We hold tournaments from time to time. The results, except for the formalized Top Nine tournament, are reported here. If you want your sides included, send them to us.
The analysis page may be useful for understanding the results.
There are separate Newbie Tournaments, for people who have never had a side in the top ten or so.
(18 Dec 2007) Smaller tournament this time - it's just the top 20 from the previous tournament, plus new sides. I kept the old versions of SegE and Revenge Killer to verify that the new ones are better, but only kept the latest version of Weird Men. You could make a case for dropping Productive 5f and Wise Men 2 as well, since they have better derivatives.
| Rank | Side | Author | Score | Nonsterile survival | Early death | Late death | Early score | Fraction | Kills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Segregated Eaters 3 | Matt Burkholder | 27.4% | 42% | 31% | 39% | 11.6% | 62% | 22% |
| 2 | Segregated Eaters 2 | Matt Burkholder | 22.6% | 46% | 24% | 40% | 11.3% | 48% | 19% |
| 3 | Move Zig! 3 | ziggystar | 20.0% | 44% | 29% | 38% | 10.8% | 45% | 13% |
| 4 | Revenge Killer 3 | Warren | 18.9% | 34% | 20% | 57% | 15.5% | 54% | 14% |
| 5 | Cyclops | Warren | 16.8% | 57% | 13% | 34% | 16.9% | 29% | 13% |
| 6 | Walled City 2 | Warren | 12.0% | 32% | 34% | 51% | 11.6% | 36% | 14% |
| 7 | Unproductive 2 | Devon | 11.8% | 34% | 27% | 54% | 11.1% | 35% | 12% |
| 8 | Weird Men c | Matt Burkholder | 10.8% | 35% | 17% | 58% | 12.6% | 29% | 13% |
| Shield + Cowards 2f | Alexander | 10.8% | 34% | 52% | 30% | 7.0% | 32% | 5% | |
| 10 | Commune Plus 2 | Devon/Warren | 10.0% | 23% | 39% | 63% | 10.2% | 42% | 10% |
| 11 | Untouchable 4 | Warren | 7.5% | 23% | 42% | 60% | 9.8% | 32% | 7% |
| 12 | Move Zig! (no corner) | ziggystar | 7.1% | 13% | 39% | 79% | 9.2% | 53% | 8% |
| 13 | Productive Plus 4 | DvF/Devon | 6.8% | 16% | 69% | 50% | 5.7% | 42% | 5% |
| 14 | Commune 10 | Devon | 6.3% | 20% | 41% | 66% | 9.8% | 30% | 8% |
| 15 | Wise Men (without José) | Matt Burkholder | 5.9% | 23% | 19% | 71% | 10.9% | 25% | 14% |
| 16 | Bomberz | Alexander | 5.5% | 26% | 49% | 48% | 7.2% | 21% | 6% |
| 17 | Business Cycle 7 | Matt Burkholder | 4.6% | 19% | 51% | 61% | 8.2% | 22% | 8% |
| 18 | Revenge Killer 2 | Warren | 4.4% | 16% | 34% | 76% | 10.0% | 27% | 6% |
| 19 | Virtue | Devon | 3.4% | 14% | 38% | 78% | 8.2% | 19% | 6% |
| 20 | Eventually 14 | Devon | 2.8% | 8% | 48% | 84% | 6.4% | 28% | 5% |
| 21 | Wise Men 2 | Matt Burkholder | 2.6% | 15% | 18% | 82% | 10.6% | 16% | 9% |
| 22 | Productive 5f | Daniel von Fange | 2.5% | 6% | 72% | 78% | 5.1% | 37% | 2% |
| Overall (1761 rounds): | 26% | 37% | 59% | ||||||
Notice the low survival. The top five sides all have a wandering-gatherer component, and fight for territory to gether in. Such sides have very volatile scores - they either win a lot of territory or starve. Competition with the top five means the less well-armed ones scored very badly. Sides which don't need territory (i.e. ones with more solar cells) aren't affected as much.
Shield + Cowards is the opposite extreme - it ignores the world and hides. Its 30% late death rate is remarkable with so many aggressors around. Evidently hiding is more effective when you have better defenses than Productive. But it still has the horrible early-death problem associated with corner-hiding, and it's getting worse as more and more sides do this. Can anyone fix this? Cyclops takes corners reliably by starting with a large (and sophisticated) army, but it must grow very fast to recover. A more cautious approach (like Unproductive, but actively seeking corners) might help, if someone can pull it off.
