SirRoboGarage/SAC_LSTM_Bot/docs/campaign_notebook.md

Campaign Notebook — campaign-v1 (SAC_LSTM_Bot)

Overnight training campaign on branch research/goto-controller. Companion tickets: config+launch = #56, morning verdict = #57, map = #53. Monitoring contract: observability inventory in #55 comment 461 (9 signals, thresholds, four-way discrimination).

Locked config (campaign-v1)

Launch command (tmux session sac_campaign, stdout teed to campaign_stdout.log):

SAC_OPPONENTS='Corners:3,Crazy:2,RamFire:1,Target:1,SacTwin:1' \
SAC_EVAL_OPPONENT=Corners \
SAC_TOTAL_ROUNDS=2000 \
SAC_CHUNK_SIZE=10 \
SAC_EVAL_INTERVAL=2 \
SAC_EVAL_ROUNDS=10 \
SAC_MAX_CRASHES=5 \
SACLSTM_HIDDEN_SIZE=256 \
SACLSTM_BATCH_SIZE=16 \
SACLSTM_UTD_RATIO=1 \
SACLSTM_SAVE_INTERVAL=20 \
./sac_train.sh 2>&1 | tee -a campaign_stdout.log

Knob	Value	Source / rationale
SAC_OPPONENTS	Corners:3,Crazy:2,RamFire:1,Target:1,SacTwin:1	Working recommendation kept. Twin pinned at 1 not 2: #54 showed mirror battles end early ⇒ fewer transitions per chunk; weight 2 would starve the replay buffer.
SAC_EVAL_OPPONENT	Corners	Pinned explicitly (= first pool entry default, #54 note) — removes reorder footgun.
SAC_TOTAL_ROUNDS	2000	Sized so the wall-clock ceiling binds first (~100–150 rounds/h observed incl. evals ⇒ ~13–20 h of headroom).
SAC_CHUNK_SIZE	10	Harness default.
SAC_EVAL_INTERVAL	2	Harness default — eval every ~20 rounds ≈ every ~10 min.
SAC_EVAL_ROUNDS	10	Harness default.
SAC_MAX_CRASHES	5	Harness self-abort; monitor intervenes earlier at ≥3 consecutive crashes (#55).
SACLSTM_HIDDEN_SIZE	256	Module default (network.nim); real capacity vs #49 smoke's 32; under MaxHidden=512 cap.
SACLSTM_BATCH_SIZE	16	Module default (integration.nim).
SACLSTM_UTD_RATIO	1	Module default.
SACLSTM_SAVE_INTERVAL	20	Deviation from default 500: #54 proved the shutdown save never reaches disk in harness context — only mid-battle interval saves persist; 10–20 fired reliably, 50 did not in twin chunks. 20 = top of proven range, least IO.
(not pinned)	module defaults	LR_ACTOR/LR_CRITIC/LR_ALPHA=3e-4, GAMMA=0.99, TAU=0.005, TARGET_ENTROPY=-4.0, BUFFER_CAPACITY=500000, BURN_IN=8, TRAIN_WINDOW=16.

Budget: generous wall-clock ceiling, not a deadline — T+12 h from launch. While HEALTHY per #55 discrimination rules the run continues; a monitor kills the tmux session at the ceiling or on an intervene threshold.

Fresh start: pre-campaign weights/ held #49-smoke 32-hidden checkpoints, incompatible with hidden=256. Archived to weights_smoke49_backup/; baseline re-established by a 10-round bootstrap battle vs Corners (also created the seed for make_twin.sh).

Phase log

• 2026-08-21 ~23:30 — Config locked (this file), claim posted on #56 (comment 471). Smoke weights archived.
• 2026-08-21 ~23:4x — Bootstrap battle vs Corners done; baseline checkpoint + best_score.txt written; twin regenerated via ./make_twin.sh from the campaign-v1 baseline.
• 2026-08-21 ~23:5x — Launched tmux sac_campaign. First-health-check: see Incidents & checks below.

Decision-issue index

Issue	What it decided
#37–#48	Bot built: skeleton, state, actions, rewards, LSTM network, weights, SAC+LSTM training, integration.
#49	Training harness + smoke run (toy hyperparams: hidden 32).
#54	Mirror-twin sparring partner; SAVE_INTERVAL ≤20 rule; eval opponent = first pool entry.
#55	9-signal observability inventory; CRASHED/STALLED/SLOW-LEARNER/HEALTHY discriminators; monitor thresholds.
#56	This campaign: locked config + launch (this notebook).
#57	Morning verdict — consumes this notebook + logs.

Incidents & checks

(appended during the run)

Launch health check (first chunks)

Pending — filled right after launch.

Results

(filled by #57 / morning session)