// The Frontier's own tuning. // // What is true of this pack because it is *this* pack: a four-day run instead // of a week, a settlement that barely covers the room, a store ledger rather // than a loan, and when the star is offered. Everything true of a pack because // it is a pack is in conformance.test.js, which runs over every pack in the // registry — including this one. import { test } from 'node:test'; import assert from 'node:assert/strict'; import { frontier as pack } from '../content/frontier/index.js'; import { startGame, currentTurn, takeTurn } from '../src/engine/game.js'; import { play, sweep, median } from './fixtures/strategies.js'; test('the calendar is a four-day run, not a week', () => { // The point of this pack, structurally: the engine derives a cycle from // whatever length the pack declares, and nothing anywhere assumes seven. let state = startGame(pack, { seed: 'calendar' }); assert.deepEqual( [state.calendar.name, state.calendar.cycle, state.calendar.index], ['Stage day', 1, 0], ); const names = []; for (let t = 0; t < 7; t++) { names.push(state.calendar.name); const turn = currentTurn(pack, state); state = takeTurn(pack, state, turn.options.find((o) => o.available).option.id).state; } assert.deepEqual(names, ['Stage day', 'Haul', 'Yard', 'Rest', 'Stage day', 'Haul', 'Yard']); assert.equal(state.calendar.cycle, 2, 'the second run has begun'); }); test('the settlement and the room land on the days the pack says', () => { const settlement = []; const room = []; let state = startGame(pack, { seed: 'rhythm' }); for (let t = 0; t < 16; t++) { const turn = currentTurn(pack, state); const result = takeTurn(pack, state, turn.options.find((o) => o.available).option.id); for (const change of result.record.upkeep) { if (change.label === 'Settlement') settlement.push(state.turn); if (change.label === 'Room at the Cordwood') room.push(state.turn); } state = result.state; } // The boarding house collects on the Rest day, the night before the outfit // settles up on the Stage day. That ordering is the whole reason a hand is // never quite ahead. assert.deepEqual(room, [4, 8, 12, 16], 'the room is collected every Rest day'); assert.deepEqual(settlement, [5, 9, 13], 'the outfit settles up every Stage day'); }); test('the star is worth taking, and reachable by a deliberate player', () => { const { byStrategy } = sweep(pack, { seeds: 12, turns: 200 }); const sworn = Object.values(byStrategy).flat().filter((s) => s.stage === 'deputy'); const stayed = Object.values(byStrategy).flat().filter((s) => s.stage === 'hand'); assert.ok(sworn.length > 0 && stayed.length > 0, 'both outcomes should occur'); assert.ok(median(sworn.map((s) => s.money)) > median(stayed.map((s) => s.money)), 'deputy pay should leave a player better off'); // The yard is a career, not a tutorial: the offer is gated at turn 40 and // should land somewhere in the middle of a run rather than at the very end. const timings = []; for (let seed = 0; seed < 12; seed++) { let at = null; play(pack, { strategy: 'sociable', seed, turns: 200, visit: ({ state }) => { if (state.stage === 'deputy' && at === null) at = state.turn; } }); if (at) timings.push(at); } assert.equal(timings.length, 12, 'a sociable player should always get the offer'); const typical = median(timings); assert.ok(typical >= 41 && typical < 90, `the star landed at turn ${typical}`); }); test('hard times is uncommon for a careful player and real for a careless one', () => { const countHardTimes = (strategy) => { let days = 0; play(pack, { strategy, seed: 'ht', turns: 200, visit: ({ turn }) => { if (turn.event.id === 'store_cut_off') days++; } }); return days; }; assert.equal(countHardTimes('thrifty'), 0, 'minding the money should keep you out of the book'); assert.ok(countHardTimes('spendthrift') > 0, 'ignoring it should land you in it'); }); test('the store ledger cannot spiral without limit', () => { let peak = 0; for (const strategy of ['spendthrift', 'desperate', 'random']) { for (let seed = 0; seed < 12; seed++) { play(pack, { strategy, seed, turns: 