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I have updated this ZRF with a few rule changes: 1. The SOLDIER may now, after crossing the `River`, step additionally up-right, down-right, up-left and down-left. This creates a nice 3x3 area of influence to aid in mating the opposing GENERAL. 2. In the variant, the UNICORN, after crossing the `River`, may additionally step any diagonal except NOT back across the `River`. This allows the player to free this piece from its triagonal pattern and also aids in mating the opposing GENERAL but maintains this piece as a rather weak defensive piece on its side of the field. 3. The GENERALs now may not be in an orthogonal plane defined by both their positions without any other piece located in the same. This introduces the planar move to this game and increases the power of the GENERAL in the endgame. I also made a slight coding adjustment to increase the value of the CANNON, not any change of its movement. This was to help the Zillions engine in evaluation of this pieces, increasing its potential survival into the endgame when playing the game solo. These changes have helped reduce the number of potential moves in the average game from over 200 to a little over 100. It also reduces the number of pieces needed in the endgame to accomplish a mating position.
The same thirteen squares are accessible to all four Elephants on each side! This is following through a characteristic of 2d Xiang Qi, but not necessarily an advantageuos one and to an extreme. An alternative would be to have pieces on no cells halfway between two Rooks and all cells quarter-way between them. Depending on the symmetry this would give either 36 cells each covered by 1 Elephant (a complete break) or 18 reach covered by 2 (a halfway house).
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