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Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 10:54 pm
by bo_sox48
Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

As you can read about here, webDiplomacy’s development team has spent many months working with accredited researchers to create a formidable opponent to play against. It has been a pretty incredible journey for all of us involved, but the fun is only just beginning. In order to unveil this incredible new feature, I am hosting The Terminator Tournament, where your goal is simple: beat the bots.

This tournament is unique in a number of ways, but the most important distinction this tournament has is that you are never actually going to play against another human being. Your games are entirely dependent on you - the phases process when you confirm your orders, the games end when you want them to end (to a degree), and the only thing standing in your way of a solo is you. As such, this tournament is completely representative of your aptitude as a tactician and strategist. Your opponent will be equal to everyone else’s opponent. Your luck will be the same as everyone else’s luck. Ultimately, the results of this tournament are on you and only you.

The details:

There will be two rounds in this tournament and you will play 3 games in each round. The first round will start when you have received your invitation from me to play. It will end on September 30 at 7 PM CST. If your games are not finished by then, they will not be scored, and you will not move on. Round 2 will start immediately thereafter and will end after 10 more days. Only the top 20 scorers from round 1 will move on.

The scoring for this tournament is unique:

a.) At the start of each game, you will begin with 140 points.
b.) If the game draws, you will lose 20 points for each bot remaining in the game. For example, for a 3WD you will earn 100 points. For a 6WD, you will earn 40 points.
c.) If the game ends in a bot solo, you will lose all of your points for that game.
d.) If you are defeated, you will lose all of your points for that game.
e.) If you beat the bots, you will keep the 140 points you began with and earn a 60 point solo bonus, totaling 200 points.

Please do not be confused! Your entry fee is only 5 points, and your bet will be reimbursed when your games finish.

The points you earn in round 1 will determine whether or not you are among the top 20 moving on to round 2. At the beginning of round 2, your points will reset to 0 and everyone will start fresh.

If you make it to round 2, your points actually matter because you keep your round 2 winnings. If you solo all three of your round 2 games, you get to keep 600 points.

The winner of the tournament will receive 500 points. Second place will receive 250, and third place will receive 100.

Initial tiebreakers will be the number of solos per round, and secondary tiebreakers will be your most recent overall GR.

In order to play in this tournament, I need you to fill out this form indicating your interest: https://forms.gle/RdVRA4nL3kneL9Md7

You will be asked for your username and your three favorite countries to play. You will be able to play these three countries in the first round of the tournament. You will also be asked to agree to the tournament rules, which you will find below.

The rules:

You must play fairly! The bots don’t discriminate. They’re going to try and beat you. In many of your games, they probably will. If you are caught canceling games that don’t go so well and restarting them, you will be disqualified from this and future iterations of this tournament, and you will face further penalties at the discretion of the moderators as a result.

Finish your games on time! The bots confirm their orders within like… a third of a second. Tops. You have no excuse to take more than the allotted time to finish your games in each round. If you don’t finish, you won’t get scored, and if you don’t get scored, you won’t move on/win.

Play well! The bots aren’t here to be your punching bag. They’ll kick your ass if you don’t play smart.

The tl;dr:

This is a tournament where you play against robots, not other people. Sound cool? Sign up!

Once you have filled out the form above, I will send you a PM including instructions on how to begin your games. Please follow the instructions in that PM carefully so that you can begin playing against the first online Diplomacy artificial intelligence.

Read that last part again. Seriously, this is super cool.

Good luck.

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2019 11:21 pm
by goldfinger0303
This is really cool.

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 4:24 am
by brainbomb
CARRRRRRRNAGE SCORING BABY

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 11:52 am
by Tugster
Do the bots KNOW which player is the human, or do they assume that all players are bot or human, without knowing?

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 12:42 pm
by bo_sox48
KestasBot does not know the difference between Skynet, Jane, or you. All it knows is that it wants to win. Same goes for the other bots.

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 1:21 pm
by KCelec
That sounds really interesting ! I'm in.

I just have one question : are the bots completely deterministic ?

If they are, I can just copy every move from a previous winning game (by winning I mean in which the human player won), and that ensures me the victory.

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 2:00 pm
by Claesar
They are absolutely not deterministic.

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 2:02 pm
by bo_sox48
There is substantial variability in each bot game and the bots make strategic decisions in each game independently of others. While they will do some things more often than others and while it is probably possible to game them to some degree, making the same moves that led you to a solo once over and over again will not magically get you a 100% win rate. This is why artificial intelligence is different than a simple computer user as is much more common in online gaming.

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:36 pm
by CLRJames
I look forward to being Terminated.

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 9:11 pm
by Johnny Big Horse
I thought I signed up. When does it start?

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2019 11:10 pm
by bo_sox48
The invites will start coming out on Monday. Officially, sign ups will close and the tournaments will have begun by September 20, but if you sign up earlier, you’ll have more time to play your round 1 games. The brief layover between yesterday and Monday is to allow people to play some bot games on their own and enjoy this awesome new feature without worrying about the tournament. If you want to wait longer to start, all that is asked is that you finish your three games by September 30 at 7 PM central.

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2019 7:05 pm
by teccles
Having played a few games with bots today, I'm regretting my country selection. Is it possible to update it?

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 12:49 am
by djnogueira
I've finished a game against bots right now. Interesting match!
Waiting for the Tournament!

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 5:11 pm
by bo_sox48
First set of invites will go out tonight. There are... uh... a lot... of entrants so far, so if you filled out the form already but aren't included in the invites I send out tonight, don't take it personally.

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 5:17 pm
by Chaqa
I will take it VERY personally if I am not the first person invited.

Or not.,

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 5:53 pm
by mhsmith0
bo_sox48 wrote:
Mon Sep 16, 2019 5:11 pm
First set of invites will go out tonight. There are... uh... a lot... of entrants so far, so if you filled out the form already but aren't included in the invites I send out tonight, don't take it personally.
it's ok, you'll just see me crying in a corner somewhere :P

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2019 1:05 am
by bo_sox48
79 of you should have received an invitation from me to begin your games. You have until September 30 at 7 PM central US time to complete them. Remember that canceling games is not permitted in this tournament. Once you make them, you play them.

If you have signed up by now and have not received a PM from me, please let me know so we can get your games started. Everyone who has signed up should have one.

If you haven't signed up, no worries! You have until September 20 at 7 PM central time to do so. Simply fill out the following form:

https://forms.gle/RdVRA4nL3kneL9Md7

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:11 am
by BobMcBob
Well damn. That's me out of the tournament. I'm going to be really annoyed now if people get in with only 2 solos and a 3 way draw. My risk was too big... Should have thought it over better.

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:34 am
by yuuki
2 solos and a draw should qualify people

Re: Introducing the first ever webDiplomacy Terminator Tournament!

Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2019 11:06 am
by Claesar
I think the average player will have a 50% solo rate in these games. That means the expected value is 10 players will have 3 solos, and another 10 have 2 solos only. That's exactly 20 added together, so unless the field significantly increases, 2 solos should do it. Unless the solo rate of the average player is higher than I estimate..