving gaps of uniform size. Programs to calculate optimal constants and lists of optimal numbers are available at www.koth.org. Paper A Paper-like program is one which replicates itself many times. Part o= f the Scissors (beats) Paper (beats) Stone (beats Scissors) analogy. P-Warrior A warrior which uses the results of previous round(s) in order to determine which strategy it will use. Pit-Trapper (also Slaver, Vampire). A program which enslaves another. Usually accomplished by bombing with JMPs to a SPL 0 pit with an optional core-clear routine. Q^2 Scan A modern version of the Quick Scan where anything found is attacked almost immediately. Quick Scan 2c scan of a set group of core locations with bombing if anything is found. Both of the following codes snips scan 16 locations and check for a find. If anything is found, it is attacked, otherwise 16 more locations are scanned. Example: start s1 for 8 ;'88 scan cmp start+100*s1, start+100*s1+4000 ;check two locations mov #start+100*s1-found, found ;they differ so set p= ointer rof jmn attack, found ;if we have something, get it s2 for 8 cmp start+100*(s2+6), start+100*(s2+6)+4000 mov #start+100*(s2+6)-found, found rof found jmz moveme, #0 ;skip attack if qscan found nothin= g attack cmp @found, start-1 ;does found points to empty space? add #4000, found ;no, so point to correct location mov start-1, @found ;move a bomb moveme jmp 0, 0 In ICWS'94, the quick scan code is more compact because of the SNE opcode: start ;'94 scan s1 for 4 sne start+400*s1, start+400*s1+100 ;check two locatio= ns seq start+400*s1+200, start+400*s1+300 ;check two locatio= ns mov #start+400*s1-found, found ;they differ so set = pointer rof jmn which, found ;if we have something, get it s2 for 4 sne start+400*(s2+4), start+400*(s2+4)+100 seq start+400*(s2+4)+200, start+400*(s2+4)+300 mov #start+400*(s2+4)-found-100, found rof found jmz moveme, #0 ;skip attack if qscan found nothin= g add #100, -1 ;increment pointer till we get the which jmn -1, @found ;right place mov start-1, @found ;move a bomb moveme jmp 0, 0 Reflection Copy of a program or program part, positioned to make the active program invisible to a CMP-scanner. Replicator Generic for Paper. A program which makes many copies of itself, each copy also making copies. Self-Splitting Strategy of amplifying the number of processes executing a piece of code. example spl 0 loop add #10, example mov example, @example jmp loop Scanner A program which searches through core for an opponent rather than bombing blindly. Scissors A program designed to beat replicators, usually a (B-field scanning) vampire. Part of the Paper-Scissors-Stone analogy. Self-Repair Ability of a program to fix it's own code after attack. Silk A replicator which splits off a process to each new copy before actually copying the code. This allows it to replicate extremely quickly. This technique is only possible under the '94 draft, because it requires post-increment indirect addressing. Example: spl 1 mov -1, 0 spl 1 ;generate 6 consecutive processes silk spl 3620, #0 ;split to new copy mov >-1, }-1 ;copy self to new location mov bomb, >2000 ;linear bombing mov bomb, }2042 ;A-indirect bombing for anti-vamp jmp silk, {silk ;reset source pointer, make new cop= y bomb dat >2667, >5334 ;anti-imp bomb Slaver see Pit-Trapper. Stealth Property of programs, or program parts, which are invisible to scanners, accomplished by using zero B-fields and reflections. Stone A Stone-like program designed to be a small bomber. Part of the Paper-Scissors-Stone analogy. Stun A type of bomb which makes the opponent multiply useless processes, thus slowing it down. Example is referred to as a SPL-JMP bomb. example spl 0 jmp -1 Two-Pass Core-Clear (also SPL/DAT Core-Clear) core clear that fills core first with SPL instructions, then with DATs= =2E This is very effective in killing paper and certain imp-spiral variations. Vampire see Pit-Trapper. Vector Launch one of several means to start an imp-spiral running. As fast as Binary Launch, but requiring much less code. See also JMP/ADD Launch and Binary Launch. This example is one form of a Vector Launch: sz EQU 2667 spl 1 spl 1 jmp @vt, }0 vt dat #0, imp+0*sz ; start of vector table dat #0, imp+1*sz dat #0, imp+2*sz dat #0, imp+3*sz ; end of vector table imp mov.i #0, sz [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 23. Other questions? Just ask in the rec.games.corewar newsgroup or contact me. If you are shy, check out the Core War archives first to see if your question has been answered before. [ToC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Credits Additions, corrections, etc. to this document are solicited. Thanks in particular to the following people who have contributed major portions of this document: * Mark Durham (wrote the original version of the FAQ) * Paul Kline * Randy Graham * Stefan Strack (maintained a recent version of the FAQ) The rec.games.corewar FAQ is Copyright =A9 1999 and maintained by Anton Marsden (anton@paradise.net.nz). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: happycan@aol.comjnkkil (Marshall) Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/15 Message-ID: <19990815115437.08902.00000179@ng-cd1.aol.com>#1/1 >PS, sorry to disappoint you, but this's already been discovered 8) im not dissapionted. Considering that ive started playing this game 15 years after it was first concieved, and 5 years after the last revision, it would be stupid of me to bgelieve that i could come up with something original. Maybe if there is a '00 revision with major changes i could maybe come up with some unthunk of stuff. >PPS, have you thought about switching to '94 redcode??? i was under the impression that i was using the '94 standard. could you point me to somewhere where i oculd update my redcode writing if im truely not using the latest standard? Thanks Marshall From: davidnwgrp@bigfoot.com Subject: Play online the classic games of the day! 3514 Date: 1999/08/15 Message-ID: <7p6in3$vi$41@news2.inter.net.il>#1/1 Hello, I want to introduce you to a new exciting site that will change your day! - Start playing online via the internet in your office or at home. Its easy to use, One click and you are ready to play! Make http://www.livegame.com - Your home page. All games are multimedia supported - Music sound effects and all this to put a smile on your face. Start playing online now - http://www.livegame.com <-- CLICK CLICK Hope I helped you, David Jackson. kwksgynp From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/15 Message-ID: <19990815131726.24664.rocketmail@web127.yahoomail.com>#1/1 Marshall wrote: > SPL 0, DAT > where N is any negative number As you thought, it wouldn't work with spirals; you could generalize this to: spl 0, SPL warrior > SPL 0, DAT warrior (any one process warrior here) ;call the > process here 'C' Or, spl 0, #1/1 > Not only did your response do no good, you also sent his same spam message > to these groups AGAIN in your quoted text. I understand your frustrations > and the need to vent. But next time clip out the spam part so everyone > doesn't have to see it twice. Or just cancel it. From: Ben Ford Subject: Icepick Date: 1999/08/15 Message-ID: <7p5b6k$khj$1@nnrp1.deja.com>#1/1 Here is the code for Icepick. It hovered in the bottom quarter of both the 94 hill and the 94-nop hill for a while before getting knocked off. Nothing too drastic but I saved a line of code when I cut down the size of the q-scan by combining the bomb line with the C,F constant line. Getting rid of all the scans using F was about the size I wanted (I didn't want to boot the imp launcher so I needed some space between it and the main block of code) and so I was able to replace it with the constant needed for the q-bombing routine. The stone has been seen before in David Moore's Recycled Bits but I stuck the extra magic SPL #0, 0 in front of it to balance out the cycles with the imp launcher. I also modified the bomb a bit such that it forms a hyper-perfect imp gate after the core-clear is done. -Ben ;redcode-94 test ;name Icepick ;author Ben Ford ;password slade ;assert (CORESIZE==8000) ;strategy q^3 -> stone/imp ; ----- continuous imp launcher ----- iHOP equ ((CORESIZE+1)/3) iINC equ (iHOP+1) iOFF equ 629 iJMP equ (pump-iINC+iOFF) pump spl # 1, >spin spin mov.i imp, iOFF-4 add.f #iINC, iptr iptr jmp iJMP, >7800 dat $ 0, $ 0 imp mov.i #iHOP, * 0 for 16 dat $ 0, $ 0 rof ; ----- q^3 quickscan ----- qf equ qptr qs equ 100 qd equ 4000 qi equ 7 qr equ 11 qo equ (qi*qr-10) spl # 14, < 10 ; A,D qtab spl # 7, < 4 ; B,E qbmb dat # 19, { qo ; C qslo mul.b qtab, qptr ; decode qfas mul.ab qtab, @qslo qfnd sne >3456, @qptr add # qd, qptr qhop mov qbmb, @qptr ; .5c negative bomber qptr mov qbmb, @ qs sub # qi, qptr djn qhop, # qr jmp boot, <1234 qscan seq