Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

Lol, I'm certainly not the one to be serious about others taking a day or two to respond - look how long this took! Charles, it took me 2 days to come up with that slightly flawed analysis. Grin. Obviously I should have run it at least 3 days - I only looked 2 moves out. Would've helped if I'd used an actual board and pieces. Realized the Viceroy changed colors, but didn't adequately follow up, or I should have realized a third move would give the combination. [Moral of the story: don't try complex visualizations when you're sleepy, and always re-check the next day. Too bad I'm better at giving advice than following it.]

So you think my analysis is too reductionist [in using A' and F']? If it causes others to make the same mistake I made, I'll agree with you. But for now, I think it was just mental sloppiness. If the piece move is diagrammed, you won't have someone like me pointing into empty air with both hands while calculating which imaginary cells the piece can or can't move to. I was thinking on the odd levels that it's one color, and on the even, the other. Full descriptions of piece movement and movement potential should prevent others from falling into my error.

But it's easy enough to replace the F' with V and the A' with E. It's just that I think my version carries visual directional information [certainly it does for me] that isn't apparent using V and E. It's easier for me, at least. [And it saves letters, something I like.] Compare:

 [DWAF]  PASHA,  [DWAF]
  [FW]+[AD]     [FW]+[AD]
  [DW]+[AF]     [DW]+[AF] 
  [AW]+[DF]     [AW]+[DF] 

[DWA'F']  KHAN,  [DWEV]
  [WF']+[DA']   [WV]+[DE] 
  [DW]+[A'F']   [DW]+[EV] 
  [WA']+[DF']   [WE]+[DV] 

[AFA'F']  IMAM,  [AFEV]
  [FF']+[AA']   [FV]+[AE] 
  [AF]+[A'F']   [AF]+[EV] 
  [FA']+[AF']   [FE]+[AV]

One thing I do not do is think of the Baron as a variant of either the ferz or the viceroy; I've played enough compound pieces to know better. 

As for the setups, I still think mine is more immediately dynamic. If a piece on this board has to spend an extra turn or two to combine into pieces that are then left on the back rank, good development by the opponent should beat that tactic. However, if the pieces, as they move toward contact, can join on the way, in a good location on the very small board, then that would be even better, most likely. The only way to see how it goes is to try it out with a board and pieces. Game Courier has a large range of pieces. Do you have any preferences for a preset for R3D? The 2 setups should be played against each other, as well as against themselves.

Following is me quoting you quoting me... ? Anyhow, goes like this:
''The Eunuch is colorbound, rankbound, and filebound, and given the particular geometry of this board, can only access 3 cells by itself.' True, but as the rules specify, it can never actually be by itself in this game. '
So the eunuch only adds a couple moves to the piece it's part of, but gives it the potential to jump to a [somewhat] different area of the board. This adds to the 'chaos potential' of the game, but to a limited extent given the max move is 2. And given the tiny size of the 3D board, with only a 4x4 cross-section, the jump moves of the elephant and viceroy may provide needed maneuverability. 

I've been comparing and contrasting our pair of 3D games while trying to put this reply together. The similarities are strong; thus the differences should be instructive. The differences include: simple vs complex pieces, pawns vs no pawns, and a tight board vs a looser one - a lot of little questions for the theory boys to play around with. But what are the odds anyone will play either of these games?

'If I'm looking at this right, the Viceroy is not merely colorbound, but also rank-bound, visiting only 1 in 4 cells on the board.' It is not rank-bound but rank- (and filestack- and level-) switching. It always moves from an odd to an even plane or vice versa in all three dimensions. Nor is it colourbound in the same way as the Ferz. It is in fact bound to one quarter of each Ferz binding, rather than half of just one. A Dabbaba binding (on a cubic board) is the intersection of a Ferz and a Viceroy one.

'The Eunuch is colorbound, rankbound, and filebound, and given the particular geometry of this board, can only access 3 cells by itself.' True, but as the rules specify, it can never actually be by itself in this game.

'The Baron [FF'] and the Elk [AA'] can never get together to form their one allowable compound, the Imam, if I'm figuring the moves properly.' You're not, as the Baron, uniquely among two-component non-Wazir compounds, is unbound due to the Ferz and Viceroy bindings being independent. A Baron can reach an Elk square in two Ferz moves and a Viceroy one, without even interacting with another piece en route, e.g. a1-e2-j2-m1. Given that, are you now happy with the original array, or is your mind too blown to decide yet?

This all suggests that thinking of the Ferz, Viceroy, and Baron as variants of the same piece is not that helpful. Likewise for oblique directions the colourswitching 2:1:0 leaper, the 2d Knight, is a very different piece from a combined 2:1:1 and 2:2:1 leaper, let alone the compound of all three.

Charles, I spent some time putting your game into a format I could not only understand, but 'see'. I have a highly visual imagination and a complete inability to remember names. By the time I was halfway through, I could see you have effectively moved the ShortRange Project into the third dimension. 

This is your initial setup, copied from the rules:

 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|a Baron  |b Dybbuk |c Duke   |d Elk    |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|e Alibaba|f Vinnock|g Emperor|h Prince |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|i Prince |j Wazbaba|k Fearful|l Alibaba|
 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|m Elk    |n Duke   |o Dybbuk |p Baron  |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------

The 6 Atoms:

[W] WAZIR moves one step along any of the 6 orthogonals
[F] FERZ moves one step along any of the 12 standard (root-2) diagonals
[D] DABBABA moves exactly two steps along any of the 6 orthogonal.
[A] ELEPHANT moves exactly two steps along any of the 12 standard (root-2) diagonals.

