5 ms·

Yeah, step functions really break this. I think I was in a game with you or some else with the same general idea, they won on the very first turn with the sine

Yeah, step functions really break this. I think I was in a game with you or some else with the same general idea, they won on the very first turn with the sine wave trick.

readerrrr 12y ago
Agreed, functions should be continuous and no step functions.
- madez 12y ago
  Even heavily restricting the function to only use addition and multiplication doesn't solve the problem.
  - readerrrr 12y ago
    But it almost impossible to write a polynomial in under 60 seconds without any tools, that follows the desired path.
    - madez 12y ago
      I assume it to be not doable but that in no way fixes the problem that its easy to write a tool that plays perfectly.
      - readerrrr 12y ago
        There are simple ways to make that very hard. The first one is to remove copy paste.
        madez 12y ago
        You can just analyze the graphical output of the browser and hence make your hack useless. The underlying problem of this game is just too easy to solve.
        readerrrr 12y ago
        You can always make the game itself harder on top of all the anti-bot tricks. The game has to be only hard and expensive enough to hack so that the effort isn't worth the result. Of course with unlimited resources you can pretty much solve anything, if you assume those, then everything is easy to solve. But assuming that is simply ignorant.
        madez 12y ago
        @readerrrr: I'm commenting here because HN doesn't let me comment your comment. > You can always make the game itself harder on top of all the anti-bot tricks. You are implying two things here. Firstly, that its' always possible to make the game harder and, secondly, that anti-bot tricks can solve this issue. I'm skeptical about the first part and strongly disagree with the second. In regard to the first part I'd say that it's hard to make the game harder without making it unenjoyably to play. How'd you integrate a sufficient amount of complexity into this game without ruining the fun? That it's in principle possible shows Go. Interesting problem. In regard to the second part I say that it's just adding (futile) noise and not tackling the fundamental problem. The player has to see at least the map. He then draws a graph in a program that produces a function that has nearly that graph and gives a string defining that function. The user just copy and pastes it into the game.
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        readerrrr 12y ago
        Copy paste is disabled remember... As for the rest, that is up to the developer with more resources than his opponents.
        madez 12y ago
        > Copy paste is disabled remember... s/The user just copy and pastes it into the game./The user emulates his keyboard typing that string. I don't see the point in this. It's just adding noise instead of talking about the real problem. > As for the rest, that is up to the developer with more resources than his opponents. If it were like that, I'd be happy. Right now it's trivial to completely solve the game. Even though the game is not suited for competitive gaming it is great to teach some math.
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]

Yeah, step functions really break this. I think I was in a game with you or some else with the same general idea, they won on the very first turn with the sine wave trick.

readerrrr 12y ago

Agreed, functions should be continuous and no step functions.

madez 12y ago
Even heavily restricting the function to only use addition and multiplication doesn't solve the problem.
- readerrrr 12y ago
  But it almost impossible to write a polynomial in under 60 seconds without any tools, that follows the desired path.
  - madez 12y ago
    I assume it to be not doable but that in no way fixes the problem that its easy to write a tool that plays perfectly.
    - readerrrr 12y ago
      There are simple ways to make that very hard. The first one is to remove copy paste.
      - madez 12y ago
        You can just analyze the graphical output of the browser and hence make your hack useless. The underlying problem of this game is just too easy to solve.
        readerrrr 12y ago
        You can always make the game itself harder on top of all the anti-bot tricks. The game has to be only hard and expensive enough to hack so that the effort isn't worth the result. Of course with unlimited resources you can pretty much solve anything, if you assume those, then everything is easy to solve. But assuming that is simply ignorant.
        madez 12y ago
        @readerrrr: I'm commenting here because HN doesn't let me comment your comment. > You can always make the game itself harder on top of all the anti-bot tricks. You are implying two things here. Firstly, that its' always possible to make the game harder and, secondly, that anti-bot tricks can solve this issue. I'm skeptical about the first part and strongly disagree with the second. In regard to the first part I'd say that it's hard to make the game harder without making it unenjoyably to play. How'd you integrate a sufficient amount of complexity into this game without ruining the fun? That it's in principle possible shows Go. Interesting problem. In regard to the second part I say that it's just adding (futile) noise and not tackling the fundamental problem. The player has to see at least the map. He then draws a graph in a program that produces a function that has nearly that graph and gives a string defining that function. The user just copy and pastes it into the game.
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
        readerrrr 12y ago
        Copy paste is disabled remember... As for the rest, that is up to the developer with more resources than his opponents.
        madez 12y ago
        > Copy paste is disabled remember... s/The user just copy and pastes it into the game./The user emulates his keyboard typing that string. I don't see the point in this. It's just adding noise instead of talking about the real problem. > As for the rest, that is up to the developer with more resources than his opponents. If it were like that, I'd be happy. Right now it's trivial to completely solve the game. Even though the game is not suited for competitive gaming it is great to teach some math.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]