(1 Jan 2007) My new nachine runs at 500-1000 fps, so I ran 2007 rounds - more rounds per side than most tournaments have had total. I think I won't include quite as many sides in the next tournament, though - the last eight or so are pretty helpless by modern standards.
| Rank | Side | Author | Score | Nonsterile survival | Early death | Late death | Early score | Fraction | Kills | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Segregated Eaters 2 | Matt Burkholder | 35.1% | 58% | 20% | 27% | 12.8% | 58% | 27% | wandering |
| 2 | Move Zig! 3 | ziggystar | 29.9% | 59% | 22% | 24% | 12.5% | 50% | 18% | corner + wandering |
| 3 | Weird Men c | Matt Burkholder | 18.2% | 54% | 11% | 40% | 14.1% | 33% | 19% | wandering |
| 4 | Walled City 2 | Warren | 17.2% | 46% | 27% | 38% | 12.7% | 36% | 19% | mobile group |
| 5 | Wise Men (without José) | Matt Burkholder | 16.2% | 43% | 10% | 52% | 13.2% | 37% | 23% | wandering |
| 6 | Commune Plus 2 | Devon/Warren | 15.8% | 33% | 34% | 50% | 11.4% | 45% | 13% | stationary |
| 7 | Unproductive 2 | Devon | 15.5% | 44% | 22% | 44% | 11.8% | 34% | 16% | hiding/fleeing nongroup |
| 8 | Untouchable 4 | Warren | 15.2% | 41% | 30% | 42% | 12.1% | 36% | 12% | stationary |
| 9 | Shield + Cowards 2f | Alexander | 14.2% | 45% | 43% | 21% | 8.0% | 32% | 5% | corner |
| 10 | Move Zig! (no corner) | ziggystar | 14.2% | 23% | 36% | 65% | 10.7% | 62% | 13% | wandering |
| 11 | Commune 10 | Devon | 10.9% | 32% | 30% | 54% | 11.8% | 32% | 11% | stationary |
| 12 | Business Cycle 7 | Matt Burkholder | 10.2% | 37% | 35% | 43% | 11.5% | 26% | 14% | fancy group |
| 13 | Productive Plus 4 | DvF/Devon | 10.0% | 22% | 62% | 41% | 6.8% | 44% | 8% | corner |
| 14 | Revenge Killer 2 | Warren | 9.7% | 29% | 22% | 63% | 13.5% | 33% | 10% | wandering |
| 15 | Eventually 14 | Devon | 9.7% | 26% | 33% | 61% | 8.2% | 35% | 9% | stationary |
| 16 | Wise Men 2 | Matt Burkholder | 8.4% | 34% | 10% | 62% | 13.1% | 23% | 15% | wandering |
| 17 | Bomberz | Alexander | 7.7% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 8.4% | 19% | 7% | corner |
| 18 | Weird Men | Matt Burkholder | 6.3% | 30% | 15% | 64% | 10.9% | 20% | 7% | wandering |
| 19 | Virtue | Devon | 4.9% | 20% | 28% | 72% | 9.3% | 18% | 8% | wandering |
| 20 | Productive 5f | Daniel von Fange | 4.9% | 11% | 63% | 70% | 6.6% | 41% | 3% | corner |
| 21 | Not Quite Harmless 3 | Warren | 4.8% | 26% | 23% | 67% | 12.7% | 7% | 3% | wandering |
| 22 | Wild Men | Matt Burkholder | 4.6% | 24% | 19% | 70% | 10.3% | 18% | 11% | wandering |
| 23 | C&C Adaptive 1.2 | Matt Burkholder | 4.4% | 15% | 54% | 68% | 7.0% | 24% | 8% | stationary |
| 24 | Ocean Front | Matt Burkholder | 3.9% | 34% | 32% | 50% | 7.5% | 11% | 6% | corner |
| 25 | Gunner 4 | Warren | 3.8% | 14% | 53% | 69% | 5.8% | 27% | 5% | stationary |
| 26 | Active 6 | Warren | 3.7% | 16% | 45% | 71% | 9.3% | 18% | 8% | wandering |
| 27 | Shepherds | Devon | 3.7% | 12% | 49% | 76% | 7.4% | 30% | 0% | mobile group |
| 28 | Noffee 4 | Warren/Devon | 3.6% | 17% | 27% | 76% | 10.0% | 14% | 5% | wandering |
| 29 | Grudge 4 | Devon | 3.1% | 11% | 55% | 76% | 5.8% | 29% | 3% | stationary |
| 30 | Frog Celestial 2 | Devon | 3.0% | 19% | 20% | 76% | 9.4% | 15% | 6% | wandering |
| 31 | Bacteria 4 | Devon | 2.7% | 15% | 21% | 81% | 8.6% | 17% | 3% | wandering |
| 32 | Flower 2 | Tilendor | 1.8% | 5% | 59% | 89% | 7.0% | 20% | 2% | stationary |
| Overall: | 29% | 33% | 56% | |||||||
(18 June 2006, but not uploaded until October) 790 rounds. Errors up to 5.2% (SegE), most under 2.5%.
