Conspec recognition

Bots use various methods to identify others of their species.

In and Out

Bots can use the numbers stored in in/out to identify conspecs.

Advantages:

- Easy to implement

Disadvantages:

- Very, very easily fooled

Example: Step 1-Initialize IO port

cond
*.robage 0 =
start
100 .out1 store
stop

Step 1-Check In against out. note that if nothing is visible, the in values default to 0, which might screw up bot behaviour. It's usually best to add *.eye5 0 != to be sure.

cond
*.in1 *.out1 !=
start
...

Memloc and Memval

Bots can use Memloc and Memval to read a location in another bot's memory. This can be used for conspec recognition.

Advantages:

- More secure than In and Out

Disadvantages:

- Can be fooled

Example: -Using the length of DNA as conspec Step 1: Set memory location to read to DNA length

cond
*.memloc .dnalen !=
start
.dnalen .memloc store
stop

Step 2: Read the value of the other bot's DNA length. This may not work if no bot is visible, so add *.eye5 0 != to be sure.

cond
*.memval *.dnalen !=
start
...

Refeye and Myeye

By far the most popular form of conspec recognition.

Advantages:

- Can't be tricked passively

Disdvantages:

- Can be tricked if .myeye is altered by an info shot, venom or a virus

Other RefVars

Other RefVars such as .refshoot can be used to identify members of your species too.

Advantages:

- Can't be tricked passively

- Rarer than Refeye and Myeye and so less likely to be targeted

Disdvantages:

- Most bots may only have one instance of the command in their DNA

Example:

-For all refvars, including .myeye; remember to check if there is a bot with *.eye5 0 !=.

cond
*.ref__ *.my__ !=
start
...

Other

Some other forms of conspec recognition have been thought up, but most are very impractical.