I still don't get it :) ...
After looking at BrokenSword i'm now even more confused :). I saw you classify the vector by distance and velocity and collect 200 vectors for each index. This is quite similar to what i do right now, but i take lastHeading change and velocity. Then you fire a wave and register the displacement vector if the wave reaches the target and you have scanned it one tick before. so far i can follow :). Now it comes to calculate the fireAngle. You take for all targets the lastVectors (are you not concerned that you haven't seen the target for quite a while?) and then just scale the vectors to the current distance and bulletPower. If you just scale the vector to whatever tick you want, would that not be against the displacement vector idea? Because the target could be anywhere between the vectors start and end point, i guess. I would say the worst thing that could happen is, you calculate the vector for lets say 20 ticks and scale it down to 1 tick. Now the battle progresses and you use these vector, but the target travels 30 ticks. If you scale the 20 tick vector the target could be anywhere. Don't get me wrong maybe i missed something important :). I was a little unsure about my thoughts and started a little test match against my current arch enemies Tron and DoctorBob :) (meleefield). Tron moves very straight but jiggles in a very nice manner so he should be save against almost all simple guns but vulnerable against displacement vectors. Maybe you have a look by yourself :) but be prepared it is very devastating what he does with BrokenSword. DoctorBob is a nano bot and he just oscillates to close combat distance. Which is quite nasty with simple guns but every learning gun should kill him quite well.
The question is, how is the average displacement vector working? To me it looks like the classifyer attributes are very important to group the right vectors but the scaling generates a lot of noise and misinterpretations. My gun is a little better in hit rate against these both bots but still not competitive. I will give the timer tomorrow a try and play a little with the attributes i let you know how it worked out.
Take care
