the bot 5 Pool
I took a little time to look into the bot named 5 Pool, checking the version just uploaded. I had noticed that it didn’t play exactly the same version of 5 pool in every game.
It’s a Steamhammer fork (which I already knew from watching its behavior). It no longer comes with a separate configuration file, but that’s no hindrance to understanding it. It uses the go defensive/go aggressive commands, so either it is a fork of 1.2.1 or 1.2.2, or it has backported recent changes to an older version.
It plays the same version of 5 pool usually, but it has exceptions for 5 specific opponents. Killerbot by Marian Devecka, bftjoe, and Krasi0 get a different 5 pool that makes 2 extra drones after the pool (which is stronger overall, but does require an earlier overlord so it may hit less hard at first). Stone gets its own specialized variant of 5 pool which makes 2 further extra drones (for 4 total after the pool) after the first round of zerglings. And finally, Steamhammer gets an even more specialized variant that makes a bunch of drones after the pool, uses go defensive and go aggressive at specific timings, and switches into 3 hatch ling in an attempt to overwhelm the 2 hatchery build that Steamhammer plays against 5 pooling bots. Ha ha, that is what I get for playing a fixed opening! I deserved it! The next version will regain support for random choice of openings when playing specific opponents, which will put paid to that.
Well, Steamhammer’s anti-5 pool build in the dev version is a little tighter than in the last release version (it’s been days already, I can’t leave an opening alone that long, it will grow sad). 5 Pool’s counter may work against version 1.2.2, I haven’t tried it. But I did run a test game against the dev version, and Steamhammer won with surprising ease. I think it is quite hard to counter a 9 pool with a 5 pool, even if you know the exact 9 pool build order and aim for its weakest points.
I have a bit of a philosophical question: How far can you get by tailoring variants of the same extreme opening to different opponents? At the moment, 5 Pool is #6 on the rating list, very high for a bot that plays a fixed opening which all strong opponents have seen before and should be ready for. And it has room to grow: There are tactics that 5 Pool does not know which could make it much scarier. For example, it doesn’t know how to run by a bunker. Martin Rooijackers thinks that the cheese openings are dead, but I think they still have some life in them.
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MicroDK on :
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PurpleWaveJadien on :
Optimizing your bot for handling specific situations using its current framework is a local optimization -- it's likely to add a nice chunk of Elo, but doesn't make your future efforts more powerful. Plus you may have to rewrite or scrap those optimizations away once you hit your framework's local maximum Elo.
Optimizing your bot for having a more robust framework is a global optimization. It lifts the ceiling on what your bot can do with further local optimizations, even though it may produce little or negative change in Elo. And any changes which aren't backed up by real Elo improvement may be premature or incorrect optimizations.
In that view, Iron bot's recent change to its TvP game -- going from bio all-in to mech -- is a global optimization. It makes Igor's bot weaker in the short term, but mech play has a higher ceiling in the long term. I don't know when, but a switch like that is going to pay off significantly (and knowing Igor's track record, probably sooner rather than later).
Those different approaches aren't inherently better or worse -- it's just a matter of what your personal goals are. Even if your goal is raising your Elo, your approach will vary based on how much time you have to spend on your bot.
5 Pool, McRave, and Krasi0 are on the far end of the "local optimization" spectrum; PurpleWave and Dave's UAB are on the far end of global optimization; and most other recently updated bots are somewhere in the middle. And all of them have produced interesting results (well, at least I'd like to think I've produced interesting results).
As for, what's the ceiling? I was watching FirebatHero on stream the other day. He'd start a game by giving his opponent shared vision and leaving one of his workers idle. And he'd still crush them. So I'd guess the ceiling on 5 Pool is pretty high.
PurpleWaveJadien on :
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Jay Scott on :
PurpleWaveJadien on :