God's imitator

Chapter 246 Exchange for Gold Coins
[After the game starts, in each round, one 3x3 grid will be transformed into a 'developable' state. At this time, the ownership of the tiles in that 3x3 grid will be determined according to the following rules:]

[1. If the 3x3 grid is a 'priority development area' for a certain community, then that community automatically becomes the 'first developer' of this block.]

[All other adjacent nine-square grid communities will be auctioned off using gold coins, with the highest bidder becoming the 'Second Developer'.]

[2. If the 3x3 grid is not a community's 'priority development area,' then all adjacent 3x3 grid communities will bid using gold coins, and the community with the highest bid will become the '1st Developer' and '2nd Developer.']

You can choose to withdraw from the bidding process, or you can participate in the bidding and then withdraw midway.

However, a fee of 5 gold coins will be charged for withdrawing midway.

[3. After selecting the 'First Developer' and the 'Second Developer', the two parties will take turns selecting plots of land on a 1x2 grid until all plots within the grid are divided.]

[When three plots of land belonging to a community can be connected in a straight line (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), all remaining plots within that grid belong to that community.]

[4. If only one community in the nine-square grid is eligible to bid, then that community can directly acquire all the plots within that grid.]

After the first phase of the game ends, the number of plots occupied by all communities will be tallied.

The community occupying the most plots will become a "privileged community," gaining an additional advantage: it can participate in the bidding for all remaining nine-square grids regardless of distance.

Upon hearing this, Fu Chen said in surprise, "Huh, isn't this just Tic-Tac-Toe?"

Lee In-sook nodded: "Yes, it's Tic-Tac-Toe."

Fu Chen was delighted: "That's great, I just happened to have studied Tic-Tac-Toe."

Tic-Tac-Toe originated abroad and is a game of connecting pieces on a 3x3 grid. It gets its name from the fact that the board is usually not bordered and the grid lines resemble a tic-tac-toe grid.

It's not very popular in China because the rules are very simple, similar to Gomoku, but less fun and less engaging.

Most people have probably heard of it, but not necessarily have actually tried it or studied it.

Players who have played this game should already be thinking about strategies for Tic-Tac-Toe, because it directly determines how many plots they can acquire after becoming the 'Number One Developer' or 'Number Two Developer'.

The rules were still being explained on the big screen.

[Now, players inside, please exchange your gold coins and proceed to the control panel in front of the plaza to select the 'Priority Development Area' for this community.]

[Please note: The central D4 grid cannot be selected as the 'Priority Development Area'.]

【各社区选择的先后顺序为：第12社区、第7社区、第9社区、第17社区、第15社区。】

[This order is based on the total visa duration of players in each community, from shortest to longest.]

The game will officially begin in 10 minutes.

【Please get ready! 】

Li Renshu looked at the players in the other communities and quickly recalled the situation of these communities in her mind.

Community 12 is the community where Zhou Guifen originally lived. This community is basically the weakest type, with a high mortality rate and a low return rate, ranking at the bottom in most games.

This time, they were the first to choose the nine-square grid, indicating that these players from the 12th community had the shortest visa time in this game.

I had encountered Community 7 before in the "Birth Game"; it was the community where Fei Xiong, the domestic violence killer, lived, but I don't know the skill level of the other players in the community.

I've encountered Community 9 in both "Blood Poker" and "Dating Game" and we've even partnered with them. Overall, they're not a very strong community, but they're relatively friendly, so we might consider partnering with them.

I haven't encountered Community 15 before, so I'm unsure of their strength.

However, the fact that they chose a region ranked after the 17th community indicates that these players have a longer total visa duration.

They are a formidable enemy that should not be underestimated.

The group first went to the rest area and exchanged their coins at the vending machine. Perhaps because the game had lasted a long time, the vending machine still had food and water, but no special items.

Each player can exchange for gold coins; the first 10 are free, and each subsequent coin requires 5% of the visa processing time.

After thinking it over, Cao Haichuan concluded: "According to this rule, it is obvious that communities with longer visa processing times are at a disadvantage."

"The visa time required for each player to exchange gold coins is different, but in this game, they are treated as currencies of equal value."

Zheng Jie asked, "How many gold coins should we exchange?"

After considering it, Li Renshu said, "Using only free coins is definitely not enough, and we need to see if there is any difference between free coins and exchanged coins."

"Let's each exchange 15 tokens first, and then we'll see how things go later."

Everyone exchanged 15 gold coins each, and then compared them with each other. These gold coins were completely indistinguishable in appearance.

This is clearly bad news for communities that require longer visa processing times.

If a player has only 1 minutes of visa time left, then it only takes 500 minutes of visa time to exchange for 1 gold coin. If they have 10 minutes left, it will take 5000 minutes of visa time.

The gold coins they exchanged serve the same purpose in the game.

After considering for a moment, Li Renshu said, "The worse news is that the remaining visa time for all of us should be about the same, and there are no players who are significantly fewer in number."

If one of these players has significantly less visa time, then they can be allowed to redeem the full 30 gold coins first.

After the game ends and we return to the community, we will formulate a proposal to redistribute the game's profits or provide compensation through the community fund.

However, the remaining visa time for the five players from the 17th community entering the game is not significantly different, neither more nor less, so this strategy cannot be used.

Everyone took their coins and continued discussing strategies for choosing the 3x3 grid.

Lee In-sook thought for a moment: "If we can't choose the central nine-square grid, then we only need to consider two issues, right?"
"First, we should try to be as far away from other communities as possible. Second, we should consider whether to choose the central nine-square grid or a corner nine-square grid."

Cao Haichuan thought for a moment and said, "I think we should choose the nine-square grid in the corner."

Zheng Jie was somewhat puzzled: "Why? Choosing the middle 3x3 grid would cover a wider area, right?"

"According to the game rules, the prerequisite for bidding on the 3x3 grid is that the 3x3 grid we choose must be adjacent to the 3x3 grid that can be bid on."

“如果我们选择中间的九宫格，比如D1，那我们就可以竞标A1、G1、A4、D4、G4这五个九宫格。

"But if we choose a corner 3x3 grid, such as G1, then we can only bid on the three 3x3 grids: D1, D4, and G4."

Doesn't this reduce the range of bidders?

Cao Haichuan shook his head and explained, "Ideally, that would be the case, but don't forget, bidding requires gold coins."

"It's impossible for us to bid on all the nine squares that are available for bidding."

"There are a total of 9 grids, and 5 communities are vying for them. We have a lot of visa time left, so spending more gold coins is not worthwhile, putting us at a financial disadvantage."

"The more nine-square grids that can be bid on, the more other communities will compete for them."

"Simply put, if four communities choose the four middle nine-square grids D1, A4, D7, and G4 respectively, then each of these four corresponding nine-square grids will have two communities vying for them during the auction."

"But if the four communities choose the four corners A1, G1, A7, and G7 respectively, then when these four corresponding nine-square grids are auctioned, no other community will compete for them, and they can monopolize them."

"Of course, it's much more cost-effective to have exclusive rights."

　The filtering criteria were changed to "given the same number of attempts, prioritize players who have less visa time in allocation games" because using remaining visa time for filtering was not very accurate, as some players might spend money lavishly or donate large sums to community building.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)