Analysis of subject KP-19

Experiment ST07

Synopsis:
The main purpose of this experiment is to determine the potential combat skills of each subject for further military use in Operation Soulforge. All subjects were given the task of piloting a variety of air craft through a multitude of simulated combat zones. Each zone was specifically designed not only to test the physical skills of the pilot, but also to determine each subject's ability to analyze the tactical situation at hand. All information has been documented by section and by individual, for each week and an overall analysis.


Subject: KP-19
Handle: Kyper
Assigned Section: LDSTGT07

Supervisor: Jonathan Core

I have been assigned to supervise and record all information on subject KP-19, otherwise known as Kyper. Each week has been documented with their corresponding aircraft manufacturer and experiment phase name.


Week 1: Konami
Operation: TwinBee Yahhoo!

The subject displayed great enthusiasm as the experiment started its first week. The first experiment phase challenged each pilot with handling Konami's famous TwinBee aircraft, a trademark blue and yellow bee-shaped robot. A handful of participants expressed dismay with the TwinBee being greatly affected by gravitational problems and the poorly designed combat zone which required "juggling bells," as one participant had eloquently stated. Subject KP-19 however did not seem to share this dislike. Rather, he seemed to enjoy this experiment phase.

During his piloting, KP-19 managed to execute a sound strategy, although it could have been improved had he not decided against upgrading his craft's speed and weapons systems. He encountered problems in the middle of the 4th combat zone, where it was inevitable for him to be shot down by an enemy. If it were not for the assistance of his wingman GwinBee, KP-19 would most likely have not finished off the final obstacle of the 5th zone. A documented photograph describing said situation can be found here.

The subject attempted to gain some tactical insight by discussing the experiment phase with his assigned section, LDSTGT07. To his bewilderment, only the section leader (subject CH5K) responded to his inquiry. KP-19 appeared to be disheartened, but this did not affect his performance in any way.

Combat Performance Score: 3,841,370
Week Grade: 16/108 - A
Grade up to this point: 16/108 - A


Week 2: Seibu Kaihatsu
Operation: Viper Phase One

Having previous experience and previous discomfort with the Seibu Kaihatsu line of aircraft, the subject managed to, in his own words, "live down to his expectations." Seibu aircraft have a bit of a reputation of being slow and susceptible to quick fire, especially against sniper-type attack ships. The JudgeSpear craft appeared to be no exception for subject KP-19. This discomfort was coupled with the intense combat zone that placed an emphasis on memorization. Even the slightest mistake would cause a significant lapse in the pilot's chances of performing well.

The subject was unable to formulate a successful strategy. He could not perfect the 1st combat zone, nor did he even make it past the 3rd zone. KP-19 complained of a lack of time due to other commitments, but he did not seem confident that he would otherwise produce a better performance. Despite the lack of affinity for the chosen aircraft and the difficult combat zone conditions, the subject seemed quite engaged during this experiment phase.

Once again, KP-19 attempted another effort to get his section involved in tactical discussion. This also met with failure as his question went unanswered. My belief is that he came to realize his section members were not as committed as he was. Judging from discussion with the other supervisors and KP-19's behavior in the future, this is a most likely case.

Combat Performance Score: 2,101,015
Week Grade: 48/93 - F+
Grade up to this point: 27/116 - B


Week 3: Second Place
Operation: Darius Gaiden

This experiment featured the Silver Hawk aircraft which the subject found most capable in both offensive and defensive abilities. The Silver Hawk possess an advanced shielding system that protects against multiple hits and can be upgraded if the pilot collects enough Medal Blue to do so. Also, the craft has an incredibly high rate of fire compared to other ships. Some subjects found this craft to be more than enough for the job, KP-19 included.

The tactical component of this experiment phase was a little different than usual. Participants were allowed to select specific routes through the combat zone, leaving it up to the pilot to discover the best route for maximum performance. Although the majority of the subjects chose route ABDGLQV, KP-19 and the best subject opted for route ABDGKPZ'. Unfortunately for KP-19, he lost a fair amount of performance points for failing to survive multiple attacks within the end of Z' section. A documented photograph of his performance can be found here.

