+Vorticon Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 1 hour ago, Asmusr said: Maybe 8 would be more reasonable? Will this be calculated as SQR((X1-X)^2+(Y1-Y)^2) ? Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 1 hour ago, SteveB said: I also wonder if this is too much of a gamble. As soon as you see him, you calculate the distance and shoot ... not much of a strategy. If you need to align yourself without gettig shot, this becomes tricky and more challenging? 1 hour ago, Asmusr said: Maybe 8 would be more reasonable? Will this be calculated as SQR((X1-X)^2+(Y1-Y)^2) ? How about this: range of 8, keep the LOS 45 degree cone but the cannon can only fire straight ahead? That should make things substantially more challenging. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveB Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 11 minutes ago, Vorticon said: How about this: range of 8, keep the LOS 45 degree cone but the cannon can only fire straight ahead? That should make things substantially more challenging. Sounds good to me ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Sorry I´m not a good programmer at all, cannot await to see what happens, so I voted "Yes!" where´s my popcorn? 😍 xXx 😀 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 3 hours ago, Schmitzi said: Sorry I´m not a good programmer at all, cannot await to see what happens, so I voted "Yes!" where´s my popcorn? 😍 xXx 😀 I will try to post videos of each battle for your enjoyment 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 I have updated the first post with some clarifications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 When is a game declared a tie? It seems quite possible that both tanks would find a place to wait for the other to appear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch1995 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 3 minutes ago, Asmusr said: When is a game declared a tie? It seems quite possible that both tanks would find a place to wait for the other to appear. The dreaded "camper" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 17 minutes ago, Asmusr said: When is a game declared a tie? It seems quite possible that both tanks would find a place to wait for the other to appear. Good point. Since there is no wait code, the only way to "camp" is to keep rotating in place or fire. So here's what I propose: there is a limit to the number of actions per round, and whoever reaches that limit first is eliminated. Since initiative is randomized, at some point one of the tanks will die even if they both stay in place for the duration of the round. Any suggestions as to what that limit should be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveB Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 The one with the most forward-steps wins in a time-out situation? At least he tried ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveB Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 6 hours ago, Vorticon said: I have updated the first post with some clarifications. Will you participate yourself or would it be too difficult to stay neutral? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrodroid Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 1. Where do the tanks originate on the screen, on the opposing left/right sides behind the U shaped blocks? 2. Can we submit multiple entries, to try different strategies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 3 hours ago, SteveB said: The one with the most forward-steps wins in a time-out situation? At least he tried ... We could add a counter which adds an additional increment to a tank's total action count for each 3 consecutive times that tank remains stationary. That way the stationary tank will likely hit the action limit sooner than the opposing moving tank and will have a greater chance of being destroyed. I'm thinking an action count limit of 40 with a 5 point penalty for each 3 consecutive stationary turns. That should provide excellent motivation against camping 😄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 3 hours ago, SteveB said: Will you participate yourself or would it be too difficult to stay neutral? Since I will have access to the participants' code, this will unfortunately preclude me from participating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 52 minutes ago, retrodroid said: 1. Where do the tanks originate on the screen, on the opposing left/right sides behind the U shaped blocks? 2. Can we submit multiple entries, to try different strategies? The tanks will originate on the either column 2 or column 31, with the Y position randomly selected. The coordinates will be passed to the tank's subroutine with each turn. Only one submission allowed, but you will be provided with the host program (almost finished) which will allow you to experiment with different strategies. