Depends on what you want to use it for too. I would only learn/use Python personally, because it is the most used language in my particular field (GIS). A lot of it is determined by other software. Python is supported by ESRI, which is the industry giant in GIS. I used to program in LISP for AutoCAD use, but then Autodesk (company that makes AutoCAD) stopped supporting it or VB and is pushing you to .net or something else.

So you may want to figure out what language your industry uses most. No point in learning a code that won't be used much in the future in that industry.

ps wrote:

you're going up against guys in university departments dedicated to AI and computing, so don't get your hopes too high on getting a high rank

Have you seen even the current top of the leaderboards play? Even somebody who's good at AI in general would still overlook a lot of tactics and approaches everybody on this thread has learned long ago, playing WL themselves.

Being an AI wizard helps... but in no way guarantees a victory if you don't know the best strategy to teach your AI. The current competitors are not even completing bonuses when there's no opponent nearby and they already have enough armies to take it without needing a single deployment. There's ton of room for improvement; I'd say somebody with moderate programming skills and no AI knowledge, but with time and willingness to learn stands a decent chance at a high ranking.

---

Btw, I'm amazed at the competitors; out of the 30 or so people who listed their institute, about 20 are Dutch and/or are working in the Netherlands (ASML, Sioux Embedded Systems, Radboud University, TU Delft, Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen and Tweakers are all Dutch... not all of them are actually "Institutes" though :p ).

RvW: i think the challenge of learning the ai technical development skills while already knowing the game mechanics is higher then the challenge of mastering the game mechanics while already knowing the ai technical development skills. but i could be wrong :) we'll just have to submit some bots and see. :)

and this is when my memory of code would have been beneficial.... to bad I forgot it already...

Is there anyway to test my bot besides uploading it to the AI Challenge website? I'm playing with the java starter bot for now, so it's not exactly competitive. I just want to make sure it works before I worry about how well it does.

z-dog: supposedly the code for the server is on github, no clue how to set it up though, couldn't find any instructions for that either, but i did upload the default randombot to the site and already have 5 games to analyze, so i don't think it's that troublesome to use the website for testing, you can easily upload a new version at any time. don't know how they'll handle if something crashes halfway though.

Did you have to edit the default bot at all to get it to run?

Also, if the ELO rating system on the site will determine qualification for the final, would it be detrimental to one's chances to upload the default bot? I don't want to accidentally enter and then lose a bunch of matches.

is this very hard, or am i just to stupid to understand? :(
is most of the basic coding done in the "StarterBot" (and will work as it is, just bad) ? or is that not even close?

The fact that they chose a template that I cannot recreate is really annoying, its borderline problematic.

z-dog: i tried the c# version, and didn't have to edit anything at all. it just deploys and attacks randomly, but it's good enough to figure out what the hell is going on in terms of game mechanics and what the simulator expects to be returned.

dead piggy: don't go bailing on me now, think of all the hookers and blackjack we can buy with the prize money!

z-dog: you can always create a new account later if you want. i wouldn't worry too much about it at this point.

I'm not sure if I have enough time to learn coding and make a bot all by myself in two months, if anyone wants to code in Python or Java I would happily do it with them, mainly helping with what the AI "should" do, and after I've familiarised myself with the code I can help code as well(I don't want to learn any other type since I've heard a lot more about Python and Java, and wasting time learning something which isn't too relevant isn't a good choice imo)

Send me a PM if you are interested.

I noticed Fizzer didn't reply to piggy's post earlier which I had been thinking myself - where is the prize money coming from?

I wrote the pseudo code without actually playing any games. Its not ideal but this is a very straight forward template. I cant see how any of the other bots will beat it. I hope its easy for you all to turn into proper code =D. It was harder than i thought.

Ive spoken to a handful of people about working with them which soon is going to create conflicts of interest as you are all competing. I am not especially interested in money (though it is a lot) and have no way of forcing anyone who codes my words to give me part of the prize anyway. From here on out I will revise each entrants bot with them privately. I hope I am not breaking the tournaments rules by being "part" of multiple teams, there is a lot of money at stake so Im sure they will be strict.

I would love to see how it does asap so I can write out a version 2.

Edited 2014-03-18 22:53:27

piggy, I would split the money with you for sure, I am honorable. But I haven't yet looked at the difficulty of coding this yet. I will let you know if I think it is realistic for me to do, and if so you can send me your ideas.

great!

I can make the custom scenarios if anyone would like to help me out playing some trial games. For example I have no idea what kinds of attacks are appropriate at 100% luck. Is a 3v2 a waste of time? is a 7v2 appropriate?

Should visual basic be a supported language?

Edited 2014-03-18 23:10:48

invite me to your custom scenarios, i'd like play some trial games too.

What do these guys hold against vb?

Bananashake, you're right that there's enough code in the starterbot files to play; the real challenge is getting it to play well. For instance, right now, the bot picks randomly from available territories. You'll want to implement some kind of strategy.

How often are the bots placed in games? I submitted my first version a few hours ago, and it has yet to be matched up. (Errors aren't the problem; it passed the test match fine)

Also, I noticed that in the java code, there's a Long variable "timeOut" passed to many of the methods, but never used. Have you guys found a use for it? I think it's the maximum time you can take each turn.

maximum time you can take each turn is 2 second i think. is that how long the timeOut takes?