🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Fri, Jan 16, 2009 01:23 AM UTC:
I think that I have figured out what the problem is. It is a matter
of perspective. You simply 'expect' this game to play exactly like
XiangQi.
No, that is an oversimplification of my perspective, a mere strawman. I have invented hexagonal versions of Shogi, and I know they don't play exactly like Shogi, but they do retain the qualities that make Shogi a good game. I never expected Xiang Hex to play exactly like Xiang Qi, but I do have expectations for any successful hexagonal adaptation of Xiang Qi. The overarching one is that it should retain the qualities that make Xiang Qi a good game. One of these qualities is that the defensive pieces are useful for defense. In Xiang Qi, a Rook and a Knight, unaided by other pieces, could not so easily slip past the full defenses of two Advisors and two Elephants. I have done enough Xiang Qi problems to get a good sense of how useful Advisors and Elephants can be in Xiang Qi. But in Xiang Hex, these pieces are next to useless. Even putting aside that you are trying to adapt Xiang Qi to a hexagonal board, let's just consider that two types of pieces in the game are dedicated to defense. This is true by virtue of their being confined to spaces near their General and being unable to attack the enemy General. As it stands, these pieces are not well-suited to their role in the game.
When Roberto Lavieri and I created Mortal Shogi, one thing that made its gameplay very different from Shogi was that captured Pawns could not be held in hand to be dropped back on the board. To make the gameplay more like Shogi, I introduced a new piece that was not in Shogi. This was the Kamikaze of Kamikaze Mortal Shogi. I made it less like Shogi (in terms of details) to make it more like Shogi (in terms of gameplay). I'm suggesting that you need to do something to Xiang Hex that may make it less like Xiang Qi in the details to make it more like Xiang Qi in gameplay. Here are some suggestions: (1) Add two more Advisors. (2) Change the move of the Advisor, perhaps (a) having it move to and from the center of the palace instead of moving diagonally, or (b) allowing it a two-space orthogonal leap, or something else. (3) Change the move of the Elephant, perhaps allowing it to step three spaces orthogonally in addition to stepping two diagonally.
No, that is an oversimplification of my perspective, a mere strawman. I have invented hexagonal versions of Shogi, and I know they don't play exactly like Shogi, but they do retain the qualities that make Shogi a good game. I never expected Xiang Hex to play exactly like Xiang Qi, but I do have expectations for any successful hexagonal adaptation of Xiang Qi. The overarching one is that it should retain the qualities that make Xiang Qi a good game. One of these qualities is that the defensive pieces are useful for defense. In Xiang Qi, a Rook and a Knight, unaided by other pieces, could not so easily slip past the full defenses of two Advisors and two Elephants. I have done enough Xiang Qi problems to get a good sense of how useful Advisors and Elephants can be in Xiang Qi. But in Xiang Hex, these pieces are next to useless. Even putting aside that you are trying to adapt Xiang Qi to a hexagonal board, let's just consider that two types of pieces in the game are dedicated to defense. This is true by virtue of their being confined to spaces near their General and being unable to attack the enemy General. As it stands, these pieces are not well-suited to their role in the game.
When Roberto Lavieri and I created Mortal Shogi, one thing that made its gameplay very different from Shogi was that captured Pawns could not be held in hand to be dropped back on the board. To make the gameplay more like Shogi, I introduced a new piece that was not in Shogi. This was the Kamikaze of Kamikaze Mortal Shogi. I made it less like Shogi (in terms of details) to make it more like Shogi (in terms of gameplay). I'm suggesting that you need to do something to Xiang Hex that may make it less like Xiang Qi in the details to make it more like Xiang Qi in gameplay. Here are some suggestions: (1) Add two more Advisors. (2) Change the move of the Advisor, perhaps (a) having it move to and from the center of the palace instead of moving diagonally, or (b) allowing it a two-space orthogonal leap, or something else. (3) Change the move of the Elephant, perhaps allowing it to step three spaces orthogonally in addition to stepping two diagonally.