Messages

1

DNA - General / Re: Too Big / Too Small

« on: July 16, 2010, 05:47:09 PM »

A bot with 1 energy simply won't survive in F1 costs. Try setting friction to solid metal.

Ok, I try setting friction to solid metal.
I use custom costs, but they are F1 defaults plus age costs, so it shouldn't make a difference.

2

DNA - General / Re: Too Big / Too Small

« on: July 16, 2010, 04:25:23 PM »

Try setting costs to f1 at the start of the simulation.

I use F1 costs, plus age costs.

3

DNA - General / Re: Too Big / Too Small

« on: July 16, 2010, 03:34:00 PM »

Large bots have stronger shots, and have more energy reserves to use during a fight.  Smaller bots are lighter so can maneuver more efficiently, and they're harder to hit with shots, but they don't have very strong shots and they don't have large reserves of energy.

Small bots seem to do fine. They don't run out of energy or anything.  The bigger ones have trouble shooting the small ones, so there's no pressure to be big. Its only a detriment, and they will get small sooner or later. Then there's only bots with 1 energy. Anything I put in the DNA to prevent that will mutate away sooner or later. What to do?

4

DNA - General / Re: Too Big / Too Small

« on: July 15, 2010, 03:03:45 AM »

It's a computer simulation, no way of tweaking it is more arbitrary than the other. I think simulations that produce childless immortals are rather arbitrary, and unrealistic if the purpose is simulating real life. The amount of energy between parent and child is not a zero-sum game for real organisms, for bots it is. They have to 'give' a share of their energy to their kids, thus not having kids is a great advantage and that's why big berthas are a problem.

5

DNA - General / Re: Too Big / Too Small

« on: July 14, 2010, 02:42:01 AM »

Real organisms could live forever.  See biological immortality (actually not a great article, but read the part on bacteria).  The fact that most organisms aren't immortal reflects more that there isn't evolutionary pressure for immortality than some fundamental rule of the universe.

Certainly immortal organisms do exist in nature, but organisms that don't reproduce don't become immortal killers just like that. A simulation about evolution with immortal organisms is kind of pointless.

6

DNA - General / Too Big / Too Small

« on: July 13, 2010, 01:32:24 PM »

A friendly hello!
I have some questions regarding the tendency of simulations to turn out bots with a energy/body mismatch; i.e. huge body and low energy or tiny body and high energy. This seems to always screw up the simulation sooner or later, for me anyways. I either get big berthas or masses of tiny, frail bots.

So I have two questions, I appreciate any input since I'm new to db.
- Why do bots live forever? Real organisms get weak when they get old, that isn't implemented in db at all. That's why bots that lose their ability to reproduce don't go away but rather grow huge and eat everything in their path. Without any limitations on age, the whole simulation essentially becomes a race to losing your repro gene and becoming the childless killer-oldster.

- Why aren't bots with weak body strength sufficiently disadvantaged? In reality weak organisms would die, but in db masses of frail bots are fast and agile and can feed themselves by grazing the map.

Thanks in advance.