qd+qf+1*qs, qf+qs ; 1 jmp qfnd, {qd+qf+qs+qi seq qd+qf+7*qs, qf+7*qs ; B jmp qfas, {qd+qf+7*qs+qi seq qd+qf+6*qs, qf+6*qs ; B-1 jmp qfas, {qtab seq qd+qf+8*qs, qf+8*qs ; B+1 jmp qfas, }qtab seq qd+qf+19*qs, qf+19*qs ; C jmp qfas, }qfas seq qd+qf+13*qs, qf+13*qs ; A-1 djn.a qfas, {qfas seq qd+qf+14*qs, qf+14*qs ; A jmp qfas, {qfas seq qd+qf+4*qs, qf+4*qs ; E jmp >qfas, {qd+qf+4*qs+qi seq qd+qf+3*qs, qf+3*qs ; E-1 jmp >qfas, qfas, >qtab seq qd+qf+9*qs, qf+9*qs ; D-1 djn.b >qfas, {qslo seq qd+qf+10*qs, qf+10*qs ; D jmp >qfas, {qslo seq qd+qf+18*qs, qf+18*qs ; (B-1)*(E-1) djn.f qslo, qtab seq qd+qf+21*qs, qf+21*qs ; B*(E-1) jmp qslo, qtab seq qd+qf+57*qs, qf+57*qs ; C*(E-1) djn.b qslo, }qfas seq qd+qf+76*qs, qf+76*qs ; C*E jmp qslo, }qfas seq qd+qf+52*qs, qf+52*qs ; (A-1)*E djn.a qslo, {qfas seq qd+qf+56*qs, qf+56*qs ; A*E jmp qslo, {qfas seq qd+qf+63*qs, qf+63*qs ; B*(D-1) djn.b qslo, {qslo seq qd+qf+70*qs, qf+70*qs ; B*D jmp qslo, {qslo seq qd+qf+28*qs, qf+28*qs ; B*E jmp qslo, {qd+qf+28*qs+qi ; ----- boot code ----- rjmp equ (pump+3000) boot spl pump, <4000 mov #1/1 Ive come up with an almost100% effective imp gate. im not sure that its original, it seems like the sort of thing someone would have tried to do before, but here is the code i came up with ::new discovery-sharing spew mode ON:: SPL 0, B->C->A order, then the gate will always decrement incoming imps. If an imp writes to location N-1, then if process A or C is executing it doesnt get decremented. If it doesnt get decremented then, and it writes to location N the next cycle then it will be decremented regardless of if it was process A or C executing just before. I think that this works against rings and spirals also, im not sure (i dont know really how they work). If a spiral writes to location N-1, that MOV instruction will still be decremented 1-2 cycles after it is written at most, so it would have to write to N-1 before process C executes (execution cant be simultaneous, can it?), then execute the just written MOV just after that to avoid getting decremented. Only if the ring/spiral wrote to location N just after process B executed would it make it through the gate (im not sure now many cycles of delay between writing this is, i cant think that hard this late) This near-perfect gate carries it price though: a 2/3 reduction in speed and an extra 2 lines of code. It does make an OK final state for a warrior, since when only the gate is running location N gets decremented every cycle. Comments, Corrections, Criticism please Marshall ::new discovery-sharing spew mode OFF:: From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: Comment?? da mutant Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: <19990816215136.11556.rocketmail@web124.yahoomail.com>#1/1 I've got a one-shot(i always end up with oneshots anyway... 8), which is currently 3rd on the b hill(the best non-pspacer, i think), but doesn't get on the 94 hills, and i don't know how to make it better...Here is the version on the hill: step equ 3510 dat.f 0,1 add.f inc, 1 bmb mov.i {3+step, <0-step+1 jmz.f -2, <-1 mov.a -2, sb1 inc spl #step,-step+1 mov.i @2,>bmb mov.i @1,>bmb djn.b -2,{sb1 dat.f -7,10 spl #-8,10 sb1 spl #0,9 end bmb I've never seen this done in a warrior, even though there's has been a message about this in the '88 times.. It bombs as fast as emerald and does 2 f-scans... The only problem is that you can't know which of the two fields is non-zero 8( So, i've tried making it use a fixed interval, but i don't think it helps, i've also tried using a fixed interval(10/15) and a small step(25)...IT's not bad against papers, but it looses much more to other scanners and and to stones. I've also tried using other attacks: one is a clear a bit like one Pihlaja(?) entered in a tournament, and i've tried attacking with an active carpet...Obviously, as it,s still a one-shot, the carpetting version scored very poorly on the wilmoos. Maybe an attack ala blur could be good :-/ Anyone has an idea for improving it??? TIA === Vive le Qu�bec libre... d� souverainistes!!! _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: New core Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: <19990816215918.19328.rocketmail@web108.yahoomail.com>#1/1 I've just tought about that: it should be easy to make a server for the main idea that has emerged in the "New Core" thread(well, under windows, at least, as it's the only platform i know): Open a port(f.e., 66); to submit, use telnet to send your warrior to it(line by line, using the clipboard??) Or, if anyone knows how ftp servers do it, just by uploading your warrior... It should be fairly easy to make it impossible to hack a system by a loophole in the server === Vive le Qu�bec libre... d� souverainistes!!! _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From: Robert Macrae Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: <37B87DF9.32AF@dial.pipex.com>#1/1 Wayne Sheppard wrote: Are you THE Wayne Sheppard? ;-) -- Regards, Robert Macrae From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 08/16/99 Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: <199908160400.AAA02606@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/16/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG ICWS Experimental 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 1 08:22:13 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 52/ 33/ 15 Black Moods Ian Oversby 171 7 2 45/ 30/ 26 Controlled Aggression Ian Oversby 160 11 3 34/ 16/ 50 Venom v0.2b Christian Schmidt 153 33 4 28/ 6/ 66 Evol Cap 4 X John Wilkinson 150 80 5 24/ 3/ 73 Evolve X v4.0 John Wilkinson 146 28 6 29/ 20/ 51 Rosebud Beppe 137 59 7 36/ 39/ 25 Stepping Stone 94x Kurt Franke 134 66 8 32/ 33/ 34 Draken Fire X Ben Ford 132 2 9 35/ 39/ 27 Dr. Gate X Franz 131 51 10 34/ 37/ 29 BigBoy Robert Macrae 130 105 11 35/ 43/ 22 Tsunami v0.3 X Ian Oversby 127 5 12 38/ 49/ 13 S.E.T.I. 4-X JKW 127 81 13 28/ 31/ 41 Self-Modifying Code X Ben Ford 126 1 14 31/ 36/ 33 Lithium X 8 John K Wilkinson 126 71 15 21/ 16/ 63 Sphere v0.2 Christian Schmidt 126 22 16 35/ 45/ 20 Pagan John K W 125 65 17 35/ 46/ 19 Memories Beppe Bezzi 123 87 18 21/ 19/ 60 Purple v0.1 Christian Schmidt 123 32 19 36/ 49/ 15 WingShot Ben Ford 122 3 20 35/ 49/ 15 BiShot Christian Schmidt 121 19 21 15/ 30/ 55 pt1 John Metcalf 100 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - 94 No Pspace 08/16/99 Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: <199908160400.AAA02612@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/16/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG 94 No Pspace CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Fri Aug 13 23:19:59 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 35/ 20/ 45 Jade Ben Ford 151 25 2 43/ 37/ 20 WingShot Ben Ford 148 58 3 44/ 40/ 15 goonie David Moore 148 18 4 38/ 29/ 33 The Stormbringer Christian Schmidt 146 227 5 37/ 30/ 33 The Pendragon Christian Schmidt 145 29 6 36/ 28/ 36 Ant Factory Christian Schmidt 144 51 7 36/ 28/ 36 Vain Ian Oversby 144 293 8 37/ 30/ 33 Blacken Ian Oversby 144 203 9 36/ 29/ 35 Recovery Ian Oversby 143 216 10 40/ 38/ 22 myVamp v3.7 Paulsson 143 45 11 44/ 45/ 12 Win! David Moore 142 191 12 42/ 41/ 17 Boys are Back in Town 1.1 Philip Kendall 142 218 13 29/ 15/ 57 _romanian_killah_ Costin Bontas rulez 142 185 14 42/ 42/ 15 Zooom... John Metcalf 142 92 15 35/ 28/ 38 Icen Ben Ford 141 50 16 38/ 36/ 26 PC WFB 141 42 17 31/ 22/ 48 Fifth Step Leonardo H. Liporati 140 23 18 45/ 50/ 5 Neon Spring John Metcalf 140 75 19 38/ 39/ 23 Napalm Ken Espiritu 138 5 20 39/ 42/ 18 Teardrop Ken Espiritu 136 1 21 2/ 98/ 0 0 0 7 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 08/16/99 Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: <199908160400.AAA02598@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/16/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Standard KotH CoreWar Hill : Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 8 19:24:08 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 36/ 20/ 44 Freight Train David Moore 152 46 2 32/ 21/ 46 Guardian Ian Oversby 143 45 3 33/ 24/ 44 sIMPly.Red v0.95 Leonardo Humberto 142 3 4 40/ 39/ 21 Stasis David Moore 141 153 5 39/ 40/ 22 Beholder's Eye V1.7 W. Mintardjo 138 321 6 41/ 44/ 15 Iron Gate Wayne Sheppard 137 371 7 40/ 43/ 18 Blur '88 Anton Marsden 137 83 8 37/ 37/ 26 PacMan David Moore 137 75 9 29/ 21/ 50 The Marlboro Man 1.13 M Joonas Pihlaja 136 21 10 39/ 43/ 17 Foggy Swamp Beppe Bezzi 136 42 11 40/ 46/ 14 Blurstone '88 M. J. Pihlaja 135 40 12 25/ 16/ 58 EV Paper John K Wilkinson 134 59 13 35/ 35/ 31 Leapfrog David Moore 134 74 14 36/ 38/ 26 Tangle Trap David Moore 134 119 15 35/ 37/ 28 Kitchen Sink Robert Macrae 133 44 16 27/ 23/ 50 Shish-Ka-Bob Ben Ford 131 1 17 24/ 19/ 57 Test I Ian Oversby 130 102 18 24/ 