Challenge Results

Core War nano challenge took place on 2025.06.15, attracting 27 entries by 14 authors. Inversed claimed first place, followed by Dave Hillis claiming second place.

Downloads

Qualification Round

Warrior Author Strategy NE ZDNE
Forbes Roy van Rijn Clear 168.3 160.9
Glitch//CORE John Metcalf Replicator 163.6 151.0
9dc398e6-3534c074-784d693e.rc bvowk Clear / imp 163.4 152.1
6b790897-f7e68574-324ebd10.rc bvowk Clear / imp 162.1 150.1
Nashville Tennessee Roy van Rijn Replicator 161.2 151.1
rogue[AI] John Metcalf Clear 160.6 153.3
gazette lain Replicator 159.7 149.0
Reptiloid Supremacy inversed Clear 159.0 158.6
shards of the pale moon raptor Clear / imp 155.5 142.9
Voodoo Curse Simon Wainwright Quickscanner 154.6 148.3
Ultimate Balrog Simon Wainwright Clear 154.5 148.1
Karlach koorogi Clear / imp 154.0 147.6
hymn of the hollow star raptor Clear 152.2 143.7
Reptiloid Conspiracy inversed Clear 151.2 154.4
conduit lain Clear 150.9 138.8
Ripple in the Equilibrium S.Fernandes Replicator 149.7 142.7
Bombus Nashii S.Fernandes Scanner 148.6 142.8
rdrc: Smitten Atrocity Dave Hillis Clear 148.2 147.4
rdrc: Sawtooth Grindstone Dave Hillis Clear 146.1 144.7
Gem Tumour Steve Gunnell Clear 144.7 144.2
Vilifier Steve Gunnell Replicator 138.8 138.0
21_5 NDusN Clear 136.4 136.6
Eventuality Of Goats Telkkar Clear / imp 131.7 125.9
Discreet Foghorn Telkkar Clear 120.4 113.4
Astarion koorogi Clear / imp 106.7 104.0
Evolvernano173038 Drugganator Clear 107.0 99.2
Evolvernano151282 Drugganator Clear 105.9 98.1

Final Round

Rank Prob Score Name Author
1 18.40 142.25 Reptiloid Supremacy inversed
2 15.80 142.25 Reptiloid Conspiracy inversed
3 10.95 142.25 14_12.red yabevolver
4 9.52 142.25 path of the mountain hare John Metcalf
5 7.75 142.25 [RS] Existephall Apris inversed
6 5.71 142.25 145_13.red yabevolver
7 5.44 142.25 Smitten Atrocity Dave Hillis
8 4.18 142.25 Creamed Corn Terry Newton
9 4.03 142.25 032_42.red yabevolver
10 3.88 142.25 rumpelstiltskin gnik
11 3.76 142.25 Another MEVO Thing Terry Newton
12 2.99 142.25 9dc398e6-3534c074-784d693e bvowk
13 2.72 142.25 NanoCracker Terry Newton
14 2.60 142.25 Bombus Nashii S.Fernandes
15 1.05 142.25 Karlach koorogi
16 0.61 142.25 Red Moon Fluffy
17 0.40 142.25 Diffraction Limit S5 inversed
18 0.21 142.25 Black Sun II Fluffy
27 0 141.16 Ultimate Balrog Simon Wainwright
38 0 140.23 Glitch//CORE John Metcalf
45 0 138.82 gazette lain
46 0 138.82 Forbes Roy van Rijn
47 0 138.75 Sawtooth Grindstone Dave Hillis
51 0 138.54 Ripple in the Equilibrium S.Fernandes
73 0 136.88 Voodoo Curse Simon Wainwright
75 0 136.87 hymn of the hollow star raptor
91 0 135.89 Nashville Tennessee Roy van Rijn
99 0 135.52 shards of the pale moon raptor
112 0 134.50 6b790897-f7e68574-324ebd10 bvowk
122 0 133.75 rogue[AI] John Metcalf
181 0 129.17 conduit lain

Original Announcement

The time has come to push the boundaries of nanoscale warrior design. Whether you are a new or an experienced player, join the CoreWar Nano Challenge and prove your mastery of the nano core to win $100 prize.

Rules

  1. The challenge will be held under the 94nop standard with Nano hill settings: 
        Core size        80
    Max cycles      800
    Max processes    80
    Max length        5
    Min distance      5
  2. Each player may submit up to two entries.
  3. Qualification stage. The entries will be scored against the Nash equilibrium (NE) of the Koenigstuhl nano hill snapshot from 2025.05.01: 
     Prob  Name                             Author
15.53  14_12.red                        yabevolver
10.13  Combat Arithmetic                inversed
 8.60  Nonlocality 2                    inversed
 8.25  Transfer Function                Terry Newton
 6.83  032_42.red                       yabevolver
 6.74  b69e6908-a5be0bba-ab4445f7.rc    bvowk
 6.20  Unholy Fire                      John Metcalf
 6.14  Quantum Foam                     inversed
 4.99  [RS] Nextratulated Sturvinator 2 inversed
 4.77  128_48.red                       yabevolver
 4.63  Diffraction Limit S5             inversed
 4.31  Cold Plasma                      inversed
 3.72  8c09fc1a-4799259f-1747246f       bvowk
 3.00  Pacler Deux                      Roy van Rijn
 2.66  Flamewraith                      John Metcalf
 2.08  [RS] Existephall Apris           inversed
 1.16  Nonlocality                      inversed
 0.25  145_13.red                       yabevolver
    Qualification scores will be calculated as the weighted averages of the scores against the above warriors with weights corresponding to NE probabilities. Scoring is exact (permute option). Entries scoring above 146 points shall advance to the next stage.
  4. Final stage. All entries advancing from the qualification stage will be added to the Koenigstuhl nano hill snapshot from 2025.05.01 and the new Nash equilibrium will be calculated. Players will then be ranked by total NE probability of qualified entries.
  5. The prize fund is $130, $100 for the first place, $30 for the second place.
  6. I will be participating as well. To ensure fair play, I've uploaded my entries in a passworded archive at the announcement day (edit: the password is Nanomachinery80).
  7. Important dates: 
        Submission deadline     2025.06.15 10:00 UTC
    Challenge date          2025.06.15 14:00 UTC
  8. Links: Official tournament links: 
            reoser@mail.ru                                  -- mailbox for sending your entries
        http://inversed.ru/CoreWar_Challenge_2.htm      -- tournament page
        https://www.youtube.com/@Inversed               -- channel with challenge livestream
    Follow the announcements at: 
            rec.games.corewar                               -- usenet newsgroup
        https://x.com/inversed_ru                       -- my X account
        https://x.com/xcorewar                          -- Core War on X
        https://www.reddit.com/r/corewar/               -- Core War subreddit
    CoreWar resources: 
            https://corewar.co.uk                           -- all things Core War
        https://www.corewar.info                        -- another great Core War site
        https://asdflkj.net/COREWAR/koenigstuhl.html    -- Koenigstuhl warrior repository
    Software: 
            https://corewar.co.uk/mars.htm                  -- Core War simulators
        https://corewar.co.uk/evolving.htm              -- list of evolvers
        https://www.corewar.info/evolve.htm             -- another list of evolvers
  9. No politics / offensive content in submissions.