FFCardGame/PLAN.md

Plan: Improve Low Confidence Ability Parsing

Current State

• 1,008 abilities have LOW confidence (14.9% of total)
• All have "No effects parsed" - the parser didn't match any pattern

Pattern Categories to Fix

Priority 1: High Count Patterns (700+ abilities)

1.1 "Cannot be X" (148 abilities)

Examples:

• "Lann cannot be blocked by a Forward with a power greater than his"
• "Terra cannot be chosen by opponent's Summons"
• "Zidane cannot be blocked by a Forward of cost 4 or more"

Effect Type: BLOCK_IMMUNITY or SELECTION_IMMUNITY Fields needed: condition (power comparison, cost comparison), from (opponent summons, etc.)

1.2 "IF conditional" (186 abilities)

Examples:

• "If this Forward blocks or is blocked by a Forward without First Strike, this Forward deals damage first"
• "If Shantotto is on the field, it gains Elements of Fire, Ice, Wind..."
• "If a Forward forming a party with Knight is dealt damage, the damage becomes 0 instead"

Effect Type: CONDITIONAL_FIELD_EFFECT Fields needed: condition, effect (nested)

1.3 "Cost modification" (102 abilities)

Examples:

• "The cost required for your opponent to cast Summons increases by 1"
• "The cost required to play Lightning is reduced by 1 for each [Category (XIII)] Forward"
• "This Character can attack or use abilities the turn it enters the field" (Haste-like)

Effect Type: COST_MODIFIER Fields needed: target_cards (filter), amount (static or dynamic), applies_to (self/opponent)

1.4 "Your opponent X" (86 abilities)

Examples:

• "Your opponent may play 1 Character Card from his/her hand"
• "Summons or abilities of your opponent must choose Cecil if possible"
• "Kimahri gains Elements of all the Characters your opponent controls"

Effect Type: Various - OPPONENT_ACTION, TAUNT, GAIN_ELEMENTS

1.5 "Cannot X" (45 abilities)

Examples:

• "Lann cannot block a Forward with a power greater than his"
• "Naji cannot attack"
• "You cannot play Hooded Man while already in control of either Character"

Effect Type: RESTRICTION Fields needed: restriction_type (ATTACK, BLOCK, PLAY), condition

Priority 2: Medium Count Patterns (70+ abilities)

2.1 "Replacement effect" (32 abilities)

Examples:

• "the next damage dealt to you becomes 0 instead"
• "reduce the damage by 2000 instead"

Effect Type: DAMAGE_REPLACEMENT or DAMAGE_PREVENTION

2.2 "When trigger (embedded)" (28 abilities)

These have triggers embedded in FIELD abilities

2.3 "Each X" (23 abilities)

Examples:

• "each Forward you control gains +1000 power"
• "each time a card is put into your Break Zone"

Priority 3: Low Count Patterns

3.1 "Return X" (17 abilities) - May already be partially handled

3.2 "You may X" (15 abilities)

3.3 "Gains ability text" (7 abilities)

3.4 "All X you control" (4 abilities)

3.5 "Other" (311 abilities) - Need further categorization

Implementation Plan

Phase 1: Add FIELD ability patterns for common types

1. Add patterns for "cannot be blocked by X"
2. Add patterns for "cannot be chosen by X"
3. Add patterns for "cannot attack/block" (self restriction)
4. Add patterns for cost modification (increase/reduce for specific cards)

Phase 2: Add conditional wrapper support

1. Parse "If X, then Y" structure
2. Support nested effects inside conditionals
3. Handle "gains X until end of turn" with ability text

Phase 3: Add opponent interaction patterns

1. "opponent must choose X if possible" (taunt)
2. "opponent may X" (optional opponent actions)
3. "gains elements of opponent's cards"

Phase 4: Add replacement effects

1. "damage becomes 0 instead"
2. "reduce damage by X instead"

Phase 5: Review remaining "other" category

• Further categorize the 311 remaining
• Add patterns for common sub-groups

Expected Outcome

• Target: Reduce LOW confidence from 1,008 to <300
• This would bring HIGH confidence from 79.4% to ~90%