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One of RA2's earliest and current AI master, Starcore created the widely used [[Starcore AI packs]], which replace the weak [[Stock AI]] with some truly dangerous machines. As a pure builder, he's no slouch; from the devastating [[rammer]] Warmachine to the mighty [[HS]] [[Tempus Fugit]], Starcore can take any design and make the best use of it.

One of RA2's earliest and current AI master, Starcore created the widely used [[Starcore AI packs]], which replace the weak [[Stock AI]] with some truly dangerous machines. As a pure builder, he's no slouch; from the devastating [[rammer]] Warmachine to the mighty [[HS]] [[Tempus Fugit]], Starcore can take any design and make the best use of it.

Starcore joined the AceUplink RA2 Forums in December 2003 and was banned from their forums before even posting his first post. It was a mix-up, they thought his IP was owned by a toxic member the forums admins had recently banned. But it almost cost the RA2 Community one of its great builders and the founding father of the [[Starcore AI Packs]] and [[DSL]]. It is hard to know if RA2 would still be being played if not for his efforts. Luckily the banning got sorted out and Starcore went on to post his first bot on the forums, Borg Queen of which [[RFS]] called it, "Overloaded" and [[ACAMS]] defended Starcore by saying, "How can it be overloaded, that is like having too much money!"

Starcore joined the AceUplink RA2 Forums in December 2003 and was banned from their forums before even posting his first post. It was a mix-up, they thought his IP was owned by a toxic member the forums admins had recently banned. But it almost cost the RA2 Community one of its great builders and the founding father of the [[Starcore AI Packs]] and [[DSL]]. It is hard to know if RA2 would still be being played if not for his efforts. Luckily the banning got sorted out and Starcore went on to post his first bot, [[Borg Queen]], in late December 2003 on the forums. [[RFS]] called it, "Overloaded" and [[ACAMS]] defended Starcore by saying, "How can it be overloaded, that is like having too much money!"

== Starcore v1.0 ==

== Starcore v1.0 ==

Starcore went on to release the first Starcore Stock AI pack on January 17, 2004, with 15 teams (of 3-bots each) of his own design (with a bit of help from his sons) all Stock and showing off a wide range of building technique and examples. He believed online competitions and tournaments of the time were ruled by a few bot builders that kept various bot building techniques and Botlab glitches to themselves inducing unfair advantages. Up to and including using hidden parts and AI parts because once a bot was built others couldn't tell from the outside in a Stock competition. Starcore wanted everyone to have a chance to learn and compete on a level playing field. There was also an issue back then of AI packs using unbalanced custom parts to try and give the AI bots unfair advantages over the players that didn't have the same parts available in their bot building. Starcore felt that there was plenty of power to be shown in tight, diverse, efficient Stock AIed bots.

Starcore went on to release the first Starcore Stock AI pack on January 17, 2004, with 15 teams (of 3-bots each) of his own design (with a bit of help from his sons) all [[Stock]] and showing off a wide range of building technique and examples. He believed online competitions and tournaments of the time were ruled by a few bot builders that kept various bot building techniques and Botlab glitches to themselves inducing unfair advantages. Up to and including using hidden parts and AI parts because once a bot was built others couldn't tell from the outside in a [[Stock]] competition. Starcore wanted everyone to have a chance to learn and compete on a level playing field. There was also an issue back then of AI packs using unbalanced custom parts to try and give the AI bots unfair advantages over the players that didn't have the same parts available in their bot building. Starcore felt that there was plenty of power to be shown in tight, diverse, efficient [[Stock]] AIed bots.

== Starcore v2.0 ==

== Starcore v2.0 ==

The Starcore v2.0 pack was released on March 11th, 2004, less than two months after Starcore v1.0. For the second Starcore pack, a PM from Rejected (called such because he too had been hit by the banhammers of AceUplink) on ways to improve Alien Queen's stability started a friendship and opened the doors allowing others to include their own bots and teams to show off building skills and an even more diverse range of bot types and techniques. This brought in teams by Rejected, ACAMS, Clutch, Diablo, and Eyce. And many individual bots by Pheud, ACAMS, toAst, Artitan, Clutch, and Rejected. This saw the birth of such bots as the poker VS, Clockwork Hydra, and probably the first juggler in RA2, Mechanical Waterbug. This pack also saw the advent of the Antweight and Beetleweight Classes and bots and bots of those sizes contributed by many and the inclusion of 6-bot teams thanks to code from Disturbed. This helped grow the pack to near 3 times its size at 20 teams of 6 bots each.

The Starcore v2.0 pack was released on March 11th, 2004, less than two months after Starcore v1.0. For the second Starcore pack, a PM from Rejected (called such because he too had been hit by the banhammers of AceUplink) on ways to improve Alien Queen's stability started a friendship and opened the doors allowing others to include their own bots and teams to show off building skills and an even more diverse range of bot types and techniques. This brought in teams by [[Rejected]], [[ACAMS]], [[Clutch]], [[Diablo]], and [[Eyce]]. And many individual bots by [[Pheud]], [[ACAMS]], [[toAst]], [[Artitan]], [[Clutch]], and [[Rejected]]. This saw the birth of such famous bots as the [[Poker]] [[VS]], [[Clockwork Hydra]], and probably the first [[Juggler]] in [[RA2]], [[Mechanical Waterbug]]. This pack also saw the advent of the [[Antweight]] and [[Beetleweight]] Classes and the inclusion of 6-bot teams thanks to code from [[Disturbed]]. This helped grow the pack to near 3 times its size at 20 teams of 6 bots each.

