dkirkby
Prevent the engine from giving the same clue multiple times
It could happen especially if the first guess was wrong in the previous round, because then the words to guess are the same. I propose we keep a list of previous clues and remove them from future choices.
NIGHT BOW SATURN HAM <<<<<<<<<<<<
SCUBA_DIVER <<<<<<<<<<<< RABBIT TURKEY CRICKET
ICE_CREAM MICROSCOPE MEXICO BILL KID
STREAM LAP HOLE BOTTLE ANTARCTICA
LINE QUEEN COMIC ICE BACK
>>> your clue is: england 3
>>> enter your guess #1: queen
>>> Sorry!
(...snip the other team's round...)
<NIGHT <BOW -saturn >HAM <<<<<<<<<<<<
<SCUBA_DIVER <<<<<<<<<<<< >RABBIT -turkey >CRICKET
>ICE_CREAM >MICROSCOPE >MEXICO <BILL #KID
<STREAM -lap -hole -bottle -antarctica
>LINE <<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>> <ICE >BACK
Thinking...
0.819 HAM + CRICKET + MEXICO = england
0.697 CRICKET = first-class
0.672 MEXICO = mexican
0.661 HAM + CRICKET + LINE = paddington
...
NIGHT BOW SATURN HAM <<<<<<<<<<<<
SCUBA_DIVER <<<<<<<<<<<< RABBIT TURKEY CRICKET
ICE_CREAM MICROSCOPE MEXICO BILL KID
STREAM LAP HOLE BOTTLE ANTARCTICA
LINE <<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>> ICE BACK
>>> your clue is: england 3
>>> enter your guess #1:
Just to make sure I understand: this is a question of strategy rather than following the rules? I agree that it is not a good strategy to repeat a clue, but we might want to implement this as a score penalty rather than always preventing a repeated clue (unless there is a rule against this?)
The rules do not prevent it. But common sense makes me think it's not a good use of a spymaster's only clue to give again an older one ; usually the team remembers this previous clue and they can make use of it thanks to the +1 guesses.
Why do you suggest a score penalty ? Is it technically easier ? Do you want to keep the possibility of repeating a clue if no alternative has a decent score ?
Do you want to keep the possibility of repeating a clue if no alternative has a decent score ?
Yes, there are bound to be cases where the next best clue is much worse so a penalty is a flexible way to handle this without explicitly coding any special cases. The size of the penalty gives you a parameter to tune with experience, and very large value effectively forbids repeating a clue so that is still an option.