21/ 55 Evoltmp 88 John K W 127 96 19 21/ 19/ 60 Nightfall 2.1cc David Moore 122 9 20 22/ 24/ 54 TESTE Leonardo Humberto 121 4 21 2/ 49/ 49 Neverland'88 John Metcalf 55 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 08/16/99 Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: <199908160400.AAA02602@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/16/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Multiwarrior 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Fri Aug 6 15:04:12 EDT 1999 # Name Author Score Age 1 QuiVa John Metcalf 31 80 2 Her Majesty P.Kline 31 6 3 Cinderella Ben Ford 27 14 4 WingShot Ben Ford 25 4 5 QueensGuard P.Kline 24 9 6 BiShot v1.0 Christian Schmidt 19 55 7 Sharkrage Christian Schmidt 13 54 8 pt1 John Metcalf 13 1 9 Neck Bite Ben Ford 13 3 10 QueensGuard P.Kline 11 7 11 qCape Ben Ford 6 0 From: "Josh Yeager" Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: <01bee72a$e439f9c0$ed5a2581@compuwhiz-s-pc>#1/1 How about this gate that I made up. Has anyone done this before? Are there any problems besides its size? gate EQU -10 gate2 EQU -20 start nop Subject: myBlur Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: <37B81A0E.BA97E3A9@ifm.liu.se>#1/1 It's strange but it seems like I can't write anything better than myVamp...... The warrior below isn't very good but it contains an idea that might be valuable to someone (plese tell me if you can get it to work any better). The idea is to survive an attack by a stone in the scanning part of the code, this is done by having 5 processes in the scanning part. Whenever that part is hit the pointer 'check' will be incremented away from 'ptr' and at least one process will drop into the cclear. The 5 processes will execute code linearly in the same fashion as if there was only one process, however when changing the pointer for the attack 'cptr' the other processes have already added two steps to the scanning pointer. The same idea can be used with 3 processes executing the code 'backwards' ...... It seems to me that the 'improvement' has to be paid by complicating the attach and the transition to the cclear making the total worse. ;redcode-94nop ;name myBlur ;author Paulsson ;strategy airBag technologies inc. ;assert CORESIZE > 1 org start STEP equ 290/2 N1 equ 200 N2 equ 1 N3 equ 3000 st equ STEP ptr equ (hit+st) cptr equ ((ptr-(2*st))-N2) check ccp dat.f ptr+1,N1 dat.f 0,0 hit2 nop.f 0,0 target mov.ab }check,cptr next add.f step,ptr seq.x *ptr,@ptr jmn.a target,{check hit mov.i {check,>cptr jmn.a next,}check ;;break step spl #st,st cc mov.i ccb,>ccp djn.f cc,>ccp dat.f 0,0 ccb dat.f 0,ccb-ccp+2 for 40 dat.f 0,0 rof tmpptr spl #st,st+5 start mov.x hit,hit2 mov.i tmpptr,ptr mov.ab #N3,cptr spl 1 mov.i -1,0 spl 1 jmp @1,}0 tmp sub.f #1,#next+1 sub.f #1,#next+3 sub.f #1,#next+4 sub.f #1,#next sub.f #1,#next+1 dat.f #1,#tmp Some scores: myBlur by Paulsson scores 98 obvious to those who know my son :-) by Robert Macrae scores 170 Results: 22 46 32 myBlur by Paulsson scores 119 Blurstone by M. J. Pihlaja scores 170 Results: 36 53 11 myBlur by Paulsson scores 110 He Scans Alone by P.Kline scores 179 Results: 33 56 11 myBlur by Paulsson scores 104 Pulp by Ian Oversby scores 173 Results: 27 50 23 myBlur by Paulsson scores 147 Newt by Ian Oversby scores 129 Results: 41 35 24 myBlur by Paulsson scores 123 Phantasm 50 by Robert Macrae scores 171 Results: 39 55 6 myBlur by Paulsson scores 85 The Question by David Moore scores 208 Results: 26 67 7 myBlur by Paulsson scores 134 Recycled Paper by Planar scores 140 Results: 36 38 26 myBlur by Paulsson scores 113 Tornado 4 by Beppe Bezzi scores 173 Results: 33 53 14 myBlur by Paulsson scores 102 Zooom... by John Metcalf scores 183 Results: 29 56 15 Total : 1135 A whooping average of 113.5 !!!! :-) (I have some version somewhere that gave 124 on pizza, can dig it out if you want it) I'll try and stay away from corewar for a year or so..... ------------------------------------------------------------ Magnus Paulsson e-mail: mpn@ifm.liu.se From: "Ransom Smith" Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: #1/1 > i was under the impression that i was using the '94 standard. could you point > me to somewhere where i oculd update my redcode writing if im truely not using > the latest standard? The best updater-to-94 I have read is Ilmari Karonnen's (sp?) i THINK its at www.sci.fi/~iltzu/... uh... something. well, you'll find it from there. From: franciober@aol.com (FRANCIOBER) Subject: Re: Core War Frequently Asked Questions (rec.games.corewar FAQ) Date: 1999/08/16 Message-ID: <19990815214043.24721.00000644@ng-fr1.aol.com>#1/1 fdyttuytrfuvcckkj From: "Wayne Sheppard" Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/17 Message-ID: <7pclrg$rks$1@nntp6.atl.mindspring.net>#1/1 Robert Macrae wrote in message news:37B87DF9.32AF@dial.pipex.com... > Wayne Sheppard wrote: > > Are you THE Wayne Sheppard? > > ;-) Yep, thats me. I've been lurking for the last 3-4 years since I stopped coding. I just never cared for the 94 standard (especially the pspace). Wayne From: Robert Macrae Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/17 Message-ID: <37B9D5FA.46@dial.pipex.com>#1/1 Marshall wrote: ... > it would be > stupid of me to bgelieve that i could come up with something original. No, just positive and hopeful :-) Some players who seem to do it quite naturally, and I suspect that attitude is an important qualification. > >PPS, have you thought about switching to '94 redcode??? All '88 is legal '94, but the snippet "Looks" like '88 because it does not use a couple of common extensions: 1) SPL #0, gates are more common. One reason (I think) is that if the gate is partly over-run, the clear can still "catch up" with the imp and bomb it. The other is that forward coreclears can attack imps more effectively, and gates are usually part of a coreclear. Finally, > gates may be less vulnerable to gate-jumping spirals, or at least require a different species to jump. Anyone care to enlighten me? -- Regards, Robert Macrae From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: Re: New core Date: 1999/08/17 Message-ID: <19990818000709.27154.rocketmail@web103.yahoomail.com>#1/1 jkw@austin.rr.com wrote: > At 09:03 PM 8/16/99 -0400, you wrote: > >I've just tought about that: it should be easy to > make a server for the > >main idea that has emerged in the "New Core" > thread(well, under > >windows, at least, as it's the only platform i > know): > >Open a port(f.e., 66); to submit, use telnet to > send your warrior to > >it(line by line, using the clipboard??) > >Or, if anyone knows how ftp servers do it, just by > uploading your > >warrior... > >It should be fairly easy to make it impossible to > hack a system by a > >loophole in the server > > Why not just use a real ftp server? Not safe enough & you don't need to upload something.,..i.e., you'd need to transmit information to the client(the same kind as what you send to give your user & pass), so a full blown ftp server would be much more than needed... === Vive le Qu�bec libre... d� souverainistes!!! _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From: David Matthew Moore Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/17 Message-ID: <7pcmmg$fs3$1@msunews.cl.msu.edu>#1/1 Robert Macrae wrote: : : 2) < gates work fine, but under '94 > gates are more common. One reason : (I think) is that if the gate is partly over-run, the clear can still : "catch up" with the imp and bomb it. The other is that forward : coreclears can attack imps more effectively, and gates are usually part : of a coreclear. Finally, > gates may be less vulnerable to gate-jumping : spirals, or at least require a different species to jump. Anyone care to : enlighten me? > is usually the choice for a repeating core-clear, since < positions the gate on the wrong side. Unless you have a Pacman gate :-) David. From: Paul Kline Subject: Re: GBG 1.0-- Comments? Date: 1999/08/18 Message-ID: <37BB147C.453F@acad.drake.edu>#1/1 Ransom Smith wrote: > > This is a follow-up to that discussion here in RGC about the bomb that > makes an spl carpet. Here is my implementation. Comments and suggestions > are invited, and it does need them. Wilkies score of 29 over 10 rounds. Described as the "incendiary bomb" in the FAQ (cause it burns paper :-). Pretty good against non-silks, not quite so good against them. The step size is a little small, try 10 and see if that doesn't improve your score. Check out Torch for an example of a later variation of incendiary bombs. > BTW, this is the first time i have seen a nop competitively used. A little tweaking will make it disappear from your program also :-) Paul Kline pk6811s@acad.drake.edu From: David Matthew Moore Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/18 Message-ID: <7pevvm$mv2$1@msunews.cl.msu.edu>#1/1 Wayne Sheppard wrote: : : I've been lurking for the last 3-4 years since I stopped coding. : I just never cared for the 94 standard (especially the pspace). : : Wayne 100% satisfied here. There's plenty of fresh code left in both 88 and 94. David. From: "Ransom Smith" Subject: GBG 1.0-- Comments? Date: 1999/08/18 Message-ID: #1/1 This is a follow-up to that discussion here in RGC about the bomb that makes an spl carpet. Here is my implementation. Comments and suggestions are invited, and it does need them. Wilkies score of 29 over 10 rounds. BTW, this is the first time i have seen a nop competitively used. ;redcode ;name Geeks Bearing Gifts 1.0 ;author Ransom Smith ;strategy Releases Packets that generate SPL ;strategy carpets, then does a DAT coreclear. ;assert CORESIZE==8000 step EQU 5 nd EQU 1332 pstl EQU ick + 2 b1 SPL #2, 3 b2 MOV -1, }-1 dt DAT #nd, }-2 inc ADD.ab #step, ick start MOV b1, >ick MOV b2, @ick DJN.a inc, dt ick NOP }b2, #pstl JMP b1, }b2 end start From: "Wayne Sheppard" Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/19 Message-ID: #1/1 I'm glad your satisfied. There probably is much new stuff to do in 94. Unfortunately I don't think there is any fresh code left in 88. # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 6 41/ 44/ 15 Iron Gate Wayne Sheppard 137 371 How long ago was this submitted, 3-4 years? David Matthew Moore wrote in message news:7pevvm$mv2$1@msunews.cl.msu.edu... > Wayne Sheppard wrote: > : > : I've been lurking for the last 3-4 years since I stopped coding. > : I just never cared for the 94 standard (especially the pspace). > : > : Wayne > > 100% satisfied here. There's plenty of fresh code left in both 88 and 94. > > David. From: jkw@austin.rr.com Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/19 Message-ID: <4.1.19990818034701.00927390@pop-server>#1/1 At 08:29 PM 8/17/99 -0400, you wrote: >Marshall wrote: >.. >> it would be >> stupid of me to bgelieve that i could come up with something original. > >No, just positive and hopeful :-) > >Some players who seem to do it quite naturally, and I suspect that >attitude is an important qualification. > >> >PPS, have you thought about switching to '94 redcode??? > >All '88 is legal '94, but the snippet "Looks" like '88 because it does >not use a couple of common extensions: > >1) SPL #0, not vulnerable to DJN.f or { attacks. More imporantly, with SPL #X, Y >you can store a constant, typically a stepsize, without needing an extra >DAT. > >2) < gates work fine, but under '94 > gates are more common. One reason >(I think) is that if the gate is partly over-run, the clear can still >"catch up" with the imp and bomb it. The other is that forward >coreclears can attack imps more effectively, and gates are usually part >of a coreclear. Finally, > gates may be less vulnerable to gate-jumping >spirals, or at least require a different species to jump. Anyone care to >enlighten me? mov 0,2 <3 mov 0,2 <2 mov 0,2 mov 0,1 <1 gate crashing imps (Was Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost)) Date: 1999/08/20 Message-ID: <4.1.19990820211201.00947cd0@pop-server>#1/1 >> mov 0,2 <3 >> mov 0,2 <2 >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,1 <1 >> > >> mov 0,2 <3 >> mov 0,2 <2 >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 <1 > >> >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 <3 >> mov 0,2 <2 >> mov 0,3 > died >> mov 0,2 >> >> >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 <3 >> mov 0,3 <2 > mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 >> >> >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,3 <3 > mov 0,2 <2 >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,3 >> >This is OLD, OLD, OLD...Like in a reverse version of the implance('86 >8)... I'm sure everyone has "invented" something a bit like that when >trying to understand gate crashing imps 8) >At least, i did! Um. The '86 standard had a ">" operand??? I've never actually seen the '86 standard so I guess I'll take your word on that... From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: > gate crashing imps (Was Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost)) Date: 1999/08/20 Message-ID: <19990820014432.1463.rocketmail@web129.yahoomail.com>#1/1 jkw@austin.rr.com wrote: > At 08:29 PM 8/17/99 -0400, you wrote: > >Marshall wrote: > >2) < gates work fine, but under '94 > gates are > more common. One reason > >(I think) is that if the gate is partly over-run, > the clear can still > >"catch up" with the imp and bomb it. The other is > that forward > >coreclears can attack imps more effectively, and > gates are usually part > >of a coreclear. Finally, > gates may be less > vulnerable to gate-jumping > >spirals, or at least require a different species to > jump. Anyone care to > >enlighten me? Uh... I've heard of a pac-man clear... what is that??? And, talking of gate, in the modern environment, a < gate might be more effective, as the only gate crashing imp there is is the star imp, and it won't work on a < gate... > mov 0,2 <3 > mov 0,2 <2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,1 <1 > > mov 0,2 <3 > mov 0,2 <2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 <1 > > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 <3 > mov 0,2 <2 > mov 0,3 died > mov 0,2 > > > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 <3 > mov 0,3 <2 mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 > > > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,3 <3 mov 0,2 <2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,3 > This is OLD, OLD, OLD...Like in a reverse version of the implance('86 8)... I'm sure everyone has "invented" something a bit like that when trying to understand gate crashing imps 8) At least, i did! > Looks like the '88 gate crashing imp, but in > reverse... > Would it work in spiral form? Yeah... more of less... Look @ Paradox(a paper launching > gate crashing imps) It's been submitted ina tournament in '93 or in '94... === Vive le Qu�bec libre... d� souverainistes!!! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: Re: > gate crashing imps (Was Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost)) Date: 1999/08/21 Message-ID: <19990821205729.8481.rocketmail@web125.yahoomail.com>#1/1 jkw@austin.rr.com wrote: [...] > >> mov 0,2 > >> mov 0,2 > >> mov 0,2 > >> mov 0,3 <3 >> mov 0,2 <2 > >> mov 0,2 > >> mov 0,3 > >> > >This is OLD, OLD, OLD...Like in a reverse version > of the implance('86 > >8)... I'm sure everyone has "invented" something a > bit like that when > >trying to understand gate crashing imps 8) > >At least, i did! In fact, it's not even reverse, it's a copy! > Um. The '86 standard had a ">" operand??? I've > never actually seen > the '86 standard so I guess I'll take your word on > that... No, but it was possible to do imps, if i'm not too deluded 8) I was talking of the imp === Vive le Qu�bec libre... d� souverainistes!!! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com From: Robert Macrae Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/21 Message-ID: <37BE92C2.60A8@dial.pipex.com>#1/1 jkw@austin.rr.com wrote: > >enlighten me? > > mov 0,2 <3 > mov 0,2 <2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,1 <1 > mov 0,2 <3 > mov 0,2 <2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 <1 mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 <3 > mov 0,2 <2 > mov 0,3 died > mov 0,2 How come the MOV 0,1 was only incremented once? It would have to be executed by two processes, one straight after the other to guarantee this? > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 <3 > mov 0,3 <2 mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 Same problem; there may well be multiple increments on hte MOV 0,2. > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,3 <3 mov 0,2 <2 > mov 0,2 > mov 0,3 > > Looks like the '88 gate crashing imp, but in reverse... > Would it work in spiral form? If the leading edge of each imp had two processes, you would need 5 processes for the scheme above or 15 for the spiral equivalent. Sounds pretty heavy, and I think it would die to a single forward DAT clear. -- Regards, Robert Macrae From: jkw@austin.rr.com Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/23 Message-ID: <4.1.19990823120244.00949630@pop-server>#1/1 >MOV 0,1 is incremented to MOV 0,2 by the gate > >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 <3 >> mov 0,2 <2 >> mov 0,3 > died >> mov 0,2 > >How come the MOV 0,1 was only incremented once? It would have to be >executed by two processes, one straight after the other to guarantee >this? Yep, I agree... my little story board could've used some work, but you understood it... hehe. :) >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 <3 >> mov 0,3 <2 > mov 0,2 >> mov 0,2 > >Same