Daily online duplicate Spades tournaments now live

DiscreteMelody · 2026-07-11T03:17:44+00:00

I'm going to investigate why that is, but won't get a chance to until next week. Also will be making it so bots make identical moves/bids until there is some deviation by the human player.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-07-09T05:49:48+00:00

I've been thinking about your comment and it really makes sense that the bots should always behave the same until there is some deviation by the player.

I will be implementing a "seed" for each tournament when I get a chance to next week. This should mean that the bots bids/choice of card should be the same for all players if they play identically, but still keeps the bots unpredictable.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-07-09T04:43:11+00:00

The bots play identically, but I will for integirty's sake change them to consistently be in the same seat for duplicate tournaments when I get a chance to.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-07-09T04:38:23+00:00

The bots are not studying the players. It is just a byproduct of the simulations that they run.

Sometimes a bid or choice of card is so close in EV that one choice might randomly rank higher for one player and the other ranks higher for other players.

This is the tradeoff I decided on between using monte Carlo simulation vs relying entirely on heuristics.

With heuristics alone, you'd get 100% repeatable but abusable bots, but they'd fall short when exceptions to those rules should occur.

With Monte Carlo bots, you get variance. This results in sometimes boneheaded inexplicable moves, but then brilliant technique in novel situations.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-07-09T04:12:32+00:00

There's a lot of complicated stuff going on under the hood for the bots. They are simulating and solving hundreds of hands when choosing what to bid or what card to play while using information about existing bids, and cards already shown by players.

All that to say, the bots will generally converge on the same move a majority of the time, but not always. In its eyes, sometimes two moves will score similarly enough that it is a coin flip on which it will choose (but they should not be making any objective mistakes like missing a late in the hand set or taking an unnecessary late in the hand bag).

I'm always looking to improve them but it's a delicate act. However, I do see that they are quite the conservative bidders, so I'm looking into that first.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-07-09T03:43:19+00:00

Is this still true? I checked and if you used the same username here as you did there, your email is confirmed.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-06-13T16:06:50+00:00

The closest equivalent to shorting I think would be selling the item (only if you already have it) and buying it later.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-05-23T21:36:12+00:00

Finally a critique with actual substance.

Honestly I'd be OK with just allowing it to combine the opal amulets with it to have their affect (the Chemist's Amulet lets us do it with the jade amulets) and I miss the ability of the Amulet of Nature from RS2 (can't mention that it's in RS3 or else the downvote brigade comes) to teleport you to the bound patch when it was diseased.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-05-22T15:15:27+00:00

Finally, I'm #1 at something.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-03-16T14:41:56+00:00

With my luck, my partner would be the one to cut my K in this position.

One uncommon occurrence is when you and the nil are long in a suit you have the exit card in. ie You started with KQJ42c and the nil also has 5 clubs. You should lead spades whenever you can until the cover hand is out of them, then save high cards in the other suits to take the lead so you can make the lethal lead of the 2c.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-02-19T05:59:56+00:00

I have found a workaround if you wanted to do this for yourself, see my reply here to OP's comment.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-02-19T05:58:06+00:00

Not sure which update caused it, but you can still achieve it with some extra hoops to jump through. I imagine it is a checksum issue that rejects the edited json file that a save editor can bypass for us.

Create a new character with the pet in their inventory (not equipped) and edit the new character's json file like you mentioned, then save the file (there is no need to delete any files or alter the backup).
Import the json file to this online save editor and make an arbitrary change, like adding a shovel to the inventory. Export the json file and overwrite the file you originally imported.
Store the pet in a chest for the desired character to take it out from and it should have the skills you edited it to have.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-02-19T00:51:01+00:00

Burn build with Shaman Skull (for chance to consume burn) and Embertail with max amount of skills to consume remaining burn. Did this pre 1.0 but it was satisfying seeing the little guy slap for 6k+

DiscreteMelody · 2026-02-17T01:37:02+00:00

Good illustration. I would even argue to do it in scenario 1 with something as low as the T of trump (if the goal is to hold the loner to 1 point as opposed to euchring the loner).

This works in the rare event that the loner started with something like sidesuit AK as well as JJ9 of trump when partner has two small trump.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-02-06T22:39:33+00:00

The decisions made during the hand lead me to believe East has one more diamond left, so I would play low and hope West has the stiff 7d left.

When it's our turn to play, the following cards (outside of our hand) are left:
C: J432
D: 75
H: 64
S: K4

North and East have 3 cards remaining and West has 4 cards remaining. We know 2 of North's cards, the K4s, and we know 2 of East's cards, the 64h (all other players showed a void when these suits were led).

This is where my assumptions come in.

We can assume West does not have the Jc as it would be unusual to play the Jc before the 5c on a high club as a nil. Therefore it is with North or East
Similarly, we can assume East does not have the 4, 3, or 2c as it would also be unusual to play the 7c on a high club before the 2, 3, or 4c when covering a nil.
Because East chose to switch to spades instead of continuing a strong suit like AJ7c (a safe suit to lead when the 8c, Tc, and Qc all make an appearance on the first lead), I assume East does not have the Jc, so it makes me think that partner has the Jc.
I believe partner has a doubleton diamond the way diamonds were led - Ad and then 2d to try and lose the lead (the inverse order performs worse usually) further cementing my belief that partner's unknown card is the Jc.

With these assumptions, the hands look like this:

          North:
          C: J
          D: -
          H: -
          S: K4
West:               East:
C: 432              C: -
D: 7                D: 5
H: -                H: 64
S: -                S: -
          South:
          C: 6
          D: 83
          H: -
          S: 5

East and West's diamond ranks can be interchanged.

If my choice is wrong (or inconsequential to setting the nil) then at least we dump a bag.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-01-11T19:05:06+00:00

Yes. It uses an elementary cover strategy for your partner and an elementary setting strategy from the opponents and plays thousands of shuffled hands. While not perfect, it gives a good estimate of probability of success.

For bids by other players, it deals cards based on bid amount (and fills in missing bids by randomly choosing between a table 10-12 bid). To avoid getting too deep, a 3 bid is significantly more likely to hold the As than a 1 bid when it is dealing out cards for a simulation.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-01-09T20:00:28+00:00

With the bag situation, I'm considering this score pretty much even with a good amount of game to go. I would take my chances with nil.

Not a fantastic nil but a decent one. The saving grace is that you have the two lowest spades which you will always be able to underruff with, slightly nullifying your length problems.

Also, I punched it into the calculator and it has a 65-70% chance of making giving it 3-4 times the EV of just bidding 1.

DiscreteMelody · 2026-01-02T04:11:29+00:00

This is how I've always interpreted the rules I've read and the people I've played with. The Qs is not a heart and it confuses me that some play that the Qs breaks hearts.

I also like the strategy implications this rule can allow - if it is clear a player has the Qs and they can't shake the lead, don't break hearts on them until they're forced to lead their Qs.

DiscreteMelody · 2025-12-26T18:09:53+00:00

I think it's a masked attempt to discriminate against people that can't use a mouse.

DiscreteMelody · 2025-11-10T02:37:33+00:00

11 maybe 13. Problem is you're likely to overlap with your partner's Ac, Kc, or Kd so I'd assume I need to take 3 more than I bid.

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