Despite his failed attempts to spark tactical discussion, KP-19 still shared his findings and experiences. It seemed that only his section leader would respond, and it would not help with KP-19's strategy due to the different routes they chose. He seemed to be somewhat content knowing that someone in his section was committed as he was, if not more so.

Combat Performance Score: 8,550,000
Week Grade: 36/88 - D+
Grade up to this point: 32/116 - B-


Week 4: Hidden Gem
Operation: Omega Fighter Special

In this combat zone, pilots were to approach the enemy as closely as possible in order to achieve a high performance score. In addition to this unique property, the pilots were also given limited access to red bomb weaponry. These clear the immediate area of any enemy. Unfortunately, the combat zone suffered from a major glitch in the system. A pilot's performance score would rise if they collided with the last remaining enemy at the end of each combat zone. Thankfully, the knowledge to replicate this glitch was made available to each of the subjects, keeping the experiment results valid.

The subject appeared to be discontent and frustrated with this experiment phase. Although his previous performances were below average, this phase had the subject become infuriated with his own ability. One particular moment was in the 7th combat zone, against an enemy armed with funnel laser weaponry. KP-19 was unable to devise a proper strategy and this prevented him from further adding to his performance score. Further hindering his progress was his neglect of making the best use of red bombs.

KP-19 did not try to communicate with his section in this experiment phase. It was most likely that the subject did not find the need to, and also likely that he knew he would not receive any answers.

Combat Performance Score: 7,670,000
Week Grade: 34/77 - D
Grade up to this point: 28/118 - B


Week 5: Famous Maniac
Operation: Giga Wing

This final combat zone was designed to push the physical and tactical limits of each participant. Each area of the combat zone contains a large amount of enemies armed with high rate of fire weaponry. To ease the tension on the pilots, their ships were given a special weapon called the Reflect Force. This weapon would produce a shield that would last for a few seconds. When in use, it provides invulnerability to any attacks and also reflects any enemy fire. If used right, the pilot would obtain not only a higher performance score, but a better chance to survive. Also unique to this experiment phase was the ability to choose from 4 different ships: the Raijin, Carmine, Porchka and the Widerstand.

KP-19 was impressed with his section leader's experience with the Carmine. Despite his poor performances, KP-19 made a personal challenge which encompassed both redeeming himself and also surpassing his section leader. As expected, this was not to be. The subject seemed to be too preoccupied with perfecting the first combat zones. He could be observed analyzing replaces of his flight attempts over and over again, trying to absorb all the information he could.

Based on my observations, all of that information either proved to be too much for him, or he lacked the piloting ability to execute his planned strategy properly, possibly both. His final result in this experiment phase was quite low, but KP-19 seemed to believe he was on the right track. Comparing his results to others, he only reached the 3rd combat zone but managed to achieve a performance score equivalent to those subjects who ended their run on the 4th or 5th zone.

Combat Performance Score: 6,380,215,135,910
Week Grade: 45/76 - F
Overall Grade:


Final Notes:

After analyzing these results, it clearly shows that subject KP-19 is lacking the ability to pilot any craft and to devise a proper strategy. It also seems that something else is holding him back, something that I cannot determine at this point in time.

I have observed that he has somewhat of a pessimistic nature. He seems to feel a little sorrow due to his inability to effectively master a single combat zone. He is bothered even more so because he does not feel he has improved in his general skill after all 5 weeks of ST07. Perhaps that is so, but KP-19 should not feel discouraged by his performance. If anything, he should use experience to further drive his path to improvement. I'm sure he is fully aware of this fact. That is why I have recommended him for Operation Soulforge.

I wish Kyper all the best.

Document name TL;DR: GGS
-Jonathan Core

Programmers run the world

Well, this is as any good a time as another to make an entry. I guess we can kick it off with a topic that has had somewhat of an influence on my life. In the Q2 scene, there's a coder named R1CH who is doing a couple of things to strengthen the game and the community. Specifically, he has coded r1q2, which provides a stable and secure client and server. He has created the anticheat .dll which protects servers from anyone who attempts to cheat. He is also currently working on OpenTDM, an open sourced server-side mod that will help provide quick and easy modifications. This is opposed to closed-source tourney OSP mod. Heh, r1ch also has somewhat of a reputation of being a nazi coder for his work on the Q2 mod Gloom.

