In that sense, the best response to TFT is indeed “TFT but defect on the last turn”, because “TFT but defect on the last two turns” does strictly worse when playing against TFT.
But what if you are playing against “TFT but defect on the last turn”? In that case, the best strategy is TFT-2. And if the other fellow is playing TFT-2, the best strategy is TFT-3. And so on. Agreed?
Fortunately, you can indeed do significantly better than TFT in this game!
Seems to me it depends on what strategies the other contestants are playing.
Oh, yes, of course; the best response to TFT-1 is clearly TFT-2, and so on.
As for how well strategies do, while it’s clear that it will depend on the strategies of other contestants and in that sense there cannot be a “best strategy”, I think one can do better—for example, if there’s a Nash Equilibrium strategy that isn’t simply (Defect, Defect).
At a bare minimum, you can improve upon TFT by also making sure it defects against CooperateBots, and doesn’t wait until the second turn to defect against DefectBots. Of course, there may indeed be JusticeBots out there who punish you for defecting against CooperateBots...
At a bare minimum, you can improve upon TFT by also making sure it defects against CooperateBots,
That’s assuming that the new algorithm can correctly identify its opponents. Also, if other algorithms correctly sense that yours is opportunistic, they might change their strategy to your detriment.
But what if you are playing against “TFT but defect on the last turn”? In that case, the best strategy is TFT-2. And if the other fellow is playing TFT-2, the best strategy is TFT-3. And so on. Agreed?
Seems to me it depends on what strategies the other contestants are playing.
Oh, yes, of course; the best response to TFT-1 is clearly TFT-2, and so on.
As for how well strategies do, while it’s clear that it will depend on the strategies of other contestants and in that sense there cannot be a “best strategy”, I think one can do better—for example, if there’s a Nash Equilibrium strategy that isn’t simply (Defect, Defect).
At a bare minimum, you can improve upon TFT by also making sure it defects against CooperateBots, and doesn’t wait until the second turn to defect against DefectBots. Of course, there may indeed be JusticeBots out there who punish you for defecting against CooperateBots...
That’s assuming that the new algorithm can correctly identify its opponents. Also, if other algorithms correctly sense that yours is opportunistic, they might change their strategy to your detriment.