Thorn

Bot Name

Thorn

Author

Kev

History

• 1.152: rated 1965, ranked 3rd (1st PL)
  • Added an additional time since deccel segment.
• 1.151: rated 1974, ranked 3rd (2nd PL)
  • Removed energy tracking from onHitByBullet?.
  • Added time since deccel segments.
  • Tweak to velocity segments.
• 1.144: rated 1974, ranked 2nd (1st PL)
  • Back to my own flattener.
  • Uses 5 velocity segments instead of 3.
• 1.143: rated 1979, ranked 2nd (1st PL)
  • Shrunk code size even more.
  • Uses RaikoMicro's flattener for comparison.
• 1.142: rated 1982 (after significant downward rating drift), ranked 2nd.
  • Shrunk code size by 5 bytes.
  • Added back the learning from bullet hit.
  • Removed extra wall slice.
  • Updates the other bot's energy when it hits.
  • Slightly less dive protection.
• 1.141: rated 1986, ranked 1st (1st PL) micro, rated 1856, ranked 55 (60 PL) mega.
  • Doesn't change enemy energy when my bullet hits (for more code size).
  • Doesn't switch movement mode after round five (for code size too).
  • Added another wall segment.
• 1.14: rated 1991, ranked 1st (1st PL) micro, rated 1852, ranked 55 (58 PL) mega.
  • Uses a smaller (and better) power function for reverse chance instead of the old quadratic one.
  • Fires full power against rammers.
  • Small tweak to wall segment.
• 1.13: rated 1963, ranked 1st (3 PL) micro, and rated 1835, ranked 60 (74 PL) mega. (WeeklongObsession isn't in rumble at this time).
  • Shrunk code size a little.
  • Sharper distancing.
  • A bit more accurate measurement of enemy energy (reacts to onBulletHit?).
• 1.2: rated 1943, ranked 2nd (4 PL) micro, rated 1815, ranked 66 (76 PL) mega.
  • Random movement replaced with new and strong flat movement.
• 1.11: rated 1954 ranked 1st (4 PL) micro, ranked 1829, ranked 59 (73 PL) mega.
  • Fixed a small bug causing the velocity segment to be computed using the other robot's last velocity instead of its current one.
• 1.1: rated 1964, ranked 1st (4 PL) micro, rated 1832, ranked 58 (74 PL) mega.
  • Freed some more space.
  • Moves depending on what bullet power the other robot is using.
• 1.02: rated 1957, ranked 1st (4 PL) micro, rated 1829, ranked 56 (68 PL) mega.
  • Fixed bug making Thorn think the other robot's orbit direction was always 1.
• 1.01: rated 1850, ranked 4 micro rated 1731 ranked 120 mega.
  • Tweaked distancing.
  • Freed up about 35 bytes...
  • I definitely broke something here :(.
• 1.0: rated 1954, ranked 1st (4 PL) micro, rated 1830 ranked 55 (65 PL) mega.
  • Initial release.

Extends

AdvancedRobot.

What's special about it?

It's my first competitive MicroBot.

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

https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/pclark/kc.micro.Thorn_1.152.jar

How competitive is it?

Thorn is #1 in its division, and very close to being the first entrant in The2000Club/Micro!

How does it move?

It is a MultiMode robot using Splinter-style StopNGo movement and distancing and RandomMovement similar to Vyper's.

How does it fire?

GuessFactorTargeting similar to Vyper's, but highly shrunk. Segmented on distance, velocity, acceleration, and wall distance.

How does it dodge bullets?

It only dodges simple targeters.

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

There isn't a melee strategy.

What does it save between rounds and matches?

Movement mode and the targeting data between rounds, nothing between matches.

Where did you get the name?

Thorn is a bigger version of Splinter.

Can I use your code?

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

What's next for your robot?

Hopefully Thorn will be the first micro bot in The2000Club, but that's still a long way off. Now its only a few points away!

Does it have any WhiteWhales?

Aristocles.

What other robot(s) is it based on?

Splinter and Vyper.

---

Comments, questions, feedback:

Hey, you did it! =) Top spot with a first version is way cool, great job. -- Voidious

Thanks! It's amazing how easy it was when I had two top-level bots to work off. -- Kev

Not sure how much of a fluke this was, but...

Fighting battle 6 ... kc.micro.Thorn 1.2,pe.SandboxDT 3.02
RESULT = pe.SandboxDT 3.02 wins 2769 to 2763

That is just incredible for a MicroBot! Keep it up, man...

-- Voidious

Unfortunately, it still lost quite a few points in the rumble. I'm suprised because 1.2's scores were way better than before in the movement challenge tests I was doing. I'll submit an expanded version of it's FlatMovement to the TargetingChallenge2K7 since I think it is one of the hardest non-surfing bots to hit. -- Kev

Nevertheless, I'd say DT sacrifices some rating for PL prowess itself, and even the top MegaBots have a hard enough time with it. If that MC score vs Dookious is consistent (from TargetingChallenge2K7/Results), I'd definitely call this the hardest to hit non-surfing movement out there right now. -- Voidious

ThornHT? is not using the exact movement code from Thorn; the distancing and wall avoidance are a tweaked a bit and the "random factor" is calculated a little more accurately. Nevertheless, Thorn 1.2TC was getting movement scores several points higher than 1.1. Too bad it didn't translate to the rumble. I also have a hunch that Raiko might have better random movement than Thorn, but I'm not sure about it. -- Kev

Oh you didn't. Don't make me come back there. -- Simonton

Will this be the first in The2000Club/Micro ?? -- GrubbmGait

That would be awesome, but it looks like it might fall about 10 points short. Still, given the rating distribution and other factors in the MicroRumble?, I think its current rating is more impressive than 2000 in General, anyway... Great job, Kev. -- Voidious

Truly, this is a VERY nice improvement. -- Simonton

Yay! Thorn's only ~10 points off of 2000 in the micro rumble, and has probably snagged the number 1 PL spot too! But I think those last points might be hard to get. And congratulations to you GrubbmGait by the way, for your rapid ascent in the micro rumble. -- Kev

Hey Kev, you don't think that the reduced rankings could be due to the fact that the entire rumble has changed since 1.142 was released? Maybe you should re-release 1.142 as 1.145, just to check where you actually stand today. - Skilgannon <who is proud of his current number 1>

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "the entire rumble has changed since 1.142 was released," but I doubt its rating would change significantly from a re-release. And congrats on your number one spot by the way... it looks like I've been dethroned from #1 in micro as well as nano :P. -- Kev

Well, Simonton dropped by about 10 points when he re-released WeeklongObsession. I'm just going on what he said. And it just goes to show, in Micro/Nano?, PatternMatching is the best option =). -- Skilgannon