Tuesday, March 24, 2009

what should jocke do first?

If I had more on the ball, I would have saved the position before my last focus die maneuver -- it was one of the Crab positions that I love so well, where one has the option of either getting initiative or leaving the 20-sided die safe [at least for the first turn]. Do you think I did the right thing?

But the question now is what Jocke should do. Do you think he should take my die with value 10? or should he go for the 20-sider with value 1 right now?


Viewing Game #666572

Tournament #13584: L5R vs Samurai Bash
Current Round: Round 2. (organized by Jocke)
8-player single-elimination tourney
This game was last modified on Tue Mar 24, 2009 01:06:46

Player: ElihuRoot *Dead Dude* *Fanatic*
Button Man: Crab Score: 35 (2 sides) Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 1 / 0 / 0 (out of 3 round(s))
Captured Dice: None
Dice 8-sided die10-sided die12-sided dieFocus
20-sided die
Focus
20-sided die
Value 2210161
Dice 6-sided dieFocus
8-sided die
(dizzy)
Focus
10-sided die
(dizzy)
20-sided die20-sided die
Value 511513
* Next Turn * Player: Jocke * Next Turn *
Button Man: Mantis Score: 32 (-2 sides) Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 0 / 1 / 0
Captured Dice: None

Results from last turn:
The Focus 10-sided die showing 10 is turned down to 1.
Jocke turned down his focus dice.
Jocke gained the initative with his Focus Dice.

Monday, March 2, 2009

didn't we do one like this a year ago?

Again, it's not too hard to do the math explicitly here, but the intuition is what I'm after.

irilyth has a choice; he can take my 4-sided die, or my 12-sided die.
Which is better? If they both were showing the same value, it would be a no-brainer,but since the 4-sided die has a slightly higher value, there's some tradeoff here. is it enough? What if the 12-sided die had value 2, instead?


Viewing Game #662681

Tournament #13769: Scorpion!
Current Round: Round 1. (organized by alaric)
This game was last modified on Mon Mar 2, 2009 14:01:06

Player: ElihuRoot *Dead Dude* *Fanatic*
Button Man: Scorpion Score: 28 (-8 sides) Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 1 / 2 / 0 (out of 3 round(s))
Captured Dice: Focus 12-sided die, Focus 4-sided die, 4-sided die
Dice 4-sided dieFocus
12-sided die
Value 43
Dice 4-sided die20-sided die
Value 120
* Next Turn * Player: irilyth *Poisonous Turtle* *Silver Medal in Men's 100 Meter Dash* * Next Turn *
Button Man: Scorpion Score: 40 (8 sides) Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 2 / 1 / 0
Captured Dice: 20-sided die, Focus 4-sided die, 4-sided die

Results from last turn:
ElihuRoot is performing a power attack with a Focus 12-sided die showing 4,
targeting irilyth's 4-sided die showing 4.

The Focus 12-sided die is rerolled and the new value is 3.

ElihuRoot takes irilyth's die.

Is the answer obvious? [fighting rikachu]

We all know -- or at least should know -- that, in most situations in which you can't afford to lose anyANY more dice, (and all your dice are safe before the reroll, there's no shadow dice involved, etc,) you're best off rerolling the largest one -- i.e. the probability it will roll high enough to be safe is best.

But what if you can afford to lose ONE die and still win. This just came up for me today in the game below. If I lose any one die, I win, but if I lose any two dice, I lose.

option 1: roll the 10-sided die first. its chance of survival is best, and if it does get captured,
the smaller die (the 8-sided die, no doubt) will at least be rerolling in a safer environment with fewer 1-sided dice to capture it.

option 2: roll the 8-sided die first. it's more likely to get captured, but at least then, the 10-sided die will be left for the last roll or two, with relatively the best chance of survivial.

option 3: it doesn't matter, the chance of success is the same either way. [of course, assuming you aren't so foolish as to reroll the 6 sided die]

it's actually not too hard to do the math on this -- but it's worthwhile to try to intuit the answer first, and THEN do the math (if you think it's necessary) .


Tournament #13739: revenge on the stats tournament for lephantman13
Current Round: Round 1. (organized by glassonion)
Lephantman13's ten worst buttons using which he has played at least 4 games. If you are lephantman13, join this tournament immediately and choose your button as you like. Other players: please hold off on joining until Monday night (U.S. Eastern) so the named player has a chance to join. When you do join, you *must* choose your button randomly.

Skills in this game: Option, Y Swing
Player: ElihuRoot *Dead Dude* *Fanatic*
Your Button Man: Farrell (10 12 6/20 6/20 8/12) Score: 32 (8 sides) Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 0 / 0 / 0 (Out of 3 wins)
Your Captured Dice: Y Swing 20-sided die
10-sided die Option 6/20
(with 6 sides)
Option 8/12
(with 8 sides)

Option 6/20
(with 6 sides)
8 6 7
3
Captured last turn
1-sided die 1-sided die 1-sided die 1-sided die
1 1 1 1
Opponent: irilyth *Poisonous Turtle* *Silver Medal in Men's 100 Meter Dash*
Button Man: Rikachu (1 1 1 1 Y) Score: 20 (-8 sides) Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 0 / 0 / 0
Captured Dice: 12-sided die, Option 6/20 6-sided die
Select an attack:

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