Clash of Mythic Titans (Alpha-NU-Omega Chess)

Ok.

Did I answer your question? Or did you mean something else?

I'm sorry for my lack of clarity. I didn't mean that. One think that might be a problem is that there aren't enough weak pieces.

I like the idea about the Hippocampus protecting friendly pieces from capture, since that complements the phoenix's ability nicely. That system could be extended with more special abilities, such as:

1. forcing hostile pieces to move (without capturing)
2. forcing friendly pieces to move
3. preventing hostile pieces from capturing
4. preventing friendly pieces from capturing

and there must be more ideas that could be added to that list.

Your post seems copy & paste, 

SO FROM WHERE DID YOU COPY AND PASTE?

Sorry for my late reply!

I really like those suggestions.

How's this run down:

Pheonix: Paralyzes leaped enemy pieces for one oponent turn(capture or not; slight change from original rules); can revive one Pheonix per player, per game

Hippocampus: Protects leaped allied pieces from being captured for your next turn

Champion (which I'm thinking about renaming): Prevents leaped enemy pieces from capturing for one oponent turn

Harpie: Prevents leaped enemy pieces from entering a square that attacks an allied piece for one opponent turn; if that leaped enemy piece is already attacking another piece, that enemy piece is captured.

All +3-ranged pieces (Helepolis, Hydra, Stymphalion and Freyjan) captures leaped enemy piece when capturing enemy pieces.

Titaness: captures all leaped enemy pieces, whether the move that turn is a move or a capture.

Does anyone know if this game has been played and how does it play? (lasts short or long, and how did the end-game go?). Or is it still in development? Just curious

Well, let the inventor tell you where it's currently at. ^-^

As you can see, I have updated the rules but haven't posted the new diagrams. I let this variant be on freeze for the moment, because creating these diagram takes time.

If you are interested in playing the very first game with me, let me know and I will get it started.

Thanks greatly for the input. And, thank you for your support! ^-^

Let me respond to your comments with questions of my own. I would like you to think about it before reading my proposed answer (written below each question). 

1 - Are the powers and characteristics of the pieces in my variant all randomized asunder, or are they organized into a pattern?

Answer: Pawns aside, pieces are generally divided into three categories: long-ranged sliders, short-ranged leapers and medium-ranged leapers. In both categories, pieces are classified into groups based on similarity in powers (Queen Group, Rook Group, etc.) and are placed with each on the board in accordance to membership in that group.

Now, in this previous version that you just read, the categories and groupings were slightly harder to see, because many pieces also had extra movement/capture powers that made them exceptions to their groups and categories. In the new version, a few pieces will still have this, but over all, it should have been made easier to learn: the Wizard is gone, and possibly the Titaness too.

2 - When people first learned chess, did they get it right away and became pleasantly decent at it? Or, did it take a while for them to grasp the game and then a while more to actually to become fairly good enough to play at least a decent game?

(Hint: There is absolutely nothing simple about the Knight or the pawn. I swear when I teach chess to new players, especially kids, I must have gotten 8-10 questions for each of these two pieces; not to mention having to repetitively correct the same several general mistakes people would make when moving them.)

Answer: If you have learned to play chess, you are already playing a game that is "too complicated". Consider my hint above. Were chess a simple game, we would have pieces that moved in straight lines only, and they'd all be sliders. See? Done explaining in 10 seconds.

But, nope. We now have to spend 10 minutes to explain two pieces that irritate the otherwise simplicity which would be chess. 

• The Knight, with its many "exceptions to the trend", hardly moves in a straight line and does not slide.
• Pawns don't just move and capture forward; they move forward orthogonally and capture forward diagonally. (Really! Why not make it simple and just have pawns move and capture forward one square orthogonally or diagonally? Do we have to have separate powers for moving and capturing??)

And then, we need 15 more minutes to explain the greater irritation which are the two multiple-rules special powers: Castling and En Pessant, which you describe as an "oddity".

You don't realize how difficult any of this is anymore because you have mastered all the rules of the game at this point. Since your brain has already continuously long-rewarded you for this, you don't want to expand on it with yet-again new rules that would break that mental status of mastery. That's why your first (natural?) defense when seeing all these new pieces with slightly unfamiliar rules is to refer to them as being "too complicated".

It would be a hell of a lot more complicated if you didn't already learn chess? See? Most of the complication has already been over-ridden; since the pieces, if you have a second look, are really quite simple. You went through the process once before, you can do it again.

3 - Isn't En Pessant already in itself a confusing special power?