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveB Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 1 minute ago, Vorticon said: The tanks will originate on the either column 2 or column 31, with the Y position randomly selected. The coordinates will be passed to the tank's subroutine with each turn. Only one submission allowed, but you will be provided with the host program (almost finished) which will allow you to experiment with different strategies. If we have to few participants we might do it like in the Formular 1 ... two cars per "team" ... ? we should also impose a code limit to make sure we fit host and two contestants into the memory ... 6kb tokenized code? Could we use RXB CALL MOVES to copy the screen into lower memory to have map we can actually write to? Each contestant could get 4kB low memory with a variable base of >2000 or >3000 (or whatever under RXB is free to use). I'm not sure yet if I really need this ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 There should be enough space for 2 tank subroutines. The map cannot be altered. I really don't want to complicate things as I would like to keep the door open for all levels of programming expertise. The challenge here is to work within the imposed limitations 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RXB Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 2 hours ago, SteveB said: If we have to few participants we might do it like in the Formular 1 ... two cars per "team" ... ? we should also impose a code limit to make sure we fit host and two contestants into the memory ... 6kb tokenized code? Could we use RXB CALL MOVES to copy the screen into lower memory to have map we can actually write to? Each contestant could get 4kB low memory with a variable base of >2000 or >3000 (or whatever under RXB is free to use). I'm not sure yet if I really need this ... NOTE: You could also use the unused memory in upper 24K to as unlikely the XB program will be that large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senior_falcon Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 On 2/12/2023 at 7:54 AM, Vorticon said: In order to mitigate "campers", i.e. tanks that just lie in wait and don't move, there will be a limit of 40 actions per round for each tank. If a tank exceeds that limit then it will be destroyed. Any tank that remains stationary for 3 consecutive turns will incur a 5-point hit to its action count. Remember that an action constitutes of either turning, moving forward or firing. That seems like too small a number. If you are in the lower right corner, it would take 30 moves to move from one side of the screen to the other, and you'd want to look up a number of times to look for the enemy tank. Rotate right, rotate left 5 times and you'd be at 40. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FarmerPotato Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Hmm. Not afraid to post ideas but I'm keeping the best ones to myself. * Begin fixed search pattern. * If tank in sight, find closest vertical or horizontal firing vector and move toward that. * If target sight is lost, continue anyway. Option: halfway there, stop, look left, then right. * Sneaky Smarts: if target is lost, predict its location, scan for obstacles. plot a box around the obstacle, follow box perimeter the opposite way round, intercept. If no recent information, resume search pattern. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 1 hour ago, senior_falcon said: That seems like too small a number. If you are in the lower right corner, it would take 30 moves to move from one side of the screen to the other, and you'd want to look up a number of times to look for the enemy tank. Rotate right, rotate left 5 times and you'd be at 40. Good point. Let's make it 100. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 Almost done with the host program. A few more bugs to root out. I am thinking we should allow the subroutines to poke and peek into and from low memory (NOT VDP) for the purpose of data storage since all variables in the SUBs are local and do not survive the sub exit. The player's subroutine call will also pass the address of the low memory block assigned to it not to exceed 3K and that block can be used as needed. No sabotaging of the opponent's memory block allowed! 😁 I'll update the first post accordingly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Idea for the benefit of the viewing public - how about an onscreen 'lock' indicator for when a tank has the other in its sights, so the viewer can tell when one tank SHOULD see the other? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RXB Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 1 hour ago, Vorticon said: Almost done with the host program. A few more bugs to root out. I am thinking we should allow the subroutines to poke and peek into and from low memory (NOT VDP) for the purpose of data storage since all variables in the SUBs are local and do not survive the sub exit. The player's subroutine call will also pass the address of the low memory block assigned to it not to exceed 3K and that block can be used as needed. No sabotaging of the opponent's memory block allowed! 