Food being destroyed

[sirchess]

The food harvesting rules in the spec mention this:

If there exist ants within the spawn radius belonging to more than one distinct bot then the food is destroyed and disappears from the game.

Since the combat phase is before the gather phase, is it even possible for this to occur, given the gather radius is smaller than the combat radius? One-on-one, the ants would kill each other before they get a chance to gather the food, so the only possibility I can imagine is if some complicated combat resolution managed to leave two ants standing with the food piece right between them. I haven't given it much thought, but I somehow doubt it's possible...

[sir_macelon]

Yes, you are right.
It is only possible when spawn radius is greater than attack radius, so with the current ruleset it is not possible.

[tmc]

You mean when attack radius < spawn radius * 2 + 1.

Technically it is possible, if a piece of food spawns next to an ant hill ;)

[sir_macelon]

No, I mean spawnRadius2>attackRadius2.
This rule was introduced back then when there was no battle resolution yet, i.e. attackRadius2=0 (means ants get killed only if they collide), so this is rather artifical now.

If food spawns next to an ant hill, battle resolution will take precedence before food gathering anyway and the food won't be destroyed.

[sirchess]

Ah, interesting, thanks for the history lesson I wondered if it maybe wasn't a legacy rule.

[tmc]

If food spawns next to an ant hill, battle resolution will take precedence before food gathering anyway and the food won't be destroyed.

Oh, right, my bad. You're mistaken about the other part though (the food can be halfway between two ants).