Quote:
Originally Posted by gnubgmonitor
I’ve whooped the a$$ off of about just about every backgammon computer program out there and yet GNU tans my hide repeatedly.
Snowie, GnuBg and XG are three programs that
nobody whoops. If you are tromping them, you are literally the greatest backgammon player that ever lived. Of course, I am sure this is not your claim, but you must be a strong player nevertheless. How have you fared in tournaments against some of the
Giants of Backgammon? No Giant of Backgammon has ever accused one of the three major bots of cheating.
I have heard that GnuBg will misplay its defense of massive backgames, and allow you to pump up the cube to astronomical levels. Supposedly, it misjudges its cube decisions, and beavers your double. Then it gives you the cube right back, and you can beaver. Now, you cube again. Etc. By this method, some have claimed to establish a winning record against GnuBg. It all comes with one big victory. But if you play straight, I know of no one who has a winning record against any of the three bots listed above (except in the short term, of course). XG, for instance, plays with a PR of around 0.5. The best players in the world are not even close. They average between 2.0 and 3.0, generally closer to the latter figure.
The test you describe is certainly interesting. I would like to see you try it again, being absolutely certain to duplicate rolls and play. If you save the two sessions, you should be able to see where they diverge. An easy way to examine the sessions is to save them as HTML. Choose File -> Save... -> HTML. Beforehand, go to Settings -> Export, and put a checkmark in every checkbox, in particular, in “Show evaluation parameters.” I have mine set to display a board diagram every “1” move. (Don’t be concerned if the board diagrams won’t display. You have to generate the PNG files first. See
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnubg/ma...ml#HTML-export. Choose Settings -> Export -> Style to generate the board images.)
You should be certain that the same level is being used in both sessions. If one session plays using out-of-the-box settings, and the the other uses “world class” or “supremo” settings, it is expected that GnuBg will make different decisions in the different sessions.
Out of the box, GnuBg plays a weak 1-ply game. Change these three settings to get a stronger 2-ply result:
Settings > Analysis... > Analysis Level: supremo
Settings > Players... > GNU Backgammon: supremo
Settings > Rollouts... > Play Settings > First Play Both: supremo
If you can get it to screw up, I would like to see the files. I might try to duplicate your results on my version of GnuBg. (Even here there could be a problem. I am running an unofficial release of GnuBg, given to me to patch a bug I found. I am a bit ahead of the general public with the version I am running. It will get the patch in the next official release of GnuBg.)
Another thing you can do to see why GnuBg beats you is to activate Tutor mode, and set a very low threshold. Go to Settings -> Tutor, and add a checkmark to the checkbox for Tutor Mode. Be sure the Warning level is Doubtful. Next, go to Settings -> Analysis, and set the threshold for Doubtful to 0.02 (or less). Now you are set to begin playing. GnuBg will interrupt everytime it thinks you make a mistake. Not all of GnuBg’s suggestions will be correct. Rollouts, or 4-ply analyses, will overturn some of them. But for the most part, it will reveal to you just how often you are making mistakes. Get ready to be humbled.
After each game or session, be sure to choose Analyze -> Analyze match or session..., and review your results.
Here is a link to a discussion of other tests you can use to check GnuBg.
Am i nuts or does GNU cheat?
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/13...-cheat-910882/
Hope this helps.
Last edited by Taper_Mike; 09-23-2012 at 04:23 AM.