😁 I'll update the first post accordingly. So specifically designed program to eliminate many subroutines like CALL MOVES VDP to RAM or RAM to VDP or CALL PEEKV or CALL POKEV. I guess if you kill off enough RXB routines to be used it should just be down to a few commands in most XB variants. What about CALL EXE(address) that uses XB ROM routines to execute using only GPL registers, so you can use some assembly routines in ROM? Example: POKE some values into Scratch pad and do a CALL EXE(address) in ROM for as RXB EXE is just a BL @address routine it uses GPL registers. Spoiler 3449 ************************************************************ 3450 7ADA AORG >7ADA 3452 3453 0005 FLG EQU 5 3454 3455 * R12 total number of bytes to move 3456 * R10 move from 3457 * R9 move to 3458 * R8 minor counter (buffer counter) 3459 * R7 buffer pointer 3460 3461 7ADA 020C SCROLL LI R12,736 Going to move 736 bytes 7ADC 02E0 3462 7ADE 020A LI R10,32 Address to move from 7AE0 0020 3463 7AE2 04C9 CLR R9 Address to move to 3464 7AE4 C18B MOV R11,R6 Save return address 3465 7AE6 06A0 BL @SCRO1 Scroll the screen 7AE8 7B10 3466 7AEA 0205 LI R5,XVDPWD Optimize for speed later 7AEC 8C00 3467 7AEE 0204 LI R4,>02E0 Addr of bottom line on screen 7AF0 02E0 99/4 ASSEMBLER SCROLLS PAGE 0080 3468 7AF2 0201 LI R1,>7F80 Edge character and space char 7AF4 7F80 3469 7AF6 0202 LI R2,28 28 characters on bottom line 7AF8 001C 3470 7AFA 06A0 BL @PUTV1 Init VDP & put out 1st edge ch 7AFC 6422 3471 7AFE D541 MOVB R1,*R5 Put out 2nd edge character 3472 7B00 06C1 SWPB R1 Bare the space character 3473 7B02 D541 SCRBOT MOVB R1,*R5 Write out space character 3474 7B04 0602 DEC R2 One less to move 3475 7B06 16FD JNE SCRBOT Loop if more 3476 7B08 06C1 SWPB R1 Bare the edge character again 3477 7B0A D541 MOVB R1,*R5 Output edge character 3478 7B0C D541 MOVB R1,*R5 Output edge character 3479 7B0E 0456 B *R6 And return go GPL 3480 * Generalized move routine 3481 7B10 04C8 SCRO1 CLR R8 Clear minor counter 3482 7B12 D7E0 MOVB @R10LB,*R15 Write out LSB of read-address 7B14 83F5 3483 7B16 02A7 STWP R7 Get the WorkSpace pointer 3484 7B18 D7CA MOVB R10,*R15 Write out MSB of read-address 3485 7B1A DDE0 SCRO2 MOVB @XVDPRD,*R7+ Read a byte 7B1C 8800 3486 7B1E 058A INC R10 Inc read-from address 3487 7B20 0588 INC R8 Inc minor counter 3488 7B22 060C DEC R12 Dec total counter 3489 7B24 1303 JEQ SCRO4 If all bytes read-write them 3490 7B26 0288 CI R8,12 Filled WorkSpace buffer area? 7B28 000C 3491 7B2A 11F7 JLT SCRO2 No, read more 3492 7B2C D7E0 SCRO4 MOVB @R9LB,*R15 Write LSB of write-address 7B2E 83F3 3493 7B30 0269 ORI R9,WRVDP Enable the VDP write 7B32 4000 3494 7B34 D7C9 MOVB R9,*R15 Write MSB of write-address 3495 7B36 02A7 STWP R7 Get WorkSpace buffer pointer 3496 7B38 D837 SCRO6 MOVB *R7+,@XVDPWD Write a byte 7B3A 8C00 3497 7B3C 0589 INC R9 Increment write-address 3498 7B3E 0608 DEC R8 Decrement counter 3499 7B40 16FB JNE SCRO6 Move more if not done 3500 7B42 C30C MOV R12,R12 More on major counter? 3501 7B44 16E5 JNE SCRO1 No, go do another read 3502 7B46 045B RT Yes, done 3503 ************************************************************ 3504 * Decode which I/O utility is being called 3505 * Tag field following the XML IO has the following 3506 * meaning: 3507 * 0 - Line list - utility to search keyword table to 3508 * restore keyword from token 3509 * 1 - Fill space - utility to fill record with space 3510 * when outputting imcomplete records 3511 * 2 - Copy string - utility to copy a string, adding 3512 * the screen offset to each character for display 3513 * purposes 3514 * 3 - Clear ERAM - utility to clear ERAM at the address 3515 * specified by the data word following the IO tag 3516 * and the # of bytes specified by the length 3517 * following the address word. Note that each data 99/4 ASSEMBLER SCROLLS PAGE 0081 3518 * word is the address of a CPU memory location. 3519 ************************************************************ 3520 7B48 D01D IO MOVB *R13,R0 Read selector from GROM 3521 7B4A 0980 SRL R0,8 Shift for decoding 3522 7B4C 1358 JEQ LLIST 0 is tag for Line list 3523 7B4E 0600 DEC R0 3524 7B50 132C JEQ FILSPC 1 is tag for Fill space 3525 7B52 0600 DEC R0 3526 7B54 130E JEQ CSTRIN 2 is tag for Copy string 3527 * 3 is tag for CLRGRM string 3528 * fall into it 3529 * CALGRM 3530 * R1 - address of clearing start 3531 * R2 - number of bytes to clear 3532 7B56 0201 CLRGRM LI R1,PAD0 Get CPU RAM offset 7B58 8300 3533 7B5A C081 MOV R1,R2 Need for next read too 3534 7B5C B81D AB *R13,@R1LB Add address of ERAM pointer 7B5E 83E3 3535 7B60 C051 MOV *R1,R1 Read the ERAM address 3536 7B62 B81D AB *R13,@R2LB Read address of byte count 7B64 83E5 3537 7B66 C092 MOV *R2,R2 Read the byte count 3538 7B68 04C0 CLR R0 Clear of clearing ERAM 3539 7B6A DC40 CLRGR1 MOVB R0,*R1+ Clear a byte 3540 7B6C 0602 DEC R2 One less to clear, done? 3541 7B6E 16FD JNE CLRGR1 No, loop for rest 3542 7B70 045B RT Yes, return So this approach would also be unable to be used as it uses assembly and GPL to move or copy or search for a value? NOTE: this does not even touch XB ROM 3 in RXB yet, the above is only ROM 1 and 2 in XB ROMs the same ones in normal XB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 So is it 3 stationary turns kills you, or more than 3? Seems like a u-turn is already two turns, if you u-turn then fire that's 3. So that's important to know 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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