110 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
110 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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id: GROUND-WP-0003-REPORT-260807
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type: report
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title: "clay-borg: GR-E03 and GR-E04 played to the end, and what ATTACK is worth in each"
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domain: consumer
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repo: ground-game
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status: informational
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owner: bernd
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topic_slug: whynot
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created: "2026-08-07"
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extends: GROUND-WP-0003
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state_hub_workstream_id: "fb552dd0-a746-4339-9b6f-49597796ea7d"
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---
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# GR-E03 and GR-E04 have been played to the end
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GROUND-WP-0002 T04 recorded that both scoring modes were implemented and
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neither had ever been played through. That is now done, and it produced an
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answer to a second question we raised on 2026-08-06.
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Reproduction: `clay-borg$ cargo run --release -p games-ground --example attack-value`
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(800 games per mode). Under
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[CB-WP-0029](../../clay-borg/workplans/CB-WP-0029-the-tokens-on-the-table.md).
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---
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## 0. Why they were unplayed, which was our fault
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`cb-play` built **every** game as SHARED GROUND and passed an empty setup
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patch. The mode was settable in scenario files and **not from the driver**,
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so two of your three shipped modes were unreachable from the only way
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anyone actually plays. Nothing about the modes was wrong; we simply had no
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way to select them.
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Fixed. Reporting it because *"we never played them"* and *"we could not
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play them"* are different statements, and the second is the true one.
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## 1. All three modes work, and they disagree
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Same game, same 37 commands, seed 1, four players:
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| mode | winners |
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|---|---|
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| SHARED GROUND (GR-E02) | P1, P2, P3, P4 — mastery 4 |
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| COMMON PROBLEM (GR-E03) | **P3** — the top personal scorer |
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| BONDED COALITIONS (GR-E04) | **P1, P2** — the best Bond network, 4 > 3 > 2 |
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The modes produce three different answers from identical play, which is
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what they should do.
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## 2. What ATTACK is worth — asked in all three
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On 2026-08-06 we raised, from play, *"there is no incentive to play
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attacks as long as I have positive cards."* We could not send it then: it
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had no artifact, and our own bot ranks ATTACK below everything, so its
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zero attacks measured **our heuristic**, not your game.
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The artifact varies **exactly one number** — ATTACK's rank in an otherwise
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identical policy — and asks in every mode. 200 games per cell.
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*"Won"* is group success in co-op, and *"is seat 0 among the winners"* in
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the other two, since ATTACK is an individual's choice.
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| mode | never attack | attack when convenient | attack always |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| SHARED GROUND | 132 / 165 / 190 / 200 | **identical** | 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 |
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| COMMON PROBLEM | 59 / 52 / 48 / 44 | 59 / 52 / 48 / **34** | 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 |
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| BONDED COALITIONS | 131 / 134 / 132 / 116 | **59 / 52 / 48 / 34** | 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 |
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*(2, 3, 4 and 6 seats)*
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**ATTACK earns its place in none of them.**
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- **Co-op:** attacking is *free* — identical win counts — and also
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pointless. Group success depends on SOLVE alone; ATTACK's effects
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(Stress, Rivalry, DARVO) feed nothing that decides it.
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- **Semi-co-op:** a modest cost at six seats.
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- **Coalitions:** roughly **halves** your chance of being among the
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winners.
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## 3. The coalitions result has a mechanism, and the data confirms it
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GR-A07 flips a Bond to a Rivalry on Attack. GR-E04 scores Bond
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**networks**. So attacking destroys the thing that scores.
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The confirmation was not designed and fell out: **the attacking numbers in
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GR-E04 are identical to GR-E03's** — 59 / 52 / 48 / 34 in both. That is
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exactly what the mechanism predicts. Break every Bond and each seat
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becomes a coalition of one, so **GR-E04 degenerates into GR-E03.**
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## 4. The consequence we think is worth your attention
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Because nobody who plays well attacks, **Stress never rises, and DARVO
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never arms.** In 500 competent games it fired zero times. The full
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sequence — DENY, ATTACK, REVERSE, the Focus/Blame flip, the Protection
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interaction — is reachable only by playing badly.
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**We are not saying this is a defect.** DARVO is the pattern the game is
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*about* not falling into, and a self-destructive ATTACK may be exactly the
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design — the mechanic as a cautionary structure rather than a strategy.
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**The question is narrower than that, and it is yours:** is it intended
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that the namesake mechanic is unreachable in competent play, in **all
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three** modes? If yes, nothing here needs changing and we will record it.
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If no, the lever is that ATTACK has no path to any scoring outcome.
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## 5. Standing offer
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We can now run any mode at any seat count over any seed range, and vary a
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single policy parameter to isolate a mechanic's value. If there is a
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question of the form *"does X ever pay?"*, it is cheap for us to answer.
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