Cave Rangers - Exploring the Darkness

Question

Your geologist buddy nearly kicked down your office door as he burst in, eyes wide in excitement, and asked you to come with him to a site he just discovered. On the way he explains that he thinks he literally just struck gold. Only problem is, it's buried deep underground in a cavern with a very unstable roof. It's too dangerous to go spelunking, so he wants you to program one of his cave exploring robots to collect as much gold as it can before he pulls it back up. He also mentions that he's probed the cavern and found some wildlife that could be harmful to the robots, and also that he'd dropped some equipment down there that might still be useable. Each robot is equipped with two arms and a range of sensors. When you arrive at the scene, he tells you he's planning on recruiting more coders, and whoever does the best job will be rewarded.

Now, down to the nitty-gritty. The sensors pass information to your program as ASCII characters. Here's a list of what each character means and descriptions for anything the bot might encounter in the cave:

Code    Name/Description

Y       Your bot
        You do things

@       Other bots
        They do other things

-       Ground
        This doesn't do things

C       Centipede
        These will bite you and leave a poison effect
        The bite will cost 1 health
        The poison effect will last for 3 turns, costing 2 health each turn

B       Bats
        If bats end up in the same space you are, your bot runs in a random direction during its turn rather than what you told it to do

L       Lion (because reasons)
        Lions deal heavy damage, 10 health, each time they attack

F       Food
        Eating this will give you 5 health
        Can only be used once

W       Water
        Drinking this will cure poison effects early
        Can only be used once

R       Revealer
        This will increase the range of your visibility to an 11x11 grid
        The extra range will only be 75% correct, but the original range won't be effected

K       Knife
        You do twice as much damage to other bots if you have a knife

G       Gold
        The whole reason you're doing this in the first place

N       Nurse Nina
        She mend you good
        Restores your health by 10 while you occupy the same space as her

}       Boulder
        You can't walk over boulders, and neither can anything else

P       Pit
        If you fall in a pit, you will be stuck for 3 turns

The size of the cavern grows based on how many bots are participating. It starts as a 30x30, and it gets an extra 10x10 for every bot. So 2 bots will explore a 50x50 cavern.

Bots start with 20 health, but they don't have a maximum limit on health.

Input:

You'll receive input through STDIN in the following format:

20,5,10,1,0,True,False    <-health, number gold pieces, number of turns your bot has lasted, number of until the poison wears off, number of turns until you are no longer stuck in a pit, if you have a revealer, if you have a knife
-----
-G}--
--Y-L
-C---
---B-

The first line contains information about your bot, and the rest is the grid that your bot can see. If your bot is against one of the 4 walls of the cavern, you will get a grid that looks more like this (in the case of being all the way to the West):

---
}--
Y--
---
---

The cavern does not wrap around, and neither does your vision. The walls of the cavern are not marked, the only indication your bot receives that it is nearing a wall is its view being diminished. With the Revealer, you might get something like this:

--------C--
LW--------B
---K-N-----
--------BR-
-F---------
--B--Y---@N
-W@---F----
------K-F--
----@-}----
R@---G}--}-
--------G-R

Output:

You get two moves per turn, which you output in the following format:

MNNANW    <- Moves are groups of 3 characters representing the action and the direction

Possible actions are the following:

M    Move - Move your bot in the specified direction
A    Attack - Attack the square in the specified direction
H    Hold - Do nothing

Possible directions are the following:

NN - North (up)
NE - Northeast (up-right)
EE - East (right)
SE - Southeast (down-right)
SS - South
SW - Southwest
WW - West
NW - Northwest

The moves are applied from left to right.

Turns:

Turns progress in the following fashion:

1. Poison effects are applied to any player who has been poisoned

2. Non-bots move and attack

   2a. Lions, Centipedes, and Bats move randomly

   2b. Lions and Centipedes will attack everything that is directly adjacent to it (including diagonally)

   2c. The bat effect will only be applied to a bot if it is on the same space as the bat

   2d. Nurse Nina will stay in a location for 3 turns, and then jump to a random location.

3. Bots move

   3a. If your bot gives invalid output, it won't move

   3b. Your bot will try to get as close to the space designated by the output as possible (see the note at the bottom for more detail)

   3c. One attack to a Centipede, Lion, or Bat will kill it

   3d. Attacking another bot without a knife will do 5 damage, and 10 with a knife

Rules:

1. Stick to common languages that can be run on OS X or Linux.

2. You can optionally write up to and not exceeding 1kb data to a file

Scoring:

Bots will only be in the cavern until only one remains, or until 50 turns have gone by, whichever comes first. Your bot will be judged on the sum of the number of gold coins it collected and how many turns it lasted.

