(Other) a cereal murder that shoots people with cheerios - task 5 (trial 4, Night 8)

[coolking49]

I refuse to let the public see my scores, albeit that they having been sent in a few days ago. just saying. I guess I underachieve as well.

[zorbees]

Look at me, I'm still a huge overachiever!

[Bass]

Deadline. I'll be posting the results within the next few hours, as well as the details for your second task. Feel free to discuss whatever you want in here until the moment of truth comes.

[Bass]

Alright, it is time to announce the results of your first task!

First, before I reveal the distribution of scores, I will now present the solutions to the quiz, and any additional guidelines I had for grading each question.

Quiz Solutions

---

1. Calcium was what I was looking for. However, due to how poorly I worded the question, Vitamin D was also accepted since it is also a nutrient involved in bone formation.
2. Avogadro's Number, which is approximately 6.02 x 10^23
3. False. Sort of a trick question. The Coriolis Force has a negligible effect on something as small as a toilet, and in actuality how they flush is mainly due to how they are individually built.
4. Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680. This just came out, so a few of you mistakenly said AMD's 6870.
5. eric the espeon
6. "Here we go!". Also sort of a trick question since it is exactly the same as a question from the quiz in the previous competition except it was for the season 2.
7. 1/2^10 = 1/1024 = .0009765625 = .09765625%. This is derived with a simple binomial probability calculation.
8. Mechanical. Again though, since the question was worded vaguely, I accepted anything that was close enough, mainly "Clicky".
9. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. The Bhut Jolokia, better known as the Ghost Chili, was dethroned quite some time ago actually.
10. Comcast. As someone who is forced to have them as my ISP, I can attest to just how shitty they are.

With these solutions, here is the final distribution of scores!

Leethoof: -1/10
Galladiator: 1/10
Fatecrashers: 3/10
LightWolf: 3/10

billymills: 4/10
Fishin: 4/10
Ditto: 4/10
DaLetterEl: 4/10
forks: 4/10
ssbbm: 4/10
Ace Emerald: 4/10
Pidge: 4/10
coolking49: 4/10
Gmax: 4/10
StevenSnype: 4/10
EARTHWORM: 4/10
Mastadi: 4/10
SkullCandy: 4/10
zorbees: 4/10
Quagsires: 4/10
porygon3: 4/10

shade: 4/10
TalkingLion: 4/10
kingofkongs: 5/10
Crux: 7/10

For the graphical types, here is a histogram of the scores:



The mean score was a 3.76/10, and the standard deviation was 1.335.

With all of this taken into account, the players who will move on to the next task are:


1. billymills
2. Fishin
3. Ditto
4. DaLetterEl
5. forks
6. ssbbm
7. Ace Emerald
8. Pidge
9. coolking49
10. Gmax
11. StevenSnype
12. EARTHWORM
13. Mastadi
14. SkullCandy
15. zorbees
16. Quagsires
17. porygon3

Thus, Leethoof, Galladiator, Fatecrashers, LightWolf, TalkingLion, shade, kingofkongs, and Crux will be eliminated. Their punishment will be as follows:

For our lowest scorers (Leethoof, Galladiator, Fatecrashers, and LightWolf)

Your signature shall be changed to "I am an underachiever and proud of it! Put this in your signature too if you agree!"

For our highest scorers (TalkingLion, shade, kingofkongs, and Crux)

Your signature shall be changed to "I am an overachiever and proud of it! Put this in your signature too if you agree!"

Finally, you might notice that Leethoof got a -1/10, which is impossible by normal means. This is because I gave anyone who submitted nothing a -1/10 for the sake of my ranking algorithm. For this terrible offense, in addition to the above punishment, Leethoof must also change his avatar to the following:

Leethoof's Special Punishment

---

For two weeks.

And with this, I must congratulate coolking49 for holding the median score! You will be properly awarded in the next task, I promise.

And that's it for the first task! I will post information for the second task later tonight, as I am a little too busy to post it now, and wanted you all to see the results for task 1 as soon as possible. Feel free to discuss what happened until then.

