Author Topic: Numsgil's Super Cool Specialization System  (Read 27247 times)

Offline Numsgil

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Numsgil's Super Cool Specialization System
« Reply #30 on: March 09, 2009, 05:35:33 PM »
There is a reason I'm still working on it after all these years   And it's not the great paycheck.

But yeah, you've hit the nail on the head.  The needs for species specialization are different from the needs for cellular specialization in a larger multibot.  A good system should cater to both needs, so that's the benchmark to measure against.

Offline Prsn828

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Numsgil's Super Cool Specialization System
« Reply #31 on: March 09, 2009, 10:51:02 PM »
I just came to a realization!  Using specialization would actually have a huge impact that could be either helpful or harmful depending on the user's intended type of simulation.  By simply placing specialization into the mix you are favoring the development of multi-bots, while at the same time discouraging the existence of single-bots.  The reason this would happen is quite simple; while in theory a specialized bot could be useful for developing a certain kind of action or ability, this would also result in the inability for that same bot to perform many other important functions.  Because of the fact that a multi-bot can cluster all of the specialized abilities by delegation of actions, the same cannot be said for single-bots.  Perhaps a good way to deal with this is to take a look at how ties are currently being used.  For instance, right now there can only be so many ties per bot.  Also, right now a bot cannot easily decide what to tie to, what it is tied to, and if it is tied to a friend, a foe, or a food.  I also think wall ties might be pretty cool, especially for replacing the current methods of discouraging unwanted movement.  By beefing up what ties can do, it would be easy to apply specialization only to multi-bots, or perhaps to allow it to be an option.  I could probably keep going on about some of the things we need to think about with this, but I don't want this post to get any longer than it already is, so I will leave it at that for now
So, what will it be? Will you submit to my will, or must I bend reality to suit my needs?
Better answer before I do BOTH!

Offline abyaly

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Numsgil's Super Cool Specialization System
« Reply #32 on: March 11, 2009, 10:20:04 AM »
Taking advantage of specialization requires a longer a more complex genome that is harder to build, and even with specialization, there is still a very real possibility that single bots will remain as the unstoppable grey goo.
Lancre operated on the feudal system, which was to say, everyone feuded all
the time and handed on the fight to their descendants.
        -- (Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum)

Offline Numsgil

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Numsgil's Super Cool Specialization System
« Reply #33 on: March 11, 2009, 10:34:03 AM »
As much as I hate the idea, it'll probably evolve into a slider.  Set the slider to 0, and you turn specialization off.  Turn it up, and you increase the incentive to specialize.  I hate the idea of tuning parameters like this because it just adds another slider that has to be tweaked just right to get a good simulation going.  But I can't think of any other non-arbitrary way of handling it.