Uh...can't he move there in the Spring of 1905?

no actually. It might be better to start thinking about when he can't move there.

I don't understand the question fully. Do they have fleets right next to the English Channel?

yeah. France has a fleet ready to go, and he must move it there in one of the next 100 seasons. But if England can be sure that he is moving in a particularly phase, then France is not allowed to.

Are there any cases where France can't move to the channel?

From my understanding of a contract-based game, no.

Paul - do you mean when may he enter and not break his contract?

If he waits until the final phase, then England will know, thus this can't happen.
So, there are 99 possible phases he can move in. Following back, France can never enter?

That would mean the contract has a paradox. Why would there be a "must enter the channel" in the contract?

@Noob- yeah he MUST enter at some point in the next 100 seasons, but if England can be certain he'll move, the he MUST NOT enter that season.

@Figle- thats right. If he doesn't move in the first 99 seasons, then he can't move in on the 100th. What do you mean by following back?

Well, therefore he must move at some point in the first 99 seasons.
However, if he doesn't move in the first 98 seasons, he MUST move in the 99th season, making England certain.
Therefore he must move at some point in the first 98 seasons. This logic can be applied for all seasons. This gives France no options to enter.
However, as we now shown France cannot enter, England knows he won't try. Therefore England can never be certain he will try (as he won't).
Therefore by declaring to enter, France has entered a paradox.

What was the punishment for breaking contract? If so this is a brilliant agreement ot set someone into

nicely done Figle! yes. France can never move into the english channel! The Contract is perfectly legitimate until someone gives notice to end the DMZ. In effect it is an eternal DMZ that may never be broken.

England can be sure he's going to move in on any of the possible seasons. Think about it this way, if I tell you I'm going to blow up your house in the next 12 minutes, and I have the explosives and you know I do, but if you guess correctly then I wont do it, then you know that at any point within those 12 minutes your house can explode and thus you can guess that it's between now and 12 minutes from now. You never said they had to have the specific seasons correct thus the contract is kept and France is unable to move to the English Chan.

well when you break a contract there is a dispute resolution in "global court." You show the bracketed terms and then the other powers vote on wrongdoing. There are pauses and phases are used to right the situation.

No i did mean if he knew he would move in that specific season. but Figle's explanation is accurate.

Fucking Figle beat me by one minute on the response. I get kudos for solving the riddle as well.

I think it would be harder to pick up on if it was only for the 10 seasons after declaring. With 100, its such a large number that you immediately smell a rat.

Iceray, your solution isn't an accurate explanation of the paradox.

btw- France hasn't violated the contract by giving notice, but he would violate if he moved in. A dispute resolution would only occur after 100 seasons, when France violated the must enter clause.

Sorry Iceray :)

The paradox is based on the inductive process of elimination, but I suppose if you take "know he will move there" loosely, then yours is fine. just weaker ;)

Ah true, hadn't thought of it that way. As such France can simply hope (probably fairly enough) that the game won't last until 1954!

It is an accurate explanation of the paradox, it is impossible for France to move in because England can be sure that he will move in on any one of those phases so France can't move there because England guesses each phase will be the one France moves in on.

It's ok Figle, you just ruined my day. Nothing too major.

I should have specified "knows exactly which season he will move on" make sense?

I'm inclined to believe that the paradox doesn't take effect until the 100th season. You don't use the future to prove the present.

its not about guessing. its about certainty. So england cant simply "guess each phase will be the one france moves in on."

Can there be a paradox within a paradox?

@Zaza, but that one possibility rules out the potential for day 100 to be a possible move-in day. So when will he move in?

All Figle did is breakdown what I said look at it this way with the house thing. If you know the house is to blow up in the next 12 minutes but you don't know what point then you guess that at 0:01 it will blow up, when it doesn't you guess 0:02 then 0:03 and so on, you can't be wrong with it.