Different AI training runs progress at different rates. I would like to create a smoothed out, combined run. For a couple reasons.
You know how different bots (and players) of the same rank have different strengths and weaknesses? It would be cool if there was a definitively average bot for a given rank. I once farmed amybot-ddk and inflated my rank, so I thought I was a higher rank than it, but once I started playing real players my rank crashed, and I was back at amybot’s rank, even though beating it consistently was easy at this point. This wouldn’t have happened with an evened out bot.
Another thing is when I see AI recommended moves sometimes I wonder, “What rank would I have to be to think of that?” Or, “Can you show me something closer to my level?” It would be nice if I could adjust katago to a lower level, so I know it’s reasonable for me to play the suggested moves. I don’t expect any one person to make this happen, it’s just ideas I would like more people to think about and work towards. Maybe I can hire a programmer and rent a server to train my own katago experiment.
Also, for what it’s worth, if you play around with the AI settings on Katrain
you can supposedly set it to play at a level as low as 15 kyu
Having messed around with this a little bit, what I can say is that the lower you set it, the less likely it will be to suggest risky attacks, invasions, trying to kill opponent groups, capture dragons etc…
The move suggestions will focus more on thick, solid play, prioritizing the stages of the game, good direction of play, consolidating extensions and making moyos early, etc
However, if it ever comes under attack, it will defend and counter-attack to capture at what seems like a much higher level than just 15kyu, so metaphorically speaking it seems like a bit of a timid wolf in sheep’s clothing until painted into a corner
But yes, if you’re looking for guidance more appropriate to your current level, I’d recommend playing around with Katrain
I don’t think there is such a thing as an evened out rank. There are many different ways to be strong and many different ways to be weak. Any particular player will be s combination of different strengths and weaknesses and will have a unique matchup with any other player. If everybody plays everybody then that will result in average win rates and thus ranks, but I suspect it’s not super strange to be able to consistently win against specific players a rank or two higher or consistently lose to some players a rank or two lower than you.
Bots of course represent an extreme of that, since they have a consistent set of strengths and weaknesses and they usually don’t learn between games, so you can really become good against a specific bot if you figure out how to exploit it’s weaknesses.
