## HearthSim — Modeling Unpredictable Outcomes

We have so far employed an AI strategy similar to how modern day chess or go AIs work: working out all possible outcomes of all possible actions that the player can perform and picking out the best series of actions. In games such as chess, the strategy works out well (witness recent computer vs humans… Read More »

## HearthSim: Divine Shield Modeling — Part 2

This is part 2 of our Divine Shield modeling. Setup Let’s take our Super Basic Deck, with a generic no-good Hero (with no hero abilities), and pit it against an opponent with the same deck with Scarlet Crusader replaced by Magma Rager. We will call the player with Scarlet Crusader Player0, and the opponent Player1.… Read More »

## HearthSim: Divine Shield Modeling — Part 1

Let’s take a look at how we might go about modeling Divine Shield. Recall that the AI scoring function is given by $$S = S_{\rm b} + \tilde{S}_{\rm b} + S_{\rm c} + S_{\rm h} + \tilde{S}_{\rm h}$$ (see the original post). In particular, for each minion that one has on the board, the… Read More »

## HearthSim: Super Basic Deck for Testing

Here’s the first real deck that I’ll be using for testing HearthSim in the next couple of posts. Goldshire Footman × 2 Murloc Raider × 2 Bloodfen Raptor × 2 Frostwolf Grunt × 2 River Crocolisk × 2 Ironfur Grizzly × 2 Scarlet Crusader × 2 Silverback Patriarch × 2 Chillwind Yeti × 2 Oasis… Read More »

## HearthSim: To Taunt or not to Taunt

Here’s a quick set of results highlighting the Taunt mechanics. Taunt is a game mechanic where the opponent minions can direct where your attack goes. When there are Taunt minions on the opponents board, your hero and minions can only physically attack Taunt’ed minions. Spell cards not affected by this restriction. But… I’m sure most… Read More »

## HearthSim on github

HearthSim is now on github at github:HearthSim! The current version has all the code necessary for the previous simulation results. Next up is writing more test cases and implementing more game mechanics (i.e., more cards).

## HearthSim — Direct damage spells

Let’s take a look at the effect of another Hearthstone card mechanic: direct damage spells. We are talking about cards like Holy Smite and Fireball, the spells that deal a set amount of damage to a minion or a hero. These cards are quite popular in many decks as they provide great utility and flexibility,… Read More »

## HearthSim — Tuning the AI

The HearthSim AI is controlled by various model parameters, and it is difficult if not impossible to find the optimal set of parameters that will perform well under all circumstances. So, we need to be able to break down the parameters and understand them in more manageable chunks. For those of you unfamiliar with the… Read More »

## HearthSim — The Power of “The Coin”

Let’s take a look at the most basic card of all, The Coin. The Coin is a 0 mana spell that gives you one mana crystal upon use. The player who goes second gets The Coin in his starting hand. How valuable is The Coin? To get a hint, we run HearthSim with the following… Read More »

## HearthSim — Intro

HearthSim is a general Hearthstone simulator that I am developing. It is designed to allow one to perform simplified theoretical analysis on Hearthstone decks. The Setup The simulator pits two AI controlled players against each other, playing a large number of simulated games. The game setup is similar to that of Hearthstone, but mulliganing is… Read More »