[LightWolf]

I'm a paranoid idiot and I'm proud of it.

[zorbees]

Originally Posted by Fat LightWolf

I'm a paranoid idiot and I'm proud of it.

typical lw

[forks]

i would like to thank crux for teaching us the valuable lesson that charging headfirst into danger does not constitute courage

[Fatecrashers]

this sig isnt so bad

[Galladiator]

Heh. I'm breaking the rules ever so slightly.

[coolking49]

I am the most average of the average and I am proud of it.

[kingofkongs]

Why the fuck did you guys make the average 4 not 5 that doesn't make any sense 5 is like the most averagest number

[Bass]

It is time for us to begin our second task!

First, I would like to congratulate all of the players who have made it this far once more:

1. billymills
2. Fishin
3. Ditto
4. DaLetterEl
5. forks
6. ssbbm
7. Ace Emerald
8. Pidge
9. coolking49
10. Gmax
11. StevenSnype
12. EARTHWORM
13. Mastadi
14. SkullCandy
15. zorbees
16. Quagsires
17. porygon3

Your second task is somewhat old fashioned. You will be betting on a horse race. But in this particular race, you will all have an impact on how each horse performs!

There are currently 5 horses that you are all betting on. For all intents and purposes, they are by default equally likely to win each race. However, with some intervention on your part, that can easily be changed. I am primarily talking about what you feed each horse. It is a scientific fact after all that you need the calories provided in food for energy, and these horses by default aren't given any food. For the sake of simplicity, we will measure each horse's energy in a fictitious unit called POW. With all of this background in place, I will now outline the specific rules of this task.

• First, you are given an initial investment of $100. For his exemplary performance in the previous task, coolking49 will be given an additional $20 to start with.
• The task will be split into three phases: Buying food, Feeding the horses, and Betting.
• The first phase, buying food, is somewhat self explanatory. You will be able to spend some of your money on food that can be fed to the horses from the catalog below:
  • Sugar Cube ($5) - Increases energy a by 1 POW when consumed.
  • Carrot ($10) - Increases energy by 3 POW when consumed.
  • Golden Apple ($20) - Increases energy by 7 POW when consumed.

• You can purchase any combination and any amount of each of these items, but be careful not to overspend here though, as you will need some money leftover for the betting later!
• The second phase will be the feeding phase. You may feed any combination of food you bought previously to any particular horse, or even among multiple horses, during this phase. Doing so will increase the amount of energy that particular horse might have. Keep in mind though that any player can feed any combination of horses they please, and the individual changes in energy for each horse can be affected by all of the players. You will not know how much total energy the horse you have fed will have at the end of this phase, only the amount you gave it.
• The last phase is the betting phase. Here you are allowed to use any portion of your funds to bet on which horse you think will win. You are required to make a bet of $20 during this phase, though. Naturally, one would assume that the horse with the most energy would win, and you would be half correct. How each horse performs will depend on how much usable energy it has. The formula for usable energy, U is:
  • U = E (E <= 30 POW)
  • U = 60 - E (E > 30 POW)
  
  Where E is the amount of energy fed to the horse during the feeding phase.
  
• So the horse with the highest usable energy wins, and the lowest one loses. If two horses are tied in effective energy, then the horse with fewer bets placed on it will rank higher, as it will not be suffering from as much mental pressure.
  
• If your initial bet was on the winning horse, your return will be doubled.
• If your initial bet was on the 2nd place horse, your return will equal your initial bet.
• Bets on all other horses will yield no return.
• Finally, once this is done, feeding and betting phases will be repeated once more. The energy of each horse will return to 0 POW after the first race, so plan accordingly.
• Note that at the end of each phase, I will reveal how much money each player is currently holding.

When the task ends, I will eliminate and punish the 5 players who are holding the least amount of money. There will be a special sudden death phase if there are more than that. If you go bankrupt (hold $0), you will receive a harsher punishment. The player with the most amount of money at the end will be awarded an advantage in the next task.


