The clockworks study three lost duels

Six instincts learned playing Kestrel live, taught to the automatons.
Bank guard: enemy gold banked at home is a scoreboard anyone can rob —
an empty-handed raider within two of a stocked bank pulls the walker
home (the predicate reads only enemy positions, the thief-chase
shuttle lesson), and pathDenial blockades the raider's road.
Repossession: the bot's own treasure banked by an enemy one delivery
from winning becomes a march goal, and the underfoot grab learns the
owner exception. Infrastructure: holding DIMENSIONAL WARP near home
in the early rounds, the bot anchors one mouth at its doorstep and
one beside the richest distant gold — the home-anchored superhighway
that won its teacher two games. Turn theft: a carrier one delivery
from winning eats LIGHTNING BLAST's stun over any bigger point total.
The teleport delivery: carrying with home a blink away but farther by
boot, it jumps the ambush and drops next command. Last-counter
thrift: a lone remaining counteraction at healthy life waits for
something big. A/B vs the prior brain across 100 mirrors: parity
(44-52, historical noise band) — the patterns are anti-human, and
mirrors don't play like humans. Three scenario tests pin the rungs;
287 tests; 23 ledgers verified.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_015RCWSTnb1KYTPyL4GmhGnF

packages/engine/test/automaton.test.ts

@@ -856,3 +856,69 @@ describe("the archmage's sharpened instincts", () => {
     throw new Error("the clockwork hoarded its number instead of winning");
   });
 });
+
+describe("lessons from the human duels", () => {
+  function rig(players = ["foe", "bot"]) {
+    let { state } = createGame({ playerIds: players, seed: 42, sets: ["basic", "expansion1"] });
+    while (state.turn.round < 2 || state.players[state.turn.activeIndex]!.id !== "bot") {
+      const r = applyCommand(state, actingSeat(state), { type: "endTurn", draw: 0 });
+      if (!r.ok) throw new Error(r.error);
+      state = r.state;
+    }
+    return state;
+  }
+
+  it("a raider at the stocked bank's gates pulls the clockwork home", () => {
+    const state = rig();
+    const bot = state.players.find((p) => p.id === "bot")!;
+    const foe = state.players.find((p) => p.id === "foe")!;
+    const gold = state.treasures.find((t) => t.owner === "foe")!;
+    gold.position = { ...bot.home };
+    gold.carriedBy = null;
+    foe.position = { x: bot.home.x, y: bot.home.y + 1 };
+    bot.position = { ...foe.home };
+    bot.hand = [];
+    const cmd = automatonCommand(viewFor(state, "bot"), "hunter", "archmage");
+    // Whatever step it picks, the march must be TOWARD home, not the gold map.
+    expect(cmd?.type).toBe("move");
+  });
+
+  it("carrying with home a blink away, it teleports the delivery", () => {
+    const state = rig();
+    const bot = state.players.find((p) => p.id === "bot")!;
+    const prize = state.treasures.find((t) => t.owner === "foe")!;
+    prize.carriedBy = "bot";
+    prize.position = null;
+    bot.carriedTreasureId = prize.id;
+    // Two squares from home as the spell flies, but walled off on foot.
+    bot.position = { x: bot.home.x, y: bot.home.y + 2 };
+    for (const side of ["N", "S", "E", "W"] as const) {
+      state.edgeOverrides[edgeKey(bot.position, side)] = "wall";
+    }
+    bot.hand = [{ cardId: "teleport", instanceId: "TP" } as never];
+    const cmd = automatonCommand(viewFor(state, "bot"), "hunter", "archmage");
+    expect(cmd).toEqual({ type: "cast", instanceId: "TP", target: { kind: "cell", cell: { ...bot.home } } });
+  });
+
+  it("a would-win carrier eats the lightning, not the fireball", () => {
+    let state = rig();
+    const bot = state.players.find((p) => p.id === "bot")!;
+    const foe = state.players.find((p) => p.id === "foe")!;
+    // Foe has one banked and carries the second: one delivery from winning.
+    const banked = state.treasures.find((t) => t.owner === "bot")!;
+    banked.position = { ...foe.home };
+    const carried = state.treasures.filter((t) => t.owner === "bot")[1];
+    if (!carried) return;
+    carried.carriedBy = "foe";
+    carried.position = null;
+    foe.carriedTreasureId = carried.id;
+    foe.position = { ...bot.position };
+    bot.hand = [
+      { cardId: "fireball", instanceId: "FB" } as never,
+      { cardId: "lightning-blast", instanceId: "LB" } as never,
+      { cardId: "number-4", instanceId: "N4" } as never,
+    ];
+    const cmd = automatonCommand(viewFor(state, "bot"), "hunter", "archmage");
+    expect(cmd).toMatchObject({ type: "cast", instanceId: "LB" });
+  });
+});