Well, that's interesting

May be we can generalize and say that most of the bot have very weak motion algorithm, i.e. they do not dodge even a circular gun. Older version of EvBot got to the top 30 melee only using circular gun with reasonably good dodging motions.

I still remember my shock of this discovery: circular gun is good enough.

The circular gun though completely inadequate in 1on1 to get anywhere high.

The top bots authors are usually on top in both 1on1 and melee, so they can evade such simple gun, and then they still dominate top position.

So I think it is not preying on a weak, it is more of not able to hit a strong one.

In general melee the chance of meeting the top bot is quite small, so you score on others and simply yield to the best.