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GG tutor
GG tutor is a neural-net backgammon player, based on GnuBG, that provides comments when it thinks you could have made a better play. It does not comment on resignations or non-contact errors. (GG tutor also does not distinguish between large and small errors. In a future release, it will.) GG tutor plays at a very high level, equivalent to GGraccoon. GG tutor plays unrated matches only.
The GG robots were developed by GamesGrid Engineering, based on the GNU Backgammon open source. We improved the n-ply evaluation algorithms, which we contributed back to the GNU effort. In addition, we wired the robots to play multiple-simultaneous matches, in order to make them available to more players.
GamesGrid members may invite GG tutor. GG tutor accepts invitations only for unrated matches. It plays either regular backgammon or Nackgammon, with a maximum match length of 9 points.
This term refers to the level of evaluation used to determine the best play. You can think of a "ply" as a turn for one player. The basic level of play is called 0-ply, meaning that the robot does not look ahead. When playing at this level, the robot evaluates all legal moves, then selects the play that maximizes its match equity.
No. Robot players receive dice in the same way as every other player. The robot programs run on different machines than the game servers. They are connected to the server using the same client program that human players use, modified to communicate with the robot evaluation engine and to send the selected plays automatically. As far as the game server is concerned, the robots are the same as every other player on GamesGrid.
Like the best human players, they arrange the checkers so that more rolls are good for them, and fewer rolls good for their opponents. Because the higher-level robots play better than the great majority of players, they appear luckier to the uncritical eye.
The robots are playing multiple-simultaneous matches. When they are available for an invitation, their green available indicator will light up. When they are playing as many matches as they can simultaneously, the available indicator will be off.
Yes. A robot begins each match at its "medium" speed. Although you cannot affect its calculation speed, a robot's opponent may ask it to change the speed at which it makes its moves, by typing in the chat entry box
/tell robotname slower
or
/tell robotname faster
where robotname is GGbeaver, or GGotter, or one of the other robot names. The robot will announce that it is adjusting its playing speed.
At its fastest speed, a robot moves the checkers as soon as the best play is selected. At its slowest speed, it will pause approximately two seconds before it makes each move. This can be useful if you want to visually follow the action in bearoff situations, since the moves can be played very fast indeed.
Only a robot's opponent may request speed adjustments.
Copyright © 2005-2006 GGweasle Ltd. All rights reserved.
The GamesGrid name and GGotter logo are licensed from, and property of, GGraccoon, LLC.
last modified: 2005-04-27
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