problem; there may well be multiple increments on hte MOV 0,2. Doesn't matter what happens to that mov 0,2... cause the two spots after the gate already have mov 0,2's in em... >If the leading edge of each imp had two processes, you would need 5 >processes for the scheme above or 15 for the spiral equivalent. Sounds >pretty heavy, and I think it would die to a single forward DAT clear. Yep... in non-spiral form it's pretty much worthless. -jkw From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 08/23/99 Date: 1999/08/23 Message-ID: <199908230400.AAA03089@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/23/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Multiwarrior 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Fri Aug 6 15:04:12 EDT 1999 # Name Author Score Age 1 QuiVa John Metcalf 31 80 2 Her Majesty P.Kline 31 6 3 Cinderella Ben Ford 27 14 4 WingShot Ben Ford 25 4 5 QueensGuard P.Kline 24 9 6 BiShot v1.0 Christian Schmidt 19 55 7 Sharkrage Christian Schmidt 13 54 8 pt1 John Metcalf 13 1 9 Neck Bite Ben Ford 13 3 10 QueensGuard P.Kline 11 7 11 qCape Ben Ford 6 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - 94 No Pspace 08/23/99 Date: 1999/08/23 Message-ID: <199908230400.AAA03100@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/23/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG 94 No Pspace CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Fri Aug 20 07:14:15 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 36/ 28/ 36 Ant Factory Christian Schmidt 143 83 2 37/ 30/ 33 The Pendragon Christian Schmidt 143 61 3 33/ 23/ 44 Jade Ben Ford 142 57 4 38/ 36/ 26 PC WFB 140 74 5 41/ 42/ 16 goonie David Moore 140 50 6 41/ 43/ 16 Zooom... John Metcalf 139 124 7 39/ 40/ 21 Men-An-Tol-7 John Metcalf 138 6 8 33/ 28/ 39 Icen Ben Ford 138 82 9 35/ 32/ 33 The Stormbringer Christian Schmidt 138 259 10 35/ 32/ 33 Recovery Ian Oversby 137 248 11 34/ 31/ 36 Vain Ian Oversby 137 325 12 34/ 32/ 34 Blacken Ian Oversby 137 235 13 40/ 43/ 17 Boys are Back in Town 1.1 Philip Kendall 136 250 14 38/ 39/ 23 Napalm Ken Espiritu 136 37 15 42/ 50/ 8 QHSA Ken Espiritu 134 2 16 41/ 48/ 11 Win! David Moore 134 223 17 25/ 17/ 58 _romanian_killah_ Costin Bontas rulez 134 217 18 33/ 33/ 35 sword'n'shield Christian Schmidt 133 1 19 37/ 42/ 21 myVamp v3.7 Paulsson 133 77 20 38/ 44/ 19 myBlur2(3) Paulsson 131 4 21 36/ 50/ 15 myVamp6.0 Paulsson 122 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 08/23/99 Date: 1999/08/23 Message-ID: <199908230400.AAA03085@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/23/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Standard KotH CoreWar Hill : Last battle concluded at : Thu Aug 19 20:27:48 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 36/ 21/ 43 Freight Train David Moore 151 46 2 34/ 25/ 42 sIMPly.Red v0.95 Leonardo Humberto 143 3 3 31/ 24/ 45 Guardian Ian Oversby 139 45 4 39/ 40/ 21 Stasis David Moore 139 153 5 37/ 38/ 25 PacMan David Moore 136 75 6 29/ 23/ 48 The Marlboro Man 1.13 M Joonas Pihlaja 135 21 7 40/ 45/ 15 Iron Gate Wayne Sheppard 135 371 8 40/ 44/ 16 Blur '88 Anton Marsden 135 83 9 38/ 41/ 21 Beholder's Eye V1.7 W. Mintardjo 134 321 10 35/ 36/ 29 Leapfrog David Moore 134 74 11 25/ 17/ 57 EV Paper John K Wilkinson 133 59 12 39/ 45/ 16 Foggy Swamp Beppe Bezzi 132 42 13 36/ 40/ 24 Tangle Trap David Moore 132 119 14 40/ 48/ 12 Blurstone '88 M. J. Pihlaja 132 40 15 35/ 39/ 26 Kitchen Sink Robert Macrae 132 44 16 27/ 24/ 49 Shish-Ka-Bob Ben Ford 130 1 17 24/ 22/ 54 Evoltmp 88 John K W 126 96 18 23/ 21/ 56 Test I Ian Oversby 125 102 19 22/ 19/ 59 Nightfall 2.1cc David Moore 125 9 20 23/ 26/ 51 TESTE Leonardo Humberto 120 4 21 33/ 50/ 17 Iron Trap Wayne Sheppard 117 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 08/23/99 Date: 1999/08/23 Message-ID: <199908230400.AAA03096@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/23/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG ICWS Experimental 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 1 08:22:13 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 52/ 33/ 15 Black Moods Ian Oversby 171 7 2 45/ 30/ 26 Controlled Aggression Ian Oversby 160 11 3 34/ 16/ 50 Venom v0.2b Christian Schmidt 153 33 4 28/ 6/ 66 Evol Cap 4 X John Wilkinson 150 80 5 24/ 3/ 73 Evolve X v4.0 John Wilkinson 146 28 6 29/ 20/ 51 Rosebud Beppe 137 59 7 36/ 39/ 25 Stepping Stone 94x Kurt Franke 134 66 8 32/ 33/ 34 Draken Fire X Ben Ford 132 2 9 35/ 39/ 27 Dr. Gate X Franz 131 51 10 34/ 37/ 29 BigBoy Robert Macrae 130 105 11 35/ 43/ 22 Tsunami v0.3 X Ian Oversby 127 5 12 38/ 49/ 13 S.E.T.I. 4-X JKW 127 81 13 28/ 31/ 41 Self-Modifying Code X Ben Ford 126 1 14 31/ 36/ 33 Lithium X 8 John K Wilkinson 126 71 15 21/ 16/ 63 Sphere v0.2 Christian Schmidt 126 22 16 35/ 45/ 20 Pagan John K W 125 65 17 35/ 46/ 19 Memories Beppe Bezzi 123 87 18 21/ 19/ 60 Purple v0.1 Christian Schmidt 123 32 19 36/ 49/ 15 WingShot Ben Ford 122 3 20 35/ 49/ 15 BiShot Christian Schmidt 121 19 21 15/ 30/ 55 pt1 John Metcalf 100 0 From: David Matthew Moore Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/23 Message-ID: <7pqk6i$4j0$1@msunews.cl.msu.edu>#1/1 Wayne Sheppard wrote: : : Unfortunately I don't think there is any fresh code left in 88. I can't stop thinking of ideas for '88: . a blur-style bomber that directs a SPL carpet at the opponent -- even without CMPs, SLTs, or conditional branches! . smart programs such as Leapfrog, CIA, etc. Why doesn't Leapfrog contain a bomb-dodger? . papers! For example, Nightfall can be improved by removing the dependency on empty core. Return of the Fugitive can easily be ported to '88 (including the new kind of imp-launcher). . gate-less carpet-bombing scanners; I've got a prototype that kills imps even with a backwards (<) carpet . improving the speed of B-field scanners with ADD, SUB, and SLT . airbag-style loops that can survive dat-bombing; I've found a practical implementation that doesn't require > or } . I can think of several new ways to avoid self-bombing; here I present just one that has already been done in '94: ;redcode ;name stone88 ;author dm ;assert CORESIZE==8000 mov < 7968, 5275 add 1, -1 jmp -2, < 5274 end How often have I heard "there is nothing let to invent in Core War?" Then someone always creates a new invention. : # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score : Age : 6 41/ 44/ 15 Iron Gate Wayne Sheppard 137 : 371 : How long ago was this submitted, 3-4 years? '88 is still very fertile, so it's a shame that all of the recent submissions have been cheesy imp-stone implementations. David. PS: "The P^2 is the best possible pspace routine there will ever be..." From: happycan@aol.comjnkkil (Marshall) Subject: re: '88 ideas Date: 1999/08/24 Message-ID: <19990824181801.14385.00004179@ng-fr1.aol.com>#1/1 Hmmm...i guess i was wrong when i said everything has been done in CW. Just another stupid newbie mistake i guess. i have some questions regarding the ideas that are being mentioned here. -what is an airbag-type loop? how is it immune to DAT bombs? Ive thought about this for a while, and i still dont see how that can be possible. If its some kind of self-splitting, the SPL can get bombed. If its a self repair thing, the repair routine can get hit, or the model that it is being compared to. If its something else that i dont know about, what is it? -what is a bomb dodger? Is it just something that looks for changes in the core near itself, and if it finds them it moves? if so, what use is a bomb dodger against scanners? Does it use a decoy or something? what about stones or paper with large increments? How does a bomb dodger do anything else productive while staying ready to dodge? thanks Marshall From: Robert Macrae Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/24 Message-ID: <37C31534.6542@dial.pipex.com>#1/1 David Matthew Moore wrote: > '88 is still very fertile, so it's a shame that all of the recent > submissions have been cheesy imp-stone implementations. It should be very productive for anti-imp specialists at the moment. I think it was the her weakness against Imps that finally finished off One Fat Lady, so there must be lots of them about. An anti-imp vamp should be a very serious proposition in '88. -- Regards, Robert Macrae From: Robert Macrae Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/24 Message-ID: <37C314DB.6528@dial.pipex.com>#1/1 jkw@austin.rr.com wrote: ... > >Same problem; there may well be multiple increments on hte MOV 0,2. > > Doesn't matter what happens to that mov 0,2... cause the two spots > after the gate already have mov 0,2's in em... Right. So 12 for a 3-point gatecrashing ring. > >If the leading edge of each imp had two processes, you would need 5 > >processes for the scheme above or 15 for the spiral equivalent. > >pretty heavy, and I think it would die to