
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
On an island, there are knights, liars, and followers; each one knows who is who among them. All 2018 island inhabitants were lined up and each was asked to answer "Yes" or "No" to the question: "Are there more knights than liars on the island?" The inhabitants answered one by one in such a way that the others could hear. Knights told the truth, liars lied. Each follower answered the same as the majority of those who had answered before them, and if the number of "Yes" and "No" answers was equal, they could give either answer. It turned out that there were exactly 1009 "Yes" answers. What is the maximum number of followers that could be among the island inhabitants?

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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