Learning Opportunities

This puzzle can be solved using the following concepts. Practice using these concepts and improve your skills.

Statement

This is a port from the board game Yavalath

The Goal

The goal of the game is to make a line of 4 without making a line of 3 beforehand.
Click here or here for more detailed rules.

Rules

Grid:
Game is played on an hex grid. Grid size will always remain the same.

The grid coordinates are represented in the image below:

Resolution of a turn:

A bot must output the coordinates of the hexagon that he wants to play. Once the output is done, the hexagon at those coordinates will be filled.

Output

If the coordinates:

Are outside of Hex grid, the game will end and the other player will win.
Are inside but the hexagon at those coordinates is already filled, the game will end and the other player will win (exception if is player 2 first turn, see expert rules).
If those coordinates result in a line of 4, then the player win.
If those coordinates result in a line of 3, then the other player win.

Expert Rules

On player 2 first turn, he has a choice to either play normally or to replace opponent first move with his own(steal player 1 first move), this will replace the hexagon color by your color.

Github repo can be found here.

Examples

What is a line

The image below shows all possible directions that you can make a line:

Red line: Represents a line of 4
Green line: Represents a line of 3
Blue line: Represents a line of 2
Black line: Represents a line of 3
Pink line: Represents a line of 4
Yellow line: Represents a line of 4

What is a winning move

The image below shows how to win a game:

(2,2): Creates a line of 4 { (0,0), (1,1), (2,2), (3,3) }
(4,2): Creates a line of 4 { (4,3), (4,2), (4,1), (4,0) }
(5,3): Creates a line of 5 { (3,3), (4,3), (5,3), (6,3), (7,3) }
(5,4): Creates a line of 4 { (3,2), (4,3), (5,4), (5,5) }
(4,4): Creates a line of 4 { (4,3), (4,4), (3,5), (2,6) }
(2,3): Creates a line of 4 { (4,3), (3,3), (2,3), (1,3) } and also creates a line of 3 { (2,3), (2,4), (1,5) } but, since both lines were made one same turn the player wins.

What is a losing move

The image below shows how to lose a game:

(2,3): Creates a line of 3 { (2,3), (3,3), (4,3) }
(2,2): Creates a line of 3 { (2,2), (3,3), (4,4) }
(4,2): Creates a line of 3 { (4,2), (4,3), (4,4) }
(4,5): Creates a line of 3 { (3,3), (4,4), (4,5) }
(3,4): Creates a line of 3 { (3,3), (3,4), (2,5) }
(0,6): Plays a move on occupied cell, the other player wins.

What is a steal

On player 2 first turn, he has the opportunity to play on the square the opponent played, and be the owner of it, the image below shows this:

(4,4): First player plays on (4,4)
(4,4): Second decides to steal his move and also plays on (4,4)

Victory Conditions

Make a line of 4 or 5 before making a line of 3 beforehand.

Loss Conditions

Make a line of 3 hexes of same color.
You do not respond in time or output an unrecognized command.

Game Input

Initial input

First line: The id of the player(myId)

Input for one game turn

First line: count: the number of rows on hex grid.
Next count lines: characters representing one line of your grid, top to bottom. (0: empty, 1: yours, 2: opponent).
Next opponentX: the x coordinate of opponent move (-1 on first turn for first player).
Next opponentY: the y coordinate of opponent move (-1 on first turn for first player).

Output

A single line containing the coordinates you want to play. Example "4 4".
You can also print messages by doing the following. Example: "4 4 This is a message/This is another message". The "/" will create a new line between messages.

Constraints

Response time first turn is ≤ 1000 ms.
Response time per turn is ≤ 100 ms.

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