Controller code can be downloaded for testing here (make a folder called "bots" in the same directory that you download it to, and put your bot inside "bots") You'll need NumPy to run it. Feel free to dig through it, but you'll have to excuse the mess...

Here's some code for a random bot:

#!/usr/bin/python
import random as r

a = ['M','A','H']
d = ['NN','NE','EE','SE','SS','SW','WW','NW']

print(a[r.randint(0,2)]+d[r.randint(0,7)]+a[r.randint(0,2)]+d[r.randint(0,7)])

****Your bot will always move in the general direction your output specifies, but if it is obstructed by a rock or a wall, the exact direction depends on the circumstance. For instance, if your bot is against a wall like so:

---
}--
Y--
---
---

and your output is

MNWMSW

your bot will move one space down. It couldn't move North or West, so that move had no effect. It could move South (and did) but couldn't move West. However, if your bot tried to move Northeast, it would go directly to that space (diagonal movement is diagonal, not procedural)

Leaderboard

These are the average scores of 4 games.

The bot of Survival:    54.75
Coward:                 52.25
Pufferfish:             50.00
Randombot:              50.00
Indiana Jones:          47.50
TheoremBot:             46.50

Answer 1

Indiana Jones, Python 2

This bot is not afraid of anything. It will try to get the gold; and if it can't find any, it will try to stab opponents with knives.

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys
import random
data = sys.stdin.readlines()
health, gold, turns, poison_remaining, pit_remaining, revealer, knife = eval(data[0])
lines = data[1:]

myloc = [-1, -1]

width, height = len(lines[0]), len(lines)

for y, line in enumerate(lines):
    if line.find('Y')>-1:
        myloc = [line.index('Y'), y]
if myloc[0]<width/2:
    padding = int(width/2-myloc[0])
    lines = ['-'*padding+line for line in lines]
    myloc[0]+=padding
elif myloc[0]>width/2+1:
    padding = int(myloc[0]-width/2-1)
    lines = [line+'-'*padding for line in lines]

if myloc[1]<height/2:
    padding = int(height/2-myloc[1])
    lines = ['-'*width]*padding + lines
    myloc[1]+=padding
elif myloc[1]>height/2+1:
    padding = int(myloc[1]-height/2-1)
    lines = lines + ['-'*width]*padding

uddirections = {1:'N',0:'',-1:'S'}
lrdirections = {1:'E',0:'',-1:'W'}

golds = {}
for y, line in enumerate(lines):
    if 'G' in line:
        x = line.index('G')
        direction = ((uddirections[max(min(myloc[1]-y,1),-1)]+lrdirections[max(min(x-myloc[0],1),-1)])*2)[:2]
        distance = max(abs(myloc[0]-x), abs(myloc[1]-y))
        golds[distance] = direction

bots = {}
for y, line in enumerate(lines):
    if '@' in line:
        x = line.index('@')
        direction = ((uddirections[max(min(myloc[1]-y,1),-1)]+lrdirections[max(min(x-myloc[0],1),-1)])*2)[:2]
        distance = max(abs(myloc[0]-x), abs(myloc[1]-y))
        bots[distance] = direction

foods = {}
for y, line in enumerate(lines):
    if 'F' in line:
        x = line.index('F')
        direction = ((uddirections[max(min(myloc[1]-y,1),-1)]+lrdirections[max(min(x-myloc[0],1),-1)])*2)[:2]
        distance = max(abs(myloc[0]-x), abs(myloc[1]-y))
        foods[distance] = direction

knives = {}
for y, line in enumerate(lines):
    if 'K' in line:
        x = line.index('K')
        direction = ((uddirections[max(min(myloc[1]-y,1),-1)]+lrdirections[max(min(x-myloc[0],1),-1)])*2)[:2]
        distance = max(abs(myloc[0]-x), abs(myloc[1]-y))
        knives[distance] = direction

if golds:
    direction = golds[min(golds.keys())]
elif not knife and knives:
    direction = knives[min(knives.keys())]
elif health<20 and foods:
    direction = foods[min(foods.keys())]
elif bots and knife:
    direction = bots[min(bots.keys())]
    if min(bots.keys())==1:
        print ('A'+direction)*2
        sys.exit(0)
    elif min(bots.keys())==2:
        print 'M'+direction+'A'+direction
        sys.exit(0)
else:
    print ('M'+random.choice('NS')+random.choice('NEWS'))*2
    sys.exit(0)
print ('M'+direction)*2

Answer 2

Coward, python3

A coward always runs from potential threats.