a single forward DAT clear. > > Yep... in non-spiral form it's pretty much worthless. Even as a spiral, the carpet kills the trailing "leapfroging" imp. The only reason a traditional spiral survives is that only the hindmost process is vulnerable; here you have two vulnerable for each pass of the carpet. Unless you thicken up the conventional ring into a spiral, it dies as well. I think you need 18+ processes, for a halfway robust version, say 9 for the lead spiral and 9 for the follower and that may well be too light. Still, maybe worth the effort, if there are few HSAs and < gates around... -- Regards, Robert Macrae From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: Re: '88 ideas (was: Re: Speed vs Size) Date: 1999/08/24 Message-ID: <19990824202933.19927.rocketmail@web117.yahoomail.com>#1/1 M Joonas Pihlaja wrote: > On Mon, 23 Aug 1999, David Matthew Moore wrote: > > > I can't stop thinking of ideas for '88: > > > > . a blur-style bomber that directs a SPL carpet at > the opponent -- > > even without CMPs, SLTs, or conditional > branches! > > Is this a .25c bomber/.25c spl-carpet with CIA-like > intelligence bombs? If > not, I'd ike to hear about it! I tried this on the > '94 hill while > tweaking Blurstone with very dissapointing results > -- against '88 paper it > might have a fighting chance if it weren't for the > fast stones that > clobber it (guessing). Well, i suppose that it could be possible to use a linear b-scan to detect bombs, and jump to a paper when you find one(and arrange the pattern so that it isn't scanned to early 8) > What I miss on the '88 hill is an effective > incendiary. wish for the moon ;-) Though, there is possibility for a mov -1, <-1 incendiary, but it's not too god, eh! > > . gate-less carpet-bombing scanners; I've got a > prototype that kills imps > > even with a backwards (<) carpet > > I'd be really impressed if Win!'88 has a spiral > clear. :-) well, clear mov @bp, <-2 cmp #check+3, @3 jmp 3 mov @bp, > . improving the speed of B-field scanners with > ADD, SUB, and SLT > > I'm not sure what you mean by this. The only sub > using scanners I recall > have a scanning loop similar to: > > add step, 1 > sub x, x+5 > jmz -2, @-1 have decrements before the x and x+5, it'll be better(i've tested my mov > '88 is still very fertile, so it's a shame that > all of the recent > > submissions have been cheesy imp-stone > implementations. Oh, well, i have had a non imp/stone for a while on it(it barely got on, though 8) > > PS: "The P^2 is the best possible pspace routine > there will ever be..." Grrrr!!!!!! Pspace!!! the worst thing ever in cw 8) === Vive le Qu�bec libre... d� souverainistes!!! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com From: M Joonas Pihlaja Subject: '88 ideas (was: Re: Speed vs Size) Date: 1999/08/24 Message-ID: #1/1 On Mon, 23 Aug 1999, David Matthew Moore wrote: > I can't stop thinking of ideas for '88: > > . a blur-style bomber that directs a SPL carpet at the opponent -- > even without CMPs, SLTs, or conditional branches! Is this a .25c bomber/.25c spl-carpet with CIA-like intelligence bombs? If not, I'd ike to hear about it! I tried this on the '94 hill while tweaking Blurstone with very dissapointing results -- against '88 paper it might have a fighting chance if it weren't for the fast stones that clobber it (guessing). What I miss on the '88 hill is an effective incendiary. > . gate-less carpet-bombing scanners; I've got a prototype that kills imps > even with a backwards (<) carpet I'd be really impressed if Win!'88 has a spiral clear. :-) > . improving the speed of B-field scanners with ADD, SUB, and SLT I'm not sure what you mean by this. The only sub using scanners I recall have a scanning loop similar to: add step, 1 sub x, x+5 jmz -2, @-1 I think I've seen this buried somewhere inside Planar's archives -- in a '94 hill one shot maybe. Anybody have a clue about this? > '88 is still very fertile, so it's a shame that all of the recent > submissions have been cheesy imp-stone implementations. > David. Joonas > PS: "The P^2 is the best possible pspace routine there will ever be..." Need you remind us :) From: Planar Subject: Re: 88 ideas (was Re: Speed vs Size) Date: 1999/08/24 Message-ID: <7pu3q9$4ss$1@ites.inria.fr>#1/1 >From: "Wayne Sheppard" >Check out XTC. It is not in Planar's archive (why not?). It had moderate >success against imps without a coreclear or gate. It's there: . I think I'll rename it to XTC, as it is better known under that name. -- Planar From: Curd Cheese Research Subject: c/pc - robots for linux? Date: 1999/08/24 Message-ID: <37C27300.BCDD8853@sinatra.inka.de>#1/1 Is there a version for linux out there? couldnt find one yet.. - of course, there is an tcl- version.. sincerly -- No animal should ever jump on the dining room furniture unless absolutely certain he can hold his own in conversation. -- Fran Lebowitz From: "Wayne Sheppard" Subject: 88 ideas (was Re: Speed vs Size) Date: 1999/08/24 Message-ID: #1/1 David Matthew Moore wrote in message news:7pqk6i$4j0$1@msunews.cl.msu.edu... > Wayne Sheppard wrote: > : > : Unfortunately I don't think there is any fresh code left in 88. > > I can't stop thinking of ideas for '88: Thats great. Keep thinking things up. > > . a blur-style bomber that directs a SPL carpet at the opponent -- > even without CMPs, SLTs, or conditional branches! In-loop carpeting is an excellent strategy. I think something could be done here. > > . smart programs such as Leapfrog, CIA, etc. Why doesn't Leapfrog > contain a bomb-dodger? CIA is cool. You might be able to do something with it. Leapfrog is basically a one-shot that splits into a coreclear, antivamp, and paper. I believe I invented the one-shot with Plasma (circa 92). Anyway, "smart" warriors will generally lose to smaller, faster, stupid warriors. > > . papers! For example, Nightfall can be improved by removing the dependency > on empty core. Return of the Fugitive can easily be ported to '88 > (including the new kind of imp-launcher). > > . gate-less carpet-bombing scanners; I've got a prototype that kills imps > even with a backwards (<) carpet Check out XTC. It is not in Planar's archive (why not?). It had moderate success against imps without a coreclear or gate. > > . improving the speed of B-field scanners with ADD, SUB, and SLT I have no idea what you are talking about. > > . airbag-style loops that can survive dat-bombing; I've found a practical > implementation that doesn't require > or } Interesting... > > . I can think of several new ways to avoid self-bombing; here I present > just one that has already been done in '94: > > ;redcode > ;name stone88 > ;author dm > ;assert CORESIZE==8000 > mov < 7968, 5275 > add 1, -1 > jmp -2, < 5274 > end That's my No Ties Allowed from 1993. > > How often have I heard "there is nothing let to invent in Core War?" > Then someone always creates a new invention. Most of the attention nowdays is placed on the 94 standard hills. It is now less likely anything new will be invented for 88. > > : # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score > : Age > : 6 41/ 44/ 15 Iron Gate Wayne Sheppard 137 > : 371 > > : How long ago was this submitted, 3-4 years? > > '88 is still very fertile, so it's a shame that all of the recent > submissions have been cheesy imp-stone implementations. Good luck to you. Wayne > > David. > > PS: "The P^2 is the best possible pspace routine there will ever be..." From: "Brian Haskin Jr." Subject: FW: Spiral Camouflage Date: 1999/08/25 Message-ID: <000701beef6a$99bb18a0$0b00000a@haskin.org>#1/1 Hmm, this didn't seem to make it through the first time. Sorry if you end up with two. Having a spiral that left behind changing a and/or b fields would be much more useful I'd think. This would setup a huge decoy for cmp scanners. Brian Haskin haskin@ptway.com Home page: http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/4333/ Always remember money is simply a level of indirection. > -----Original Message----- > From: corewar-l@koth.org [mailto:corewar-l@koth.org]On Behalf Of Paul > Kline > Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 1999 1:31 PM > To: Multiple recipients of list COREWAR-L > Subject: Spiral Camouflage > > > Has anyone tried making a spiral that erases itself as it goes? > At least zeroing it's operands before moving on. Might be > useful against f- and b-scanners. > > Paul Kline > pk6811s@acad.drake.edu > From: jkw@austin.rr.com Subject: Re: Spiral Camouflage Date: 1999/08/25 Message-ID: <4.1.19990825130244.00928350@pop-server>#1/1 At 01:31 PM 8/25/99 -0400, you wrote: >Has anyone tried making a spiral that erases itself as it goes? >At least zeroing it's operands before moving on. Might be >useful against f- and b-scanners. About 2 years ago I tried with no results to make an imp