Devlog #6

I added intelligence to the bot. It’s not that smart yet, but it now actively can try to thwart your plans by blocking you when you have 3 or 4 in a row, and will also try to get 5 in a row.

I did this by searching for 3 and 4 in a row using a modified version of the function that scans for the game conclusion (5 in a row).

To help evaluate the position, I created a separate copy of the board, then simulated placing stones on every spot and seeing if there’s a 4 or 5 in a row now.

For a while, if there was already a 3 or 4 in a row on the board, the engine would just think that the first available spot was a good spot, which is not good. I solved this by getting the function to return the position where the 4 or 5 in a row is located.

The bot has yet to beat me in a game where I took it seriously, but hopefully that changes soon.