Elements Chess - Rules

[johannhowitzer]

Yes, tiko appears to have switched the bishop and knight's positions relative to the king.  This may be intentional, as switching them back would deny all bishops access to the Hourglasses... but it also means both knights cannot develop toward the middle.

[TStar]

Yes, tiko appears to have switched the bishop and knight's positions relative to the king.  This may be intentional, as switching them back would deny all bishops access to the Hourglasses... but it also means both knights cannot develop toward the middle.

You are correct about the bishop-knight swap, but I hadn't even considered the issue with the knights center development.  What is we left one side the way it current is but set the other side in the classic chess formation of knight next to rook?  Or is that asymmetrical alignment too radical a shift from the classic chess concept?

[johannhowitzer]

Even with king and queen being "swapped" in traditional chess, each side starts with exactly the same setup (just mirror).  This is fine the way it is, I was just speculating on the reasons.  Since the knights are further toward the middle, outward development instead of center development doesn't hinder the knight's mobility.

[Captain Scibra]

OH MAH GAWSH! Chess AND Elements?

Reminds me of MK Chess from Deception, that was always fun.

Curious as to what the rules for each piece's deck.  Just for kicks though can we have our own chess pieces if thats not too much of an art hassel?  Mainly I am only asking that the King be customizable,

[Rainbowninja]

Ummm... Where's the queen?

[Genuinous]

Read the posts..... The Queen is OP, so it is a rare

[TStar]

Ummm... Where's the queen?

You really should read all the rules and descriptions of the event before asking questions.  Quite often you'll find the answers are there already.

[Tiko]

Yes, tiko appears to have switched the bishop and knight's positions relative to the king.  This may be intentional, as switching them back would deny all bishops access to the Hourglasses... but it also means both knights cannot develop toward the middle.

Yes, it was intended. Knights are somewhat forced this way for a small 'detour' and not to rush the middle so easily; also, having bishops capable of moving only on white squares may seem to hinder their use at first, but they are still versatile with their freedom of movement (and also the biggest threat of the opponent's hourglasses). But I'll let everyone develop their own strategies.

-- Also, Phases updated; a slightly faster gameplay have been reached (- one or two weeks even), personally I'd more recommend pairing up opponents from similar timezones this way.

[Demagog]

The locations of the hourglasses should be changed. They are too easily obtained and too easily defended. I would suggest moving the outer ones up/down one space.

Also, this event would be pretty epic if it you used a four-way board. To create one, you take a normal board, then add two rows/columns to each side. So it's a 12x12 grid with 2x2 squares missing from each corner. Since you aren't using the queen initially, you could change it to 11x11. The advantage of doing this is that you can keep all of the hourglasses in the center of the board, which is the high-risk area. In regular four-way chess, advancing to the center isn't the wisest of choices, as your pieces are most vulnerable there. It is much easier to attack an opponent to one side while turtling on the other.

The downside to doing that is that the event would probably take longer, since there would be more communication required.

[Rainbowninja]

My friend has a four way chess board. But he is so good he can beat me blindfolded in 16 moves so...yea, he's really good.

[Genuinous]

5. PHASES
Each round consists of 2 phases.

Phase 1 - Player 1's turn
This phase lasts 1 day. During this time, Player 1 must decide and post his move(s), using the format descibed later. Players must use up all actions. In this Phase Player 1 moves

Defense: If Player 2's pieces try to move According to the previous phase, shouldn't Player 1 move here??on squares that are already occupied by Player 1's pieces, they will be "locked in battle", and have to duel within Elements the Game. If the attacker wins the duel, he or she captures that square and the defender piece is removed from play. If the defender wins the duel, he or she keeps the square and the attacker piece is removed from play. When duels are over, Player 1 must decide and post his move(s), using the format descibed later. All actions must be used.

Maybe I misunderstood, but this seems to be in the opposite way.... If I'm wrong please explain

[Tiko]

Defense only applies if Player 2 moves (attacks) in the previous turn. So if Player 2 wants to get rid of Player 1's pawn, he posts his move, and then they have to play a duel to decide the outcome in the upcoming turn, which is Player 1's (hence the name: defense). And after the duels are done, Player 1 has to make his move in that very same turn.

So this means: every player has 1 day to make their actions, and also playing their duels if necessary.

The locations of the hourglasses should be changed. They are too easily obtained and too easily defended. I would suggest moving the outer ones up/down one space.

Why, Demagog? They were meant to be easily controllable right from the start, mostly because of event length problems; also they are optional - players will see that it's not always that great to make 3 moves/turn, it sometimes forces you to make moves that will only hinder you later on. And on the other part, leaving back your forces defending your hourglass(es) can leave your opponent easily capture the middle one, which can lead to an 'outrush'.