| Rank | Side | Author | Score | Nonsterile survival | Early death | Late death | Early score | Fraction | Kills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Move Zig! 3 | ziggystar | 31.5% | 62% | 19% | 22% | 12.6% | 50% | 19% |
| 2 | Segregated Eaters 1.1 | Matt Burkholder | 30.4% | 50% | 31% | 27% | 12.4% | 55% | 24% |
| 3 | Wise Men (without José) | Matt Burkholder | 20.6% | 50% | 9% | 45% | 14.5% | 39% | 27% |
| 4 | Productive Plus 4 | DvF/Devon | 18.9% | 33% | 55% | 26% | 8.8% | 57% | 12% |
| 5 | Commune Plus 2 | Devon/Warren | 18.5% | 38% | 34% | 43% | 11.2% | 47% | 15% |
| 6 | Walled City | Warren | 17.6% | 42% | 21% | 47% | 13.9% | 40% | 20% |
| 7 | Unproductive | Devon | 16.5% | 43% | 31% | 37% | 11.0% | 37% | 15% |
| 8 | Untouchable 4 | Warren | 15.8% | 43% | 29% | 39% | 12.7% | 35% | 14% |
| 9 | Commune 10 | Devon | 14.9% | 39% | 26% | 47% | 13.4% | 36% | 14% |
| 10 | Business Cycle 7 | Matt Burkholder | 13.7% | 43% | 34% | 35% | 13.0% | 30% | 16% |
| 11 | Revenge Killer 2 | Warren | 11.8% | 25% | 25% | 67% | 12.2% | 45% | 10% |
| 12 | Move Zig! (no corner) | ziggystar | 11.0% | 20% | 31% | 70% | 10.7% | 52% | 12% |
| 13 | Wise Men 2 | Matt Burkholder | 8.9% | 35% | 13% | 60% | 13.4% | 24% | 17% |
| 14 | Wild Men | Matt Burkholder | 8.7% | 35% | 12% | 61% | 12.6% | 24% | 15% |
| 15 | Eventually 14 | Devon | 8.5% | 25% | 31% | 64% | 9.0% | 32% | 9% |
| 16 | Weird Men | Matt Burkholder | 7.2% | 32% | 20% | 59% | 11.4% | 21% | 7% |
| 17 | C&C Adaptive 1.2 | Matt Burkholder | 5.9% | 19% | 54% | 59% | 7.7% | 23% | 9% |
| 18 | Shepherds | Devon | 5.6% | 14% | 46% | 75% | 8.3% | 41% | 0% |
| 19 | Not Quite Harmless 3 | Warren | 5.2% | 24% | 24% | 69% | 13.1% | 7% | 3% |
| 20 | Productive 5f | Daniel von Fange | 5.0% | 14% | 61% | 65% | 7.7% | 34% | 4% |
| 21 | Grudge 4 | Devon | 4.8% | 17% | 45% | 69% | 7.4% | 29% | 4% |
| 22 | Ocean Front | Matt Burkholder | 4.6% | 39% | 29% | 45% | 8.0% | 11% | 7% |
| 23 | Frog Celestial 2 | Devon | 4.6% | 29% | 16% | 66% | 10.1% | 16% | 6% |
| 24 | Virtue | Devon | 4.5% | 16% | 30% | 76% | 9.3% | 19% | 8% |
| 25 | Gunner 4 | Warren | 4.4% | 18% | 47% | 66% | 7.0% | 24% | 5% |
| 26 | Noffee 4 | Warren/Devon | 4.1% | 18% | 32% | 74% | 10.0% | 15% | 5% |
| 27 | Bacteria 4 | Devon | 3.9% | 20% | 21% | 74% | 9.2% | 19% | 4% |
| 28 | Flower 2 | Tilendor | 2.2% | 7% | 59% | 84% | 7.2% | 22% | 2% |
| 29 | Dark Forest 0.2 | Alexander | 0.4% | 4% | 58% | 91% | 4.1% | 9% | 1% |
| 30 | Flaming Forest | Alexander | 0.3% | 4% | 66% | 87% | 4.1% | 5% | 2% |
| 31 | Forest Fighters | Alexander | 0.0% | 3% | 41% | 96% | 3.9% | 2% | 4% |
| Overall: | 28% | 34% | 58% | ||||||
Hiding matters - compare the two Move Zigs.
