Pythia v1.3 - visual aid helper for 7 Wonders BGA

[Tadachini]

My eyes can see everything!

When you play 7 Wonders, fast thinking and good memory is essential, but it also sets a serious barrier for mere mortals who don't possess them. Pythia has godlike powers and will display additional information in the BGA interface so that you can focus on strategy and not on calculating things.

Features - version 1.2

• Cards Worth. On top of each science, military, commercial, and guild card in your hand or in a discard pile, Pythia shows how much it will be worth to you in coins and points.
  
• Rich Boards. Each player board is extended with information on how many victory points and shields players have, and who is the game leader and runnerup based on forecasted total score (BGA score + future war results).
  
• War Scores. Next to the current game scores, Pythia displays the forecasted score based on the current shield situation. You will always know who is the real leader and can act accordingly.
  
• HD Images. Original BGA boards art replaced with HD images. Be careful, HD image weights 20MB, but once downloaded your browser will cache it for all future uses. New edition only!
• Full Width. Pythia can hide BGA sidebar, logs, and player's list to display the game and player boards full width.
• Settings menu. You can enable and disable certain features of your Pythia. If you don't like seeing war scores - just hit disable and they will be gone from the interface, while other Pythia functions will keep working as before.
  

Instructions

1. Install Tampermokey extension - Chrome link, Firefox link
2. Install Pythia script from https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/40649 ... ame-helper
3. Enjoy!

Suggestions and feedback are welcome!


Other scripts

• Check out Pythia for 7 Wonders Architects - https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... 10&t=23940

FAQ

Q: Isn't this cheating?
Not exactly, and also depends on how you define cheating. Pythia will give you an advantage by doing math for you, so players who don't have Pythia will not have this advantage, that's clear. But Pythia doesn't hack the game engine, doesn't give you unlimited coins or resources, so it is not a cheat. It uses publicly available game information and displays it to you in a convenient way. So it will help you win more games if you know what to do with all this data. Listen to your heart and make a decision yourself if you want to use Pythia or not.

Q: Have this been approved by BGA admins?
Yes, they confirmed this extension is safe to use and that it doesn't break any site rules.

Q: Does it break any licensing laws of the publisher?
No, game designer and publisher personally confirmed that this kind of visual help is in line with the spirit of the game.

Q: Will I know if someone else is using Pythia and vice versa?
No. Pythia runs entirely in your browser and no one else can detect it. You can publicly announce in the chat that you use Pythia if you want, it is up to you.

Q: I still think it is unfair, should I use it?
Of course not. If you don't like it - simply don't use it.


- Tadachini.

[CB Droege]

While not technically cheating (A good memory would provide you with all of this info, I think) It feel like it's against the spirit of the game to use this tool, especially if you are playing with other people who might not be using it.

[Wonderful Plays]

While not technically cheating (A good memory would provide you with all of this info, I think) It feel like it's against the spirit of the game to use this tool, especially if you are playing with other people who might not be using it.

I totally agree

[RicardoRix]

It's an outside computer aid, which is cheating. There is a reason the developer didn't implement this functionality into the original game.

Play this game In real-time and you don't have time to asses all of this information and try and keep track of it all. So while it seems like it's showing you information you already know, really it's showing perfect information of a situation you barely know. And you can argue that if you are clever enough to posses this type of skill naturally then now you've been denied any kind of advantage that you should be getting.

It's a bit like having a chess engine and saying, 'well I would have got to that move on my own anyway'.

There is a grey area surrounding games on BGA with built-in computer aids, but at-least this is the same for everybody. Like showing which moves are possible.

[Xapa]

While not technically cheating (A good memory would provide you with all of this info, I think) It feel like it's against the spirit of the game to use this tool, especially if you are playing with other people who might not be using it.

Same feeling, I would be pissed if other players were using such a tool on BGA (and would actually convince me to stop playing 7W on BGA...)

[dschingis27]

Play this game In real-time and you don't have time to asses all of this information and try and keep track of it all. So while it seems like it's showing you information you already know, really it's showing perfect information of a situation you barely know.

While this is probably true for less experienced players, I'd say that high-level players usually memorize almost all the cards (well, at least in 3p and 4p). So for these players, this tool is "just" comfortable and handy, it does relieve you of much mental load that is now free for the more interesting aspects of the game. But it is definitely right to say that it is a different game while using the tool. I'd say that it is a fun variant of the base game.

It's a bit like having a chess engine and saying, 'well I would have got to that move on my own anyway'.

I think this comparison does not work well. A chess engine pretty much produces the optimal move by itself but knowing all the cards of opponents in 7W is really just a prerequisite for a very good play, you still need to be doing much thinking by yourself.

I would really like to play a mode of this game where this add-on is allowed. In general, I think that it should be prohibited for Arena games. But this could be used in special groups or tournaments where everyone is aware of this feature. I really appreciate the work that went into it.

[Tadachini]

Thanks everyone for your comments. It's a pity that high-skilled players are against Pythia, but I get it - you don't want to lose games and rating. So any help provided to regular players will most likely be compared to cheating, which is sad but okay.

My goal is to make 7W experience as smooth and equal for as many players as possible using technology. dschingis27 got it right - Pythia will relieve your mental strain so that you can focus on strategy and not on memorising things. I hope that your strategy doesn't rely on other players making stupid moves because they forgot if you have a red card or not. Then if they use Pythia or not will not matter, and if your strategy relies on them forgetting - well, your life will be much harder now .

I think if more players use Pythia, games will become more level, and hence dynamic, challenging and interesting. Which is ultimately a good thing in my opinion.

[Tadachini]

On the other hand, I have uploaded a new 0.3 version. Please go to https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/406492-bga-pythia to upgrade.

As usual, if you have suggestions of ideas for new functionality - let me know!

New in v0.3
Now Pythia will consider current military situation and extend player's score with future war results. For example, if war would happen now, Tadachini would get +6 points, Barbuu -2, cafe9 +6, and clem1206 also -2.

[CaKtus]

I don't understand how such a program can work, but i find it great.

I would not regard it as cheating as it's only helping to keep memory of past known cards. Would you think it is cheating if i would be taking screenshots of cards or writing in the upper right memo box ? Also, i hardly agree on good players memory. This could be ok on real time game but how can you remember cards when you have more than ten open games, running for weeks.

The military real time calculation is not bad neigher.

Of course, it's not right that some players would have it and some would not.

For sure it would be so great if it was offered by BGA. Many other improvements are needed but this one would greatly upgrade the pleasure of playing 7W.

[Shippolito]

From my side, I have nothing against this kind of tool if and only if everyone around the table agree on using it.

Anyway, in my opinion, 7 Wonders gameplay includes ability to remember what was pass to your opponent. You may forget a card, you may think incorrectly but it is part of the fun and it is one of the skills you want to improve to get better results.

I don't wish to play with it and I don't wish to play with people using this tool, especially if I'm not aware that they are using it.

As far as I understand, you can already use this tool and play here in BGA without any of your opponent knowing that you are using it prior starting the game so I just feel like that you are heavily cheating. You may disagree but still it is how I feel.