200, visit: ({ state }) => { peak = Math.max(peak, state.owed); } }); } } // He stops carrying you at 120 and the largest single line is 32, so 152 // plus a few stalled charges is the ceiling. Well above that means the gate // has stopped working. assert.ok(peak <= 220, `the ledger reached ${peak}; the credit ceiling is not holding`); const charges = pack.upkeep.filter((u) => u.label?.startsWith('Store credit')); assert.ok(charges.length >= 3, 'the charge should step up as the ledger grows'); }); test('a skill gate is never gated behind itself', () => { // The lesson Corporate Ladder's logs taught, applied here as a rule rather // than as a hope. Four of its options need negotiation 15 and several of its // largest negotiation gains sit behind that same gate, so a player who is // not deliberately chasing the skill bounces off the wall for thirty turns. // // The structural property that prevents it: for every skill threshold in the // pack, the growth available *without* passing that threshold must be able // to reach it, and repeatably — a single one-off award is not a route. const gates = new Map(); for (const event of pack.events) { for (const option of event.options ?? []) { for (const requirement of option.requires ?? []) { if (!requirement.path.startsWith('skills.')) continue; const highest = gates.get(requirement.path) ?? 0; gates.set(requirement.path, Math.max(highest, requirement.value)); } } } assert.ok(gates.size > 0, 'the pack should gate something on a skill'); for (const [path, highest] of gates) { const start = pack.state[path].initial; let repeatable = 0; for (const event of pack.events) { if (event.once) continue; for (const option of event.options ?? []) { // Ungated on this skill: a route a player has open from turn one. if ((option.requires ?? []).some((r) => r.path === path)) continue; const gain = (option.effects ?? []) .filter((e) => e.path === path && e.op === 'add') .reduce((sum, e) => sum + e.value, 0); if (gain > 0) repeatable += gain; } } assert.ok(start + repeatable > highest, `${path} tops out at ${highest}, but only ${repeatable} is reachable without it`); } }); test('a player who wants a skill does not wait long for the first door', () => { // Measured rather than assumed: a player steering for a skill should be // through its lowest gate inside the first two runs of the stage. const firstGate = 12; for (const path of ['skills.nerve', 'skills.trade']) { const gain = (o) => (o.option.effects ?? []) .filter((e) => e.path === path && e.op === 'add') .reduce((sum, e) => sum + e.value, 0); const times = []; for (let seed = 0; seed < 12; seed++) { let state = startGame(pack, { seed: `gate-${seed}` }); let at = null; for (let t = 0; t < 120 && at === null; t++) { const turn = currentTurn(pack, state); const available = turn.options.filter((o) => o.available); const best = [...available].sort((a, b) => gain(b) - gain(a))[0]; state = takeTurn(pack, state, best.option.id).state; const value = path.split('.').reduce((o, k) => o?.[k], state); if (value >= firstGate) at = state.turn; } times.push(at ?? Infinity); } const typical = median(times); assert.ok(typical <= 20, `${path} reached ${firstGate} at turn ${typical}; the first door is too far off`); } }); test('a deliberate player can put Dutch in their debt', () => { // The deepest relationship gate in the pack: `send_for_dutch` in the // marshal's office needs a favour banked two rungs earlier. const owed = (o) => (o.option.effects ?? []) .filter((e) => e.path === 'relationships.dutch.owes_you') .reduce((sum, e) => sum + e.value, 0); let state = startGame(pack, { seed: 'dutch' }); let reached = null; for (let t = 0; t < 60 && reached === null; t++) { if (state.relationships.dutch.owes_you >= 25) { reached = state.turn; break; } const turn = currentTurn(pack, state); const best = turn.options.filter((o) => o.available).sort((a, b) => owed(b) - owed(a))[0]; state = takeTurn(pack, state, best.option.id).state; } assert.ok(reached && reached < 45, `Dutch's book opened at turn ${reached ?? 'never'}`); });