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Immobilizer. Pieces standing near an immobilizer may not move.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Thu, Sep 14, 2023 01:20 AM UTC:

I was looking at V. R. Parton's description of Gorgon Chess, and it turns out that the Immobilizer is just a weaker version of Parton's Gorgon. Both the Gorgon and the Immobilizer move as a Queen, though the Gorgon can also capture as one, and instead of just immobilizing any adjacent enemy piece, it can immobilize any enemy piece within its direct gaze, which means on a space it could move to.


Jean-Louis Cazaux wrote on Mon, Sep 11, 2023 07:50 PM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from 07:11 PM:

So what the point? I don't understand this discussion at the end. It is becoming upsetting. You completely misunderstood me and you drive me where I don't want to go.

I prefer to stop.


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Mon, Sep 11, 2023 07:11 PM UTC in reply to Jean-Louis Cazaux from 10:08 AM:

I checked ebay, because I was looking for them being sold commercially. Some photos on your site are not evidence of this. So, my point remains. Figurine Chess pieces are being sold commercially, whereas bamboo Chess sets seem to be just a makeshift craft people without manufactured sets sometimes resort to. It's not as though people are just using RPG figurines to play Chess with because they lack real Chess sets. Companies manufacture and sell figurine Chess sets, and sometimes for a lot more than regular Staunton sets.


Jean-Louis Cazaux wrote on Mon, Sep 11, 2023 10:08 AM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from Sun Sep 10 08:29 PM:

EBayis not the best source. You can see some Bamboo sets from Indonesia there:

http://history.chess.free.fr/mainchator.htm


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Mon, Sep 11, 2023 01:46 AM UTC in reply to Ben Reiniger from Sun Sep 10 11:02 PM:

I don't think these images add much to these pages. I'd rather see them in a separate article.

These images are for illustrating the Piececlopedia articles with appropriate imagery of possible ways to portray a piece. I do not see any point in moving them to a separate page.


Bob Greenwade wrote on Mon, Sep 11, 2023 01:19 AM UTC:

I don't think these images add much to these pages. I'd rather see them in a separate article. To the points about different piece sets/themes, you could aggregate similarly themed examples into a "set" article.

I second this idea. A discussion on designing physical pieces for chess (both orthodox and fairy) would be a good idea, especially taking some of the thoughts that have been mentioned in this discussion. It'd be a lot of work sifting through images to find acceptable ones, but in the end I think it'd be worth it.

(Other things I wonder: How, in a one-color piece, does one show the difference between a Knight's horse and a Zebra, or a Leopard and a Tiger? How do I figure out how tall a piece should be? Stuff like that.)


Daniel Zacharias wrote on Mon, Sep 11, 2023 12:05 AM UTC:

The newer images looks better to me. I don't know how you do these ai art things, but couldn't it be used to make 2d pieces for game courier?


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 11:41 PM UTC in reply to Ben Reiniger from 11:02 PM:

Refresh the page.


Ben Reiniger wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 11:02 PM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from 05:11 PM:

I added another gorgon image.

Either that wasn't successful, or something funny is going on: I only see the figurine image.


I don't think these images add much to these pages. I'd rather see them in a separate article. To the points about different piece sets/themes, you could aggregate similarly themed examples into a "set" article.


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 08:29 PM UTC in reply to Jean-Louis Cazaux from 07:08 PM:

I'm not playing with words. There are literally numerous figurine Chess sets being sold commercially. In contrast, I checked ebay for bamboo rod chess sets and didn't find any. I do share your preference for Staunton pieces, but for many Chess variant pieces, something more representational can be appropriate.


Jean-Louis Cazaux wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 07:08 PM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from 03:36 PM:

You play with words. Of course, anything can be a chess piece, even 3 bamboo rods like in Pilipines. Figurines like in Warhammer can also be used to play chess but for chess and chess variants I think the best is Staunton-like pieces. Staunton's style is remarkable because it is at the good balance point between something purely abstract and very descriptive pieces like figurines.


