TCB 81: The Turtle Express

How many digits should be assumed for the tie-breaker, though? 13.101 would appear to be better than _ssm_'s 13.83 if things were left as they are.

Haven't checked yet, but if ssm used 83 seconds, it should be .083 and not .83

• The rules don't state anywhere that placing your worm at the start is required. Is it? (And if so, why? Given that the rules seem to imply that the turn and turn time used to place the mine don't count towards your score)

• How are seconds rounded before dividing by 1000 and adding to the number of turns? Rounded down? Rounded up? Rounded to the nearest?

• Does the mine have to stay at its destination, or just touch it once?

• Are you allowed to die, as long as you get the mine to its destination?

• Are you allowed to place the mine and knock it in the same turn?

• Are you allowed to place more than one mine on the cyan block before conveying one of them to the destination?

Quote from: Deadcode on December 31, 2013, 10:23 PM
• The rules don't state anywhere that placing your worm at the start is required. Is it? (And if so, why? Given that the rules seem to imply that the turn and turn time used to place the mine don't count towards your score)

Don't think that's necessary, actually. The first turn is required before the actual challenge can start, so I see no reason to include that turn in the turn time and all that. "Start" kind of helps finding the right area

Quote from: Deadcode on December 31, 2013, 10:23 PM
• How are seconds rounded before dividing by 1000 and adding to the number of turns? Rounded down? Rounded up? Rounded to the nearest?

Rounded down.

Quote from: Deadcode on December 31, 2013, 10:23 PM
• Does the mine have to stay at its destination, or just touch it once?

It's kind of a bad package delivery if the package doesn't stay at its destination, isn't it?

Quote from: Deadcode on December 31, 2013, 10:23 PM
• Are you allowed to die, as long as you get the mine to its destination?

This is not specified, so you're allowed. As long as the package is still alive and in the hands of its owner 

Quote from: Deadcode on December 31, 2013, 10:23 PM
• Are you allowed to place the mine and knock it in the same turn?

The package mine: no (that takes away the point of putting it on that starting square). Possible other mines: yes.

Quote from: Deadcode on December 31, 2013, 10:23 PM
• Are you allowed to place more than one mine on the cyan block before conveying one of them to the destination?

It does say "place a mine. You can place more mines, but the first mine is the package you have to deliver, as stated in the rules.

A couple of these questions are clearly not in the spirit of the challenge idea if I have to be honest. In my experience more rules means less people will read them all and more mistakes will be made, leading to more frustration in the competitors.

If you're thinking "how can I bend the rules to my will?", you're not thinking the right way and you should be slapped Ferociously. With sticks. Preferrably pointy ones. Or sticks that are on fire. Come to think of it, firey pointy sticks is probably the best combinations.

Also, happy new year.

Yeah Deadcode, use your intuition in some way combined with pseudo-logic sience 

Quote from: DarkOne on January 01, 2014, 12:13 PM
If you're thinking "how can I bend the rules to my will?", you're not thinking the right way and you should be slapped Ferociously. With sticks. Preferrably pointy ones. Or sticks that are on fire. Come to think of it, firey pointy sticks is probably the best combinations.

He's only clearing doubts, though (even the lightest ones).

Quote from: LeTotalKiller on January 02, 2014, 11:51 AM
He's only clearing doubts, though (even the lightest ones).

Indeed he was
In my experience, the more lines of rules are written down, the more likely people are going to miss essential parts of the rules, though.
So when I write rules for challenges, I weed them down to the essentials. I don't write down rules to cover all other possibilities. Sure, I can write down you have to use the scheme specified, but that's implied already.

I can write down you're not allowed to knock the mine after dropping it at the start. But if you read and think about the rules as they are written there, then it's clear that the intention of the challenge maker is to have a mine at its starting position when your run starts.
It's a bit like the T17 rule of no rope knocking. The important part of that rule is clearly knocking (if rope was the important part, then why is there a rope in the first place?), but if you're going to then consider that bungee knocking must therefore be okay, you're thinking against the spirit of the rule and trying to bend the rules to your will.

Thanks, pretty sure I understand the rules perfectly now and have no further questions

Quote from: DarkOne on January 02, 2014, 02:08 PM
I can write down you're not allowed to knock the mine after dropping it at the start.

No need to add an extra rule. You could just change

- Place a mine on the cyan block at the top left.

into

- Place a mine on the cyan block at the top left (such that it is resting there when your next turn starts).

and maybe there's even a better (shorter, simpler) way that I can't think of right now.

Quote from: Xrayez on January 02, 2014, 10:23 AM
Yeah Deadcode, use your intuition in some way combined with pseudo-logic sience 

I could do that, but then I'd basically be forced to put my most conservative interpretation of the rules into effect, and might be disallowing myself from doing something that the challenge's author would have been fine with had I only asked.

People think differently. There's no reason to assume that the decisions I'd make about rules would be the same as the challenge author's.

Quote from: DarkOne on January 02, 2014, 02:08 PM
Also, happy new year.

Thanks, you too!

Quote from: Deadcode on January 02, 2014, 09:49 PM
I could do that, but then I'd basically be forced to put my most conservative interpretation of the rules into effect, and might be disallowing myself from doing something that the challenge's author would have been fine with had I only asked.

People think differently. There's no reason to assume that the decisions I'd make about rules would be the same as the challenge author's.

Agreed

Quote
Use all weapons at your disposal to transport the mine to the little hole where the green turtle is standing (bottom right).

Everybody has sent the package to the wrong person There's a little green turtle (or koopa) standing inside a hole. That's the mine has to end up in. The hole at the utmost right bottom is a trap.

Quote from: DarkOne on January 04, 2014, 08:10 PM
Everybody has sent the package to the wrong person

Not my fault if no name is written on it. =o

Quote from: DarkOne on January 04, 2014, 08:10 PM

Quote
Use all weapons at your disposal to transport the mine to the little hole where the green turtle is standing (bottom right).

Everybody has sent the package to the wrong person There's a little green turtle (or koopa) standing inside a hole. That's the mine has to end up in. The hole at the utmost right bottom is a trap.

Quote
- Use all weapons at your disposal to transport the mine to the little hole where the green turtle is standing (bottom right).

Well, that character in the lower right looked plausibly like a turtle with spikes. And you did say it was on the bottom right.

I have an extra excuse. The spiked thing looks just as green to me as the turtle due to my protanomalous vision (at least without zooming in). To others, the "green" should have been enough, I guess!

Edited the description

My try is successful? 

Congrats to _ssm_ for winning his 12th TCB challenge Leading the standings alone now.