== [[DSL-TC]] ==

== [[DSL-TC]] ==

At this point, Starcore was ready to call it good and move on to other things. He had gotten to talking with DarkRat who had made a lot of custom parts and gorgeous picture bot creations for the replica contest and Lu-Tze, a leading component maker who was dealing with health issues behind scenes. Both DarkRat and Lu-Tze were feeling the same way and so the trio decided to do a final swan song to help the RA2 Community. At that point, there was no balancing efforts or standards for developing custom or real life replica components and prior replica packs by others were fraught with unbreakable bots and components. Starcore, DarkRat, and Lu-Tze joined together to balance, populate and AI DarkRat's replica bots, set up standards for custom components, update the interface and arenas and thus DSL-TC (the DarkRat-Starcore-Lu-Tze Total Conversion) was born. As a point of interest, at the time of building [[DSL-TC]], many of the [[RA2]] community forums were fighting and bickering. Since many saw [[DSL-TC]] as the future of [[RA2]] and wanted to be involved, Starcore leveraged the [[DSL-TC]] pack to force the warring forums to come together and get along. This was instrumental in healing the [[RA2]] community.

At this point, Starcore was ready to call it good and move on to other things. He had gotten to talking with [[DarkRat]] who had made a lot of custom parts and gorgeous art bot creations for the replica contests and [[Lu-Tze]], a leading component maker who was dealing with health issues behind scenes. Both [[DarkRat]] and [[Lu-Tze]] were feeling the same way about wrapping things up and so the trio decided to do a final swan song to help the [[RA2]] Community. At that point, there was no balancing efforts or standards for developing custom or real life replica components and prior replica packs by others were fraught with unbreakable bots and components. [[Starcore]], [[DarkRat]], and [[Lu-Tze]] joined together to balance, populate and AI [[DarkRat]]'s replica bots, set up standards for custom components, update the interface and arenas and thus [[DSL-TC]] (the [[DarkRat]]-[[Starcore]]-[[Lu-Tze]] Total Conversion) was born. As a point of interest, at the time of building [[DSL-TC]], many of the [[RA2]] community forums were fighting and bickering. Since many saw [[DSL-TC]] as the future of [[RA2]] and wanted to be involved, [[Starcore]] leveraged the [[DSL-TC]] pack to force the warring forums to come together and get along. This was instrumental in healing the [[RA2]] community.

== Starcore v3.0 ==

== Starcore v3.0 ==

== Starcore v4.0 Reboot ==

== Starcore v4.0 Reboot ==

In mid-2017 Starcore circled around to see if there was interest in helping to finish up the Starcore v4.0 pack. Many jumped to assist and be involved in a Starcore pack. To show off latest skills and abilities. It has been over 10 years since the Starcore packs have been touched. And while many are deep into DSL and its variants, there is still interest in finishing up the Meta of [[RA2}} [[Stock]] AI packs. The target is to fix any bots in need of fixing from Starcore v4.0 Alpha2, rebuild as needed using latest learnings and grow the pack by roughly 10 more teams to bring it to a grand total of 45 teams of 6 bots each. With a double rotate system to bring 15 teams at a team into view for the internal [[RA2]] tournament system.

In mid-2017 Starcore circled around to see if there was interest in helping to finish up the Starcore v4.0 pack. Many jumped to assist and be involved in a Starcore pack. To show off latest skills and abilities. It has been over 10 years since the Starcore packs have been touched. And while many are deep into DSL and its variants, there is still interest in finishing up the Meta of [[RA2}} [[Stock]] AI packs. The target is to fix any bots in need of fixing from Starcore v4.0 Alpha2, rebuild as needed using latest learnings and grow the pack by roughly 10 more teams to bring it to a grand total of 45 teams of 6 bots each. With a double rotate system to bring 15 teams at a time into view for the internal [[RA2]] tournament system.

 

'''Building skills'''

=='''Building skills'''==

[[Stock]]: Created the Starcore AI packs, building a majority of the first 15 teams along with many of the packs [[Antweight]]s. Still a great [[Stock]] builder, even after leaving and returning to the community for years at a time. Innovated structured AI files, wrote AI tutorials and many of the standard .py files still in use today including the defacto standard, Omni.py.

[[Stock]]: Created the Starcore AI packs, building a majority of the first 15 teams along with many of the packs [[Antweight]]s. Still a great [[Stock]] builder, even after leaving and returning to the community for years at a time. Innovated structured AI files, wrote AI tutorials and many of the standard .py files still in use today including the defacto standard, Omni.py.

[[DSL]]: Program Manager, Design Lead, and AI for [[DSL-TC]] 1.0. [[Starcore]] started the [[DSL-TC]] project, building most the internals and AI for the Stock DSL 1.0 bots.

[[DSL]]: Program Manager, Design Lead, and AI for [[DSL-TC]] 1.0. [[Starcore]] started the [[DSL-TC]] project, building most the internals and AI for the Stock DSL 1.0 bots.

'''Notable Robots'''

=='''Notable Robots'''==

'''[[Tempus Fugit]]''': A [[Lightweight]] horizontal spinner with 6 razor tips and 2 z-teks as weapons. Starcore came back to RA2 briefly and entered an old version in [[BBEANS]]3 but didn't fair well. This showed to Starcore the community had grown and improved and spurred him into creating a massively updated version for the for Starcore v4 Alpha making it one of the strongest [[LW]] [[HS]] around.

'''[[Tempus Fugit]]''': A [[Lightweight]] horizontal spinner with 6 razor tips and 2 z-teks as weapons. Starcore came back to RA2 briefly and entered an old version in [[BBEANS]]3 but didn't fair well. This showed to Starcore the community had grown and improved and spurred him into creating a massively updated version for the for Starcore v4 Alpha making it one of the strongest [[LW]] [[HS]] around.