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        Arimaa >> Game Analysis >> Local game, tough situation(for me)
        
(Message started by: JimmSlimm on May 8^th, 2011, 12:33pm)

Title: Local game, tough situation(for me)
Post by JimmSlimm on May 8^th, 2011, 12:33pm

I was letting 2 of my bots play against each other, and this situation came up. It's silvers turn to act and I don't know what a good move would be, please help :)

Code:

8| r r r c r r r |
7| r d c d r h |
6| h x . E x e M |
5| . H . . H R R |
4| . . . . |
3| . R x R D x R |
2| R C m D . R |
1| R . . C |
-----------------
a b c d e f g h

1. who is in the lead here?
2. what would a good move for silver be, and why?

The actual move silver made was: Rd3n md2n Rd4w md3n
Reason: create a threat
What happened is that the gold elephant froze the silver camel and threatened to kill it, which he did later on.

Title: Re: Local game, tough situation(for me)
Post by Fritzlein on May 8^th, 2011, 1:55pm

Silver is losing because one horse is trapped on h7 and because the gold swarm is well advanced. Silver's strategy after taking a camel hostage should not be to lead an attack with her camel while her horses stay home; it should be to lead an attack with her horses while the silver camel stays safe and flexible to respond to what the gold horses do.

Gold has a huge threat to rotate his elephant away from the defense of the f6-trap, defending it instead with smaller pieces, allowing the elephant to capture the silver camel. This is not just a tactical problem based on a poor camel move; it is a strategic problem that spells big trouble for Silver.

My suggestion for Silver would be to try to get her camel home to be safer and to keep the gold elephant tied to defense of f6. Then she would like to activate her b6 horse so it can help around the f3 trap. Finally she needs to activate her h7-horse through g7, g6, etc. Good luck with all that! If Gold plays correctly, he will be able to swarm f6 and rotate out his elephant no matter what Silver does from here.

Title: Re: Local game, tough situation(for me)
Post by JimmSlimm on May 8^th, 2011, 2:41pm

thanks fritz, very good answer :)

I'm not 100% sure what a swarm is, but I imagine it is exactly what it sounds like, my evaluation doesn't fully appreciate the dangers of it yet.

After tweaking the evaluation method/priorities for silver, it beat gold.

Title: Re: Local game, tough situation(for me)
Post by Swynndla on May 8^th, 2011, 7:41pm

on 05/08/11 at 14:41:39, JimmSlimm wrote:

I'm not 100% sure what a swarm is, but I imagine it is exactly what it sounds like, my evaluation doesn't fully appreciate the dangers of it yet.

Yep, swarm the trap with minor pieces to take control of the trap and to also smother the elephant.

During the 2005 Arimaa Challenge Match, Belbo used swarms repeatedly:
http://arimaa.com/arimaa/challenge/2005/showChalGames.cgi

...eg this game:
http://arimaa.com/arimaa/games/showGame.cgi?gid=12121&s=w&client=1

Title: Re: Local game, tough situation(for me)
Post by aaaa on May 13^th, 2011, 3:40pm

Perhaps Silver could try mixing it up by giving up the camel hostage with something like eg6w Rg5n Hf5s ef6s.