araver

Sorry for the delay: 1) Yes.

Was the green part a question? If that is so, the answer is that the night-post will look identical if JS had an action or not, as long as JS was blocked. Reminder on order of actions: imprison > invulnerability > save > kill > block > spy/message intercept / message transmission. So if JS had any action >= block in the chain, it was not affected by the block and if he had an action < block or no action at all, then he did not act. And please make it red next time, it's easier to spot

Fixing roster with GJ's vote: Hooded Figure: Araver 1. Blahblah 2. DarthNoob 3. Hirkala - Voting for Blablah 4. EDM - Killed by Secret Alliance 5. JS 6. Framm - Voting for DN 7. Petrus 8. Segul 9. maurice - IMPRISONED by Australia until N2 10. firno 11. golfjunkie - Voting for DN

Act 2 Dawn came and one by one, delegates came into the central room. Breakfast was already ready. They noticed two of them were missing only when the Hooded Figure appeared. "Gentlemen, this day will look like your usual diplomacy game. Except that there is no veto. Oh, and one of you will be sent home at the end of the day. Not alive, I'm afraid. Or maybe not, that's up to you." Hooded Figure: Araver 1. Blahblah 2. DarthNoob 3. Hirkala 4. EDM - Killed by Secret Alliance 5. JS 6. Framm 7. Petrus 8. Segul 9. maurice - IMPRISONED by Australia until N2 10. firno 11. golfjunkie Reminder: D1 tie lynch=no lynch. Maurice cannot vote / cannot be voted for today.

Act 1 The australian put the book back on the table and smiled to himself. He know understood why the little gadgets were still on him after all. The mystery hooded figure allowed him to use them. Could have used some field testing, but that guy from ASIO said it should work flawlessly. Hard to believe Canadians were able to manufacture that top-notch gadget before others, but who cares as long as it works. He creeped around the corridors for a while listening to any sound, then carefully got one little robot from his pocket and pushed it under a door. The robot ticked for a moment then crawled into the room. "Would have been better to have the master control remote with me, but this is still better than nothing", he said to himself before returning to his room. Hopefully the Canadian had one, as the book suggested. If not, at least someone is blocked for a while. "Still need to remember what that guy said about frequent exposure for humans. Ah, nevermind, I'll just be careful to not use it on the same person too fast." The robot awaited in silence, waiting for any motion that would trigger his sensors. As soon as maurice tried to get out of bed, its systems activated. For a moment, a deafening silence surrounded maurice, then the door's electronic system fried. Everyone in the room would be out for a while. The robot crawled to maurice's body and took a drop of blood then started broadcasting. Somewhere near, the Canadian's control beeped once then started retransmitting to the nearest satellite. An answer will be in until daybreak. ----------------------------------- The Canadian was looking for Hirkala tonight. He found him studying in his room and decided to keep an eye on his room, so that nothing happens to him tonight. He chose a poor lit corner in the hallway and started his watch. The night passed and nothing happened so he returned to his room to catch at least a couple of minutes in his bed before daybreak. He was so happy that he completely missed the swede who stood all night in the opposite, even less lit corner. Seems like Hirkala had 2 guardian angels the same night. Back in his room, he found that one of his beepers was still lighted. "Interesting. This is interesting indeed.", he smiled to himself "Knew those extra-funds and export policy push would pay off". ----------------------------------- The Afgan studied the book for a while, then threw it away. He knew his mission and he had chosen a target for tonight. He finished writing the letter, then wrapped it up and went to the door he chose earlier. He slipped the enveloped then used his device to change the code on the door. Joe's Student will not be able to move for the night. ----------------------------------- EDM was sound asleep when the North Korean managed to open the seal on the door. He crept towards the bed unheard. Not many weapons to choose from, but fortunately, the target had exposed its neck. "All that training, after all these years", he smiled. Not a single sound transpired from the room as he struck a single fatal blow. Slowly, he moved back to his room. ----------------------------------- A few others chose to employ their spying devices tonight. All were unaware the Hooded Figure was watching them all. For the time being, he would not interfere and let their devices work. As long as they played by the book ... End of Act 1 -----------------------------------

Noted. I will try to PM people that did not send actions / vote a few hours before the end of the cycle.

