Boulder Dash Forum

RTADash wrote:I'm guessing 29?

An obvious guess, giving the previous puzzle. But nope, this one is less trivial.

I think, 17, though collecting the last one will leave you trapped with those four boulders near the top right roomlet.

Come to think of it, you might be able to get that last diamond and escape, if you snapped it from below and ran down and to the left quickly

Arno wrote:PUZZLE #4.
What is the maximum amount of diamonds that Rockford can collect?

Because I'm not as good as you guys in determining whether a Boulder falls off a Wall or not I have two answers.

- 25 Diamonds if the Boulders drop off the Walls.
- 27 Diamonds if the Boulders don't drop off the Walls.

Assuming Rockford must survive, if not then +1 to each.

(Gets his dancing shoes ready just in case)

johnomg wrote:- 25 Diamonds if the Boulders drop off the Walls.

Sorry, your dancing party must be postponed for now...

I'll give two hints.
1. Rockford must indeed survive and not be trapped. (So strictly speaking, there must be an exit: assume that it's located at the same corner where Rockford is placed.)
2. Compare this puzzle with Q18 from the Quiz!

Arno wrote:Sorry, your dancing party must be postponed for now...

Maaaaan!!! I was so sure too

I'll get back to you shortly. (Puts away the dancing shoes, gets a glass of coke, looks at Q18, prints the Puzzle and takes two asprin)

.... 10 asprin later ....

Of my two answers, I'm sticking with 27 Diamonds

johnomg wrote:Of my two answers, I'm sticking with 27 Diamonds

Well, you are close. Very close!

For convenience, let me show both pictures together.

Quiz:

Puzzle 4:


In the quiz you can collect 29 diamonds, which is the absolute limit. So what has changed in the puzzle?

Arno wrote:So what has changed in the puzzle?

The colour??? Do I get 1/2 a point for that??? Only joking

Seriously though....I see the differences, however in the Quiz I can only see 28 Diamonds available and in the Puzzle 27 Diamonds.

I'm a lost cause

But....I'm going to hound you for how the Solution was done when someone gets it right

Here's my very pragmatic solution: 28 diamonds
Reason: You said that not all 29 diamonds are available, and 27 is also wrong. I'm very sure that you can collect more than 26, so 28 must be the correct answer

But I'm not yet sure how you can do it. Here's my analysis:
In the quiz you must hit both flies with the stones on (9;1) and (11;1). In order to get access to the four diamonds at the very bottom, you must hit one of the flies exactly on (4;7). This must be the firefly (the butterfly wouldn't give you all nine diamonds at this point), and you must hit it with the stone on (11;1), since you need the other one for the butterfly on(3;3) in order to get access to both imprisoned diamonds there. (To hit the butterfly at this point, you must push the boulder at exactly the right moment from (4;1) to (3;1) ) After hitting both flies at said points, you get access to the diamonds on 1;10 4;10 6;10. The diamond on 10;10 is available with a more or less complicated series of boulder- pushing which is independant of the fly explosions. The diamond on 13;1 is available the way Sendy stated above. Tht's the only solution I can see for the quiz.

Now let's come to the actual puzzle 4. There are two changes compared with the quiz, and they're both to Rockford's disadvantage:
1 On 2;3 there's a steel- instead of a brick wall, so the butterfly gives you only eight diamonds (if you try the same solution as in the quiz)
2 On 3;9 there's a steelwall instead of a boulder. That makes the diamond on 1; 10 inaccessible.

Conclusion: If you try the same solution as in the quiz, you will get exactly 27 diamonds, as John already stated. So if you wanna get 28, you must somehow change your solution strategy. Yet I haven't found a clever new trial up to now. But I' m quite sure that it is the 1;10 diamond you have to leave alone (you would need one explosion only for this one, and this is a too big waste.)

EDIT: So Rocky shouldn't care for the lower- left diamond and try to get all the other ones. That means he must hit the firefly on 3;3 now. What is left to do for him is find a place for the butterfly so that he
- gets nine diamonds from it
-gets access to the diamonds on 4,1 and 6,1.

johnomg wrote:The colour??? Do I get 1/2 a point for that??? Only joking

OK 1/2 point for the colour, and 1/2 for the deletion of the status bar (you didn't answer that, but I'm in a generous mood today)!

Dustin wrote:Here's my very pragmatic solution: 28 diamonds
Reason: You said that not all 29 diamonds are available, and 27 is also wrong. I'm very sure that you can collect more than 26, so 28 must be the correct answer

Yes, we are one step further! The answer is correct. The reasoning is also correct, though very pragmatical as you say yourself already.

Dustin wrote:But I'm not yet sure how you can do it. Here's my analysis:
...

Yes, this is the correct solution.

Just one note. The diamonds at (4,10) and (6,10) can also be collected in a different way. After you collected the diamond at (10,10) you can drop the boulders at (7,8 ) and (7,9) such that the way to the left becomes free. Now you can grap both diamonds at (6,10) and (4,10) and hit the firefly from above with boulder (5,7) in order to make diamond (1,10) available (only in the quiz).

I've got it My solution would not be possible if you mirrored the cave (right=left)!
The butterflies' grave lies on 10,8. First push the boulders on 8,6 and 11,6 out of the way, then hit the fly on said point. the diamond on10,10 is now easily available. To get the other two- 4,10 and 6,10- you have to go to 8,9 SNAP up and down and GO right then. The three boulders blocking the way on 7,8-7,10 will give way! (That's what would NOT work if the cave was mirrored!)

Wow! I think this would be an intermission for Future dash 2 The solution even reminds me of particle physics (I actually learn for an exam there.) An experiment made in the 1950's proved that the world can NOT be mirrored without changing physical laws. It is because of the neutrinos, which always have a left- handed rotation direction. If the world was mirrored, you could see right- handed neutrinos, which cannot exist. This effect is rather small (that's why it was discovered relatively late) , just as here in BD.

Oh, hi Arno! You must have posted your posts when I was actually writing my own post

Dustin wrote:Oh, hi Arno! You must have posted your posts when I was actually writing my own post

Right, I noticed that. I already edited my first post a bit..