Starcraft AI blog

Two strange events.

let’s put the expansion right there

In a game versus Krasi0, Steamhammer decided to go three hatcheries before spawning pool. It’s a greedy opening, a sensible choice against Krasi0’s slightly less greedy opening. Of course, when you’re trying to win by greed you tend to scout late, so when it was time to place the 3rd hatchery, Steamhammer did not know where Krasi0 was. The expansion drone walked past a bunker under construction and started the hatchery in the terran natural.

Steamhammer had the good sense to cancel the morphing hatchery before it died, but still.... Opening build: Failed.

When the enemy base location is unknown, MapTools::getNextExpansion() is supposed to choose the free expansion closest to home by ground distance. It should have chosen the 6 o’clock base, not the enemy natural. It’s a bug.

wait, is this the same game again?

Steamhammer played against Microwave 2 times in the last 2 days: Yesterday’s game and today’s game. Both games were on the map La Mancha, which is a little surprising since there are 15 maps. Both games had the same positions, Steamhammer in the upper left and Microwave in the lower left. OK, it could happen sometimes. And in both games, Steamhammer played its overgas 11 pool opening, a risky opening that it is set to play just under 1% of the time.

That does not happen! This is a coincidence that should come up 1 time in 18,000, more games than Steamhammer has played. Did somebody take control of the random number generator?

Microwave was blue in both games, but Steamhammer got different colors. Whew. The games were similar, as you might expect. Microwave played overpool and was almost but not quite able to capitalize on its earlier zerglings...

... then lost to the fast mutalisks that Steamhammer got by going gas first.

A third game today between the two bots was completely different. That’s how it’s supposed to work.