H. G. Muller wrote on Fri, Nov 6, 2020 08:49 AM UTC:
That is of course completely wrong. It is well established that captures are worth about twice as much as non-captures. So a non-capturing move only adds 1/3 of what the same full move would add, not 1/2. One therefore would expect the value of a WmD to be roughly that of a piece with 4 + 4/3 = 5.33 moves. With the short-range leaper formula 33*N + 0.7*N*N that would put it at 196 centi-Pawn. So the value estimate of ~2 Pawns given in the article seems the correct one.
Note that the Alpaca, even though being a minor itself, has very favorable checkmating properties: it can switch its attack from c1 to a1 in a single move. This property allows it to deliver checkmate in combination with most other pieces. E.g. the end-games Bishop + Alpaca and Knight + Alpaca against a bare King are general wins. Even together with Wazir or Ferz it can in general force checkmate, if the bare King cannot catch one of the pieces through a chase.
That is of course completely wrong. It is well established that captures are worth about twice as much as non-captures. So a non-capturing move only adds 1/3 of what the same full move would add, not 1/2. One therefore would expect the value of a WmD to be roughly that of a piece with 4 + 4/3 = 5.33 moves. With the short-range leaper formula 33*N + 0.7*N*N that would put it at 196 centi-Pawn. So the value estimate of ~2 Pawns given in the article seems the correct one.
Note that the Alpaca, even though being a minor itself, has very favorable checkmating properties: it can switch its attack from c1 to a1 in a single move. This property allows it to deliver checkmate in combination with most other pieces. E.g. the end-games Bishop + Alpaca and Knight + Alpaca against a bare King are general wins. Even together with Wazir or Ferz it can in general force checkmate, if the bare King cannot catch one of the pieces through a chase.