StarCraft 2 Genetic Algorithm Build Order Generator in the Works

I stumbled across a post last week on the Starcraft Reddit which linked to a page about an app that uses genetic algorithms to determine Stacraft 2 build orders.

I haven’t actually gotten to try out any of the build orders that it spits out due to school being a little overwhelming right now, and according to our omniscient Editor-in-Chief it’ll take a few hundred years to “be good” (for reference/credibility: he wrote his dissertation on pretty much this exact topic).

The program essentially takes the input from the user of what units and structures the player wants to have by a certain time limit and gives the user a build order — to the second — of what you should be building during your ideal match. It’s an interesting idea, and raises some questions of what we should be expecting from the metagaming side of competitive play.

Only the Zerg version of the program has been completed, and the current domination build found by the program of a seven Roach rush is devastating to other players. This brings up the question of “should we use tools to help us decide what to do in competitive games?”

Teamliquid had a poll on their forums about the app, and asked whether or not it should be used/what platform it should be developed on. 88% wanted it to see the light of day and the majority of the people who voted wanted it as a desktop application. So the whole “should we have this tool” debate isn’t really even an ethical question of metagaming but one of learning how to use the system.

As long as the other versions of the program are released fairly soon, I don’t really see a problem. The argument is similar to using a spreadsheet in World of Warcraft to see what gems and enchants on your items gives you the most increase in damage. It really just boils down to the math. If you don’t understand it, don’t believe it, and don’t use it and rely on your pure 1337 skillz to crush your opponents, you’ll still probably have just as much fun and possibly remain in a high ladder.

Videogames are meant to put the colorful, flashy graphics in front of your face to make the math digestible, and if you don’t want to know about it you never have to tab out of your window to open up Wolfram Alpha or Excel to figure out what to do next.

via: Wired