Technical FAQ
This page contains frequently asked questions about running the robocraft software, writing a player, or clarifications about the contest specifications. For a general FAQ about 6.370, please refer to the General FAQ.
Some questions that we receive result in clarifications being added to the spec. See the ChangeLog each time a new version comes out to see if your question has been addressed.
If you can't find an answer to your question online, see Getting Help.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Gameplay
- How do I spawn my first Bomber?
- Can Sentries and Falcons really not attack diagonally?
- Some robots can't attack themselves. What if I want them to self-destruct?
Software
Gameplay
How do I spawn my first Bomber?
Once you have two Falcons, you can use transferEnergon
to give one of them enough energon to spawn a Bomber.
Can Sentries and Falcons really not attack diagonally?
Correct. Diagonally adjacent squares have a Euclidean distance of
sqrt(2)
, which is outside the attack range of these
robots (which is 1). This means that when facing diagonally these
robots can only attack themselves. Note, however, that the dependence of
attack ranges on the direction a robot is facing is simply a way of
requiring robots to turn towards the direction in which they wish to
attack.
Some robots can't attack themselves. What if I want them to self-destruct?
Your robot explodes instantly if its VM terminates. There are three ways to accomplish this:
- Return normally from
RobotPlayer.run()
(using program logic) - Throw an uncaught exception
- Call
System.exit()
Software
What version of Java should I use to compile my players?
The supported version of the JDK is 1.4.2. Java compilers that target the 1.5 runtime libraries may produce class files that refer to classes not supported by the RoboVM.