going random
I get the impression that the decision to go random is fundamentally similar for a bot and for a human. Going random is cool and offers a potential advantage, but it’s hard. From a practical point of view, most bot authors and most human players will be more successful if they settle on one race and concentrate on playing their race well.
The observation that people repeat is that if you play one race, you have to learn three matchups, each with unique strategies and timings and tactical possibilities and so on. If you play random, you have to learn six matchups. Watching the three different random bots now playing at SSCAIT (UAlbertaBot, OpprimoBot, and Travis Shelton’s bot), to me they seem shallower than the race specialist bots. That’s my impression.
Also, if you can play 3 races, then you probably don’t play all of them equally well. Tscmoo, with its large selection of strategies for all races, is an example. It can play random, but usually doesn’t. It usually goes with whichever race it plays best at the time.
Just an observation. Do whatever you like, but notice the tradeoff.
Race picking is another issue. That means choosing a race depending on the map and opponent. Of current tournaments, I think only those organized by LetaBot and run by hand (see the YouTube channel) allow race picking. I think the other competitions require you to stick to terran, protoss, zerg, or random.
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