This is a lot of information to digest, so please read it carefully and ask me any questions you may have. We will be starting the buying phase right now. I will give you 48 hours to complete this. All you need to do is send me a PM stating what items you will buy and how much of each. As always, collaboration is heavily encouraged, and unless you are really lucky, you will likely do poorly if you try to go this alone. Good luck!

[Da Letter El]

What are the different horses' names

[Bass]

You will find out when the feeding phase starts.

[Pidge]

11 people contact me so we can win together

[Bass]

The buying phase for the second task is now over. It is time to introduce the horses that you will be feeding and betting on!

Our first horse is Beethoven the 9th. There was no Beethoven the 8th, the owner of this horse just really likes Beethoven's 9th symphony.

Our second horse is John Lemon. Hopefully this horse isn't a lemon!

Our third horse is Spartacus. It is said that he descended from a horse used by Greek soldiers.

Our fourth horse is STALLION. He is the only male horse and seems to suffer from MS.

Our fifth and final horse is Xx_bitchin_m0tocross_equine_xX. This horse is immortal, and was used by none other than the One Eyed Dragon, Date Masamune.

I wrote the descriptions, but credit goes to Fishin for the awesome names.

There you have it. If you have any food, you have 24 hours to feed your horses. I don't want this to drag on, but if a significant number of you guys need it, I will extend the deadline by an additional day. Just ask.

Here are the current money totals for the players:

1. billymills - $70
2. Fishin - $70
3. Ditto - $100
4. DaLetterEl - $100
5. forks - $80
6. ssbbm - $100
7. Ace Emerald - $70
8. Pidge - $80
9. coolking49 - $100
10. Gmax - $100
11. StevenSnype - $80
12. EARTHWORM - $80
13. Mastadi - $100
14. SkullCandy - $100
15. zorbees - $80
16. Quagsires - $80
17. porygon3 - $70

As usual, good luck and have fun!

[Fishin]

I noticed some people (6, to be exact) were too cheap to buy any food. Given that there is only one buying phase, it seems prudent for all the people with food to collaborate and bet on one horse, as cooperating with the people who did not buy food has no benefit. To be more precise, unless someone stabs/leaks info for no reason it's pretty much a free pass since 5 people will be eliminated here, and assuming probabilities hold only one of the 6 cheapskates will get lucky and guess right.

If you wish to cooperate, please send me a PM!

[LightWolf]

Originally Posted by Fat Fishin

I noticed some people (6, to be exact) were too cheap to buy any food. Given that there is only one buying phase, it seems prudent for all the people with food to collaborate and bet on one horse, as cooperating with the people who did not buy food has no benefit. To be more precise, unless someone stabs/leaks info for no reason it's pretty much a free pass since 5 people will be eliminated here, and assuming probabilities hold only one of the 6 cheapskates will get lucky and guess right.

If you wish to cooperate, please send me a PM!

5 didn't buy anything, don't group coolking with the rest, he started with 120.

[Fishin]

i know

3. Ditto - $100
4. DaLetterEl - $100
6. ssbbm - $100
10. Gmax - $100
13. Mastadi - $100
14. SkullCandy - $100

[Da Letter El]

i wasnt paying enough attention to deadlines x_x

[Mekkah**]

rofl the horse names almost make the missed opportunity for yeti jokes forgivable

[LightWolf]

Originally Posted by Fat Fishin

i know

3. Ditto - $100
4. DaLetterEl - $100
6. ssbbm - $100
10. Gmax - $100
13. Mastadi - $100
14. SkullCandy - $100

Sorry Gmax, I tried to trick him...

[Gmax]

bs deadlines! You're a good man LW.

[Bass]

A few people expressed the need for a longer deadline, along with several people sending me nothing to begin with. I'll extend the deadline by 24 hours or until I have PMs from everyone. If you have food and want to idle, please PM me stating you intend to do so if you haven't already.

[ssbbm]

anyone who wants $30 who has food; contact me