Dogfighting pitstop.

3:41 PM

Question about the " the team with the most lives left wins. If all this is equal, it's a draw." - how many lives do you start with? if you die, do you somehow respawn?

overactor

3:53 PM

Oh, that shouldn't ahve made it into the final version, thanks for pointing it out.

have*

@user2813274 being hit by a bullet kills you, no lives.

thanks again for pointing that out

user2813274

Another question, is a "step" in the game look, move, shoot, or do you look, move, look, shoot?

And do both planes need to decide their movement at the same time, or does one plane move/shoot and then the next plane?

overactor

4:16 PM

look, move, look shoot

and it's at the same time

it's look, move, look, (check for collisions), shoot, (check if anyone got hit)

user2813274

6:01 PM

suppose a plane is going horizontally east, and wanted to change directions to NED, would it be allowed to, or is that a violation of the 45º rule?

overactor

NED would be allowed

If you're going N you can go in any direction That contains the letter N

Same for other 'main directions'

user2813274

6:29 PM

So you can rotate 45º on the NESW plane, and then another 45º on the EWUD plane, for a total of 55º?

Also it seems like I can run the following code which I probably shouldn't be able to: super.enemyPlanes[0].setCoolDown(99);

overactor

Hmm, I guess the 45° rule doesn't quite work out, I'll have to think about rewording that.

You're allowed to do that

those instances of planes are just for your information

user2813274

ah, good to know

overactor

the controller keeps his own copies

Sparr

6:47 PM

hey, a custom chat room!

just got the controller working locally

I think this contest, more than most, would benefit from more helper functions

specifically, I want to write a function that tells a plane when it's committing to hitting a wall.

or, conversely, eliminates wall-commitment moves from the possible move list

user2813274

@Sparr I think you only need to check 2 moves in advance, here is my code for it: // remove positions with no future from flight plan

potentialDirections.removeIf(new Predicate<Direction>()
{
@Override
public boolean test(Direction test)
{
boolean hasFuture = false;
for (Direction compare : p.getPossibleDirections())
{
Plane future = new Plane(arenaSize, 0, compare, p.getPosition().add(compare.getAsPoint3D()));
for (Direction d : future.getPossibleDirections())
{
if (future.getPosition().add(d.getAsPoint3D()).isInArena(arenaSize))

Sparr

if you're touching the north wall, any N* move hits the wall. If you're one unit off the north wall, then any N* move with a N facing direction commits you to hitting the wall one turn later.

user2813274

yes, which is why you need to check 2 moves in advanced

but I haven't been able to wrap my head around flying into a corner yet

Sparr

you seem to be ignoring facing direction

also corners :)

user2813274

not sure if you need more than 2 moves in advance for that

Sparr

7:00 PM

re facing direction, the game lets you fly one direction but face a differet (off by one) direction

user2813274

well I am checking only the valid moves and only after the supposed move, so I assume the current direction becomes that of a valid move

Sparr

err, sorry

potentialDirections contains what?

user2813274

it's a list of p.getPossibleDirections() that I trim the "bad" moves from

Sparr

ok, thought so

user2813274

such as the ones that crash into a wall

Sparr

7:02 PM

so, here's the problem

your first for loop goes through all the directions your plane might move this turn, right?

user2813274

yes

Sparr

and the future plane is instanciated, both moved in that direction AND facing that direction

user2813274

then I remove all the ones that crash into a wall in 1 move

and then I remove all the ones that crash into a wall in 2 moves

Sparr

that's not a requirement. your plane can move in a new direction without changing its heading. you need to consider 'lane change' moves there too

user2813274

oh, it can?

how does that work?

