Starcraft AI blog

Today I received my acknowledgement that Steamhammer is registered for AIST S4. It will play, if the creek don’t rise.

I haven’t been posting about Steamhammer progress because I’m preparing (ssh! it’s a secret!) Secret Improvements. When the list of participants is announced, I expect I’ll make special arrangements for some of them. Steamhammer should be a moving target so that the same doesn’t happen to it.

The improvements I’ve made already are significant, and I’m finishing up another good one today. I’m hoping that, unlike the other two times Steamhammer participated (S1 and S2), it won’t be knocked out at the first opportunity and end up in last place, or tied for it, with 2 match losses. (In S3, the rival Microwave played instead and got the same result.) I don’t want to get used to being pushed over like a cardboard cutout.

I’m also hoping that by submission time at the ominous Ides of March, Steamhammer will have collected enough opening data that I can decide what to do about it next. I’m still forecasting that I’ll need a second collection phase to fill in gaps. Plus I’ll need a long-term plan to keep the data updated as Steamhammer’s skills progress.