[Kde-games-devel] Re: The Oware Wizard

[michaelcollins at ivorycity.com]

> michaelcollins at ivorycity.com wrote:
>
>> The AI is really astounding and extremely efficient. I've never heard of
>> anyone who's beaten the computer above Level 11 (Level 14 is the
>> arbitrary
>> maximum though it could go even higher, CPU permitting). The AI also
>> includes some heuristic modifications to make the it even smarter.
>
> Are you aware that Oware has been solved (only by brute force,
> unfortunately)?
> See "http://awari.cs.vu.nl/".

Ah, yes you've discovered the Oware Wizard's nemesis, the infallible Oware
Oracle. Yes, I used the Oracle to test my AI.

The Oracle uses static routes of all possible game states to win the
optimal points. While this method is infallible, the data storage required
is enourmous - hundreds of gigs I believe. While this is effective from a
research point of view, it certainly doesn't make for a resonable download
size. Besides who wants to play an infallible opponent?

The Oware Wizard uses a very efficient dynamic algorithm that plots its
strategy by looking 'n' moves into the future. If you're an AI guru, it
uses Alpha-Beta, an optimized Min-Max algorithm.

> I tried running the Awari Oracle against the Oware Wizard, and seemed to
> get
> the game to a standstill:
>
> My score: 17
> Wizard's score: 9
>
> Board:
> 0  0  0  0  0  0
> 1  1  0  2  1  17
>
> When I click on one of the cups with one or two beads in, I get the
> message
> 'You must sow the opponent if possible'. And if I click on 17, I get the
> message 'You cannot leave the opponent with 0 beads by capture'.

I'm aware of this 'bug' and I don't intend to fix it since it only occurs
in a vast minority of games. It occurs as a result of a game state where
any of your moves will capture all of the opponent seeds, leaving him with
no seeds to play with(illegal), yet there are no other moves to provide
him with seeds.

If I were to check specifically for this game state, it would slow the AI
down by a factor of 2-6 times. It's not really worth it since it hardly
ever occurs, except when playing highly technical games - like with the
Oracle.

> Anyway, I think it's *really* nice game you've created, and hope you'll
> get it
> into 'kdegames'.

Thanks! I hope you all enjoy it. It's been a fun project!

Best,
Michael Collins

>
> --
> Regards,
> Karl Ove Hufthammer
>