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Topic: Arimaazilla (Read 1205 times) |
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IdahoEv
Forum Guru
Arimaa player #1753
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Posts: 405
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Arimaazilla
« on: Mar 15th, 2006, 8:49pm » |
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Arimaazilla is the purest evidence that I have much to learn.
'zilla is rated around 1450, near AamiraP2, and Loc200nP1. But while I can generally beat Aamira without breaking a sweat, I *still* only bat .500 vs. 'zilla.
The sense I get playing these bots is that 'zilla has atrocious strategy - it just surges forward with everything - but its tactical forethought is the best of any bot I've played so far (Up through Clueless200nP2). 'zilla piles everything up in a confusing mess, and then is quite good at keeping me one step away from any tactical goal.
Meanwhile, the dramatic flood makes a hash of my strategic goals. It often doesn't matter if I get a camel hostage... 'zilla will just barely keep the hostage two turns from death by sticking pieces in the trap or otherwise disrupting things. It will do this with three steps out of every four, using the fourth to march some piece downrange until soon I'm so buried in pieces that I don't have the room to maneuver the hostage anymore.
When I set up barricades, it will eventually find the one tiny weakness and worm its way out. If zilla piles its army up against my defense, it eventually finds some tricky, obscure way to burrow a rabbit through. I can't ever make a single tactical mistake, or 'zilla has me.
I can beat it sometimes with an asymmetric strategy, sending a rabbit up the side. And sometimes I can just play my tactics sufficiently well that I carve it up one piece at a time and my defense is intact to the end. But just as often, i make some tiny mistake and he eats me for lunch. I don't have this problem with the other bots.
The fact that I find the other bots with similar ratings to 'zilla to be so much easier indicates to me that my current understanding of the game is lopsided, somehow.  I wonder what I'm missing...
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| « Last Edit: Mar 15th, 2006, 8:52pm by IdahoEv » |
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99of9
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Gnobby's creator (player #314)
 
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Re: Arimaazilla
« Reply #1 on: Mar 15th, 2006, 10:53pm » |
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Concentrate on killing the material that it sends forward, in particular try setting up threats to multiple pieces.
e.g. Frame a rabbit on one of your home traps. Then replace your elephant from the frame, with any other piece. Take your elephant over to your other trap, and try to get an enemy piece hostage over there. Then arimaazilla will have to decide to give up on the rabbit.
Repeat this kind of multi-threat strategy many times, and you'll eventually get a big material advantage.
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frostlad
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Arimaa player #1704
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Re: Arimaazilla
« Reply #2 on: Mar 16th, 2006, 3:21am » |
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I had a lot of trouble with Zilla as well. It'll come. And yes, you will learn a lot from figuring out how to beat it consistently.
I found for myself that the best strategy was to set up a solid defense and like 99of9 said, frame or capture zilla's pieces as it hands them to you.
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Fritzlein
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Arimaa player #706
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Re: Arimaazilla
« Reply #3 on: Mar 16th, 2006, 5:05pm » |
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on Mar 15th, 2006, 8:49pm, IdahoEv wrote:| Meanwhile, the dramatic flood makes a hash of my strategic goals. It often doesn't matter if I get a camel hostage... 'zilla will just barely keep the hostage two turns from death by sticking pieces in the trap or otherwise disrupting things. It will do this with three steps out of every four, using the fourth to march some piece downrange until soon I'm so buried in pieces that I don't have the room to maneuver the hostage anymore. |
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You absolutely have to keep total control of one of your own traps. Why doesn't a camel hostage do this for you? Theoretically when you have a camel hostage you have his elephant and camel tied up at one trap, while your camel can rule at the other.
One problem might be that you are hanging back too much in the first two rows. You definitely need to move forward with your horses when you get the camel hostage, but I mean moving forward sometimes even before you get the camel hostage. Sometimes when the other guy is about to flood you, you need to get up on your own third rank, and sometimes even a piece or two on your fourth rank. This is all in service of keeping total control of at least one home trap.
I think we (correctly) learn the lesson that we don't want to expose our pieces to danger, and we learn it too well. In truth, however, it isn't so dangerous to advance a little if you are still less exposed than the other guy. When he is committing to a piece flood, he's not going to be able to change gears and drop back into a defensive game. If he's coming up to his fourth rank, occupy your third rank. You are still in less danger than he is of having pieces dragged to an enemy trap for capture, and meanwhile you reduce the danger of losing control of both of your own home traps.
Getting back to the camel hostage, say you hold the hostage on a3. Then make sure his elephant has to stay guarding c3 and doesn't get freed to operate around f3. This may mean you have to occupy c3 yourself so he can't. You might want to occupy d3 if his elephant isn't there. If he's flooding the whole wing while his elephant sits on d3, you may even want to occupy c4. You need space to make captures. (Normally occupying c4 puts you in danger of being captured in c6, but if he is flooding, his own pieces will get in the way of his elephant making this maneuver.)
Quote:| The fact that I find the other bots with similar ratings to 'zilla to be so much easier indicates to me that my current understanding of the game is lopsided, somehow. I wonder what I'm missing... |
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It's perceptive of you to recognize a hole. I think I may have done the Arimaa community a slight disservice in over-emphasizing the importance of the camel hostage in my Wiki writings. the hostage by itself is nothing, because the enemy elephant can guard the trap and prevent a capture.
The fundamental idea is to make captures. Capturing is more important than hostage taking. Taking a camel hostage is not for the joy of having a hostage, but to insure that you are able to make captures in some other trap. It makes your camel the strongest free piece, which you then use to dominate your other home trap, but you need at least some help from your other pieces to keep that control. Meanwhile, if you use your horses wisely, you make him lose control of both of his home traps, so he's the one who can't ever make a capture.
I don't know if this helps. If not, point us to a specific game, and we'll provide specific move suggestions.
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