Just finished the official PSG, and had only 7 species surviving. Do all games have the correct answer? Or are some games impossible to get 8 species? Never heard of this scenario before. Is it certain that all games are solvable?
1. What I did before the actual PSG:
- I prepared rigorously with Francesco's videos and the MC Simulation for 3 days to perfect every detail with a friend.
- By the end of my preparation, we had optimized our framework (MECE+efficient) and details to every click.
- I could solve all simulations within 15mins, with at most 20 species opened/checked and less than 40 mouse clicks. (Stable performance during ~10 mocks)
- I pre-printed sheets for each stage of analysis to decrease human error and increase efficiency.
- And the list goes on…
2. What happened during the actual PSG:
- As planned, I divided the height into 3 categories based on total calories from producers.
- I started with the optimal height with the most calories from producers. Then I realized that only 7 could survive with bottom-up and top-down approaches. (Re-examined with my note afterward with all combinations, quite certain.)
- Then I went for the second height, and again only 7 could live. In one combination, the 7th prey had 2600 cal provided, while its only predator had 2600 cal needed. In the end, I went with this solution before running out of time. (Less certain about the second height, due to the time limit I did not record every piece of data.)
3. So this can happen? Or is it certain that the game is solvable, I just did not reach it?
- Wanna hear if anyone had a similar experience, or is it guaranteed that a right answer does exist?
(edited)
