I think the puzzle was good, but it might have been better if the scenario had more explicitly included “Given the next X heroes, maximise their chance of survival” the way aphyer did. As it is, I was expecting that the perfect solution would have aphyer levels of analysis, which is why I said that I expected my solution was a baseline and others would improve on it, even though I had the right answer.
You did allude to this by asking “What will you tell the Goddess when she returns?” but the overall scenario as presented was “Find a way for you personally to survive” and that’s the problem I answered. Considering how much richness was present in the rest of the dataset, I think the puzzle should have explicitly said “Goal 1 is to survive personally. Goal 2, which is harder, is to maximise the survival of everyone who comes after you.” This would have made it an excellent puzzle—aphyer did AMAZING work, and I think them being able to solve the puzzle does not speak poorly of it at all.
I think the puzzle was good, but it might have been better if the scenario had more explicitly included “Given the next X heroes, maximise their chance of survival” the way aphyer did. As it is, I was expecting that the perfect solution would have aphyer levels of analysis, which is why I said that I expected my solution was a baseline and others would improve on it, even though I had the right answer.
You did allude to this by asking “What will you tell the Goddess when she returns?” but the overall scenario as presented was “Find a way for you personally to survive” and that’s the problem I answered. Considering how much richness was present in the rest of the dataset, I think the puzzle should have explicitly said “Goal 1 is to survive personally. Goal 2, which is harder, is to maximise the survival of everyone who comes after you.” This would have made it an excellent puzzle—aphyer did AMAZING work, and I think them being able to solve the puzzle does not speak poorly of it at all.