Space Filling

It often happens that an end game is reached where both opponents are confined in a space, isolated from the opponent. At this point the optimal strategy becomes filling the space as densely as possible, hoping for the other opponent to crash sooner. Any good Tron player should master this technique. The game depicted on fig. 3.36 shows human and agent in a match of endurance.

  

Figure 3.36: Space Filling. R. 5470006 and Human 5074 engage in a space-filling endurance contest. The difference between their perceptual modes is visible: The human is allowed tighter turns, yet its finger ability is limited. The agent cannot measure with precision the space remaining, so sometimes recurs to spiraling in, then out as in the upper right region. In the end the human fails to enter a narrow passage and loses (black=agent, gray=human).