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Comments by Martin Nilsson

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Interactive diagrams. (Updated!) Diagrams that interactively show piece moves.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Martin Nilsson wrote on Wed, Feb 12 03:55 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 03:22 PM:

Of course there still is the problem of how you could benefit from this fix, as the server will only show the no-longer existing version of betzaNew.js to its users. A trick that worked for me is to add the suffix ?t=XXX to the link to betzaNew.js, with XXX a string that was never used before.

For me it sufficed to press Ctrl-F5 to update the browser's cache (Microsoft Edge).


Martin Nilsson wrote on Wed, Feb 12 03:44 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 03:22 PM:

Thank you for fixing this. I also had this problem in my interactive diagram for Swapper Superheroes Chess.


Kjempe Chess. A large variant that hopefully is easy to get into. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Sat, Feb 8 01:20 PM UTC:

Added the link to a Game Courier implementation of the game.


Chickens and Dragons. (Updated!) A piece's allowed moves depend on what's on its neighbour squares. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Fri, Jan 31 02:50 PM UTC in reply to Jenard Cabilao from 01:57 PM:

I've updated the wording about the win condition.

I also incorporated HaruN Y's interactive diagram into the page itself.


Kjempe Chess. A large variant that hopefully is easy to get into. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Fri, Nov 29, 2024 04:22 PM UTC in reply to A. M. DeWitt from Thu Nov 28 05:22 PM:

I thought about your advice. I don't think the game is drawish as is, due to a big board with more possibilities compared to Chess, and quickpawns being comparatively easy to promote. I don't have any statistics to back this up, though.

But having more pieces realistically able to participate in an attack is fun, and I just changed the moves of the Kjempe and Custodian for this very reason.

Your suggestion for the Woodlander (Knight + vertical rook) would make it another 5+ value piece (actually a bit stronger according to the diagram's evaluation), which I think the players would often save for the endgame (which admittedly would be great fun), instead of coming to use in the midgame, when I think knight-y moves make the most sense on a large board. So I'm currently looking into some alternatives which would make the woodlander a more offense-oriented piece, but still keep it in the 4-value range where it is supposedly exchangable for a Bishop or an Avian: NsW, NvW, NfR ("lancer"), NfR3, etc. Another option on the table is to make the Woodlander promotable. This will take a while for me to playtest and come to some conclusions.


@ Martin Nilsson[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Martin Nilsson wrote on Wed, Nov 20, 2024 07:46 PM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from 04:35 PM:

Thank you very much for this. It works for me now.


Kjempe Chess. A large variant that hopefully is easy to get into. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Wed, Nov 20, 2024 07:45 PM UTC:

Big changes to this game.

I changed the moves of the Kjempe and Custodian to give them a more realistic ability to participate in an attack. They are now both supposedly worth as much as a rook.

I also changed the initial position to avoid the bishops-pointing-at-rooks problem.

It seems the game has become a bit sharper with these changes, but hopefully not too much.


@ Martin Nilsson[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Martin Nilsson wrote on Wed, Nov 20, 2024 10:28 AM UTC:

To the site maintainer:

My problem with not being able to edit my pages is back. When I click "Edit this page", I get an edit page where the field "Your UserID:" at the bottom is blank, and if I fill in my password and try to save the page, it says "You cannot edit this page without a UserID."

I think the problem is that I'm somehow being logged out when clicking the "Edit this page" link; that has happened to me occasionally when clicking other links on the site too.

I've tried different cookie permissions and browser security levels. I'm using Microsoft Edge, but I've tried with Google Chrome or Firefox too, same problem. I can still post comments, as well as post new entries, apparently.


