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a paradox of motivation

It occurs to me that tournaments cause a paradox of motivation. Once the tournament is underway, nothing I do affects it. I want Steamhammer to defeat its strong opponents, giving them losses so Steamhammer can pull in front. If I have to lose some games, I would prefer to lose to the weaker opponents which pose no threat of placing higher.

In development, I don’t ignore the strong opponents by any means, but I have been concentrating on building a firm foundation, getting the basics down solid. Compare: Last year, Steamhammer scored many upsets against stronger players and many losses against the lower ranks. Today it is the other way around; Steamhammer can barely touch Iron or McRave (in last year’s edition it scored an upset over Iron), and it only now and then drops a game to the bottom half. Steamhammer has gone from upset-prone to consistent. I haven’t been trying to beat the top bots, I’ve been trying to play better. I put extra effort into analyzing Steamhammer’s losses against the weakest opponents in AIIDE, for example. It’s the opposite plan from trying to beat the current #1.

Well, I don’t plan to change course. I just thought the paradox of motivation was interesting. As soon as there is nothing I can do, my goals change.

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McRave on :

I think it's a really smart approach to be winning vs lower opponents always. More consistency looks better when placing top 5 in this tournament too due to low number of games.

MicroDK on :

Actually, in any tournament a loss is a loss no matter which opponent you loose to and any loss is of equal value since your positions is decided by win percentage... not elo value. But in Ro16 it is good to beat the strongest bots. ;)

Jay Scott on :

Winning against a close rival can be taken as counting more, because it increases your win percentage and also decreases theirs. It can shift you from behind to ahead in a situation where winning against an also-ran would leave you behind.

Jay Scott on :

For concreteness, say I have 2 games left to play of 20. I am a little behind at 8-10, a close rival is at 9-10 with 1 game left, and an also-ran is at 0-19 with 1 game left. I can come in ahead of my rival if I win both. But if I win only 1, it is better to beat the rival: The score is a tie with both at 9-11 (and the also-ran at 1-19). If I lose to the rival and beat the also-ran, my score is 9-11 and my rival is at 10-10 (and the also-ran is at 0-20).

Tully Elliston on :

http://www.openbw.com/replay-viewer/?rep=https%3A%2F%2Fsscaitournament.com%2FReplays%2FSTEAMHAMMER%2F0666-Stea_Toma-ZvP.rep

Scourge behavior vs carriers in the midgame doesn't look right - lots of avoidance and taking attrition. Since carriers are slow, the scourge should have just ploughed straight in.

Tully Elliston on :

Also, it looks like scourge are targeting carrier drones - they should probably never do that

Jay Scott on :

The hydras are not smart, but the scourge are particularly stupid. The scourge belong to a larger squad, and when the squad is ordered to retreat, the scourge retreat too. Scourge don’t actively target interceptors (or overlords), but often run into them anyway. And it’s common to use up, say, 3 scourge killing 1 observer. I’ve been planning to fix the scourge issues when I work on mutalisks, which will be after the opponent model. Lately I’ve been thinking maybe I should do a partial fix sooner, making scourge behave more like corsairs, with independent movement.

Tully Elliston on :

I think their squad movement at present is OK for positioning (they don't expose themselves overly, and stay in support of the main force), perhaps they just need an agent behavior that takes over and switches them into "cruise missile" mode when they get within range.

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