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Expanded Chinese Chess. Missing description (9x12, Cells: 108) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Walter wrote on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 09:15 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Very well thought out game. I like it. It is the bomb. I cannot wait until your next new game.

Anthony wrote on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 11:45 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
This game is pretty good.  I do not know why people are putting it down. 
If I wanted to play regular Chinese Chess I would.  Who honestly cares if
the horses are worth the same, more, or less?  The game is different to
begin with and is in a class all on its own.

The bishops are okay to me, they seem to balance out with the rooks, and
the dragons which I must give credit to Travis can only go to 9 spaces. 
Advisors can only go to 5, elephants 7, and dragons 9, and each one has
more space in general that it can move around in.  So the dragon is great,
and fits right in line.  I am not sure about it jumping though, but I can
see why that ability was given.

For those that are complaining, it is a different game, and so the
strategies are going to be different.  But that is what makes it
interesting and fun.  It would boring if all the strategies were the exact
same.

As for the whole computer issue, who cares.  Jerry might have a slight
point of them not being the best.  My computer crashes now and then or
sometimes will not just work.  Technology is not 100% foolproof.  And
sometimes you can easily fool the computer by making odd or weird moves.

I have beaten computers before, not that hard really.  Just get some pencil
and paper, and plan out all the general possible moves you have in mind. 
That way you can calculate 64 different next moves or whatever and see
which one is best.

Jerry wrote on Mon, Feb 21, 2011 04:19 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
This game rocks.  I just tried playing it and it was a blast.  To all of
those saying and posting their comments.  Try actually playing it.  The
horse is actually more powerful as it can reach all the spots.  Whoever
said that that is nonsense obviously does not have any idea what being able
to control all of the spaces means.

I have to defend Travis because this game rocks.  For those saying that you
need a computer to test it like Zillions is just weird.  How does a
computer understand the complex nature of this game?  Computers might know
the rules and stuff, but they do not truly understand the complex nature of
the game.  Most computers suck anyways when it comes to playing chess,
because they do not understand that position means something, and position
is definitely a big factor in Chinese Chess.

Anyhow my hat is off to Travis.  I understand everything in his article. 
It is not hard to understand unless of course you do not read it.  Keep up
the good work.

M Winther wrote on Sun, Feb 20, 2011 06:57 PM UTC:Poor ★
The expanded palace removes most of the traditional mating methods. The elbow horse check is rendered almost useless. The standard cannon mate on the last rank (when the king is surrounded by the mandarins) doesn't exist anymore. The added bishops can probably not compensate for this as both bishops move on the same diagonal colour, and the opponent's bishops move on the other diagonal colour. As a result the opponents control half of the squares each, a questionable circumstance. So there is no real bishop pair. The horse is even weaker now on this longer board, and the dragon is almost useless. A rook is even stronger, probably worth three horses. A bishop is probably worth almost two horses. I suspect this game is much more drawish than Xaingqi as it is not easy to invade the squares controlled by the opponent's  bishops (and which cannot be controlled with one's own bishops). I suspect mate is much more difficult to achieve. 
/Mats

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