Kjempe Chess. A large variant that hopefully is easy to get into. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Tue, Nov 19, 2024 11:21 AM UTC in reply to David Paulowich from Mon Nov 18 09:50 PM:

Here's an interactive diagram using the Alfaerie piece set and using the three wheeled war machine icon for the Custodian. Thanks for the tip!

files=12 ranks=12 satellite=alfaeriekjempe promoZone=1 maxPromote=1 promoChoice=SNTBWACJRQ graphicsDir=/cgi-bin/fen2.php?s=50&p= whitePrefix=w blackPrefix=b graphicsType= squareSize=50 borders=0 firstRank=1 useMarkers=1 rimColor=#f5f5dc darkShade=#cccccc lightShade=#eeeeee coordColor=#cccccc royal=K quickpawn:P:nfmW2fceF:/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG50/%pawn.png:a4,b4,c4,d4,e4,f4,g4,h4,i4,j4,k4,l4,,a9,b9,c9,d9,e9,f9,g9,h9,i9,j9,k9,l9 shield:S:mQ:/graphics.dir/alfaerie5a/%hero.gif:f3,g3,,f10,g10 knight:N:N:/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG50/%knight.png:b2,k2,,b11,k11 threeshop:T:B3:/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG50/%halfbishop.png:c2,j2,,c11,j11 bishop:B::/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG50/%bishop.png:d2,i2,,d11,i11 woodlander:W:NbR:/graphics.dir/alfaerie/%fknightbrook.gif:b1,k1,,b12,k12 avian:A:GAF:/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG50/%bird.png:f1,g1,,f12,g12 custodian:C:WDHfWX:/graphics.dir/alfaeriemisc/wheeler/%siegeengine.gif:e2,h2,,e11,h11 kjempe:J:FfRbsR2:/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG50/%man.png:b3,k3,,b10,k10 rook:R:R:/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG50/%rook.png:a2,l2,,a11,l11 queen:Q:Q:/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG50/%queen.png:f2,,f11 king:K:KisO2isO3isO4:/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG50/%king.png:g2,,g11

To be honest though, I still somewhat prefer the Greenwade icon set for this game, I think the two kinds of bishops are easier to distinguish. I'm planning on making a Game Courier preset for this game though, and then I'll provide both options.

Edit: This interactive diagram comment was updated with the updated rules and starting position for the game.


💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Mon, Nov 18, 2024 06:54 PM UTC:

Did the following writeup to further explain my design thinking for this game:

Problem: Large variants easily become too complex for (average) human players to handle skillfully, and too sharp. Having too many strong pieces while keeping the standard king increases the probability of an early check mate.

Solution: Keep the standard pieces, but apart from that, introduce only short and medium distance pieces into the game. This will generate some localized situations of lower complexity.

Problem: Having only a single chain of pawns in a large variant decreases the density of pawns compared to standard chess. The pieces proper will easily stomp through the pawns' defence line. But having partial or whole double pawn chains makes it tedious to develop pieces, among other things.

Solution: Introduce a few Shields into the game, which kind of serve as a mobile pawn replacement.

Problem: Long leapers feel at home on a large board, serving a similar function as the Knight on 8x8, but they can have too powerful forking ability behind the opponent's pawn chain, especially in the early opening.

Solution: Move the pawn chain up to the fourth rank. Make the third rank consist mostly of empty space.

Problem: On a big board, shorter range pieces can easily become stranded in irrelevant areas of the board during the endgame. A stranded Kjempe could in practice be worth much less than 5 pawns.

Solution: This is actually somewhat of a feature. It will be a strategic element of the game to try to predict where the action will be, and move short range pieces there in time. Just make sure that the opening is sufficiently dull that all pieces have time to come into play.

Problem: What does a large variant bring, other than more of the same?

Solution: Make sure the new pieces contrast each other and the old ones, and that pieces can threaten each other assymetrically (either through different movement patterns, or by a defended weaker piece attacking a stronger defended one). Allow for a larger number of quasi-equal exchanges than standard chess, leading to various kinds of assymetric endgames.

Problem: Bishops are pointing at the rooks in the initial position.

Currently no solution: Yes, this is a problem which limits the opening possibilities a bit. At least fortunately the third pawn from the edge is triple defended... At one point I had the Kjempes starting at d3 and i3 to obscure the bishops, but I found this led to more kludginess in the opening.


Swapper Superheroes Chess. (Updated!) Normal chess with the addition of one or more 'swapper' pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Wed, Nov 6, 2024 01:53 PM UTC in reply to Martin Nilsson from Sat Nov 2 10:34 AM:

For some reason, now I could edit my pages again. And thanks to bug fix help from HaruN Y, there is now a working interactive diagram of an example setup for the game!