Your proof is accepted Sorry, no other mystery op lined up at the moment, been busy with preparing and now hosting a new mafia game. Plus octopuppy's CtC. Leaving it unsolved so others can enjoy then!

Roles were sent. PM me if you have any problem related to that. Night 1 ends at 11 PM EST today (Tuesday, December 21, 2010). According to the special Holiday rules above, I may extend it with another 24 hours if not enough actions are in.

Disclaimer: Although inspired by actual historical events, this following story is fictional and not intended to depict any actual person or event. Act 0 Eleven people awoke at the same time to find themselves in a dimly lit room. A round doughnut table with 11 chairs was in the center of the room. Each of them began recognizing familiar faces, some of them friendly. Some of them were dressed casual, some were in their pyjamas. Shock was on almost everyone’s face. Chatter errupted almost instantly in all areas. Everybody wanted an explanation for their presence there. A few fists were even exchanged before… … a flash …. A hooded person appeared in the center of the table. “Gentlemen, if you please have a seat, I’m sure we can find a more civilized way of talking to each other and …” “I demand an explanation!” said the President of the United States furiously while massaging his eye who had started to swell as he had just received a sneaky blow while trying to get to the British Prime Minister. “You are in no position to make demands. Take a seat or be silenced permanently!” replied the hooded figure. Slowly, one by one, all the eleven took a seat at the table. “Gentlemen, I have been watching your past actions and I think I saw enough. Each of you recklessly plays with forces beyond his control in an attempt to win a global game with no apparent rules. You are endagering your species and all the other species. This non-sense will stop now…” “… Your games of diplomacy are now obsolete. I’m replacing those games with a simpler game with close similarities to some of your historical events. I think it was called Mafia. You will have plenty of time to study it and come up with an adequate winning strategy. Nothing exists outside this room unless I tell you to. So you’d better start thinking for yourselves since you will be playing for your lives. And for your nations as well.“ “Getting you all here was an example of my powers. And your nations are not aware that you they're missing their heads of state. Don’t break any of the rules, or I will be forced to make other similar displays. I can at any time replace you with the next in line in your nation’s hierarchy, so unless you think that person is much smarter than you, I suggest you behave. Study the materials and learn how to play the game.This is your one and only attempt to win this. You will find confortable quarters along the hallway. We’ll adjourn in the morning!” The hooded figure dissapeared. They continued to discuss for a while, suspicious glances were thrown, yet no one dared to break the rules. One by one they retreated through the hallway to their corresponding rooms. Studying was in order and after a while it became obvious that some of them have forgotten the notion long ago. End of act 0 Secret Alliance Have BTSC and a night invasion (kill). China -- The size of the country allows for vote manipulation (x0, x1, or x2). Also, if China can successfully guess the Nation who is to receive a message from S. Korea, China may read the message OR replace it with a message of his own, but not both. WINCON: Secretly wants revenge for the destruction of Nanking. Can only leave the game if Japan is dead. North Korea -- Nuclear devices were just a cover for North Korea's top secret project: building a better Google Earth. They have satellites that cover the whole globe. Can spy 1 player per night, even if that player is dead. If they spy Russia, Russia learns their identity as well. WINCON: Doesn't like their Southern brethren and will do anything to see them eliminated. Cannot leave the game until South Korea is eliminated. Afghanistan -- Their dirty bomb threats and scuds keep a country occupied (blocked) for a night. If they target the US, their identity will be published that night. WINCON: They hold a grudge against Russia for their past occupation. Can only leave the game if Russia is dead. UN Alliance USA -- Can survive through countless tragedies. Cannot die at night. WINCON: As a firm supporter of democracy, the USA dislikes the idea of vote manipulation. Says one thing and does another--if they directly reveal their role, they are the next lynch victim regardless of votes. Has one RID guess per night. Must correctly RID China before leaving the game. Russia -- Has hundreds of satellites floating in space. Can use one per night to spy a player's role and target. If either the spied player or his target that night is NorthKorea, then North Korea also learns Russia’s identity. WINCON: Must spy one of the three baddies before leaving the game. Japan -- Has trained many ninja assassins and is known for their stealth and technology. If spied by North Korea, Japan will appear to be South Korea. Once during the game, at night, Japan can target a player. If that player is in the baddie