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The Travelers. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Roberto Lavieri wrote on Fri, Jan 20, 2006 12:19 PM UTC:
OH, what a mistake!, thanks Michael, I´ll try another names for these
pieces.
Christine: I am planning a ZRF, and for it I have to imagine a good manner
to implement the Traveler movement, I have had some troubles with the
command 'attacked?' in other opportunities in which there are different
piece movements, and I doubt it works well here, more considering the
Displacers (a Traveler is not 'in check' if it can be 'displaced').
Suggestions?. I´ll be happy with all possible help for the ZRF. 
Answering Michael: Is this game a Chess variant?. I have also my doubts,
but the 'check' concept is used here, although in a different way. 
If you allow the Travelers to be capturable, and add a new rule for a
victory: 'You can also win the game if you capture both enemy Travelers
before they reach the last rank', and change the original first objective
saying: 'You win the game when all your remaining Travelers reach the last
rank', the game should be considered a Chess variant, being the Travelers
the royal pieces, but it adds much more complexity to the game play, and
it is enough as is, so I am not very tempted to change the original rules,
even if the game is not clearly considered a Chess variant. As for now, the
game play is very interesting, as I  have tested, it seems that Travelers
must advance hightly protected, and exchange of pieces are not trivial,
and the piece values are definitely relative to positions: it makes not
sense an 'approximate generic value' of each piece in this game, but I
have not doubts about Displacers: they are very powerful pieces, more than
any other. A good sequence of exchanges and displacements can be decisive
sometimes, but the end can come in a few moves and you can lose after a
'material-oriented' although bad sequence of exchanges, and sacrifices
seem to be very common in the ends of game. Yes, the game play is very
unusual, I believe unique, and it needs training.