# Experimental 2p 0-clue state conventions

## Rationale

Taking the team to a 0-clue state promises a safe action for the next player. In 2p, we promise 2 different safe actions for the next player. This allows a signal to be given to the player with the now-unsafe chop in all cases.

If this is not done, the team will get caught in a stalling loop, as the player with the unsafe chop cannot discard and will never be able to obtain more information, as their partner is forced to take their single safe action each turn.

## Specification

When Alice enters/perpetuates(*) a 0-clue state while she holds no card with PTD, Alice promises Bob that they have 2 (or more) safe actions to take. Bob chooses his action using the following priority list:

- play a playable card
- If choosing between a card that plays into Alice's hand and another card, play the other card
- discard trash/card with PTD
- leftmost first
- discard a non-critical card
- Tiebreak: highest rank, furthest-away from playable, leftmost
- Subject to change?
- bomb trash/card with PTD (assuming <2 bombs)
- bomb a non-critical card (assuming <2 bombs)
- Above tiebreak
- TODO: consider explosive redistributions?
- discard the card most likely to be non-critical

If Alice's chop is not playable/critical, Bob chooses the first available, safe action on the list; if Alice's chop is playable/critical, Bob chooses the second such action.

To be consistent with trash chop moves, Bob chooses the $(N+1)$st action to chop move Alice $N$ times. (I guess? seems kinda complicated)

### (Below were taken by thinking about a recent game and trying to codify what was attempted)

### (Theorycrafting, subject to change) Bombing

Bombs are a resource. Sometimes, they should be used in preference to discarding clued cards.

When Bob bombs a card and this would chop move Alice for more cards than she has, Alice's chop (slot 1) is playable. If Bob bombs their $N$th card, Alice's $N$th unclued card from the left is playable.

### Gentleman's Discards

If Bob discards a known card and it chop moves Alice for too much, the discard is a Gentleman's Discard + Chop Move. Alice chop moves once in addition to treating the clue as a normal GD.

(The above two conventions are what I think would make sense based on a sample game)

### What happens if Bob can't give Alice 2 safe actions after his turn?

This can happen either by Bob playing, or Bob discarding.

If Bob plays, by definition Alice has PTD; if Alice has no other safe action, Bob can either accept the risk, or lock Alice and use Unlock Promise to get out. TODO: this might need more thought.

If Bob discards, Alice often does not have PTD. If Alice doesn't have 2 safe actions, her whole hand is critical. Bob can simply discard and lock Alice and use Unlock Promise to get out.

TODO: Now I'm actually not sure what to do here to distinguish cases with 0 and 1 safe action...

## Footnotes

(*): I am not sure if there is a way to get into this situation other than perpetuating an existing 0-clue state?

## Additional Thoughts

The most likely way that this situation happens is: if the team has 1 clue, it's Bob's turn, and Bob has PTD. Bob clues Alice about a playable card, entering a 0-clue state. Conventionally, Alice can safely play her card as Bob is then obligated to discard their PTD card. However, Bob is now stuck as they need to communicate about Alice's newly drawn card.

T1: 1 clue
Alice - x
Bob! - PTD chop

Bob tells Alice about a play

T2: 0 clues
Alice! - 1 play
Bob - PTD chop

Alice plays

T3: 0 clues
Alice - x
Bob! - PTD chop

In fact, Alice perpetuated the team's 0-clue state. If Alice does so, I would say Alice promises Bob he has at least two safe actions. Then (TODO) how does Alice tell Bob that they do not have another safe action? It seems that Alice might have to risk the game before Bob even discards?

The following scenario is also interesting.

T0: 0 clues
Alice! - PTD r4 x x x x
Bob - r4 x x x x

Alice discards r4

T1: 1 clue
Alice - x x x x x
Bob! - PTD r4

Bob tells Alice about a play

T2: 0 clues
Alice! - 1 play
Bob - PTD r4

Alice plays? (unsafe)

T3: 0 clues
Alice - x
Bob! - PTD r4

Here Alice actually needed to revoke PTD.