Chickens and Dragons. (Updated!) A piece's allowed moves depend on what's on its neighbour squares. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Wed, Nov 6, 2024 07:08 AM UTC in reply to HaruN Y from 02:09 AM:

I can test it out in preview mode, but not edit the page permanently.

"betzaNew.js" seems to fix the problem indeed, thanks!


💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Sat, Nov 2, 2024 10:36 AM UTC in reply to HaruN Y from Sun Jun 30 02:55 AM:

Thank you very much HaruN_Y for the interactive diagram! It seems to have required some rather ingenious usage of Betza notation trickery!


Swapper Superheroes Chess. (Updated!) Normal chess with the addition of one or more 'swapper' pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Sat, Nov 2, 2024 10:34 AM UTC in reply to Martin Nilsson from Sun Jun 30 01:36 AM:

Since some time has gone since my deletion request, and I'm in another mood, I retract my deletion request. Sorry for the drama.

I still can't edit my pages, though. It says I have no User ID, even though I'm logged in.


💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Sun, Jun 30, 2024 01:36 AM UTC:

I would like both of my submissions to be deleted. They're not good enough. For some reason, I can't edit or delete the pages anymore.


💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Mon, Jun 24, 2024 08:53 PM UTC:

I can't edit the page anymore. It says I have no userID. It happened after I closed my web browser.


Chickens and Dragons. (Updated!) A piece's allowed moves depend on what's on its neighbour squares. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Sun, Jun 23, 2024 07:48 PM UTC in reply to Bob Greenwade from 04:01 PM:

I changed my mind and changed the name of the game to "Chickens and Dragons". It's a good name.


💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Sun, Jun 23, 2024 04:54 PM UTC in reply to Bob Greenwade from 04:01 PM:

About "perpendicular": Oops! I've updated the description now.

About the word "Chess" in the title: I lean towards keeping it. After all, this variant has stepping, riding, knight's leaps, chess style capture, promotion on the last rank, and a same-size checkered board. Also, the way the Chicken's rider ability appears at the edges, while being more like a pawn in the middle of the board, I think reminds of the typical situation in Chess.

Thank you for the icons!


Rabbit Chess. (Updated!) Kangaroo Lion. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Martin Nilsson wrote on Fri, Jun 21, 2024 11:56 PM UTC:

The starting position and the general concept look appealing to me.

I tried it out against the AI, but it became a bit drawish after all the hoppers had suicided against the pawns. But maybe my strategy is wrong, I'm not so good at chess, let alone Rabbit Chess!


Swapper Superheroes Chess. (Updated!) Normal chess with the addition of one or more 'swapper' pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Fri, Jun 21, 2024 11:05 PM UTC in reply to Bn Em from 10:48 PM:

Thank you! I've updated the page per your suggestion.


💡📝Martin Nilsson wrote on Fri, Jun 21, 2024 04:38 PM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from 01:26 PM:

Thanks! I think I fixed it now.

Edit: Actually I didn't. I think the problem is that a mouse move can be interpreted both ways (origin-dest or dest-origin) in the mouse interface, because of how pawn moves can be entered. So it thinks a swapper piece moving onto a friendly pawn, and the pawn reappearing swapped, was a pawn move the other way around. But somehow my code for the swap gets correctly run, but there seems to be some kind of post-autocorrect on the written move that even overwrites my 'rewritemove' code.

Edit 2: Actually it's better now with the 'rewritemove' code running. Sometimes the notation turns out correct. And anyway, maybe the two things are equivalent, so the game record isn't really corrupted, you could say.

Edit 3: It works with moves where the dest coord is more up-right than the origin coord. Probably because of some internal ordering of the mouse entered coords or something.

Edit 4: So in the mouse interface, origin-dest and dest-origin are really the same thing. And perhaps the Post-Move code even gets run twice to determine this (which it was)? And you're supposed to use the 'swap' command when you want a swap effect. But in my game, there might be some situations where origin-dest and dest-origin doesn't mean quite the same thing. So is there a way to turn off the dest-origin way of entering mouse moves?

Edit 5: I found a way around it in my code. And I don't think there are any ambiguous situations in my game where origin-dest and dest-origin mean different things (friendly swaps give the same result independent of direction). So I'm happy now. :)


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