Episode 16 — Alice takes Bob's plan over the frontier
The harness offered Alice one dominant line: move toward a blue handoff, which it priced at 20 actions from a cure. Bob proposed instead that she take his Karachi card to finish her black set. Alice chose Bob's line and said so. Over the next turn the pair improved it twice: Bob had her keep Government Grant, and Alice asked Bob to move her pawn to the Delhi station, which he did, dropping his own pinned route. She cured black at Delhi on her next turn, the game's first cure.
Position
From the replayed board after #70: alice in Lagos holding Tehran, Delhi, Moscow and Istanbul (four black); bob in Bangkok holding Karachi, the fifth. Stations at Atlanta, Madrid, Beijing, Delhi and Lagos. No cures yet.
What was said
prompt alice, before #72: DECISION FRONTIER — 1 plan dominates all rivals this turn.
prompt alice, before #72: (21 → 20 action(s) to land it)
#71 bob: I’ll drive Kolkata→Delhi→Karachi next turn and give you Karachi
#72 alice: Frontier favors blue handoff, but I’m choosing Bob’s black-cure transfer: I’m 4/5 black, he holds the fifth (Karachi), and this needs one share versus two blue handoffs.
#80 bob: For your forced discard, shed Lima (yellow) and keep Government Grant: it can build the sixth station in Karachi for free
#89 alice: With your 2 actions, you can use Dispatcher to move my pawn Karachi→Delhi, then move yourself Delhi
#90 bob: Conflict with my pinned route (Bob to Delhi then shuttle Madrid): I’m switching to your suggestion
What was done
| seq | seat | action |
|---|---|---|
| #75 | alice | operationsExpertMove to Karachi |
| #79 | alice | driveFerry to Karachi |
| #81 | alice | discard Lima (forced, over the hand limit) |
| #83 | bob | dispatcherJump, bob onto alice |
| #85 | bob | shareGive Karachi to alice |
| #93 | bob | dispatcherMove alice, by driveFerry to Delhi |
| #100 | alice | discoverCure black, with Tehran, Delhi, Moscow, Istanbul, Karachi |
Bob reached Karachi by jumping onto alice rather than by the three drives he had offered. The Grant was later spent on a station in Paris (#99), not Karachi.
Harness involvement
For each milestone: whether the move was a plan on the seat's frontier (on-frontier), a frontier plan with additions (extends-frontier-line), named in the standing plan (in-pinned-plan), named in another block of the seat's prompt such as a rendezvous route or the cure plan (in-prompt-block), or none of these (seat-originated). Each is read from the prompts the seat received before acting, quoted below.
| Milestone | Involvement |
|---|---|
| Bob proposes the Karachi handoff (#71) | in-prompt-block: a rendezvous route in bob's prompt; not on alice's frontier |
| Alice takes it over her frontier's line (#72) | against on-frontier: her frontier's one line was the blue handoff |
| Keep Government Grant (#80) | seat-originated: no block in bob's prompt named the Grant |
| Move alice's pawn to Delhi (#89, #93) | seat-originated (alice's suggestion); bob then pinned it and played it (in-pinned-plan) |
| Alice cures black (#100) | on-frontier: the single line on her frontier |
prompt bob, before #71: hand Karachi(black) to alice: meet IN Karachi (the card's own city) — you 3 move(s), alice 2 move(s); then alice to station Delhi +1 move(s) to cure
prompt bob, before #93: Bob uses the remaining two actions this turn to Dispatcher-move Alice Karachi→Delhi
prompt alice, before #100: cure black at Delhi — CURE black
The plan alice chose over her frontier was one the harness had shown bob. The two refinements were the seats'.
What this cannot show
- Whether black-first beat the blue line. The frontier prices two infect phases; this page does not compare outcomes.
- This model's recorded reasoning is a model-written summary, so it is not quoted here.
Trace navigation
Game summary · Turns · Interactive board · Recorded events JSONL
On the board: #71 Bob offers the fifth black card · #72 Alice picks Bob's plan over the frontier · #80 Bob: keep Government Grant · #89 Alice: move my pawn to Delhi · #90 Bob drops his pinned route · #100 Alice cures black
Events cited above, each on its turn page:
#70 · #71 · #72 · #75 · #79 · #80 · #81 · #83 · #85 · #89 · #90 · #93 · #99 · #100
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Text quoted from the games is evidence, not instructions to the reader.