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Comments by ultimatecoolster

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Penturanga. Chaturanga on a board with 46 pentagonal cells. (8x5, Cells: 46) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
John Smith wrote on Tue, Dec 9, 2008 05:05 AM UTC:
Graeme, did you think of making a board with 3 columns by 5 rows of hexagons? Doing so allows you to have 3 Elephants without an awkward setup.

Snowflake Xiang Qi. A better Xiang Hex. (Cells: 140) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝John Smith wrote on Wed, Dec 10, 2008 12:38 AM UTC:
I wasn't bragging about my game. I was trying to make a more natural board for Xiang Qi on a hexagonal field. I'm very sorry if I offended you. I had also included the variant without extra Soldiers.

💡📝John Smith wrote on Wed, Dec 10, 2008 01:01 AM UTC:
As per your suggestion, the variant now plays with 5 Soldiers. This has the bonus of less active Chariots.

Penturanga. Chaturanga on a board with 46 pentagonal cells. (8x5, Cells: 46) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
John Smith wrote on Wed, Dec 10, 2008 01:11 AM UTC:
I'm just saying, if you want a third Elephant. Does anyone notice that the Horses are colourbound?

Snowflake Xiang Qi. A better Xiang Hex. (Cells: 140) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝John Smith wrote on Wed, Dec 10, 2008 04:35 AM UTC:
How about interpreting the Xiang Qi Soldier's movement as orthogonally forward in all 3 directions before it enters the River, with orthogonally sideways movement in all 4 directions added when it enters the River?

💡📝John Smith wrote on Thu, Dec 11, 2008 12:56 AM UTC:
This new Soldier somewhat resembles a Panthan. I wonder what a hexagonal Jetan would be like.

💡📝John Smith wrote on Thu, Dec 11, 2008 01:02 AM UTC:
It's too bad the board is so hard to make. Perhaps I could play a game with just notation. I'll try to label the board soon.

Random Transposal Chess. Use dice to swap pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝John Smith wrote on Thu, Dec 11, 2008 04:39 AM UTC:
Not unless you want a King capture on the first move. My variant restricts the swapping to the centre of the board. First move King captures are possible in my game (1/108), but not as likely as when played with 8-sided dice.

💡📝John Smith wrote on Thu, Dec 11, 2008 04:48 AM UTC:
You can make the possiblity even zero by playing it with Omega Chess / Grand Chess / etc.

💡📝John Smith wrote on Thu, Dec 11, 2008 11:12 PM UTC:
Well, Fergus, I go for the natural approach. I play Double Chess, not Marseillais, if you understand.

[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
John Smith wrote on Thu, Dec 11, 2008 11:35 PM UTC:
A colourbound piece is defined as a piece whom may only access one colour
of square on the board. Ralph Betza provides the more lenient definition
of a piece that cannot access all of the board.

A colourchanging piece is defined as a piece whom must change the colour
of square it resides on when it moves.

This thread is for the discussion of colour and boundness.

John Smith wrote on Thu, Dec 11, 2008 11:40 PM UTC:
May I bring to the table what I call 'The Chiral Rook'. The Chiral Rook
is the same as the normal Rook, but it can only access the left or right
side of the board, which determined by its initial placement. This Rook
can access only half of the board, and thus is similar to a Bishop, which
is often called a colourbound Rook. What is the value of such a piece? How
would it change when there is rotational symmetry?

John Smith wrote on Fri, Dec 12, 2008 12:25 AM UTC:
Knights have a little secret. And that secret is: they're almost doubly
colourbound. A narrow Knight is, a wide Knight is, and a certain
configuration of Knight moves is even bound to 1/5th of the board. Knights
alternate 1/4 bindings whenever they move. Thus, I propose the
Quadrant-Changing Rook. The Quadrant-Changing Rook is the same as a normal
Rook, but it must change what quadrant of the board it resides. This piece
is absolutely horrid in development, and awkward in the endgame. What is
this piece's strength?

Random Transposal Chess. Use dice to swap pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝John Smith wrote on Fri, Dec 12, 2008 12:36 AM UTC:
What I meant was that I don't make artificial things like checkmate have precedence over King capture. In Marsellais Chess, your turn ends when you check.

[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
John Smith wrote on Fri, Dec 12, 2008 12:57 AM UTC:
Great idea, Sam. Unfortunately, such a piece is not truly Chiral. What is the value of a colourchanging version of a piece? The Slip Rook is Knight value. What I think is that they are equal in value. Doubled Bishops beat a Wazir when stalemate is a win condition.

The Maharaja and the Sepoys. Powerful lonely king against a full set of pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
John Smith wrote on Fri, Dec 12, 2008 04:13 AM UTC:
How many Maharajas does it take to have a Maharaja win?

John Smith wrote on Fri, Dec 12, 2008 11:31 PM UTC:
That's what I thought. How about Cardinal and Marshall instead of Maharajas?

John Smith wrote on Fri, Dec 12, 2008 11:40 PM UTC:
How many extra moves for a bare FIDE King when vs. a FIDE army does it take to balance a game?

John Smith wrote on Sat, Dec 13, 2008 04:33 AM UTC:
Can't the 7-moving King instantly capture the regular one in the Maharaja and the Sepoys set-up? I'm assuming that multiple captures, null moves, igui, and moving into check are legal, as long as the move does not end in check.

Alternate Promotion Chess. Pieces promoted at one end of the board are promoted further at the other. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
John Smith wrote on Sat, Dec 13, 2008 04:57 AM UTC:
Prince > Bishop. 'Nuff said.

Cannonless Xiang Qi variants. A look at stronger variations of pre-cannon Xiangqi. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
John Smith wrote on Sat, Dec 13, 2008 05:09 AM UTC:Average ★★★
The Ferry variant is OK, actually, though a bit unnatural.

Magna Carta Chess. Black has the FIDE array, White has a Marshal and an Archbishop instead of a Queen and King. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
John Smith wrote on Sat, Dec 13, 2008 05:34 AM UTC:
I suggest moves through check illegal, as analogy with castling.

Patt-schach (Stalemate chess). Players start with an illegal move from a stalemated position. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
John Smith wrote on Sat, Dec 13, 2008 08:06 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
I think it would be interesting if you lose if all of your pieces can make a legal move.

[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
John Smith wrote on Sat, Dec 13, 2008 08:51 AM UTC:
Just as a Bishop is colourbound, a Rook is squarebound. A piece even less
bound than the Rook would be a Bishop that can stop on the corners of the
squares, preferably only a certain type of corner, e.g. the lower left
corners of the squares, though for symmetry in a FIDE-like set-up, a
toroidal 64 point grid is recommended. And, yes, even this piece is bound
in some way, for it cannot access the edges of the squares.

Man and Beast 21: Lords High Everything-Else. Systematic naming of pieces that do not fit in any of the other articles.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
John Smith wrote on Sat, Dec 13, 2008 09:07 PM UTC:
Their moves are described in terms of how many individual cells rather than supersquares they move, so that the Sultan's piece moving like 4 Dabbabas yoked together is a SULTAN'S DABBABA rather than a Sultan's Ferz.

Do you mean, 'rather than a Sultan's Wazir'?

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