This post contains additional information regarding the run-up to the end of the course. Please note that it does not contain everything you need to know; much more detailed instructions and guidance were provided in lectures.
Assignment 3
The tournament will continue to run for some time after the deadline, to accommodate students with extensions, as well as any student who wishes to continue working after the deadline for the purposes of their own study.
Some students have wondered how the performance of their AIs might map onto marks. Your marks for unit tests, coding style, and report (collectively 45% of the total) do not depend on the quality of your AI’s play. For the other 55%, we will test your AI in six matches each, with equal turns at Player 1 and Player 2, on a variety of seeds, against six of our AIs (all of our tournament AIs except 8100, which is firstLegal). This is 36 games total, so with 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw, a maximum of 72 points. This will roughly map onto marks as follows:
| 6 points + | Pass |
| 30 + | Credit |
| 42 + | Distinction |
| 54 + | High Distinction |
This is not a precise formula because we will look at your code with an eye to adding to your mark if there is evidence that you attempted something sophisticated or inventive, even if it did not quite translate into quality play.
Final Exam Study Event
An in-person study event will be hosted the Computer Science Student’s Association, with support from this course’s tutors. This will be held on Friday the 10th of November from 5pm in the Birch Building, room 1.36.
Drop-In Consultations After Week 12
There will be no drop-in consulations for the two weeks after week 12 ends. There will be two drop-in consultations held in the week of the exam. These will be on Monday 13th November and Wednesday 15th November at the usual time of 12pm-1pm. However due to demands on rooms for exams, they are not in the usual venues. The Monday consultation will be in HN3.41 and the Wednesday consultation will be in HN1.37, both in the Hanna Neumann building. These are not computer labs, so please be prepared to bring your laptop if this is necessary for the discussions you wish to have.