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 05:11 PM UTC:

I added another gorgon image. This one is a bust that would fit well with Peter Ganine's Superba/Gothic pieces or with the Musketeer Chess variant pieces.


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 03:44 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 01:25 PM:

My favored representation of the Immobilizer is a (horse shoe) magnet.

For the coordinator I prefer a dish antenna, (or the more rectangular version used for radar, usually revolving), symbolizing action at a distance.

Attempts to have the AI draw these as Chess pieces have not been successful.


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 03:36 PM UTC in reply to Jean-Louis Cazaux from 12:20 PM:

It misses the goal for me. It is not a chess piece at all. It is a figurine.

There are figurine Chess pieces. So, being a figurine doesn't stop it from being a Chess variant piece.


Jean-Louis Cazaux wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 03:12 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 01:25 PM:

Sounds good suggestions for both (answer to HG, for magnet and antenna dish)


Bob Greenwade wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 01:36 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 01:25 PM:

I've drawn a few ideas from this chart that someone did on DeviantArt, but not so much the Immobilizer. For that I put an octagonal figure at the top (and as a bonus I can add that figure to other pieces to create immobilizing versions).

As for the gorgon here, I agree with Jean-Louis; the pose and the base both say "figurine" rather than "chess piece."


H. G. Muller wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 01:25 PM UTC:

My favored representation of the Immobilizer is a (horse shoe) magnet. A simple shape, easy to recognize, easy to put on a pedestal to make it into a Chess piece, and a good mnemonic for something that holds other pieces in place.

For the coordinator I prefer a dish antenna, (or the more rectangular version used for radar, usually revolving), symbolizing action at a distance.


Jean-Louis Cazaux wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 12:20 PM UTC:

It misses the goal for me. It is not a chess piece at all. It is a figurine.


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Sun, Sep 10, 2023 01:31 AM UTC:

I added an AI image of this piece in the form of a gorgon.


KelvinFox wrote on Mon, Jan 24, 2022 02:49 PM UTC in reply to Bn Em from 11:36 AM:

It would stop immobilizing when it is no longer a queen's move away from that piece


Bn Em wrote on Mon, Jan 24, 2022 11:36 AM UTC in reply to KelvinFox from Sun Jan 23 11:27 PM:

It's still not clear what this means. A withdrawer captures by making a move, whilst an immobiliser stops others from making moves — the former's effect is on its own turn while the latter's is on the opponent's.

As such there's a couple of interpretations possible:

  • It stops things from moving away like a withdrawer. This is just a weaker immobiliser, and is already attested in Euqorab
  • It petrifies pieces that it moves away from rather than capturing them. Then the question is whether and if so when pieces can come back into play: never (as with Nemoroth's basilisk)? When the withdrawing‐petrifier moves again (leaving it able to only petrify one piece at a time)? After a larger but still fixed number of moves (turn counting, ugh)? Under some other condition? Are involuntary moves (from Swappers, shepherding pieces, Go Away!s, ⁊c.) counted? Does capturing it release pieces?

Imo the former option is not very interesting, nor necessarily well‐defined (how does it deal with knights?), while the latter is quite complex in principle and perhaps not very immobiliser‐like — though I admit the possibility of ulima‐style pieces with effects besides capture is interesting and not very well explored


KelvinFox wrote on Sun, Jan 23, 2022 11:27 PM UTC in reply to Daniel Zacharias from 11:25 PM:

No, it would immobilize similarly to the Withdrawer


Daniel Zacharias wrote on Sun, Jan 23, 2022 11:25 PM UTC in reply to KelvinFox from 10:50 PM:

Would that mean other pieces could only move if they're within range of a hostile mobilizer?


KelvinFox wrote on Sun, Jan 23, 2022 10:50 PM UTC:

What about a piece that imobilizes by moving AWAY


M Winther wrote on Wed, Dec 8, 2010 09:31 AM UTC:
The paralyzing Gorgona is implemented in Zillions here:
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/gorgonachess.htm
The Gorgona is more powerful as it paralyzes pieces within queen range.
/Mats

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