Article 2273 of rec.games.corewar: Path: hellgate.utah.edu!caen!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!agate!mconst From: mconst@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Michael Constant) Newsgroups: rec.games.corewar Subject: MNCT Round 1 Strategies Date: 14 Nov 1993 04:54:00 GMT Organization: U.C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility Lines: 422 Message-ID: <2c4dl8$8dv@agate.berkeley.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: locusts.berkeley.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Here is a rather long description of all the strategies which were used in round 1, and which were better than others (and why). You should be able to find the source for every program somewhere in here. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The most effective strategy was backtracking (finding one of Challenge's SPL-bombs, then repeatedly going back 3044 from it to find the main program). This strategy probably worked well because it is simple and fast. A backtracker can kill Challenge much more quickly than any other type of program, which obviates the need for a complicated defense system. There were four backtrackers submitted: BackTrack 7, No Challenge, Niche 1.0, and Smite White. Here is the best backtracker submitted (it was the best program overall!) : ;redcode ;name BackTrack 7 ;author Stefan Strack INTERVAL equ 3044 scan jmz scan, if bomb hit still ;bombs with a dat not a spl mov @bomb,