wilcox@inmet.UUCP (07/17/84)
#N:inmet:20600012:000:2516 inmet!wilcox Jul 15 22:44:00 1984 I have received various inquiries about NEMESIS, what it can do, its development history, etc. Here is a first approximation answer. My previous program (Reitman-Wilcox Go Program at U. of Mich) had an average strength of about 18 kyu at the time of its cryo-sleep in late 1979. It was written under the assumption that computer resources were purchased from U.of Michigan, and memory was cheap and cpu was expensive. Thus it created complex, HUGE, data structures to incrementally update data each turn. (P.S. An MIT group is trying to resurrect it). NEMESIS began design in August 1982, and coding began in December 1982. Its design goal was to fit on a micro (i.e., the IBM-PC), hence core has limits and cpu costs nothing but user aggrevation. It is written in C, with basically no intrinsic machine dependencies (other than size). NEMESIS also runs under VAX unix and VAX vms (although I have no access to vms to make a copy of it). Currently NEMESIS is about 24 kyu. It has selectable ranks every 5 kyu, thus there is a 35 kyu level, a 30 kyu level, a 25 kyu level, and the current workings toward 20 kyu, expected by Sept 1, in time for the Eastern US championships. Below is a chart describing a bit about what each level understands. 35 kyu player avoids making things worse - move is legal, not self atari, not in own or enemy territory, - does not reduce own liberties, otherwise is random 30 kyu player plays sketchy fundamentals - captures and saves stones in atari, recognizes ladders - defends linkages threatened and attacked - spreads out so as to maximize influence - secures/reduces territories, fills in final liberties - counts score and judges end-of-game life/death 25 kyu player has rudiments of many knowledge sections - can kill/save atari and ladder items - defends weak linkages directly attacked or threatened - simple dead shape death knowledge for attack and defense of groups - can expand grp along side for life - handles contact fights, enclosure of groups, and running of groups - uses classic cnr/edge/cntr expansion of influence - computes rough estimated score and offers resignation if appropriate - secures/reduces territories, understands invasion - fills in final liberties - counts score and judges end-of-game life/death 20 kyu player builds on 25 kyu abilities, but is currently "under wraps" until the September tournament is passed. What else would people like to know? Sincerely, Bruce Wilcox inmet!wilcox