that would leave behind something that would kill any executing proc... with no results. The last thing you want to do is clear a/b fields though... that's the spiral's built in decoy! :/ -jkw From: "Wayne Sheppard" Subject: Re: Speed vs Size Date: 1999/08/25 Message-ID: <7q1919$jqn$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net>#1/1 Robert Macrae wrote in message news:37C31534.6542@dial.pipex.com... > David Matthew Moore wrote: > > > '88 is still very fertile, so it's a shame that all of the recent > > submissions have been cheesy imp-stone implementations. > > It should be very productive for anti-imp specialists at the moment. I > think it was the her weakness against Imps that finally finished off One > Fat Lady, so there must be lots of them about. An anti-imp vamp should > be a very serious proposition in '88. I tested some old anti-imp stuff. I had limited success. There were about 10 stone/imps. 5 of them apparently started with a Qscan of some type. For reasons unknown as of yet, this made my anti-imp programs less effective. From: Paul Kline Subject: Spiral Camouflage Date: 1999/08/25 Message-ID: <37C41DB4.4878@acad.drake.edu>#1/1 Has anyone tried making a spiral that erases itself as it goes? At least zeroing it's operands before moving on. Might be useful against f- and b-scanners. Paul Kline pk6811s@acad.drake.edu From: jkw@austin.rr.com Subject: Re: 100% Effective Gate (almost) Date: 1999/08/25 Message-ID: <4.1.19990825034922.0094caa0@pop-server>#1/1 >> Yep... in non-spiral form it's pretty much worthless. > >Even as a spiral, the carpet kills the trailing "leapfroging" imp. The >only reason a traditional spiral survives is that only the hindmost >process is vulnerable; here you have two vulnerable for each pass of >the carpet. Unless you thicken up the conventional ring into a spiral, >it dies as well. I think you need 18+ processes, for a halfway >robust version, say 9 for the lead spiral and 9 for the follower and >that may well be too light. Still, maybe worth the effort, if there are >few HSAs and < gates around... Ewww it'd die horribly against HSA... the only opponent I can see it being useful against would be one of those stones that ends in a foreward coreclear... I really doubt the gate crashing component would survive much spl stunning... From: M Joonas Pihlaja Subject: re: '88 ideas Date: 1999/08/25 Message-ID: #1/1 On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, Marshall wrote: > -what is an airbag-type loop? how is it immune to DAT bombs? See Magnus Paulsson's post of his warrior airBag (from Planar's archive) for a full description of this cool technique. Basically what happens is that you spread out a number of processes into the loop in such a way that 1) the loop seems to be executing with one process, and 2) every instruction of the loop has at least one process. The loop is of the form: A ??? B ??? ... P ??? ???, >flag Q jmz A, -what is a bomb dodger? Is it just something that looks for changes in > the core near itself, and if it finds them it moves? A bomb dodger assumes the opponent is a stone and makes use of the fact that most stones are designed so that if cell X is bombed, then cells near X won't be in the near future (otherwise the step size of the stone isn't optimal in some sense). So dodger scans for bombs and then copies a small program, usually a clear, on top of the bomb. Now dodger has some time to wipe the stone off the face of the core. See David Moore's kill -9 from round 6 or 7 of the Maniacs Tournament for an example. > if so, what use > is a bomb dodger against scanners? It isn't, except if the scanner colours core. The dodger happens to find a scanned location, copies, and kills the scanner. The same principle of optimal steps applies. The scanning for a bomb phase usually doesn't take too long. > thanks > Marshall Happy to help, Joonas From: Paul Kline Subject: Re: '88 ideas Date: 1999/08/25 Message-ID: <37C3EA28.78A0@acad.drake.edu>#1/1 Marshall wrote: > -what is an airbag-type loop? how is it immune to DAT bombs? Ive thought about Two small programs running in sync until one is dat-bombed. Then the other switches to core-clear. > -what is a bomb dodger? Is it just something that looks for changes in the core Fast linear scan of core, when something is found move a small program to that location and jump to it. In theory the opponent would be 'inefficient' to re-bomb the same location any time soon. Paul Kline pk6811s@acad.drake.edu From: M Joonas Pihlaja Subject: Re: '88 ideas (was: Re: Speed vs Size) Date: 1999/08/25 Message-ID: #1/1 On 24 Aug 1999, M Joonas Pihlaja wrote: > On Mon, 23 Aug 1999, David Matthew Moore wrote: > > > . a blur-style bomber that directs a SPL carpet at the opponent -- > > even without CMPs, SLTs, or conditional branches! > > Is this a .25c bomber/.25c spl-carpet with CIA-like intelligence bombs? I was confusing CIA with the idea itself. By `intelligence bombs' I meant mov #my_location, spl_carpet_pointer like bombs - a vampire of sorts. In '94: mov bspl, >pclr add step, bmov mov bmov, *bmov jmp -3 step dat STEP, -STEP bmov mov #-pclr, pclr This is tricky in '88. Anyway, paper's aren't stunned quickly enough for it to be useful, and fast bombers kill it. Also, you have to hit an active bit of code for this to work whereas scanners don't care if code is active or not. Joonas From: birk@andromeda.ociw.edu Subject: Koenigstuhl News Date: 1999/08/26 Message-ID: <199908261803.LAA10545@andromeda.ociw.edu>#1/1 Congratulations to Ben Ford! Pattel's Virus is #1 on the 'OPEN-Koenigstuhl' http://andromeda.ociw.edu/COREWAR/koenigstuhl.html Christoph From: Paul-V Khuong Subject: Re: Spiral Camouflage Date: 1999/08/26 Message-ID: <19990826121023.14672.rocketmail@web121.yahoomail.com>#1/1 jkw@austin.rr.com wrote: > At 12:33 AM 8/26/99 -0400, you wrote: > >jkw@austin.rr.com wrote: > >: At 01:31 PM 8/25/99 -0400, you wrote: > >:> > >:>Has anyone tried making a spiral that erases > itself as it goes? > >: > >: About 2 years ago I tried with no results to make > an imp > >: that would leave behind something that would kill > any > >: executing proc... > > > >Those are great ideas! > > > >David. > > > > > >;redcode-94 > >;name Bird of Prey > >;author various authors > >;strategy imp spiral with cloaking device > >;assert 1 > > Well yea... you can also make it drag spl #0's > behind it, or even > drag "mov 5,50"'s behind and make a spiral that can > truly knock > down any gate... but it's so damn fragile... I can't > think of any > possible use for it. :/ get some wins against papers??? after all, a spl #0 dragging spiral followed by a dat dragging one... it wouldn't be too bad(yeah, it's benn proposed beore, but i've never seen it done) === Vive le Qu�bec libre... d� souverainistes!!! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com From: Magnus Paulsson Subject: [Fwd: '88 ideas] Date: 1999/08/26 Message-ID: <37C51AFF.9A9EB697@ifm.liu.se>#1/1 M Joonas Pihlaja wrote: > > On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, Marshall wrote: > > > -what is an airbag-type loop? how is it immune to DAT bombs? > > See Magnus Paulsson's post of his warrior airBag (from Planar's archive) Acctually the order of the processes in that post is backwards and that doesn't work :-) Did the same error in my last post! Better look at myBlur (bellow). (I don't know a thing about '88 so ignore the subject of this post!) If you want to make a stone: n add.f step,ptr ;1 5 mov.i bmb,@ptr ;2 mov.i check ;4 Put in 5 processes in the order given by the numbers. If this loop is hit anywhere but in the jm? at least one process will fall through. (provided that you point check at something ....) Making a scanner is a bit more tricky but .... ;redcode-94 ;name myBlur2 ;author Paulsson ;strategy airBag technologies inc. ;strategy Improved by David Moore ;assert CORESIZE > 1 org start STEP equ 7710 N1 equ 4100 N2 equ 2 N3 equ 1 N4 equ ((STEP*4)-29) st equ STEP gap equ (5*N3) check equ (ptr-(st*2)-N2) gate dat.f 0,N1 dat.f 0,0 dat.f 0,0 dat.f 0,0 dat.f 0,0 target mov.b ptr,}check next add.f step,ptr ptr seq.i st*2+gap,st*2 jmn.b target,{check hit mov.i {check,>check jmn.b next,}check step spl #st,st cc mov.i ccb,>gate djn.f cc,>gate ccb dat.f 0,4-gate for 75 dat.f 0,0 rof tempptr spl #1,N4 decoy equ 6012 start spl boot2,}decoy spl 3,{decoy spl 1,decoy-1 jmp >bptr,{ptr-(st*2)+gap ; extra redundancy boot2 mov tempptr,check spl }bptr,}bptr bptr sub.f #next+1,#next+0 end ------------------------------------------------------------ Magnus Paulsson From: jkw@austin.rr.com Subject: Re: Spiral Camouflage Date: 1999/08/26 Message-ID: <4.1.19990826031949.0094ca10@pop-server>#1/1 At 12:33 AM 8/26/99 -0400, you wrote: >jkw@austin.rr.com wrote: >: At 01:31 PM 8/25/99 -0400, you wrote: >:> >:>Has