Anydice cancelling dice

Question

I'm trying a program on Anydice that uses d6s where 1-3 = minor success, and 4-6 = major success. After the roll of 1 to 3 of these, you roll a different d6 where on a 5 or 6 you cancel (Nix) a minor success. This is the program I've come up with after long hours of attempt:

W: {1:3, 2:3}
D: {0:4, 1:2}

function: W:n outcomes {
  MAJOR: 0
  MINOR: 0
  SUCCESSES: 0
  if W = 2 { MAJOR: 1 }
  if W = 1 { MINOR: 1 }
  SUCCESSES: MAJOR + MINOR
  result: SUCCESSES
}

loop DICE over {1..3} {
  TOTAL: 0
function: D:n cancels {
  NIX: 0
  if D = 0 { NIX: 0 }
  if D = 1 { NIX: 1 }
  result: NIX

  loop THROW over {1..DICE} { TOTAL: TOTAL + [W dW outcomes] }

  if [count 1 in TOTAL > 0] & [count 1 in NIX = 1] { TOTAL: -1 }
}

  output TOTAL named "[DICE] D"
}

However I'm getting a

"syntax error: I was expecting a "}" somewhere, to end a code block."

But doesn't look like there are any brackets left to close. Can someone identify what is wrong with the program and enlighten me if there is a better way to do this?

Answer 1

Your error message is from not terminating function (/code block) after a result. Other languages might just quietly never run code after returning a value, Anydice helpfully throws you an error message.

As for the rest of the code I'm afraid I'm having a hard time parsing how you're trying to solve it. No worries, we've all been there.

Instead, here's my solution (assuming I've understood your mechanic correctly).

W: {1,2}
D: {0:2,1}

function: roll POOL:s nix NEG:n {
  MINOR: (POOL = 1) - NEG
  if MINOR < 0 { MINOR: 0}
  result: MINOR + (POOL = 2)
}

loop N over {1..3} {
   output [roll NdW nix 1dD] named "[N]d6"
}

An few important approaches employed here is that we're passing our W dice as a sequence (that's the :s). That means that when we compare it with a number, we get the count. Passing the NEG as a number means we get the sum of that roll (it doesn't make a difference for one die, but means it's there if you want to roll more of them).

So, we use a function to let us treat the roll as a pool, get the number of minor successes and subtract the number of nixes. Then we check and negate the case that there were more nixes than minor successes, and set the number of minor successes to 0 in that case. Then we return the sum of (remaining) minor and major successes.

Be careful thinking about output as print. While it may function that way, to really harness the power of Anydice (and in many cases generate sensible/correct outputs) it should call the function/roll to be analysed. When you call a function in an output expression, it is evaluated for all possible rolls of that function. That's kinda the thing that makes it work.

Answer 2

When you define a result that's the end of the function. So your cancels-function ends at result: NIX, but the code block isn't ended with a }. The cancels-function isn't used anywhere either, so I'm not sure what you're trying to do.