BTSC, he is assassinated -- removed from the BTSC and replaced by a back-up. Any information the original player had is not transferred. If the target is not a baddie, he is still replaced by the back-up and no previous information is transferred. (Any actions for that night are likewise not transferred). WINCON: Must successfully assassinate one player before leaving the game. South Korea -- Has a hard time dealing with their pesky northern neighbors. Silently monitors activities and can tell which player targeted which nation (instead of the other way around). S. Korea can also send a message (through the host) to one Nation. The message will be delivered the following day. WINCON: Must successfully deliver two messages to friendly nations. The contents of the messages do not matter, as long as the messages were never intercepted by China. After the second message is delivered, S. Korea may leave the game. England -- Has worldwide influence among its colonies. Has no action unless the USA, Australia, or Canada (AUSCANUS) is/are dead. When one of those countries dies, England takes over the actions or abilities of that nation. Every night, England must choose only one ability to use from the available list. (Note: While America's invulnerability ability is passive, England must choose in order to use it). WINCON: Cannot leave the game until at least one of the AUSCANUS have left the game AND at least 2 of which are no longer playing UNLESS all three are dead. (For clarification, the only way for England to leave is if two AUSCANUS players have left the game OR if one has died and one has left the game OR if all three have died.) Australia -- As a penal colony, Australia can imprison one player per night, but not the same player two nights in a row. Imprisoned players cannot act that night or vote the following day. They hire Canadian contractors to guard their prisons. WINCON: They try to prove that they are just as worthwhile as their allies. Cannot be the first of the AUS/CAN/UK/US to leave the game (they can leave, however, if at least one of the alliance is dead). Canada -- Maintains that social healthcare is a benefit, even though they know it isn't. Saves a player on odd nights and kills on even nights. Learns the faction of players imprisoned by Australia. WINCON: Before leaving the game, Canada must either successfully save a team mate or successfully kill one of the Secret Alliance members. Indy Sweden -- A rounded nation with nothing to contribute to war. Must choose two actions to replicate per night, but can only use the same set once per game and cannot repeat an action more than twice in a row. Message transmission or interception and assassination cannot be replicated. WINCON: Survive as long as possible. May leave the game only after at least 5 players are dead. Leaving the game: All WINCONs are to leave the game. In order to do so, each nation has a goal that must be accomplished. To leave the game, the player must sacrifice his night ability and declare that he wishes to leave the game (PM host at night). After this declaration, he must survive that night and following day. He will be allowed to vote, but his vote will count x0 at the end of the day. If he survives both, he may leave. Blocks do not prevent a player from leaving, but an imprisonment does. An imprisoned player must be freed before attempting to leave. If a player attempts to leave without completing his assigned goal, he will be informed that he cannot leave only AFTER the night and day cycle have completed. In this case, his vote would still count in the lynch. Other clarifications: - Day/Nights end at 11 PM EST (6 am in my timezone). Night can end earlier if I get all actions in red but the following day will be longer and end at 11 pm EST as usual. - Order of actions: imprison > invulnerability > save > kill > block > spy/message intercept / message transmission. - Night Kill is stopped if target is imprisoned or saved. NK is also stopped if all surviving / still in the game members of the Secret Alliance are blocked or imprisoned that night. - When a single faction manages to eliminate all other players, there's no one stopping them to leave the game, except if their WinCon is no longer possible to achieve. - D1 tie lynch=no lynch. Any other day tie = random lynch selected from the tied players. Special rules because of the Holidays: - If at least 4 players request via PM that the day/night is doubled, I will double it from 24 hours to 48 hours. Also if I don't get at least half of playing members votes during the day or half of the actions during the night, I will extend the day/night with another 24 hours and announce it in the thread and via PMs. - Inactive players will be replaced after 48 hours (or one day/night cycle) of inactivity. - I recommend putting in an early action during the day when you vote. If you make it during the night, you change it. If you don't make it during the night, it will still count as being active and help your team Hooded Figure: Araver 1. Blahblah 2. DarthNoob 3. Hirkala 4. EDM 5. JS 6. Framm 7. Petrus 8. Segul 9. maurice 10.firno 11. golfjunkie Special backup (replacement for assassinated player) 12. slick Other backups. 1. Molly (After the new year) 2. 3.

