Re: Tag-playing strategies [was: Re: Preparation for Proposal?]

[Tim Vanderhoek <vanderh@ecf.utoronto.ca>]

On Sat, Nov 20, 1999 at 02:24:37PM -0500, Cindy Wong wrote:
>
> About the strategy for defending...If our robot is smart enough to hide
> behind something, by all means, do not move.  Assuming that we will be
> moving away from the enemy robot when we sense it (ie:  not sitting
> ducks!), then staying put might just be a better method.  

But how will our robot know when it is hidden?  At the start of the
game, we may assume it is hidden.  Should we then sit and wait until
the enemy is in sensor range?

Enemy sensor range may be greater than our sensor range.

If we know our robot is faster than the enemy, maybe we should wait
(regardless of sensor range?????).

Suppose the enemy robot enters sensor range and we begin to run away.
Suppose we suceed in running so fast that the enemy disappears from
sensor range.  Do we keep on running?

It's important that we don't accidentally block ourselves into a
corner, since even a fast robot will get tagged if there's nowhere to
run.

Even if the enemy is not in sensor range, we could move and explore
the nearby territory looking for good places to hide.  This doesn't
have to be a complex algorithm.  If our robot could find a small
barricade, our robot could simply go in circles around the small
barricade.  This would make it hard for even a fast robot to attack
us.  Why?  Because we will appear and disappear from the enemy's
sensors as we go around the barricade.  If we stayed on one side of
the barricade, the enemy would eventually find us.  Obviously this
strategy could backfire with a sufficiently intelligent enemy.  For
the case where our enemy has greater sensor range and has greater
speed, I think it is the only reasonable defense, however.

We may assume that our robot starts the game somewhere close to a
barricade (if not a small barricade).

[That still leaves many other combinations of enemy sensor range and
 speed that we haven't dealt with...]

[Yes, I finally looked-up the correct spelling of "barricade"...  :-]

>                                                           Otherwise, would
> the enemy robot not have more opportunities to detect us if we were to
> move around a lot?  And also, if not done properly, our moving around
> randomly could have us bump right into the enemy robot no?

Definately on both counts.


> Tim, please e-mail Malone to express thanks.  Since you're our groups own
> Mr. Manners, I think it would be most appropriate.  =)  Thank you!

I expressed reserved thanks.  :)  I'm sure he'll read-into the words
I used --- "mostly what we were looking for".  :) :)


-- 
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