disoriented wrote:
There's got to be some weird trick here, because the activation order of the one-use pressure plates doesn't matter. The snake will always be either 3 units long, or dead.
Actually, there is one thing you that for sure will be the case once all plates have been pushed (but that's not it).
Access to each of the swords is toggled by three pressure plates (and 1/5 and 2/4 are always toggled together)... if you think about that, it gives a useful clue to solving this puzzle without brute force.
(These secret are more about how to manage this type of puzzle, details of the actual solution aren't in here)
Click here to view the secret text
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Since they all start "
off"
, they'll all end up "
on"
on the final pass (each will go on-off-on at some point as you hit all five pressure plates). This means that the final pass will take off 5 segments of the rattler... meaning that the first four moves must only take off 6. This is a much simpler thing to work with than considering how to cut 11 segments in 5 moves. In fact, if you consider the options, you can simplify it a bit further:
Click here to view the secret text
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There's no way you'll be able to generate 2 runs of zero cuts (it's the on-off-on pattern again). So, the cuts have to be relatively small because you'll have 3 non-zero cuts in those first 4 moves... you're looking at cuts of 3-2-1-0, 2-2-2-0, 2-2-1-1, or 4-1-1-0 (and the permutations of those). Knowing this allows you to rule out options rather quickly (for example, if your first move does 3 cuts, you can eliminate anything that results in more than 2 cuts), and with a bit of thinking you can quickly come to a solution.