However, if he feels super strong, he will suddenly run amok and stab everything near him.

The problem with the current implementation is that move commands are issued without knowledge whether it is the first or the second move.

#!/usr/bin/env python3.4

import sys, random


class Coward():
  """
  A coward always runs from potential threats.

  However, if he feels super strong, he will suddenly run amok 
  and stab everything near him.  
  """
  def __init__(self, hp, gold, turn, poison, pit, revealer, knife):
    self.hp=int(hp)
    self.gold=int(gold)
    if knife=="True": self.knife=True
    else: self.knife=False    
    self.pit=int(pit)
    self.poison=int(poison)

  def readGrid(self, grid):
    self.grid=grid.split("\n")
  @property
  def _confidence(self):
    return self.hp+5*self.knife-2*self.poison
  @property
  def _lineOfY(self):
    for i, line in enumerate(self.grid):
      if "Y" in line:
        return i
  @property
  def _colOfY(self):
    return self.grid[self._lineOfY].index("Y")
  @property
  def _maxX(self):
    return len(self.grid)-1
  @property
  def _maxY(self):
    return len(self.grid[0])-1
  def move(self, step):
    d = {'NN':(0,-1),'NE':(1,-1),'EE':(1,0),'SE':(1,1),'SS':(0,1),'SW':(-1,1),'WW':(-1,0),'NW':(-1,-1)}
    c2d={(0,-1):'NN',(1,-1):'NE',(1,0):"EE",(1,1):"SE",(0,1):"SS",(-1,1):"SW",(-1,0):"WW",(-1,-1):"NW"}
    #Don't move into wall/ boulder/ pit
    #print(d, file=sys.stderr)
    for k,v in list(d.items()):
      x=self._lineOfY+v[0]
      y=self._colOfY+v[1]
      #print (k, v ,x , y, file=sys.stderr)
      if x<0 or y<0 or x>self._maxX or y>self._maxY:
        #print ("Out of bounds: ", k, file=sys.stderr)
        del d[k]
      elif self.grid[x][y]=="}" or self.grid[x][y]=="P":
        del d[k]
    #Always avoid bats, and enemys
    for dx in range(-2,3):
      for dy in range(-2,3):
        x=self._lineOfY+dx
        y=self._colOfY+dy
        if x<0 or y<0 or x>self._maxX or y>self._maxY:
          continue;
        if self.grid[x][y] in ["B", "L", "C", "@"]:
          for k in self._toDirection(dx, dy):
            if k in d: del d[k] #Too many threats from all sides can paralyze the Coward: nowhere to go...
    #print(d, file=sys.stderr)
    tomove=[]
    #Neighboring fields
    for dx in [-1,1]:
      for dy in [-1,1]:
        x=self._lineOfY+dx
        y=self._colOfY+dy
        if x<0 or y<0 or x>self._maxX or y>self._maxY:
          continue
        if self.poison>0 and self.grid[x][y]=="W":
          for k,v in d.items():
            if v==(dx,dy):
              tomove.append(k)
        if self.grid[x][y]=="N": #Always go to nurse, even if dangerous
          tomove.append(c2d[(x,y)])
        if self.grid[x][y] in ["F","K","G"]: #Go to Food, Knife or Gold, if save
          for k,v in d.items():
            if v==(dx,dy):
              tomove.append(k)
    #Further away: Go towards food, knife and gold and Nina if save.
    for target in ["N", "F", "G", "K"]:
      for dx in [-2,2]:
        for dy in [-2,2]:
          x=self._lineOfY+dx
