Challenge yourself to build the most competent, agile and versatile AI-cluster possible! Be a GAME CHANGER and rock the world of E99 using your programming prowess.
The biggest challenge we felt was essential, was "constraint". Program size constraints, Memory constraints, Visibility constraints... And many more. Also nearly nothing is 'click and go' - you need to put some effort to make it happen.
Let me explain in more detail, as I give some examples.
- A Bot is the basic mobile unit. Bots come with a default memory of 4KB, and cannot see outside of a Sector. By default, they carry upto 5 items, and move one tile at a time. They have a limited lifetime, and need renewal with the help of a homeBase . Bots cannot send/receive game items to/from a user account.
- The Worldmap consists of many Sectors. By default these sectors are 'isolated' from each other. Every 1800 ticks, some sectors may randomly get a 'link' to another sector. If you don't get one in your sector, you'll need to build a Sector Bridge to send your bots the rest of the world map (more on this later). Note that you (the player) can see any sector you want, but your Bots won't be able to go there if your home sector is not linked!
- Sectors that have no ownership and no activity for extended periods may be scheduled for demolition. This means a sector's existance is not guaranteed! However any Sector you have taken ownership of where there's at least some power consumption is assured to remain secure.
- A homeBase is a fundamental structure you start the game with. It doesn't have a lifetime, but has the same memory limit as bots (4KB). The homeBase can send/receive game items to/from the user's account - but cannot move so you will need bots to do the work for you!
- A sector bridge is A structure that allows you to connect your sector to the rest of the world. Via programming. you need to program the solution for A unique sector-linkage challenge that the sector bridge will give you.
- Sounds challenging right? But don't worry. It's not HARD - it's EASY!
The in-game Guide can help you figure out most things. Sample Code is also provided in-game so you can get started with a simple copy-paste and evolve your code as you grow to understand the system better.