[F'] VICEROY moves one step along any of the 8 nonstandard (root-3) diagonals, commonly called triagonals. Its name refers to its attachment to a King forming an Emperor.

[A'] EUNUCH moves exactly two steps along any of the 8 nonstandard (root-3) diagonals

Discussion: Extending Betza notation. The Viceroy is clearly a '3D only' ferz, just as the ferz in this game is a standard 2D only ferz. By using 'Ferz prime' and 'Alfil prime' to denote these 3D only pieces, we simplify things considerably. (A 4D only ferz would then be F'', a ferz double prime. And with the asterisk, we could have a fully N-dimensional ferz as F*, and a ferz that was 3D and higher only, not 2D, would be F*', etc.) And it's a very simple and natural notation for CVers. Others may vary, but I find it very descriptive.

If I'm looking at this right, the Viceroy is not merely colorbound, but also rank-bound, visiting only 1 in 4 cells on the board. The Eunuch is colorbound, rankbound, and filebound, and given the particular geometry of this board, can only access 3 cells by itself. 

The starting, small compounds (note the emperor is unique and isolate):

[FF'] BARON, compound of Ferz and Viceroy, can be combined only with the Elk
[DA'] DYBBUK, compound of Dabbaba and Eunuch, can be combined only with the Duke
[WF'] DUKE, compound of Wazir and Viceroy, can be combined only with the Dybbuk
[AA'] ELK, compound of Elephant and Eunuch, can be combined only with the Baron
[AD]  ALIBABA, compound of Dabbaba and Elephant, can be combined only with the Prince 
[A'F'] VINNOCK, compound of Viceroy amd Eunuch, can be combined with the Wazbaba or the Fearful 
[KF'] EMPEROR can move one step along any of all 26 radials compound of the FIDE King  and the Viceroy. It cannot be combined with other pieces. The royal piece.
[FW] PRINCE, compound of Wazir and Ferz, can be combined only with the Alibaba
[DW] WAZBABA, compound of Wazir and Dabbaba, can be combined with the Fearful or the Vinnock
[AF] FEARFUL, compound of Ferz and Elephant, can be combined with the Wazbaba or the Vinnock

The 3 large compounds, and their breakdown pairs of small compounds:

[ADFW] PASHA, compound of Wazir/Ferz/Dabbaba/Elephant, can be split into: 
  [FW]+[AD] Prince and Alibaba, OR  
  [DW]+[AF] Wazbaba and Fearful, OR 
  [AW]+[DF] Waffle and Fezbaba

[DWA'F'] KHAN, compound of Wazir/Viceroy/Dabbaba/Eunuch, can be split into:
  [WF']+[DA'] Duke and Dybbuk, OR  
  [DW]+[A'F'] Wazbaba and Vinnock, OR
  [WA']+[DF'] Wazzock and Vicbaba

[AFA'F'] IMAM, compound of Ferz/Viceroy/Elephant/Eunuch, can be split into:
  [FF']+[AA'] Baron and Elk, OR  
  [AF]+[A'F'] Fearful and Vinnock, OR
  [FA']+[AF'] Fezzock and Wilful 

Non-starting breakdown compounds:

[AW]  WAFFLE, compound of Wazir and Elephant, can be combined only with the Fezbaba
[WA'] WAZZOCK, compound of Wazir and Eunuch, can be combined only with the Vicbaba
[DF]  FEZBABA, compound of Ferz and Dabbaba, can be combined only with the Waffle
[FA'] FEZZOCK, compound of Ferz and Eunuch, can be combined only with the Wilful
[DF'] VICBABA, compound of Viceroy and Dabbaba, can be combined only with the Wazzock
[AF'] WILFUL, compound of Viceroy and Elephant, can be combined only with  the Fezzock

Discussion: A quick count shows 19 different pieces available in the game. My first thought was that this was just going to lead to mass confusion, with players being unable to keep track of how any of the pieces moved. Once I had the notation figured out and listed for each piece, however, the situation seemed far less chaotic, and the game now seems a good bit more playable, certainly worth looking at a bit closer. 

The original starting setup in modified Betza notation:

 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|a [FF']  |b [DA']  |c [WF']  |d [AA']  |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|e [AD]   |f [A'F'] |g [KF']  |h [FW]   |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|i [FW]   |j [DW]   |k [AF]   |l [AD]   |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|m [AA']  |n [WF']  |o [DA']  |p [FF']  |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------

Discussion: Comparison of the initial setup with the allowed combinations seems to reveal a minor error in the setup. The Baron [FF'] and the Elk [AA'] can never get together to form their one allowable compound, the Imam, if I'm figuring the moves properly. A lot of the initial compounds are extremely limited in what they can reach. The Alibaba [AD] can reach 12 cells, 4 on each of 3 levels, as can the Dybbuk [DA']. It's the Wazir-containing compounds that have the mobility in this game, and they don't combine with everyone. I will take the easy way out, and suggest a slightly modified setup, rather than figure out what other compounds you could use here to keep this setup and make it fully useful. Switch the Barons with the Alibabas.

Suggested possible starting setup:

 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|a [AD]   |b [DA']  |c [WF']  |d [AA']  |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|e [FF']  |f [A'F'] |g [KF']  |h [FW]   |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|i [FW]   |j [DW]   |k [AF]   |l [FF']  |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------
|m [AA']  |n [WF']  |o [DA']  |p [AD]   |
 --------- --------- --------- ---------

I hope that others find this analysis and the proposed notation useful. 

Charles, would you consider allowing an updated version of this to go into the active [well, active sometimes] ShortRange Project in the CVwiki as the beginnings of the 3D project?