Sparr

7:04 PM

public boolean changeDirection;

you set or don't set that in your MOve

user2813274

I was actually going to ask about that.. I didn't quite understand the point of it

Sparr

if you don't changeDirection, then your plane moves in a new direction, but doesn't turn

so, let's say you're flying north

you can keep flying north and keep facing north

or you can fly northeast and keep facing north

or you can fly northeast and be facing northeast

so, you have... Plane future = new Plane(arenaSize, 0, compare, p.getPosition().add(compare.getAsPoint3D()));

user2813274

well... I see the problem now

Sparr

you need to re-run the loop after that with... Plane alternatefuture = new Plane(arenaSize, 0, currentdirection, p.getPosition().add(compare.getAsPoint3D()));

user2813274

but my code never causes my plane to fly in a direction that it isn't facing

Sparr

7:07 PM

also, yes, corners are weird :p

I think you need to check three moves out for corners

maybe even four

if you're at 0,0,0 then flying N or W or D will crash

user2813274

My plan was to add the cubes closes to the corners to my "danger zone"

Sparr

oh, well, that works too :)

but you're overly limiting your options

user2813274

that way I fly in a "rounded" box

well.. if I do get into a corner, my plane crashes anyways, since you can't escape it

so I might as well avoid them

aside from the start, how would you ever reach 0,0,0 and not die the next turn?

Sparr

you wouldn't

but 1,1,1 is trickier

user2813274

gah I need some like cubes or something to visualize this...

Sparr

7:11 PM

first, solve it for a 2d map

user2813274

2-d map you can safely fly through 1,1

you can even go from 0,1 to 1,0

Sparr

in any direction but one

if you enter 1,1 from 2,2 then you're dead

user2813274

but that doesn't make the corner special

you can enter 1,5 from 2,5 and be left with no options

Sparr

??

if you fly from 2,5 to 1,5 then you can turn 45 degrees to 0,4, then 45 more to 0,3

and safely escape

however, if you fly from 2,2 to 1,1 then you're screwed

user2813274

darn, your right

I think I will just go for running this and logging my "crash plan" coordinates.. this is complicated to think about

Sparr

7:15 PM

now, I don't THINK that gets more complex in 3d

oh, hmm

maybe it does

user2813274

I don't think it does either, with the asterisk that you can change your angle in two planes at once

Sparr

so, if any two coordinates are 2, then flying into any position with two 1 coordinates is death, in the 2d sense

however, if you fly from 3,3,3 to 2,2,2 then your next move must be a two-one-coordinate position

so, my question is whether 3,3,3 to 2,2,2 is a death move

all three possible two-axis diversions are functionally equivalent, so considering just one...

3,3,3 to 2,2,2 is a north/west/down move. if you turn to just down then you end up at 2,2,1 where you can turn to east/down for 2,3,0 and then just east for 2,4,0

so, 3,3,3 to 2,2,2 is escapable

however, not ALL paths after 3,3,3 to 2,2,2 with two future moves have a third future move

right?

if you're at 2,2,2 moving NWD then your algorithm will say that NWD is a valid move, because 1,1,1 and 0,0,0 can be reached from there

but that's suicide

also, that's a LOT of computation

just having a lookup table of suicide moves would save a lot of cpu time on the judge

user2813274

but I am planning to add 1,1,1 as a place to avoid in the 2-step look-ahead

Sparr

ahh

user2813274

and I think most people would do that as well

Sparr

7:29 PM

except 1,1,1 is a legit place to be, if you're flying perpendicular to the corner

user2813274

that is true..

Sparr

from 1,1,2 to 1,1,1 to 1,2,1

err, almost that

user2813274

right.. now I need to see how to test this

Sparr

another approach:

if you're facing in an axial direction, you must make at least two moves from now in that direction (possibly combined with other directions)

if you're facing in a 2d diagonal direction, you must make at least three moves from now in one of the two relevant directions

err

off by one

3d diagonal gives you three exits, each requiring two moves in a relevant direction

so, if I'm going NWD and I'm within two units of all three N W D walls, I'm screwed. that's the corner danger zone

user2813274

7:46 PM

So really you need a position and a direction, and from that you can decide if you are safe or not

Sparr

hmm

not quite, there's still the lane change consideration

given my position and direction, I need to consider all of the spaces I could move to AND the two directions I might be facing when I get there

a turn might be safe while a lane change is not

a lane change might be safe while a turn is not

I'm going to call those turn and drift, which is Car Wars terminology

Sparr

8:02 PM

@user2813274 in your code, test is never used within your predicate test...

