The q and z modifiers cannot be used in their original Betza meaning of circular / crooked in a multi-leg move. Their meaning in the latter context has been redefined as a directional modifier meaning the same as l or r, but in the same or opposit direction of deflection as the previous one.
The circular and crooked moves were hard to fit into the scheme according to which other moves are handled by the Interactive Diagram. I added a special case of move generation just for those, where a tabulated sequence of legs of a multi-leg move doesn't have to be traversed in its entirety for the move to be valid, but is allowed to stop at any point along the trajectory. This can be combined with (grass)hopping; normally the trajectory would not continue after an occupied square, but would exercise its c or d right there. But in combination with p or g it must continue on the first such encounter, in the latter case exactly one leg. Continuing after capture, or on any other path than the indicated circular/crooked trajectory is not implemented for this type of move generation.
The introduction of parentheses in principle would allow specification of circular and crooked paths in the context of normal multi-leg move generation. But the way parentheses are implemented is very inefficient, which especially hurts the AI. In theory (af)W is the sane as R, but in practice it is expanded to WafWafafWafafafWafafafafW..., which is WnDnHnWXnDX..., a squence of ever larger lame leaps. And for each next leap it will test all squares leapt over, even though the previous lame leaps already tested those. So if the W and D leap in a certain direction are valid non-captures, but the H leap is blocked, it would still try to generate thw WX, DX... leaps, and test the W, D and H squares they pass through for each of those, before coming to the conclusion that these are not possible. The special case of storing only the longest trajectory, and allowing termination at any step along the way, solves this problem. But it is not compatible with straying from the path.
BTW, the I.D. currently does not implement moves with more than one pair of parentheses on an atom. The implementation through pre-processing would really make the length of the XBetza string that results explode if there would be multiple pairs.
The q and z modifiers cannot be used in their original Betza meaning of circular / crooked in a multi-leg move. Their meaning in the latter context has been redefined as a directional modifier meaning the same as l or r, but in the same or opposit direction of deflection as the previous one.
The circular and crooked moves were hard to fit into the scheme according to which other moves are handled by the Interactive Diagram. I added a special case of move generation just for those, where a tabulated sequence of legs of a multi-leg move doesn't have to be traversed in its entirety for the move to be valid, but is allowed to stop at any point along the trajectory. This can be combined with (grass)hopping; normally the trajectory would not continue after an occupied square, but would exercise its c or d right there. But in combination with p or g it must continue on the first such encounter, in the latter case exactly one leg. Continuing after capture, or on any other path than the indicated circular/crooked trajectory is not implemented for this type of move generation.
The introduction of parentheses in principle would allow specification of circular and crooked paths in the context of normal multi-leg move generation. But the way parentheses are implemented is very inefficient, which especially hurts the AI. In theory (af)W is the sane as R, but in practice it is expanded to WafWafafWafafafWafafafafW..., which is WnDnHnWXnDX..., a squence of ever larger lame leaps. And for each next leap it will test all squares leapt over, even though the previous lame leaps already tested those. So if the W and D leap in a certain direction are valid non-captures, but the H leap is blocked, it would still try to generate thw WX, DX... leaps, and test the W, D and H squares they pass through for each of those, before coming to the conclusion that these are not possible. The special case of storing only the longest trajectory, and allowing termination at any step along the way, solves this problem. But it is not compatible with straying from the path.
BTW, the I.D. currently does not implement moves with more than one pair of parentheses on an atom. The implementation through pre-processing would really make the length of the XBetza string that results explode if there would be multiple pairs.