[computer-go] Speed of generating random playouts

[Christoph Birk]

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007, Petr Baudis wrote:
> This looks like a good technique I should implement too. What "big"
> values are popular? I'm thinking size*size/3, but maybe that is too
> conservative?

If there is a capture of more than 1 stone during the random-games then
   count the number of white and black stones on the board.
   If there are more than twice as many stones of one color then
     score current board position
     If this is consistent with the winner of stone counting then
       abort the current simulation

>> pure MC     10k     1050 ELO   -> myCtest-10k
>>             50k     1350
>> AMAF        10k     1450       -> myCtest-10k-AMAF
>>             50k     1450
>> UCT         10k     1300       -> myCtest-10k-UCT
>>             50k     1550

>> All algorithms above are "basic" playouts. No Go knowledge, except
>> the "dont-fill-your-1-pt-eye" rule.

I will put up the bots above for reference again.

> Thanks a lot! I'm doing that now and while the ranks are not yet stable,
> they are all only slightly above 1050 now already. :-( (Even the
> variants with extra domain-specific knowledge.) I guess I still have
> some bugs there.

I recommend removing (temporarily) all knowledge and debug the
basic structure.

> By the way, when I make significant change to the algorithm (even a
> bugfix that will significantly improve it), is it considered better
> practice to have the changed bot playing from scratch, or introduce the
> change to existing bots and see how the rating changes?

If I discover a bug before the bot has played ~20 games I usually keep
the name.

Christoph