diff --git a/WORK-RECORDS.md b/WORK-RECORDS.md index f93b6b8..56a4b0d 100644 --- a/WORK-RECORDS.md +++ b/WORK-RECORDS.md @@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ | workplan | GROUND-WP-0002 | finished | — | workplans/GROUND-WP-0002-rulings-clay-borg-is-blocked-on.md | | workplan | GROUND-WP-0003 | ready | — | workplans/GROUND-WP-0003-playtest-semi-and-coalitions.md | | workplan | GROUND-WP-0004 | finished | — | workplans/GROUND-WP-0004-the-threshold-ruling-rests-on-a-bad-premise.md | -| workplan | GROUND-WP-0005-REPORT-260805 | informational | — | workplans/GROUND-WP-0005-clay-borg-difficulty-260805.md | | workplan | GROUND-WP-0005 | active | — | workplans/GROUND-WP-0005-difficulty-tiers-and-pressure-dial.md | | task | GROUND-WP-0001-T01 | done | — | workplans/GROUND-WP-0001-statehub-bootstrap.md | | task | GROUND-WP-0001-T02 | done | — | workplans/GROUND-WP-0001-statehub-bootstrap.md | diff --git a/workplans/GROUND-WP-0003-clay-borg-attack-and-modes-260807.md b/workplans/GROUND-WP-0003-clay-borg-attack-and-modes-260807.md deleted file mode 100644 index 9b19b4e..0000000 --- a/workplans/GROUND-WP-0003-clay-borg-attack-and-modes-260807.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,109 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: GROUND-WP-0003-REPORT-260807 -type: report -title: "clay-borg: GR-E03 and GR-E04 played to the end, and what ATTACK is worth in each" -domain: consumer -repo: ground-game -status: informational -owner: bernd -topic_slug: whynot -created: "2026-08-07" -extends: GROUND-WP-0003 ---- - -# GR-E03 and GR-E04 have been played to the end - -GROUND-WP-0002 T04 recorded that both scoring modes were implemented and -neither had ever been played through. That is now done, and it produced an -answer to a second question we raised on 2026-08-06. - -Reproduction: `clay-borg$ cargo run --release -p games-ground --example attack-value` -(800 games per mode). Under -[CB-WP-0029](../../clay-borg/workplans/CB-WP-0029-the-tokens-on-the-table.md). - ---- - -## 0. Why they were unplayed, which was our fault - -`cb-play` built **every** game as SHARED GROUND and passed an empty setup -patch. The mode was settable in scenario files and **not from the driver**, -so two of your three shipped modes were unreachable from the only way -anyone actually plays. Nothing about the modes was wrong; we simply had no -way to select them. - -Fixed. Reporting it because *"we never played them"* and *"we could not -play them"* are different statements, and the second is the true one. - -## 1. All three modes work, and they disagree - -Same game, same 37 commands, seed 1, four players: - -| mode | winners | -|---|---| -| SHARED GROUND (GR-E02) | P1, P2, P3, P4 — mastery 4 | -| COMMON PROBLEM (GR-E03) | **P3** — the top personal scorer | -| BONDED COALITIONS (GR-E04) | **P1, P2** — the best Bond network, 4 > 3 > 2 | - -The modes produce three different answers from identical play, which is -what they should do. - -## 2. What ATTACK is worth — asked in all three - -On 2026-08-06 we raised, from play, *"there is no incentive to play -attacks as long as I have positive cards."* We could not send it then: it -had no artifact, and our own bot ranks ATTACK below everything, so its -zero attacks measured **our heuristic**, not your game. - -The artifact varies **exactly one number** — ATTACK's rank in an otherwise -identical policy — and asks in every mode. 200 games per cell. -*"Won"* is group success in co-op, and *"is seat 0 among the winners"* in -the other two, since ATTACK is an individual's choice. - -| mode | never attack | attack when convenient | attack always | -|---|---|---|---| -| SHARED GROUND | 132 / 165 / 190 / 200 | **identical** | 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 | -| COMMON PROBLEM | 59 / 52 / 48 / 44 | 59 / 52 / 48 / **34** | 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 | -| BONDED COALITIONS | 131 / 134 / 132 / 116 | **59 / 52 / 48 / 34** | 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 | - -*(2, 3, 4 and 6 seats)* - -**ATTACK earns its place in none of them.** - -- **Co-op:** attacking is *free* — identical win counts — and also - pointless. Group success depends on SOLVE alone; ATTACK's effects - (Stress, Rivalry, DARVO) feed nothing that decides it. -- **Semi-co-op:** a modest cost at six seats. -- **Coalitions:** roughly **halves** your chance of being among the - winners. - -## 3. The coalitions result has a mechanism, and the data confirms it - -GR-A07 flips a Bond to a Rivalry on Attack. GR-E04 scores Bond -**networks**. So attacking destroys the thing that scores. - -The confirmation was not designed and fell out: **the attacking numbers in -GR-E04 are identical to GR-E03's** — 59 / 52 / 48 / 34 in both. That is -exactly what the mechanism predicts. Break every Bond and each seat -becomes a coalition of one, so **GR-E04 degenerates into GR-E03.** - -## 4. The consequence we think is worth your attention - -Because nobody who plays well attacks, **Stress never rises, and DARVO -never arms.** In 500 competent games it fired zero times. The full -sequence — DENY, ATTACK, REVERSE, the Focus/Blame flip, the Protection -interaction — is reachable only by playing badly. - -**We are not saying this is a defect.** DARVO is the pattern the game is -*about* not falling into, and a self-destructive ATTACK may be exactly the -design — the mechanic as a cautionary structure rather than a strategy. - -**The question is narrower than that, and it is yours:** is it intended -that the namesake mechanic is unreachable in competent play, in **all -three** modes? If yes, nothing here needs changing and we will record it. -If no, the lever is that ATTACK has no path to any scoring outcome. - -## 5. Standing offer - -We can now run any mode at any seat count over any seed range, and vary a -single policy parameter to isolate a mechanic's value. If there is a -question of the form *"does X ever pay?"*, it is cheap for us to answer. diff --git a/workplans/GROUND-WP-0005-clay-borg-difficulty-260805.md b/workplans/GROUND-WP-0005-clay-borg-difficulty-260805.md index 09159aa..5788aac 100644 --- a/workplans/GROUND-WP-0005-clay-borg-difficulty-260805.md +++ b/workplans/GROUND-WP-0005-clay-borg-difficulty-260805.md @@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ owner: bernd topic_slug: whynot created: "2026-08-05" extends: GROUND-WP-0005 -state_hub_workstream_id: "61cabf31-88a8-4ca6-9383-55b8fccddecf" --- # clay-borg difficulty report — 2026-08-05