So, I’m trying to solve this new problem, but I shall use an analogy to simplify the otherwise complex rules…
Suppose we’re a marine coast detective; our task is to investigate the recent pirate hijacking events in our coastal area.
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There are 19 pirate clan ships altogether in the local area. On each ship, there was at least 1 treasure chest asset, where each chest contains 1B (one billion) gold coins. In addition, each clan may or may nor have additional assets of gold coins that are not safely kept in chests.
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In a hijack event, the offensive clan’s goal is to increase their total amount of treasure chests by just one. Since each chest’s capacity is 1B gold coins, that means they have an exact target of gold coins to rob, depending on how many exposed gold coins they already have. For example, if they already have 500 million exposed gold coins, they’ll rob exactly another 500 million, thereby achieving their goal to increase their chest quantity by 1. Suppose they started with 1 chest and 500 million exposed coins, they would have 2 full capacity chests plus zero exposed coins after a successful hijack, in total.
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When an offensive clan hijacks another, if the target victim clan did not have enough exposed gold coins on the ship to fulfil their offensive party’s goal, the offensive party shall open one chest from their opponent and only take the remaining gold coins that they needed. For example, the target victim’s initial chests were 5 and initial exposed coins were 100 million. If their hijacker was seeking only 500 million coins, they would take the 100 million exposed coins plus 400 million more from one of the chests, leaving the victim with a net asset of 4 chests and 600 million exposed coins.
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The table below lists all pirate clans in the area with their assets prior to recent hijacking events. The event was a chain sequence reaction, where the order of event started from the first row. By default, the previous row is the hijacker and the subsequent row is the target victim, meaning that each victim is potentially a hijacker after they themselves were hijacked.
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However, not all clans were offensive. Some were neutral parties. Neutral parties did not hijack others - they are characterized by one of these two criteria: those left with zero remaining exposed gold coins after being hijacked, hence they tend to reserve their resources (whatever treasure chests they have left), or those who were not attacked by the previous row whilst at the same time have no exposed gold coins, except for the treasure chests which they hold dear to. Both categories of neutral parties share this resource-saving nature. Meanwhile, the last row will always be a neutral party regardless of how many exposed gold coins they are left with after being attacked, or not being attacked at all.
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By default, a party who’s left with at least 1 exposed coin after being attacked, or after their previous row decided not to attack them, will always be offensive in nature. Having some exposed coins is an incentive for them to seek for more.
Pirate clans | Treasure chests amount | Exposed gold coins |
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Adam | 3 | 500000 |
Brody | 100 | 999500000 |
Izzy Backyet | 40 | 0 |
Jack Sparrow | 2 | 300 |
Jim Nasium | 1 | 999999700 |
Beverly Heele | 2 | 10 |
Eve Ning | 1 | 999999999 |
Hart Breaker | 5 | 999999999 |
Heinrich Maneuver | 1 | 0 |
Juana Beer | 77 | 454773230 |
Kay Nein | 60 | 628114274 |
Lessis Moore | 80 | 8725473 |
Manny Kin | 80 | 268267402 |
Minnie Sota | 1000 | 44752005 |
Phil O’ Sophy | 500500 | 390920431 |
Rob Banks | 50500 | 308463009 |
Sue Purb | 4000 | 77435719 |
Walter Melon | 21 | 510797692 |
Wendy Day | 1 | 17533187 |
Our task as an investigator is twofold:
- To study the net asset distribution after all events have taken place from the first row to the last.
- To distinguish the neutral parties from the offensive, by studying who’s targeting who.
A successful investigation shall end with this outcome:
Clan names | Remaining treasure chests | Remaining gold coins (exposed only) | Target victims (as an offensor) |
---|---|---|---|
Adam | 4 | 0 | Brody |
Brody | 100 | 0 | - |
Izzy Backyet | 40 | 0 | - |
Jack Sparrow | 3 | 0 | Jim Nasium |
Jim Nasium | 1 | 0 | - |
Beverly Heele | 3 | 0 | Eve Ning |
Eve Ning | 2 | 0 | Hart Breaker |
Hart Breaker | 6 | 0 | Heinrich Maneuver |
Heinrich Maneuver | 1 | 0 | Juana Beer |
Juana Beer | 77 | 0 | Kay Nein |
Kay Nein | 61 | 0 | Lessis Moore |
Lessis Moore | 80 | 0 | Manny Kin |
Manny Kin | 80 | 0 | Minnie Sota |
Minnie Sota | 1000 | 0 | Phil O’ Sophy |
Phil O’ Sophy | 500500 | 0 | Rob Banks |
Rob Banks | 50501 | 0 | Sue Purb |
Sue Purb | 4000 | 0 | Walter Melon |
Walter Melon | 21 | 0 | Wendy Day |
Wendy Day | 0 | 709782510 | - |
Let me know if additional info is needed
Regards,
Captain Jack