Posted by _hannibal_ on 9/10/2010 8:44:00 AM (view original):
Billy, I'm not trying to be ridiculous; I tried to include every case so that you (or whomever) would be able to pick one that makes the strongest argument. I'm not expecting it to affect every situation.
Let me pick at your first example. First, A does not know that the prestiges are identical. Since one could be a high B- and the other a low B-, the prestige factor introduces at least a +-30% to the calculation. Ignoring that for the moment, secondly, A does not know how much carry over money B has. If B has $2000 more carry over than A in your scenario then B has the advantage. Or if B spent $2000 less on FSS. Finally, a very minor point, you have the example backwards, you were supposed to have more battles in the real HD world, not less.
the uncertainty of the prestige factor can be dealt with simply. player A assumes the prestige is identical. this is an equally reasonable assumption in both cases and yields the same result.
the uncertainty of scouting, carry over, etc are all similar, if player A makes an assumption on them, an attempt to quantify, and those assumptions are the same in both cases (why wouldn't they be?), then the same results hold.
you could make the same kind of arguments for any of the uncertainties. say prestige was certain, and HV:CV was not. then, when a player attempts to quantify HV:CV, either he has the uncertainty of prestige or he doesn't - clearly with that single difference you can come up with a million examples where the guy might of battled and might not of.
a better example would have the coach feeling like it was a close battle, and not knowing who would win. because of this uncertainty, and because he likes the player, he goes for it. if you take away the uncertainties, then half the time (roughly) he knows he is losing, and wouldn't battle, so he would have half the chance of battling in that case as he would with the uncertainty.