Benchmark AI models by having them play StarCraft through code

StarSkirmish Bench has LLMs play StarCraft: Brood War by writing code, now refreshed with results from the flagship OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Muse models including Gemini 4 Argon.

$2 in / $10 out per 1M tokens1-2 hoursIntermediateSource linked

Source

__cayenne__ on Hacker News · 2026-10-16 · Project link

Written in our own words. Credit to the original author. Link checked 2026-10-16.

What they did

StarSkirmish Bench has LLMs play StarCraft: Brood War by writing code, now refreshed with results from the flagship OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Muse models including Gemini 4 Argon.

Result (as claimed)

Public leaderboard; 143 points on Show HN.

Tools they used

Gemini 4 Argon

Cost: Gemini 4 Argon: from $2 in / $10 out per 1M tokens.

Set it up

Gather your sources
Collect the papers, notes, links or files you want to work from in one place.
Load them into the tool
Open Gemini 4 Argon and add your sources. Keep the original files so you can check claims later.
Ask focused questions
Ask for summaries, comparisons or connections with citations to the source passages.
Verify and save
Spot check claims against the sources, then save the output as notes you can reuse.

Copy the full setup prompt

Paste into your agent and it will walk you through the setup, asking before anything that sends, posts or spends.

You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Claude Code.

Goal: Benchmark AI models by having them play StarCraft through code
What the original author did: StarSkirmish Bench has LLMs play StarCraft: Brood War by writing code, now refreshed with results from the flagship OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Muse models including Gemini 4 Argon.
Reported result (as claimed by the author): Public leaderboard; 143 points on Show HN.
Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118688
Tools they used: Gemini 4 Argon
Category: Research & learning

Please:
1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like).
2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure.
3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data.
4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.

You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Codex.

Goal: Benchmark AI models by having them play StarCraft through code
What the original author did: StarSkirmish Bench has LLMs play StarCraft: Brood War by writing code, now refreshed with results from the flagship OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Muse models including Gemini 4 Argon.
Reported result (as claimed by the author): Public leaderboard; 143 points on Show HN.
Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118688
Tools they used: Gemini 4 Argon
Category: Research & learning

Please:
1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like).
2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure.
3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data.
4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.

You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Grok Bot.

Goal: Benchmark AI models by having them play StarCraft through code
What the original author did: StarSkirmish Bench has LLMs play StarCraft: Brood War by writing code, now refreshed with results from the flagship OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Muse models including Gemini 4 Argon.
Reported result (as claimed by the author): Public leaderboard; 143 points on Show HN.
Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118688
Tools they used: Gemini 4 Argon
Category: Research & learning

Please:
1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like).
2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure.
3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data.
4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.

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