RPS Strategical Notation

Why do we need notations? Well, it's an useful tool in every domain (music, maths, programming, and so many others. It is especially welcome in the RPS world, since there was no easy mean to cummunicate, share new concepts. Or explain old concepts (why they work, or why they are bad). This section needs more work, I have to admit it, but let's assume it will be sufficient for a start.

The Basics

The basic elements are:

• R (Rock)
• P (Paper)
• S (Scissors)
• X (your current throw, usually random)
• x (your previous throw)
• Y (your opponent's current throw, obviously unknown)
• y (your opponent's previous throw)
• f (your opponent's opening throw)
• a (context-free throw)
• g ("lesser"/minor Gambit)
• G ("Greater"/major Gambit)

Note: "current" here means "the already decided but not yet played". There are others, but it will be enough for a start. These are the "nouns" of our language. But we need "verbs" too.

The possible actions are:

• ' (beats)
• " (is beaten by/weak against)
• + (immediately followed by)
• () (groups)
• ... (is repeated many times)

Here too, there are others.
We'll see later another category, which helps transcribing pattern detection and conditional strategies. There are elements for Meta-Strategy as well, but let's study this gradually.

Examples

Let's "code" some basic strategies. Nothing fancy, it's just a way to represent things you already know.

Example 1: X+y...
This is the well-known Copycat. The first throw is "random", the next ones are "my opponent's previous throw". The proper answer to such a basic Copycat is:X+x'...

Example 2: X+y'...
This is the famous Late Reaction. The first throw is still random, the next ones are "what beats my opponent's previous throw".

Example 3: X+5x"+x'+2x"
This is the Prophet. It's a random first throw, followed by a combo of five "what is beaten by my previous throw" (actually it's more "what beats what beats my previous throw"), followed by a clever "now that you think you know what I'll play here's a little 3 moves surprise" (we call this method "Positionning"). One of the three implementations of the Prophet is "SPR SPR PRS"

Example 4: 3a+3a"+a'+a+X
This is the Clockwork Orange. I won't go into details right now, look the link for more info on this great strategy. Please note that 3 consecutive "a" mean that you will actually throw three identical moves, be it Rock, Paper, or Scissors, very different from three consecutive "x", there the throws are always different. A possible implementation is "RRR SSS PRR".

To be continued...