Date:         Mon, 2 Dec 1996 11:54:45 +0100
Reply-To:     Netrunner Discussion List <NETRUNNER-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM>
Sender:       Netrunner Discussion List <NETRUNNER-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM>
From:         Erwin Wagner <wagnere@INFORMATIK.TU-MUENCHEN.DE>
Subject:      Infinity Loop
In-Reply-To:  <96Dec1.231611+0100_met.52966-271+103@tuminfo2.informatik.tu-muenchen.de> from "Automatic digest
              processor" at Dec 1, 96 12:53:12 pm

Hi!

Doing a little bit of math (it's my job ;) I found a working infinity
loop for the corporation. Now stop laughing and relax. It really works,
but it has one major drawback: It need's a complicated setup and a
dedicated deck construction.
So here it is:

Paradox, Inc. - "We do anything anytime."

 3 x AI Chief Financial Officer (AICFO)
 3 x Tykho Extension
 3 x Pacifica Regional AI (PRAI)
 3 x Chicago Branch (CB)
 3 x Mazer
 3 x Firewall
19 x Credit Consolidation (CC)
 8 x Accounts Receivable (AR)
--
45 cards

Now the setup:
You'll need at least 34 bits in your bit pool. Better would be 37 or 40.
Hand: 1xPRAI, 1xCB, 1xAICFO, 2xany other card (preferably CC).

Then we start:
draw a card
1. action: install and rez PRAI
2. action: install and rez CB (32 bits left)
3. action: advance PRAI two times, using CB. (29 bits)

At this point we have two actions (via PRAI) left.
For every action + 3 bits we can now get 2 actions, which gives us
3 bits/action.
Using 12 bits we gain 4 additional actions (17 bits, 6 actions left).

Next, we must score the AI CFO:
install AI CFO
advance with CB
advance with CB
advance (10 bits, 2 actions left).

If we have any money making cards left, we can now play one and use the
gained bits to further advance PRAI. If not, we use AI CFO to draw five
new cards. As we already have installed 3 cards, there are a maximum of
42 cards in R&D now. So on average there are about 3.2 money cards in
our newly drawn cards. With these cards we gain bits and use these bits
to gain more actions. In the process we install all installable cards
until there are only operations left. From this point, the process can
continue ad infinitum.

Why does this work?
Using AI CFO we only spend about 0.33 actions for drawing the money
operations (1 action to get approx. 3 cards). So we have:
0.33 action (draw) + 1 action (play) = 4.7 bits (average)
which yields
3.53 bits/action.
Using CB/PRAI we only need 3 bits/action, so we have a net gain of
0.53 bits/action.

Finally, the problems:
The setup is tricky. We need a lot of money and some ICE and three
different cards. The current card mix already has some real life
modifications, else you wouldn't need any Tychos, ICE or AR and not that
many PRAI/CBs. In the best case (no ICE, only playing money cards) the
loop can start on the 4th turn, but typically this would be the 6th
or 7th turn and the worst case: never.

And as long as there are 4 cards other than operations in your R&D, the
loop can break if you get subsequent draws of these four cards.
Even with 3 nodes/agendas in the cycle it can still break if you
only get AR, which do not yield a sufficient bits/actions ratio.
But this is not very probable (anyone doing the statistics?).

Any comments to this idea?