Answer: You've already learned and mastered it, so the majority of the "confusion" is already gone. See how awesome that is?

Really, the only difference is that, in FIDE Chess, it's the 5th rank. whereas in Clash of Mythic Titans, it's the 7th and 8th. This is because  pawn-group pieces can move forward as many as 3 squares on its first turn (2 squares in FIDE chess), so the 7th rank had to be include with the 8th.

Hey. What do you not already understand? If your own pawn-group piece is on the 7th or 8th rank and a previously unmoved enemy pawn-group piece on the adjacent file moves up 2 or 3 squares, you move one square diagonally forward onto that enemy pawn's file and capture it. See? Done in 10 seconds, because you already knew all of this in FIDE chess; with the one measly difference being the 5th rank rather than the 7th and 8th.

Sorry for my long preacherism. If you're still interested in seeing the new version and trying the game out, I think it would honestly be fair if I trained you with brain exercises before getting into your first game; it would greatly help anyone learn a large game like this! ^-^

Vickalan, I went back to my diagrams and realize that I myself made it more complex than I was actually intending myself. I've long updated the rules to allow any pawn-group piece to perform en pessant on any enemy pawn-group piece. (pawns may capture gambits en pessant!)

Again, there are lots of changes I've made since this was posted (1.5 months ago) but haven't yet written out.

- The Hippocampus's power has been slightly reduced to be more consistent with the Knight and the Hydra.

- With the exception of pawn-group pieces, all non-FIDE pieces (those pieces that are not the Queen, Rook, Knight and Bishop) have special abilities, as you can read from a recent post made.

- The Wizard has been omitted (it just wasn't very necessary in this variant); the Champion will be renamed into a new piece that starts with an O. (I'm think a siege weapon called Onager or Oxybeles.)

I'm probably going to end up editing out my old diagrams here to render this thread inactive and start a new thread with all the updates; this will happen a week or 2 after I've done that as to allow time for this old thread to die out before stsarting a new.

Now, how do you feel about Queens in the "hidden palace" region? Should I keep it this way, or should I get rid of the Titaness and put the Queen back in her original starting position? If the latter, I will revert the board back to 12x12.

Pawns may perform an en passant capture of a gambit?

vickalan wrote:

Pawns may perform an en passant capture of a gambit?

The way I understand the en passant rule, it is the right of a pawn to capture another pawn for making an "unfair" initial move of two-squares. If a pawn moves two on its first move, and there's no enemy pawns nearby - he gets away with it. But if he tries to perform this next to an enemy, he can be captured for doing it!

Valid as your point is:

The Gambit is not "another enemy". It's another enemy pawn-type piece. It maybe a more powerful pawn, but it is still a pawn nevertheless.

If you lost a superpawn to a pawn, that's too bad so sad.  Try a better position next time.

 

 

For your gambit, it starts on the enemy's 8th rank. So if a gambit makes a first move of 3, 4 ,or 5 squares (more than its normal move) then a pawn has the right to capture it. But which pawn and in what position?

If a pawn is on the 7th rank and can capture the gambit anyway then its not an en passant capture (its just a normal capture).

Are you allowing pawns to jump 2 squares from the 6th rank to capture a gambit en passant? Or can the pawns go backwards, or some other direction to capture the gambit jumping by 3, 4, or 5 squares? Probably I'm making it more complicated than it needs to be, but honesty I don't understand it. 

You are making it more complicated than what needs be. Why? ^-^

Consult the following diagrams. See how simple this is?

 

 

 

As for your Queen's "hidden palace" I haven't thought about that. It appears possible that after numerous moves the queens might be able to work their way out and join the fight (probably late in middle-game, or the endgame)? But I have no way of predicting that. They might sit there in most games with the players never wanting to use tempos to get them out. I'm no expert and it would be interesting if anyone else had an opinion.

Take care and have a Happy New Year!

That's kind of the idea. The Queens, in this variant, would be more of a "back up" type piece: they come out to compensate once pieces have already gotten out of their way.

How awesome it is to have two Queens and a Titanness at the start of the game? (Of Course, Waterloo has a very similar arrangement, so I'm not exactly original there. haha)

That's correct

huh?

您好，我是一个中国人，我看完了您的棋，觉得您的棋非常强，我正在做36x36的超大型象棋，您的棋也是一个极好的灵感来源。欢迎随时来交流

can you promote into a phoenix using a gambit?

Just find somebody to play with! Not me, I try to stick to playing 1 large variant game at a time.