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BGonline.org Forums
GnuBg settings to mimic XGR++
Posted By: Taper_Mike In Response To: GnuBg settings to mimic XGR++ (Daniel Murphy)
Date: Tuesday, 31 July 2012, at 5:28 a.m.
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As a computer programmer myself, I must confess that sometimes we can be an odd bunch. For instance, if you ask a computer programmer to count to ten, he (or she) will often start at zero. Then, as if to compensate, the programmer stops at nine! GnuBg seems to do the same thing. It uses the name “0-ply” for the same analysis other bots describe as “1-ply.” If you set GnuBg to truncate a rollout after 7 plies, it performs evals at plies 0-6.
In its dialog box for Rollout Settings, GnuBg has a section called “Truncation.” Within it is a field called “Truncate at ply.” I am a bit confused by this language. Should my response here use the lower ply numbers GnuBg prefers to describe its rollouts? If I want to simulate the 7 plies of an XGR++ eval, does that mean I should enter a 6 in this field?
The way I see it, if you truncate a rollout “at ply 6,” that means that you have performed evals at plies 0-6. Because you begin with ply 0, stopping at ply 6 means you made evals at 7 different plies.
The answer to my question, however, may be no. In the rollout posted by Daniel, he selected 7. In the output for the rollout, this generates the message, “Truncated cubeful rollout (depth 7) with var. redn.” Depth 7 sounds like what we want. “Truncate at ply 7” means “depth 7.”
Even if this is the case, the language is awkward. “Truncate after 7 plies (plies 0-6)” would be better. Given GnuBg’s numbering scheme, “Truncate at ply 7” ought to mean depth 8.
Similarly, the section entitled “Evaluation for later plies” has a field called “Change eval after ply.” In order to mimic XGR++, we want all decisions after the first two to be made using lower settings. Well, the first decision (in the parlance of GnuBg) happens at ply 0, and the second, at ply 1. The third decision occurs at ply 2. When selecting a value for the field “Change eval after ply,” should I be using these lower numbers? In order to have GnuBg use weaker setting for its ply 2, should I tell GnuBg to “Change eval after ply 1?”
Once again, the answer may be no. When Daniel enters a 2 in this field, the output contains the message, “Different evaluations after 2 plies...” This seems to indicate that the first two plies, ply 0 and ply 1, use the stronger settings. Subsequent plies, beginning with ply 2, use the weaker settings.
But I am not sure.
I tried to explain this in my last post, but I feel I did not make my concerns clear. In fact, if you now understand what I am driving at, I may have done the disservice of introducing doubt about something you already had clear. It wouldn’t be the first time.
It’s a programmer thing. We are way too literal.
Mike
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