Thank you, Codingame, for this new challenge!
I found the game to be very well-designed, with a more complex set of rules than usual, introducing significant depth through the Sporer mechanic. This allowed both heuristics and search algorithms to thrive. The UI was clear and straightforward to understand. The varied maps (low-protein/high-protein, closed/open) forced the creation of a bot that could adapt to different contexts (although I didn’t delve too far into this aspect).
My only criticism is that the open maps were highly chaotic, especially those where it was possible to spawn a root near the enemy root by the second turn. These maps seemed very random, with victory often depending on luck and where your tentacle spawned.
I am very happy and proud of my result, especially considering that three nights before the end, I considered giving up. Changing certain heuristics had significantly lowered my b