But, let's put r1ch and his accomplishments aside for now. No, I'm more focused about a coder named Zaltekk. According to his MySpace page, he's a month younger than me. Despite that, he has a wide range of technical knowledge that far exceeds my own. Heh, well I guess I shouldn't be surprised about that. I still have doubts about my currently chosen field. There's a lot to learn, and I feel like I have to struggle a little more than the average person on any given programming concept or technical whatnot.

At any rate, Zaltekk has been on both sides of the Q2 cheating scene, so to speak. I've read some of his forum posts aiding Bryce, the author of the now defunct NoCheat client, with security and code tips. But he has also been involved in the creation of cheats, including his own release of a Digital Paintball client hack. He has helped r1ch with a few things, but he also talks to zeb0r, one of the more seedy members of the Q2 community, if you will. I'm wondering what his intentions are, whether he's just playing mind games to screw with everyone or just looking for coding challenges in different areas.

Whether it's right or not for Zaltekk to screw around like this is not an issue. He can do as he pleases and I wish him luck regardless. What is surprising to me, though, is how much influence a coder can have on a community. I always see coders like r1ch and arQon (well, maybe not arQon, heh) getting a whole lot of respect for what they're doing. Rarely do I see an artist getting the same reputation as a programmer, but then again maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. I don't know, though...would a person who, compared to someone who has mastery over how a game works, have the same amount of respect in the community for being able to design custom textures, models and levels?

Not to mention that coders can easily help or hinder you, depending on their intentions. That reminds me of a little stunt that zeb0r pulled off against r1ch. He wrote a little piece at www.zeb0r.net/r1ch, but it seems to be inaccessible right now. It was probably pulled off 'cause people were debunking his lies, it seems. Whatever the case, he provided a couple of false IRC logs that painted r1ch as a malicious coder that was trying to use his status as the sole anticheat/r1q2 coder to get in a better financial position. There was even a code snippet that supposedly showed commands that r1ch could use to more or less screw with your system (I couldn't understand it, it's too low-level for me, and I barely understand anything low-level).

Whether it's true or not, and I highly doubt that it is, it just goes to show you that coders can easily write 'bad' or 'good' code. And it's not the code's fault; lines of code are just a set of instructions. It does not differentiate between helpful or harmful intentions. It just does what it is told, pretty much. There seems to be a lot of power to be attained as a coder, or someone with technical knowledge. And just like the saying that Mr. Parker likes to cite, great power comes with great responsibility. I hope coders are willing to take responsibility for their work, whether they release a hotfix or a hack. Well, that's enough of those ramblings.

So! Week 4 of the Shooting Game Tournament 2007 on shmups.com has come to an end. I did what I could, but it's obviously not good enough. I couldn't clear the first loop, and I didn't hit 10 million points. I only started to use my red bombs efficiently on my last couple of runs. Heh...is there anything that I did right? I sort of gave up on the last day, not being able to get past level 7 consistently. The stage is just full of enemies and projectiles, and the boss will cause problems if you don't have a red bomb handy.

Omega Fighter Special just wasn't my game, but then again, what is? I await the final week of this tournament. I'm gonna do my best to make the top 20. I'm a little unsure of my chances, though. The final week's theme is 'Famous Maniac.' The famous keyword tells me that a bunch of people have played it, and the maniac part tells me it's gonna be hard. Nevertheless, I'll do my best.

Another entry of an insignificant lifeform

Well, I decided to move the place where I write my journal entries. I suppose it doesn't matter where I write this stuff 'cause no one else is gonna read it, but I think a weblog is the right venue for me to write random thoughts about things.

I remember when I used my school agenda as a journal. I filled 4 years of my high school experience inside, and then finally moved to LiveJournal. It has been a while, hasn't it? It doesn't feel like anything has changed...heh, whatever.

My old stuff can be found at http://kyper-trast.livejournal.com if anyone wants to bother. Some of the more recent posts talk about the Q2 NADL #1 and STGT 2007 if anyone cares. My life isn't all that interesting, but if people want to read over the idiotic thoughts of a below average human being, they are welcome to.