(5 June 2006) 550 rounds. Errors 0.9-5.2%.
| Rank | Side | Author | Score | Nonsterile survival | Early death | Late death | Early score | Fraction | Kills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Segregated Eaters | Matt Burkholder | 23.7% | 46% | 27% | 37% | 11.0% | 49% | 18% |
| 2 | Commune Plus 2 | Devon/Warren | 19.9% | 42% | 28% | 41% | 12.3% | 44% | 16% |
| 3 | Walled City | Warren | 19.7% | 49% | 23% | 37% | 12.9% | 40% | 21% |
| 4 | Untouchable 4 | Warren | 18.5% | 47% | 25% | 38% | 12.5% | 39% | 14% |
| 5 | Wise Men (without José) | Matt Burkholder | 16.7% | 52% | 9% | 42% | 13.5% | 31% | 26% |
| 6 | Business Cycle 7 | Matt Burkholder | 15.3% | 50% | 30% | 29% | 12.7% | 29% | 17% |
| 7 | Unproductive | Devon | 15.0% | 42% | 28% | 41% | 10.2% | 35% | 16% |
| 8 | Productive Plus 4 | DvF/Devon | 14.2% | 28% | 51% | 43% | 8.7% | 51% | 10% |
| 9 | Wise Men 2 | Matt Burkholder | 13.4% | 47% | 12% | 47% | 13.9% | 27% | 19% |
| 10 | Revenge Killer 2 | Warren | 12.0% | 36% | 16% | 57% | 13.4% | 31% | 11% |
| 11 | Commune 10 | Devon | 11.6% | 37% | 32% | 45% | 11.0% | 30% | 12% |
| 12 | Weird Men | Matt Burkholder | 8.5% | 34% | 17% | 59% | 11.0% | 23% | 7% |
| 13 | Wild Men | Matt Burkholder | 7.2% | 29% | 19% | 65% | 10.5% | 23% | 12% |
| 14 | Eventually 14 | Devon | 6.4% | 22% | 39% | 64% | 7.7% | 27% | 7% |
| Productive 5f | Daniel von Fange | 6.4% | 15% | 58% | 64% | 7.3% | 40% | 4% | |
| 16 | Virtue | Devon | 5.5% | 24% | 25% | 69% | 8.9% | 18% | 8% |
| 17 | Grudge 4 | Devon | 4.7% | 16% | 47% | 70% | 6.8% | 30% | 3% |
| 18 | Noffee 4 | Warren/Devon | 4.5% | 22% | 29% | 69% | 9.6% | 17% | 4% |
| Bacteria 4 | Devon | 4.5% | 20% | 20% | 75% | 8.8% | 20% | 5% | |
| 20 | Not Quite Harmless 3 | Warren | 4.3% | 24% | 26% | 67% | 11.8% | 5% | 2% |
| Gunner 4 | Warren | 4.3% | 18% | 52% | 63% | 5.6% | 24% | 4% | |
| 22 | Shepherds | Devon | 3.9% | 13% | 46% | 75% | 7.4% | 29% | 0% |
| 23 | Ocean Front | Matt Burkholder | 3.8% | 35% | 27% | 52% | 7.3% | 10% | 6% |
| 24 | Frog Celestial 2 | Devon | 3.6% | 30% | 21% | 63% | 9.0% | 12% | 6% |
| 25 | MicroAlgae | Tilendor | 1.9% | 9% | 46% | 83% | 6.0% | 20% | 0% |
| Overall: | 32% | 30% | 55% | ||||||
Grudge's early score is better than Gunner's. Significantly so. This means provoking enemies is now a bigger problem than ignoring them, at least in the beginning. It doesn't do so well later.