          y=self._colOfY+dy
          if x<0 or y<0 or x>self._maxX or y>self._maxY:
            continue
          if self.grid[x][y]==target:
            l=[ k for k in self._toDirection(dx,dy) if k in d]
            if l: tomove.append(random.choice(l))
    s=list(d.keys())
    random.shuffle(s)
    tomove+=s
    try:
      return "M"+tomove[step-1]
    except IndexError:
      return ""
  def attack(self, step):    
    c2d={(0,-1):'NN',(1,-1):'NE',(1,0):"EE",(1,1):"SE",(0,1):"SS",(-1,1):"SW",(-1,0):"WW",(-1,-1):"NW"}
    #If Bot next to you: always attack
    for k,v in c2d.items():
      x=self._lineOfY+k[0]
      y=self._colOfY+k[1]
      if x<0 or y<0 or x>self._maxX or y>self._maxY:
        continue
      if self.grid[x][y]=="@":
        return "A"+v
    #If Bot or monster could come closer: attack potential new position
    attDir={(-2,-2):["NW"], (-2,-1):["NW","WW"], (-2,0):["WW","NW","SW"], (-2,1):["WW","SW"], (-2,2):["SW"],(-1,-2):["NW","NN"], (-1,2):["SW","SS"], (0,2):["SW","SS","SE"],(0,-2):["NW","NN","NE"],(1,-2):["NN","NE"],(1,2):["SS","SE"],(2,-2):["NE"],(2,-1):["NE","EE"], (2,0):["NE","EE","SE"], (2,1):["EE","SE"], (2,2):["SE"]}
    for k,v in attDir.items():
      x=self._lineOfY+k[0]
      y=self._colOfY+k[1]
      if x<0 or y<0 or x>self._maxX or y>self._maxY:
        continue
      if self.grid[x][y] in ["@","L","C","B"]:
        return "A"+random.choice(v)
    return ""
  def _toDirection(self,dx,dy):
    if dx<0:
      if dy<0:
        return ["WW","NW","NN"]
      elif dy==0:
        return ["WW","NW","SW"]
      elif dy>0:
        return ["WW","SW","SS"]
    elif dx>0:
      if dy<0:
        return ["EE","NE","NN"]
      elif dy==0:
        return ["EE","NE","SE"]
      elif dy>0:
        return ["EE","SE","SS"]
    elif dx==0:
      if dy<0:
        return ["NN","NE","NW"]
      elif dy==0:
        return []
      elif dy>0:
        return ["SS","SE","SW"]
  def _nearBat(self):
    for dx in range(-2,3):
      for dy in range(-2,3):
        x=self._lineOfY+dx
        y=self._colOfY+dy
        if x<0 or y<0:
          continue;
        if self.grid[x][y]=="B":
          return True
    return False
  def makeTurn(self):
    try:
      command=""
      #If stuck, just attack
      if self.pit:
        command+=self.attack(1)+self.attack(2)
      #Always run from bats
      if self._nearBat:
        command+=self.move(1)+self.move(2)
      #If high-confidence: attack
      if self._confidence>30:
        command+=self.attack(1)+self.attack(2)
      #Else: Move somewhere
      command+=self.move(1)+self.move(2)
      #Just in case, two random attacks
      d = ['NN','NE','EE','SE','SS','SW','WW','NW']
      a=random.choice(d)
      b=random.choice([ x for x in d if x!=a])
      command+="A"+a+"A"+b
      return command[:6]
    except Exception as e:
      #print (e, file=sys.stderr)
      #Attacking is better than nothing
      d = ['NN','NE','EE','SE','SS','SW','WW','NW']
      a=random.choice(d)
      b=random.choice([ x for x in d if x!=a])
      return "A"+a+"A"+b


