Ratings & Comments

The Alfaerie 'duke' image is a good King-like symbol. Jean-Louis uses it in his games for Prince, which is a non-royal King that can also make a noncapturing double-step forward. Other authors often use the 'guard' image, even though that was intended for KAD. The 'man' image is not very popular.

Note that image and name can be independently specified in the PTA. You don't have to use the name 'Duke' just because you like hat symbol. Jean-Louis calls it 'Prince', and there are many people who prefer the name 'Archbishop' for the 'cardinal' symbol.

Can someone suggest an example where the capture matrix is used?

Minjiku Shogi, Makromachy. For Golem Chess I described how it could be done in the Comments. (At that time I had already made an I.D. in the old way, uses a WeirdPromotion custom script.)

Can someone suggest an example where the capture matrix is used?

When I see an inverted King, that's the piece I think of.

Well, I was not familiar with Anti-King Chess, as most people here probably are. But of course I don't want to confuse some people here, even though they will be very rare. So I've changed that and now use the 'Duke'. That should solve the problem, shouldn't it?

Why are you not changing the Furious Fiend?

You did not get the point. Does the preset say 'check' when you check with any other piece than an Advancer? I think it doesn't. So then this has nothing to do with the piece being an Advancer.

By default the preset would apply the checking rule, so moves that leave your royal exposed will be refused. To switch that off (for variants where King capture is a goal) you would have to add an extra line on GAME code to the Pre-Game section. (As the Interactive Diagram does not distinguish thuse cases, but simply allows you to play on in checkmated positions.) The preset enforces the rules. It does not generate conversation during the game.

The PTA shows all images there are in the Alfaerie PNG set. It has a number of pre-defined pieces, which then also define a move, and could have names different from the image name. But there exist Alfaerie images which are not associated with any particular move. Such as fortress, spider, diplomat, ninja, bear, tiger. Having no generally accepted use, these are not pre-defined, and automatically added to the table. Without move, and using the image name as piece name. It would be hard to give it any other name, as the image filename is the only thing the script can 'see'; it cannot look at or interpret the actual image. But in Alfaerie the image name is usually descriptive of the image, in case there is no move to describe.

The issue here is very much the same as with warmachinewazir. This also was an image name, in this case descriptive of the move. (or of the image, as in such cases Alfaerie images are move describing themselves.) These are not English words, and not really suitable as names.

The name commonly used to refer to a Commoner when one wants to stress it moves as K is "Non-royal King".

I found another fairy piece called fairy in a message sent on 22/11/2020 by grey6436, AKA definitely not guhbuh#8296. https://discord.com/channels/300132117516648449/300133704750071808/779942632302444545

I can't seem to en passant fnafsmW.

Yes, I originally would have thought when an Advancer made a move that threatened a King, an enforcing preset would automatically announce check.

However, maybe the Advancer, being an Ultima-like piece, does not actually make a check in an Ultima-like game (which Butterfly Chess is not)?

So I now ask, is that the usual assumption that Applet generated preset code makes for every CV put through the generating process?

I don't know how a generated preset works, but the checked subroutine I use in the fairychess include file normally checks for captures by displacement by checking if each enemy piece on the board can move to the King's position. This would not normally work with Ultima pieces, which do not normally capture by displacement, but I have managed to use this subroutine with Ultima without modifying it. First, let's look at the subroutine:

sub checked king:
    my from piece;
    local movetype;

    set movetype CHECK;
    if isupper cond empty var king $moved space var king:
        def enemies onlylower;
    else:
        def enemies onlyupper;
    endif;
    for (from piece) fn enemies:
        if fn const alias #piece #from var king:
            return #from;
        endif;
    next;
    return false;
endsub;

The key to working with Ultima is that it sets movetype to CHECK. With this in mind, I have written functions for Ultima pieces like this:

def Black_Withdrawer fn join "Black_Withdrawer_" var movetype #0 #1;

Depending upon the value of movetype, it will call either Black_Withdrawer_MOVE or Black_Withdrawer_CHECK, which I have defined separately and differently. Thanks to setting movetype to CHECK, the checked subroutine will use the *_CHECK functions for Ultima pieces. Instead of going through a normal move, one of these functions will check whether the piece at the first coordinate can capture the piece at the second. For example:

def Black_Withdrawer_CHECK 
empty where #frm - file #frm file #to - rank #frm rank #to
and == distance #frm #to 1
and not near #frm I 1
=frm =to;

This first makes sure that the piece is not next to a White Immobilizer (designated as I). It then verifies that the two spaces are adjacent. Calculating the direction away from the piece at #to, it checks whether there is an adjacent empty space in that direction. If there is, it returns true.

Is this perhaps a matter of opinion?

I don't think effective communication is a matter of opinion. One thing you're not taking into consideration, perhaps because you don't know of it, is the previous usage of an inverted King image for the Anti-King in Anti-King Chess, which can be won by completely unchecking your opponent's Anti-King. When I see an inverted King, that's the piece I think of.

Hi Bn Em

Yes, I see your points, but all the same please publish the four as they are, and then you (or possibly other editor(s)) can check the remaining 3 - if subsequent editor(s) are different for the remaining 3 then I'll have to consider their judgement(s) from scratch, even if it affects all 7 all over again.

Regards, Kevin Pacey

@ H.G.:

Yes, I originally would have thought when an Advancer made a move that threatened a King, an enforcing preset would automatically announce check.

However, maybe the Advancer, being an Ultima-like piece, does not actually make a check in an Ultima-like game (which Butterfly Chess is not)? So I now ask, is that the usual assumption that Applet generated preset code makes for every CV put through the generating process? If so, maybe an option can be added to the Applet to ask if Ultima-like pieces should announce check.

A problem for Butterfly Chess, anyway, is that if check is not announced for Advancers, what happens if the opponent's next move leaves his king vulnerable to capture by the Advancer. Does the preset announce the opponent made an illegal move (my much preferred choice, implicit in Butterfly Chess rules), or can the king be captured (if so, is a win announced, or does a player type in 'won' after his K-capturing Advancer move is manually entered, or does he tell his opponent to make a legal move instead)?

Yea, Interactive Diagrams on this site already do that by the way)

Loop Chess, watch in What’s New.

Cold mountain by DgamerA