All the gatherers, except Segregated Eaters, have a late death rate more than three times their early death rate. This is partly because their early death rates overstate their early performance, and partly because they're unable to concentrate enough force to win battles in the late game. A wandering gatherer might be improved by deliberately keeping its army in a group.
(20 Nov 2005) This was a bit bigger than usual - 28 sides for 600 rounds (10626346 frames in 41296 s = 257 fps). Error is still pretty big. This table is modified from the output of headless mode. The survival score includes the sterile case, so Not Quite Harmless scores very high.
| Rank | Side | Score | Error | Survival | Early death | Late death | Early score | Fraction | Kill rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Untouchable 3 | 27.0% | 2.6% | 80% | 8% | 16% | 14.8% | 34% | 69% |
| 2 | Business Cycle 7 | 24.3% | 3.2% | 69% | 18% | 16% | 14.9% | 35% | 168% |
| 3 | Wise Men (without Jose) | 23.6% | 4.2% | 65% | 5% | 34% | 14.2% | 36% | 255% |
| 4 | Segregated Eaters | 21.4% | 4.6% | 49% | 28% | 42% | 10.6% | 44% | 166% |
| 5 | Shepherds | 20.4% | 3.7% | 50% | 12% | 43% | 14.6% | 41% | 0% |
| 6 | Productive Plus 4 | 16.6% | 4.1% | 29% | 55% | 35% | 7.6% | 58% | 101% |
| 7 | Commune Plus | 16.2% | 3.3% | 42% | 29% | 45% | 10.7% | 39% | 84% |
| 8 | Wise Men 2 | 15.1% | 3.4% | 50% | 7% | 47% | 13.6% | 30% | 271% |
| 9 | Eventually... 14 | 14.5% | 2.9% | 43% | 22% | 48% | 9.4% | 34% | 115% |
| 10 | Revenge Killer 2 | 12.7% | 3.6% | 32% | 19% | 62% | 11.2% | 40% | 141% |
| 11 | Weird Men | 12.3% | 2.7% | 50% | 6% | 49% | 12.2% | 24% | 114% |
| 12 | Commune 9 | 10.1% | 2.3% | 33% | 31% | 52% | 10.1% | 30% | 120% |
| 13 | Wild Men | 8.3% | 2.7% | 36% | 13% | 59% | 10.9% | 23% | 303% |
| 14 | Gunner 4 | 6.8% | 1.9% | 24% | 33% | 65% | 8.0% | 29% | 114% |
| 15 | Virtue | 6.4% | 2.0% | 29% | 23% | 68% | 9.5% | 22% | 210% |
| 16 | Not Quite Harmless 3 | 5.8% | 1.3% | 82% | 19% | 64% | 12.5% | 7% | 97% |
| 17 | Noffee 4 | 5.0% | 1.6% | 37% | 19% | 69% | 10.5% | 14% | 157% |
| 18 | Grudge 4 | 5.0% | 1.8% | 19% | 47% | 63% | 6.6% | 26% | 74% |
| 19 | Ocean Front | 4.8% | 1.2% | 41% | 24% | 48% | 7.9% | 12% | 200% |
| 20 | Frog Celestial 2 | 3.7% | 1.4% | 29% | 19% | 65% | 8.8% | 13% | 219% |
| 21 | Bacteria 4 | 3.5% | 1.5% | 19% | 15% | 79% | 8.5% | 18% | 155% |
| 22 | Productive 5f | 3.2% | 1.6% | 9% | 62% | 79% | 6.2% | 37% | 74% |
| 23 | Feudal 3 | 3.0% | 1.2% | 15% | 39% | 77% | 6.9% | 20% | 281% |
| 24 | Noffee 3 | 2.7% | 1.1% | 28% | 20% | 79% | 9.7% | 10% | 243% |
| 25 | Revenge Garden | 2.4% | 1.1% | 13% | 46% | 79% | 6.9% | 18% | 174% |
| 26 | Not Quite Wise | 1.9% | 0.7% | 17% | 32% | 76% | 8.0% | 11% | 179% |
| 27 | Missile Bacteria 2 | 1.9% | 1.0% | 19% | 13% | 80% | 8.7% | 10% | 156% |
| 28 | Ants 4f | 1.8% | 0.7% | 21% | 19% | 78% | 6.9% | 9% | 148% |
| Total | 37% | 24% | 57% | 128% | |||||
Notice how well late death predicts score?
[old tournaments from 2002, 2003 and 2004]
Grobots by Devon Schudy and Warren Schudy