Sparr

8:59 PM

gist.github.com/sparr/a882711c992a96aa4d4c

I think that's right

overactor

10:05 PM

I have to go to bed now, I'll go through this conversation tomorrow and help out where I can.

Thanks for your interest guys

Sparr

public Move[] act() {
    Move[] moves = new Move[2];
    System.err.println(moves[0].getAsString());

I'm driving myself crazy over why that moves[0] results in a NullPointerException

overactor

10:36 PM

@Sparr because there's nothing in that array yet

It gets initialized as an array with two times null

Sparr

doh

yeah, found that. new to Java, used to Python lately

I think my planes are avoiding walls now :)

more precisely and with more variety of maneuvers than starfox, which was my inspiration here

overactor

I look forward to running it.

Sparr

heh, it's still dumb, just fires at random

need to make it at least as smart as starfox for targeting

sent you a one line pull request for the controller

PhiNotPi

This challenge seems cool, but I barely know anything about Java!

overactor

Maybe Rainbolt will write a wrapper when he gets back

I'm new to github, where do I see this pull request?

Sparr

10:44 PM

@PhiNotPi my java is horrible, but it's manageable with a lot of google :)

@overactor github.com/overactor/Dogfight-KOTH/pull/1

I think my certain death code is some runtime complexity levels faster than starfox's :)

overactor

Done.

Sparr

11:39 PM

haha

when my plane fights itself, the match lasts one round

four shots, four kills

overactor

reckless planes you have ^^

where can I upload huge text files?

close to 3 MB

Sparr

github gist?

overactor

cool

Gist doesn't enjoy having 3 MB of text pasted to it :s

Sparr

right now my plane vs moveandshootplane is about 30% win 60% loss 10% draw

gist has an "add file" button

overactor

How do you lose?

Sparr

11:45 PM

looking into that

ha

mid-air collisions between my own planes

I guess I should prevent that

overactor

always a bummer when that happens

Sparr

lol

56% win, 3% loss, 31% draw when I eliminate collisions :)

overactor

That's an excelent result

You're doing significantly better than a plane that just doesn't fly into walls

How do you do against Whirligig?

Sparr

let me check

my losses are from flying into walls :|

so something is wrong with my safe move check

gonna run whirligig now

overactor

Hmm, some checks not running perfectly I suppose

Still, 3% is okay

Sparr

11:55 PM

LeadYourTargetPlane1: 4 points.
MoveAndShootPlane1: 0 points.
Whirligig: 2 points.

overactor

Nice

Sparr

83:1 against whirligig

overactor

Want to submit?

You can always improve later

Sparr

not quite yet

want to track down that wall bug

overactor

Understandable

Did you see what's happening with Starfox?

Sparr

11:56 PM

i saw your comment

moving into the line of fire?

overactor

He constantly gets shot

I think he mixed up safe and risky zones somewhere

It's quite fun though

Sparr

A mid-air collision!!!
A mid-air collision!!!LeadYourTargetPlane1's first plane: dead

LeadYourTargetPlane1's second plane: dead

MoveAndShootPlane1's first plane: dead

MoveAndShootPlane1's second plane: dead

wow :)

overactor

Everyone crashed into everyone?

Sparr

two two-plane collisions

overactor

sweet

"Let's call it a draw"

Oh man, I soo hope someone manages to represent these fights in 3D

Sparr

11:59 PM

:)

whirligig's single win was shooting my planes

Transcript for

Dogfighting pitstop.