Indeed it does. Can you explain why?

11 PM EST Roles are going to be sent in a few minutes. Announcement: Although roster is full, backups may still be needed. So please sign as a backup so I know who to call if needed.

They can attempt any combination they like and they will be told if it is successful or not. But only successfully RIDing China counts towards the WinCon. Dead players can be RID guessed as well, but if China is lynched (hence role revealed) I will replace China from the WinCon with another random role (which was not reveal by lynching up to that point).

And another late correction since I saw something missing from one of the roles: USA -- Can survive through countless tragedies. Cannot die at night. WINCON: As a firm supporter of democracy, the USA dislikes the idea of vote manipulation. Says one thing and does another--if they directly reveal their role, they are the next lynch victim regardless of votes. Has one RID guess per night. Must correctly RID China before leaving the game.

After we get the 11th person on the roster. I will start sending the roles via PM once that happens.

I believe, in the spirit of other puzzles from bushindo, that there is no restriction on the number of red/green hats - the Easter bunny draws 10 hats randomly - independent coin flip for each hat.

freekyme, while it is perfectly OK to share your opinions (gently) in the thread if you think the puzzle is broken/flawed somehow, it is not OK to: 1) spam the thread with unnecessary and off-topic comments. 2) vote down on a puzzle or a post unless either you are absolutely sure that the puzzle is not solvable/wrong or you feel offended by the puzzle. Voting a puzzle should follow the Thank you. In case you were wondering why those red votes mark your posts, it is because at least two members found them off-topic and/or unnecessary.

EVADE

And a correction for the Indy WinCon as I just figured that half of 10 = 5 not 4 Also, assassination cannot be replicated. Indy Sweden -- A rounded nation with nothing to contribute to war. Must choose two actions to replicate per night, but can only use the same set once per game and cannot repeat an action more than twice in a row. Message transmission or interception and assassination cannot be replicated. WINCON: Survive as long as possible. May leave the game only after at least 4 5 players are dead.

Adding Segul's name to the roster as he seemed interested in joining. Hooded Figure: Araver 1. Blahblah 2. DarthNoob 3. Hirkala 4. EDM 5. JS 6. Framm 7. Petrus 8. Segul 9. maurice 10. 11. Special backup (replacement for assassinated player) 12. slick Other backups. 1. Molly (After the new year) 2. 3.

Daily example added: 4 */* 2 = 5 12 */* 17 = 28 30 */* 10 = 36 100 */* 93 = 186 42 */* 35 = 72 100 */* 21 = 116 12 */* 11 = 22 19 */* 29 = 48 41 */* 31 = 72 11 */* 18 = 28 ------------------ 48 */* 73 = ?

nothing so far. Let's get the usual suspects in, just in case: OHIO, UTAH, KANSAS, ARKANSAS, SOUTHDAKOTA. This 5-at-a-time puts some real pressure on top of normal pressure from the holidays.

1) PM at night. Instead of normal action you choose LEAVE. You are not told if you are allowed to until the end of the next day. So you may try to leave whenever you think your WinCon is achieved, but you might be wrong and find out at the end of the next day that you are not able to leave (in which case you lost your action for a night). 2) Yes. I'll rephrase it to read "kill one of the Secret Alliance members"

I admit, while creating the problem I was thinking of building on the same previous problems. Therefore your solution is very similar to what I had in mind. I do not know if a different type of strategy exists (different i.e. exploits a different aspect of the problem). As I got carried away with writing the setting for the problem as a contamination scenario and forgot to check for loopholes, I also have to credit Jobe17 for finding an alternative solution.

I like the quarantine-type solution yet it has one small flaw: you cannot be sure that an infected person actually injects himself with something. (low quality video and all). Same flaw as in another strategy above: you cannot trust the serum from a room where an infected person was in as it might have already been tampered with. And think of an extreme case of tampering: it might actually contain blood samples from infected people. 1) Non-infected people will not refuse a serum they know it's been tampered it if you pair-up infected people. 2) If you pair an infected with a non-infected, you either give each other serum from the other's room (in which case you cure the infected and potentially infect the other one due to previous tampering) or give each serum from his own room (therefore not curing the infected at all). 3) Non-paired member can still be infected.

Yes, I liked the idea - how quick it tends to be in practice.