Garth Wallace wrote on Mon, Jun 1, 2015 10:16 PM UTC:
I said "likely inspired by shogi" regarding the game that appears in the
series. The tumblr post says specifically that it's inspired by shogi, but
those aren't actually the words of the series creator; that post is a
hypothetical reconstruction of the game by fans, based on examples from the
series. Who knows if it's really what the series creator intended? I'm
just hedging though. It does sound like the game as played in the series
has drops, which would be a pretty strong indication.
I suspect the tumblr post is just using graphics from the Japanese post
it's translating. As for why the hiragana, no idea.
1. The way it's phrased, it's ambiguous. But I think it's not additive.
Look at the move of the arrow: the tier 3 move is the combination of the
tier 1 and tier 2 moves, so if mobile range expansion *added* the move from
the next tier up, then that would mean the tier 1 arrow would move like a
tier *3* arrow. I don't think that's intended. On the other hand, this
would mean that the "range expansion effect" actually reduces range for
some pieces, like the lance.
2. It's not stated expliclty, but I would assume that tier 3 pieces under
mobile range expansion would just act like tier 3 pieces, since there is no
tier 4: they can't go up any higher. The only other possible
interpretation is that they become immobile (since tier 4 moves don't
exist) which seems unlikely if friendly fortresses are meant to be
advantageous.
3. Good question.