anyone tried making a spiral that erases itself as it goes? >: >: About 2 years ago I tried with no results to make an imp >: that would leave behind something that would kill any >: executing proc... > >Those are great ideas! > >David. > > >;redcode-94 >;name Bird of Prey >;author various authors >;strategy imp spiral with cloaking device >;assert 1 Well yea... you can also make it drag spl #0's behind it, or even drag "mov 5,50"'s behind and make a spiral that can truly knock down any gate... but it's so damn fragile... I can't think of any possible use for it. :/ From: David Matthew Moore Subject: Re: Spiral Camouflage Date: 1999/08/26 Message-ID: <7q2bv1$97h$1@msunews.cl.msu.edu>#1/1 jkw@austin.rr.com wrote: : At 01:31 PM 8/25/99 -0400, you wrote: :> :>Has anyone tried making a spiral that erases itself as it goes? : : About 2 years ago I tried with no results to make an imp : that would leave behind something that would kill any : executing proc... Those are great ideas! David. ;redcode-94 ;name Bird of Prey ;author various authors ;strategy imp spiral with cloaking device ;assert 1 step equ 2667 boot spl 1,0 spl 1,0 spl 1,0 spl 1,0 jmp >1, }0 dat 0, imp+0*step dat 0, imp+0*step-1 dat 0, imp+0*step-1 dat 0, imp+1*step dat 0, imp+1*step-1 dat 0, imp+1*step-1 dat 0, imp+2*step dat 0, imp+2*step-1 dat 0, imp+2*step-1 dat 0, imp+3*step dat 0, imp+4*step dat 0, imp+5*step dat 0, imp+6*step dat 0, imp+7*step dat 0, imp+8*step dat 0, imp+9*step for MAXLENGTH-CURLINE-2 dat 0,0 rof mov.i }0, <1 ; cloaking device (executed twice) imp mov.i #-2, step ; the imp end boot From: "Enrique Rodal" Subject: STRATEGIC GAMES SPANISH WEB Date: 1999/08/26 Message-ID: <7q1qhv$9t410@eui1nw.euskaltel.es>#1/1 news, downloads, link, in... http://members.es.tripod.de/leccionesestrategia/index.html From: jkw@austin.rr.com Subject: Re: Spiral Camouflage Date: 1999/08/27 Message-ID: <4.1.19990827020309.00925660@pop-server>#1/1 >> Well yea... you can also make it drag spl #0's >> behind it, or even >> drag "mov 5,50"'s behind and make a spiral that can >> truly knock >> down any gate... but it's so damn fragile... I can't >> think of any >> possible use for it. :/ >get some wins against papers??? >after all, a spl #0 dragging spiral followed by a dat dragging one... >it wouldn't be too bad(yeah, it's benn proposed beore, but i've never >seen it done) In my tests against timescape using a spl #0 dragger, the paper got marginally stunned about 20% of the time, but the spiral never survived long enough to coat more than 1/5th of the core with spl's... so it's completely ineffective... if you want to try it, just change the core loc that the imp a field points to to a spl statement... -jkw From: Richard Rognlie Subject: Re: c/pc - robots for linux? Date: 1999/08/27 Message-ID: <37C6DAF6.55F47170@gamerz.net>#1/1 Curd Cheese Research wrote: > > Is there a version for linux out there? > couldnt find one yet.. > - of course, there is an tcl- version.. C++Robots is available for linux. http://www.gamerz.net/c++robots/ ftp://ftp.gamerz.net/pub/c++robots/ -- / \__ | Richard Rognlie / Sendmail Consultant / Sendmail, Inc. \__/ \ | URL: http://www.gamerz.net/rrognlie/ / \__/ | Give a man a fish, and he'll be hungry tomorrow. Teach a \__/ | man to fish, and he'll be at the river all day drinking beer. From: "John K. Lewis" Subject: Intelligent Warrior Tournament RESULTS Date: 1999/08/29 Message-ID: <4Xhy3.3689$J72.793280@news.itd.umich.edu>#1/1 The results of the tourney are over and will be posted in the next issue of Corewarrior. Enjoy! John K. Lewis From: "Walter Simpson" Subject: New Date: 1999/08/29 Message-ID: <7qc5b4$9pm$1@newsreader1.core.theplanet.net>#1/1 This corewars sounds intresting where would I find out more about it? Walter -- "Everybody wants to be naked and famous" by PUSA From: John Metcalf Subject: Re: Intelligent Warrior Tournament RESULTS Date: 1999/08/30 Message-ID: #1/1 Greetings... You won't have a very long wait. Should be done by Thursday at the latest :-) Regards, John On Sun, 29 Aug 1999, John K. Lewis wrote: > The results of the tourney are over and will be posted in the next > issue of Corewarrior. Enjoy! From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - Standard 08/30/99 Date: 1999/08/30 Message-ID: <199908300400.AAA05065@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/30/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Standard KotH CoreWar Hill : Last battle concluded at : Thu Aug 26 09:55:57 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 33/ 20/ 47 Freight Train David Moore 146 53 2 43/ 43/ 15 Blur '88 Anton Marsden 142 90 3 41/ 40/ 19 Stasis David Moore 141 160 4 41/ 41/ 19 Beholder's Eye V1.7 W. Mintardjo 141 328 5 43/ 45/ 12 Blurstone '88 M. J. Pihlaja 141 47 6 42/ 44/ 15 Foggy Swamp Beppe Bezzi 140 49 7 31/ 25/ 44 sIMPly.Red v0.95 Leonardo Humberto 138 10 8 42/ 46/ 13 Iron Gate Wayne Sheppard 137 378 9 38/ 39/ 22 Tangle Trap David Moore 137 126 10 30/ 24/ 47 Guardian Ian Oversby 136 52 11 38/ 39/ 23 PacMan David Moore 136 82 12 32/ 30/ 38 Frog Sticker P.Kline 134 2 13 23/ 18/ 59 EV Paper John K Wilkinson 128 66 14 26/ 25/ 50 Shish-Ka-Bob Ben Ford 127 8 15 32/ 38/ 30 Leapfrog David Moore 125 81 16 32/ 41/ 27 Kitchen Sink Robert Macrae 124 51 17 22/ 21/ 57 Test I Ian Oversby 123 109 18 22/ 24/ 54 TESTE Leonardo Humberto 120 11 19 22/ 24/ 54 Evoltmp 88 John K W 120 103 20 19/ 30/ 51 fs A P.Kline 107 1 21 0/ 0/ 4 The Marlboro Man 1.13 M Joonas Pihlaja 5 28 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - ICWS Experimental 94 08/30/99 Date: 1999/08/30 Message-ID: <199908300400.AAA05076@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/30/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG ICWS Experimental 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 1 08:22:13 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 52/ 33/ 15 Black Moods Ian Oversby 171 7 2 45/ 30/ 26 Controlled Aggression Ian Oversby 160 11 3 34/ 16/ 50 Venom v0.2b Christian Schmidt 153 33 4 28/ 6/ 66 Evol Cap 4 X John Wilkinson 150 80 5 24/ 3/ 73 Evolve X v4.0 John Wilkinson 146 28 6 29/ 20/ 51 Rosebud Beppe 137 59 7 36/ 39/ 25 Stepping Stone 94x Kurt Franke 134 66 8 32/ 33/ 34 Draken Fire X Ben Ford 132 2 9 35/ 39/ 27 Dr. Gate X Franz 131 51 10 34/ 37/ 29 BigBoy Robert Macrae 130 105 11 35/ 43/ 22 Tsunami v0.3 X Ian Oversby 127 5 12 38/ 49/ 13 S.E.T.I. 4-X JKW 127 81 13 28/ 31/ 41 Self-Modifying Code X Ben Ford 126 1 14 31/ 36/ 33 Lithium X 8 John K Wilkinson 126 71 15 21/ 16/ 63 Sphere v0.2 Christian Schmidt 126 22 16 35/ 45/ 20 Pagan John K W 125 65 17 35/ 46/ 19 Memories Beppe Bezzi 123 87 18 21/ 19/ 60 Purple v0.1 Christian Schmidt 123 32 19 36/ 49/ 15 WingShot Ben Ford 122 3 20 35/ 49/ 15 BiShot Christian Schmidt 121 19 21 15/ 30/ 55 pt1 John Metcalf 100 0 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - 94 No Pspace 08/30/99 Date: 1999/08/30 Message-ID: <199908300400.AAA05080@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/30/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG 94 No Pspace CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Sun Aug 29 22:19:48 EDT 1999 # %W/ %L/ %T Name Author Score Age 1 46/ 41/ 14 Zooom... John Metcalf 151 131 2 46/ 43/ 11 Qshot Christian Schmidt 149 1 3 46/ 46/ 7 QHSA Ken Espiritu 147 9 4 33/ 21/ 46 Jade Ben Ford 146 64 5 43/ 43/ 14 goonie David Moore 144 57 6 35/ 26/ 39 Ant Factory Christian Schmidt 144 90 7 43/ 44/ 13 Boys are Back in Town 1.1 Philip Kendall 143 257 8 44/ 46/ 9 Win! David Moore 143 230 9 38/ 34/ 28 PC WFB 141 81 10 41/ 42/ 17 Men-An-Tol-7 John Metcalf 141 13 11 33/ 27/ 40 Omnibus John Metcalf 140 4 12 35/ 31/ 34 Blacken Ian Oversby 140 242 13 35/ 30/ 35 Recovery Ian Oversby 139 255 14 38/ 38/ 25 Napalm Ken Espiritu 138 44 15 35/ 32/ 33 The Pendragon Christian Schmidt 137 68 16 32/ 27/ 41 Icen Ben Ford 137 89 17 40/ 45/ 15 myBlur2(3) Paulsson 136 11 18 38/ 41/ 21 myVamp v3.7 Paulsson 136 84 19 14/ 75/ 11 kill paper Anonymous 53 2 20 6/ 3/ 1 pvspap-60 pvs/jam 18 7 21 6/ 3/ 1 pvspap pvk/jam 18 3 From: Koth Subject: KOTH.ORG: Status - MultiWarrior 94 08/30/99 Date: 1999/08/30 Message-ID: <199908300400.AAA05069@gevjon.ttsg.com>#1/1 Weekly Status on 08/30/99 -=- www.KOTH.org is now hosting a '94 No Pspace Hill. -=- View the stats of all the Hills at: www.KOTH.org/standings.html -=- *FAQ* page located at: www.KOTH.org/corewar-faq.html Current Status of the KOTH.ORG Multiwarrior 94 CoreWar Hill: Last battle concluded at : Fri Aug 6 15:04:12 EDT 1999 # Name Author Score Age 1 QuiVa John Metcalf 31 80 2 Her Majesty P.Kline 31 6 3 Cinderella Ben Ford 27 14 4 WingShot Ben Ford 25 4 5 QueensGuard P.Kline 24 9 6 BiShot v1.0 Christian Schmidt 19 55 7 Sharkrage Christian Schmidt 13 54 8 pt1 John Metcalf 13 1 9 Neck Bite Ben Ford 13 3 10 QueensGuard P.Kline 11 7 11 qCape Ben Ford 6 0