https://www.codingame.com/training/hard/a-man-with-a-plan
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Created by @anon72424297,validated by @VirtualAtom,@Stilgart and @tutubalin.
If you have any issues, feel free to ping them.
The River? From Bruce Springsteen (album: The River).
To Hell and Back? From Venom (album: Black Metal).
Carry on? From JJ Cale (album: Shades).
Good exercice but it’s not precised if points of interest coordinates are given in (row, col) or (col, row). Finally it’s (col, row) but its add confusing when you try to solve amost with symetrical first tests.
Thanks for your feedback. In fact the coordinates order is precised in the “inputs” section:
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This is one of those few tasks that will be in my mind for a long time. Great story, very useful puzzle and much more interesting than another BFS-like puzzle 
Thank you so much for creating this gem!
2 Likes
Thank you for your feedback!
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I love this puzzle, not so classic. Thanks for your work
i’m a bit frustrated because my test cases are all OK but the 2nd validation case is red.
It must not be the most complicated but without information about the map in this case, i don’t know how to improve my code.
Hey ! Thank you for your feedback. I sent you a message with the validator values.
Thanks ! I now understand what’s wrong
What am I sapposed to take away from the constraints detail “The wizard uses Manhattan distance.”? I googled Manhattan distance, that’s fine. But does this detail mean it takes you the result of a manhattan distance when the wizard teleports you to the nearest point of interest? or what part of the puzzle uses Manhattan distance when concerning the wizard?
The wizard teleports you to the nearest point of interest - considering Manhattan distance, which is abs(delta_x) + abs(delta_y).
2 Likes
It is not very clear if you can cross a river or not after buying an armor or if you just lose your speed boost (as stated: or to cross a water point without your armor rusting). So buying an armor means you can’t go on any water cases for the rest of the game ?
The sentence just after the one you quote: “And it’s absolutely out of question to abandon them once purchased.”. So no, if you buy an armor you don’t cross water anymore.
@anon72424297 , love the puzzle. I am just on the 2nd test case and have learned a ton from doing this puzzle. But i have a question for you. When you go through a quest location, (princess, treasure, or dragon), does the armour and the horse both reduce the time those locations take in a compound effect? ei. if you have both it takes 1 day but if you have one of them it takes 2 days? or is only the armour effective at those locations?
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Hey! Thanks for your feedback!
Only the armor is effective on the quest locations, since you’re not traveling but only fighting bunches of enemies at the same place during four days (Or two with the armor). ^^
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Hey, @anon72424297! I need some tips with the “To Hell and Back” test case. My solution is 34 days and i cant find the way in 31 days. What is the rigth sequnce? Or where is my mistake?
h-g-stable-g-g-dragon-s-s-s-TREASURE-s-s-s-dragon-g-castle
2 1 1 1 4 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 1 1 1
TREASURE
ISSSS
RRRSS
RRIRR
RGGGR
GGGGI
IGIIG
HOUSE05
CASTLE44
STABLE25
BLACKSMITH35
DRAGON22
TREASURE00
and me pls! Whats wrong with the “Hall of the Mountain King”? Oo
Hey! Aren’t you forgetting that poor blacksmith?
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Yea, my bad 
For some reason I thought that only one purchase is possible. 
TY
@anon72424297 I am almost done this doozy. I am on the last test case. For some reason my code is telling me it takes 44 days to travel from the House to the Dragon (inclusive of slaying the Dragon) if you go directly from the start of the game. Can you tell me the correct amount of days for this? When I count it out my self it only takes 43 days via the shortest possible way. This isn’t the concluding number you want to go after of course, but maybe if I identify why my code is getting this wrong then maybe my result, the shortest days for the whole puzzle (currently 82, which is not 71 ), may be corrected by solving the small problem first. Also, to add, can you cross a stable or blacksmith without getting the horse/armour? So ya, what’s the shortest path from House to Dragon right off the bat?