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Werewolf Chess. An nearly invincible, but bribable Werewolf replaces the Queen. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝H. G. Muller wrote on Wed, Feb 15, 2023 08:55 PM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from 06:40 PM:

Yeah, at some point I had included all style instructions directly in the style property of the HTML elements that the betza.js JavaScript generates, and the separate style file became redundant. So I removed it. I guess this page was made before that happened.


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Wed, Feb 15, 2023 06:40 PM UTC:

I removed this line, because the file didn't exist:

<link rel=StyleSheet href="/membergraphics/MSinteractive-diagrams/betza.css" type="text/css">

💡📝H. G. Muller wrote on Thu, Jun 30, 2022 05:09 AM UTC:

It appears the CVP website has been switched from http to https. Since the piece images are on my own website, which is http, the browser now refuses to display them.

In this case I can easily fix it, because the same piece set probably is somewhere on the CVP website, and if not, can be uploaded as user graphics. But the same problem will now manifest itself in other places. In particular, the 'Diagram Editor with Scalable Graphics' will be broken. This refers to a C program on my own website thar dynamically generates piece images according to specification, and now also is no longer accessible. So far Fergus did not manage to compile the same program for the CVP website, so that it could run there.

[Edit] Interesting. On my PC with FireFox all this works. Perhaps I have switched off this pedantic security feature there; I don't really remember.


Daniel Zacharias wrote on Wed, Jun 29, 2022 11:49 PM UTC:

The piece images are not showing up on the diagram for this game


💡📝H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, May 22, 2021 11:20 PM UTC in reply to Greg Strong from 07:05 PM:

Fairy-Max cannot do a Werewolf because it does not support double capture. But I did manage to make a derivative that implements contageon. And I used it to play a contageous Queen against a non-contageous one. The contageous Queen clearly won this (58% with white in 100 games, 56% with black out of 80 games).

The most obvious advantage of the contageous Queen is that it cannot easily be chased away: when it is protected by a Pawn it has to be attacked twice before it has to worry.


Greg Strong wrote on Sat, May 22, 2021 07:05 PM UTC in reply to Greg Strong from 05:27 PM:

Colors reversed, Werewolf wins again. Saved game file here.

I'll run a few more tests.


Greg Strong wrote on Sat, May 22, 2021 05:27 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from Fri May 21 10:11 PM:

Interesting! It hadn't occurred to me that contagion could be an advantage in this way. I also had somehow overlooked the bit about the werewolf being able to capture by overtake with the D and A moves.

I ran a Queen vs. Werewolf test and the side with the werewolf (black) won.  One match is obviously not conclusive, but interesting.

You can play Werewolf Chess with ChessV using this include file.  And you can play Werewolf vs. Queen with this include file.  The saved game file of the battle is here.  (One of the version 2.3 release candidates is required.)


💡📝H. G. Muller wrote on Fri, May 21, 2021 10:11 PM UTC in reply to Greg Strong from 09:27 PM:

When I once tested a Q3AD on 8x8 it turned out to be exactly as valuable as a Queen. The ability to jump to the second square (which the Werewolf also has) instead of sliding there apparently fully compensates the lack of moves more distant than 3. And the Werewolf has the ability to use the jump as a locust capture, which should be worth quite a lot.

I admit that this assessment did not take into account the contageon. But I am not even sure whether this is an asset or a liability. Of course when you allow an unprotected Werewolf to be captured, this is quite fatal. But having an unprotected Queen captured is usually also 'game over'. Compensation should come from a counter-strike against an unprotected piece elsewhere that is at least as valuable. In the hypothetical case that one army has a Werewolf and the other a Queen the contageon of the former would spoil that. So you cannot use that tactic as the Werewolf player. But a non-contaeous Werewolf being stronger than a Queen you would not want to do that even without contageon. I cannot imagine a scenario where you could get two pieces for the Werewolf through a counter-strike. So how much would it hurt that you cannot do something you would like to avoid anyway?

Without contageon you can trade a Queen or Werewolf for two pieces (e.g. 2 Rooks) in a direct exchange (i.e. on the same square), without incurring a disastrous loss. But only when you make the last capture. Contageon makes that in fact easier, because now you get your Werewolf back, and effectively traded the second attacker for the two pieces. E.g. when the Werewolf is backed by a Bishop as an X-ray attack on a Rook protected by a Bishop. Without contageon WxR, BxR, BxB would have sacrificed the Werewolf for R+B. But with contageon you would gain a full Rook by this. A Werewolf can boldly lead the attack, as long as you keep it sufficiently protected.

I wouldn't be surprised is the advantages of being contageous outweigh the drawbacks. But I haven't actually tested it.

 


Greg Strong wrote on Fri, May 21, 2021 09:27 PM UTC:

I don't understand why a werewolf would be worth about as much as a queen. It has a shorter range, and the further disadvantage that any enemy that captures it gets a promotion.


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