Great game similar to chess, better than Arimaa

Will you ever get an online server up so we can play this game against players on the internet?

It is my goal, but i cant program it. I asked friend, that is programmer, to do it, but he stopped because of lack of time. Before few days i was speaking with another friend - programmer and he will maybe have time between january and february. I programmed it at least on one computer to share it and for the case, that someone would like it and program it online. But i not rely on it. I am looking forward to play this game against players and i will do, what is possibble to achieve it.

I did few aesthetic changes and one real change. I turned back Hero to be non fighter, with ability to be substitute of King. As it was earlier. I have very good reason. He destroys the ballanced fight between pieces. I was not fan of this strong unit long time ago. And now i gave it one last chance, and it failed.

I think the power between the units should be as balanced as possible. I find the queen in chess to be disproportionally powerful.

I agree with you and it is the main idea of my game, fair, balanced fight between pieces.

You can recognize unbalance, when you notice, that there is being moved very often with the same pieces and rest of pieces just standing. 

It is from two reasons, in my opinion. First is, that pieces are not equal strong. Second is, that they have not the same range.

In first case, you prefer that strong piece, because it is in general more valuable move. In second case, when the action began, you dont have free moves to transport your slow pieces.

So, game is maybe exciting, because one mistake can means everything, but it lacks that nice feeling of balanced game with absolute freedom, freedom with which you can prove your skills with calm.

To ensure, that it is balanced, the base of my game is four elementary moves which i did not randomly created by myself, but i realize the rule,how natural moves are created.

I would explain it by picture. Every new move is defined as empty spaces between already defined moves. It would work to infinity, but range of "four squares" is ideal.

When we defined four elementary moves, we introduce four main pieces, which each has just pure one of the move.

Those pieces are mathematically balanced, because each of them has 16 squares. Each of them has range of 4. Those with only 4 directons, has squares on every distance(1,2,3,4). 4/1 = 4. That with 8 directions, has squares on every two distances(2,4). 8/2 = 4. That with 16 directions, has squares on every four distances(4). 16/4 = 4

Just because they attack the same number of squares does not mean they are equally powerful.

Yes, there is also two more factors. Number of directions(more directions, more powerful) and occurence of squares through distance(more distance, less powerful)......so, 16*4/1 = 16*8/2 = 16*16/4 ..... i know it is still not proof, that they are equally powerful, but it is three times better proof than with only number of squares

I simplified game a lot. Now, there is only fighters, balanced with each other. No kings, no queens, no heroes. 6 kinds of fighters + 1 kind militia.....these 6 kinds are approximately equal in strength. Promoting is now random, with chance 1/6 for each kind. Result of the game is determined every time in game. it depends only on counts of units. You must have more count of units than your enemy. And at the same time, more counts of units_not_militia, than your enemy. When you are winner, your opponent is trying to change it. When players conclude, that result of the game will not change anymore, game ends with that actual result.

Link to new version: http://www16.zippyshare.com/v/73557796/file.html

I create video that explains how pieces move http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u844aRZSXw

One screenshot from a game. It is really balanced fight between various types of pieces.

Promoting rule slightly changed. At the start of the game, there is a promotion set. It contains 12 items - 2 pieces of each type. You can imagi ne it like this 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6

When your first pawn is going to be promoted, game choses one random item from that twelve. Say, it chooses 5. And say, that 5 means Tower.

Then, pawn promotes to Tower, and one item is removed from promotion set. now, it looks like this 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,6,6 ....Say, another pawn is going to promote.

At this time, game chooses from 11 items. only one item means Tower. So, there is 1 : 11 to promote to Tower. and for anything else, there is 2:11 to promote.

And so on ... It means all pawns together will always promote to army with which you begin. And it means each type of piece will be represented approximately equally. And you can never have more than four pieces of one type.

I realized, that all new changes was bad. I turned it back to the base version, that i created before half of a year and declared it as finished game. After some time, i was excited by doing new changes but now realized, that it is wrong. On the other side, now, i am more decided, that this version is final.

pepa999, You shouldn't call anything final because new creative ideas could arise.  Don't give up on your creativity.

However, I would hesitate before claiming anything is "better than Arimaa."

I must say, that i wanted to take attention, but i actually don´t want to comparing it with Arimaa. I created a video, where i am speaking about and showing this original version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoLPpDCFxoU&feature=youtu.be