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When I was playing this game I simply could not do it with a regular chess set. Being a fanatic speed-chess player of 5 min. games where you have to move mostly as a reflex, the chess personalities of the piece images were simply hard-wired in my brain. So I made a separate set of pieces, looking nothing like chess men, based on a set of checkers chips and other pieces of wood. The pawns were just plain chips (since I don't play checkers, they meant nothing to me, so no harm there). The King could of course still be represented as an ordinary chess King, since it moves like one. But for the Long Leaper I used a cylinder (remaniscent of a draughts King), for the Immobilizer a Cube (looked pretty immobile...), for the Coordinator a checkers chip mounted perpendicular on another (representing a dish antenna, symbolizing its action at a distance), for the Chameleon a spere (supported on a chip) to represent a spherical mirror in which every piece would see itself. The whole set looked quite nice, with a pretty homogeneous style.
Done! Look at http://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/ultima.html
I learned this game as 'Hyperchess', with some rule differences: 1. The upside-down rook is the coordinator and the right-side-up one is the immobilizer. 2. Pawns ('straddlers') can only capture by trapping a unit between two _pawns_, not a pawn and another friendly piece (though a chameleon and a pawn or two chameleons) can capture an enemy pawn). They also capture passively: any enemy piece moving between two pawns dies instantly. 3. Knights ('Striders') cannot make multiple captures. 4. The withdrawer can only move back a single square when capturing. 5. Coordinators can capture passively: the two squares in the rectangle formed by the king and the coordinator are instant death for enemy pieces. Coordinators can also capture pieces when the king moves. Overall, I think the main effect of these differences (especially 2 and 4) is that capturing is much more difficult. The most noticeable difference between 'hyperchess' and chess is that capturing is a very rare occurrence in hyperchess.
Every game should be played by people that master the rules in order to reach a theoretical depth. It's not serious to have discussion on rules - this doesn't serve any purpose. It's impossible to find some real game theory on Ultima in the Internet. How about having it here, at the chessvariants pages? If there are any experienced players around, perphaps they would like to gather observations just in one place?
There is a better solution to 'Ultima Problem 9! The variant that I play does not allow for suicide, so barring this, the soluction is simply: White: LL at F8 -> G7, blocking all moves but a suicide, or leaping (LL H8 go have fun!)
White now threatens checkmate with LL G7->G6!
This brings up an important question of mine:
Do pieces in Baroque/Ultima have 'Kill zones' (areas of instantaneous vaporization) - That is, Do they create instant death in their 'kill zone' at all times, or must a piece move into a position to make the kill?
(ie: can my LL G7 move into G6 in above solution?)
Thanks
- Kris
Hi all, fans of ultima! Here is the only site, as I know, which gives you the possibility to play ultima on-line in real time: http://adage-studio.com:8080/universal. Rules as the official rules, as published first by Abbott. You have to register in order to play. There are also two other ultima-like games: Rococo and Supremo. I wish know whether you like the site. Suggestions are welcome.
A puzzle: Immobilizer=0, King=1, Withdrawer=1, Coordinator=2, Pincer-Pawn=3, Long-Leaper=3, Question:Chameleon=?
I'm sorry, maybe, this question was already answered in one of previous comments, but i want to ask: how chameleon exactly captures? Wich of these statements is true: 1. It can capture several pieces of different kinds with method of one of these pieces (for example, captures by custodianship 1 pawn, 1 withdrawer and 1 long leaper). 2. It can capture several pieces of different kinds, each with capturing method of that piece (for example, it can withdrawl from withdrawer, moving itself, surrounding pawn, capturing both withdrawer and pawn). 3. Can capture pieces of only 1 kind with 1 move. Probably, statement 2 is true, as here player never have to choose capturing method to use ater moving chameleon.
Apart from the Ultima piece symbols assigned to characters KMLXCWPkmlxcwp, it also contains symbols of a square (Ii) and a circle (Oo), which could be useful for other games (eg. Go).
Fascinating concept, the idea of pieces of homogenous movement differentiated only by their capture method. Perhaps not strictly a chess variant, but a unique subgenre in its own right, & one that I feel deserves more popularity. As for the game itself, there are some strange imbalances which I find surprising; why allocate 2 slots for the powerful long leaper but give pride of place next to the king to the feeble withdrawer as an standalone piece? This is the kind of imbalance one sees in older prechess variants but would not expect in a newer variant... Another issue is the overly defensive nature of the game, with current setup. Having 2 chameleons with no mutual attack method tends to stagnate and cluster gameplay in my experience. Also an issue is the increasing irrelevance of the pawns in endgames. They of course have no promotion ability, which is not feasible for such mobile pieces, and offer minimal threat to the FIDE king, due to its residual ability to capture adjacent pieces. I propose the following alterations; 1. Replace king movement with that of a knight. This adds variation to the dynamic of the game and allows the pawns to present a threat to the king, as they can now be positioned adjacent to it without fear of capture. This also increases their relevance in endgames. 2. Replace the spare long leaper and chameleon with 2 pieces of offensive type; advancer/displacer(orthodox FIDE queen)/queen moving cannon etc. 3. Allow the chameleon to capture king and pawns in the manner of their own capture, but without being restricted to their movement types. This, along with the inclusion of new powerful offensive pieces, which the chameleon the acts as a counterbalance to, makes it a much more important standalone piece, and serves as an important leveller against the power inequity of different piece types. 4. (optional) Allow the withdrawer to capture from 2 spaces of distance (this might make it a little difficult to counterract in opening play, but a far more respectable piece overall) OR merge the withdrawer and advancer, freeing up another piece slot. These alterations would, in my opinion, add a much more open, fluid, balanced, dynamic, and varied mechanic to an already excellent concept...
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