info=sys.stdin.readline()
grid=sys.stdin.read()
info=info.split(",")
bot=Coward(*info)
bot.readGrid(grid)
t=bot.makeTurn()
#print(t, file=sys.stderr)
print(t)

Answer 3

The bot of survival - Python 2

from __future__ import print_function
health,gold,survived,poison,pit,revealer,knife = input()
if pit:
    exit()
#Yes, this is python 2, despite the use of input()
lines = []
try:
    while True:
        lines.append(raw_input())
except EOFError:
    pass
CMOVES={"NW":(-1,-1),"NN":(-1,+0),"NE":(-1,+1),
        "WW":(+0,-1),             "EE":(-0,+1),
    "SW":(+1,-1),"SS":(+1,+0),"SE":(+1,+1),
}
MOVES={v:k for k,v in CMOVES.iteritems()}
import sys
def get_your_pos():
    for row,line in enumerate(lines):
        for col,square in enumerate(line):
            if square == "Y":
                return row,col
    raise ValueError("Your bot is not present.")
def isnearby(thing,p=None):
    your_pos = p or get_your_pos()
    for move in MOVES:
        yp = your_pos[0]+move[0],your_pos[1]+move[1]
        try:
            if yp[0] >= 0 and yp[1] >= 0 and lines[yp[0]][yp[1]] == thing:
                return move
        except IndexError:
            #Edge of cavern
            pass
for turn in range(2):
    import random
    nprio = .5
    if health > 25:
        nprio -= .2
    elif health < 10:
        nprio += .3
    if poison:
        nprio += .18
    #heal
    motive = how = None
    if random.random() < nprio:
        nurse = isnearby("N")
        if nurse:
            motive = "M"
            how = MOVES[nurse]
        elif random.random() < nprio:
            food = isnearby("F")
            if food:
                motive = "M"
                how = MOVES[food]
    #cure poison
    if poison and not motive:
        water = isnearby("W")
        if water:
            motive = "M"
            how = MOVES[water]
    if not motive:
        #Kill lions, bats, and centipedes
        for animal in ("L","B","C"):
            animal = isnearby(animal)
            if animal:
                motive = "A"
                how = MOVES[animal]
                y = get_your_pos()
                y = y[0]+animal[0],y[1]+animal[1]
                lines = map(list,lines)
                lines[y[0]][y[1]] = "-"
                break
        else:
            #Pick up knives
            if not knife:
                knife = isnearby("K")
                if knife:
                    motive = "M"
                    how = MOVES[knife]
            #Attack other bots
            else:
                prey = isnearby("@")
                if prey:
                    motive = "A"
                    how = MOVES[prey]
    #Get gold
    gold = isnearby("G")
    if gold and not motive:
        motive = "M"
        how = MOVES[gold]
    def isvalidmove(c):
        c = CMOVES[c]
        y = get_your_pos()
        y=(y[0]+c[0],y[1]+c[1])
        if y[0] >= 0 and y[1] >= 0:
            try:
                lines[y[0]][y[1]]
            except LookupError:
                pass
            else:
                return True
    if turn and not motive:
        motive = "M"
        while not (how and how not in (isnearby("}"),isnearby("P"),isnearby("@"))\
              and isvalidmove(how)):
            how = random.choice(CMOVES.keys())
    if not motive:break
    if not turn and motive == "M":
        lines = map(list,lines)
        yp = get_your_pos()
        lines[yp[0]][yp[1]] = "-"
        yp=[yp[0]+CMOVES[how][0],yp[1]+CMOVES[how][1]]
        lines[yp[0]][yp[1]] = "Y"
    print(motive+how,end="")
else:
    exit()
#Nothing found on first move
def isvaguelynearby(thing):
    your_pos = get_your_pos()
    for move in MOVES:
        yp = your_pos[0]+move[0],your_pos[1]+move[1]
        try:
            if yp[0] >= 0 and yp[1] >= 0 and board[yp[0]][yp[1]] != "P":
                dest = isnearby(thing,yp)
                if dest:
                    return move,dest
        except IndexError:
            #Edge of cavern
            pass
if random.random() < nprio:
    dests = isvaguelynearby("N")
    if not dests and random.random() < nprio:
        dests = isvaguelynearby("F")
    if dests:
        m1,m2 = MOVES[dests[0]],MOVES[dests[1]]
        print("M" + m1 + "M" + m2)
        exit()
dests = (poison and isvaguelynearby("W")) or (not knife and isvaguelynearby("K"))\
    or isvaguelynearby("G")
prey = isvaguelynearby("L") or isvaguelynearby("B") or isvaguelynearby("C") or \
       (knife and isvaguelynearby("@"))
if dests:
    m1,m2 = MOVES[dests[0]],MOVES[dests[1]]
    print("M" + m1 + "M" + m2)
elif prey:
    m1,m2 = MOVES[prey[0]],MOVES[prey[1]]
    print("M" + m1 + "A" + m2)
else:
    how = None
    while not (how and how not in     (isnearby("}"),isnearby("P"),isnearby("@"))\
          and isvalidmove(how)):
        how = random.choice(CMOVES.keys())
    print("M"+how,end="")
    lines = map(list,lines)
    yp = get_your_pos()
    lines[yp[0]][yp[1]] = "-"
    yp=[yp[0]+CMOVES[how][0],yp[1]+CMOVES[how][1]]
    lines[yp[0]][yp[1]] = "Y"
    while not (how and how not in (isnearby("}"),isnearby("P"),isnearby("@"))\
          and isvalidmove(how)):
            how = random.choice(CMOVES.keys())
    print("M"+how)

Edit: added better pit avoidance.

Answer 4

Pufferfish, Python 3+

I'm just that person.

#!/usr/bin/env python3.4
import random
def select():
 return "A"+["NN","NE","EE","SE","SS","SW","WW","NW"][random.randint(0,7)]
print(select()+select())