There are some text-graphics later in this document which are garbled in this webpage. If you want to see them better then simply copy all the text into a text editor file. You will have to add a few newlines and a few spaces but then you'll be able to see the text-based graphics of the boards.
Quick Start Guide:
After you have installed the game from it's disc, click the game icon
to start:
The program opens to a newly started game with Black to move first. You (the
Black Player) may take a number of Actions at this point (although you MUST
make a Move before you can end your Turn).
To Move one of your Black Pieces, place the cursor over that Piece and LEFT
click it. By left clicking it, you have selected that Piece to move. The
Board will now show where you can move the Piece by causing legal move-to
Squares to turn yellow. Click a yellow Square to move your Piece there.
To Fire a Weapon (although you are not required to do any Fires during a
Turn), RIGHT click on the Piece firing or on the Weapon itself that
is Firing. You may perform up to two Fires per Turn (but each individual Weapon or
Piece may fire at most once per Turn).
To end the turn, select End Turn under the Actions menu that is on the game's
main top bar.
Each player alternatively Moves and Fires (and performs other Actions not described yet)
then ends their Turn. When the enemy King (the enemy primary Piece) is
destroyed then you have won.
You can probably play a game now, now that you have read the previous
paragraphs. Just remember, you have to make one Move but can decide whether
or not to Fire, Pick-up, Drop, Reinforce, or Exchange. Do all the Actions you
think wise then end your Turn and suffer your enemy's response. Iteratively
do all this while you Move your Pieces to destroy the enemy King. Take the
enemy King by Moving one of your pieces into its square or by shooting it with
a Weapon. Beware, your opponent will be trying to do the same to you!
END OF QUICK START GUIDE
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MORE INFORMATION HERE AND NOW:
The words in the Quick Start Guide that start with a capital letter have an
official definition described later in this document. Special circumstances
may render some of the following information incorrect. Special circumstances
will be described later.
The name of the game is Weaponized Chess or 'Wec' for short. Wec can be considered
to be a tactical and strategic simplification of a generalized RTS (real time simulation)
game into a board game. Wec was created with an interest and intent to
blend geometry, three dimensionality, visibility, and symbolism (to name just a few
generative topic areas) to produce a board game that will hopefully be
perceived as innovative and fun.
The game consists of a 10 by 10 checkered Board of Black and White Squares. From
the viewpoint of either Player, the Square which is on the row closest to that
player and furthest to the right is a Black Square.
There are 2 players to each game (a Black Player and a White Player). Each
Player starts the game with a number of Pieces in pre-defined positions (the
board editor in the game can be used to create differing starting Boards).
The Black Player moves first. After a Player completes a turn, then the other
Player plays a Turn until the loosing Player's King is destroyed or converted
(with the proviso that your own king isn't destroyed that same turn).
There are a number of Articles which are objects that can be picked up and
used by Player Pieces. At the start of the game, all of these Articles are
exist on the Board unowned (up to two Articles may be on the Ground of each
Square). Player Pieces have up to two Article abilities inherently (which
they have even if they are holding no Articles at all). An Article ability
is either a Weapon ability, a defense against a Weapon ability, or a Transport
ability (more about these abilities later).
During each Turn one Move must be made. During each turn up to two Fires may be
made. During each Turn up to one Pick-up, one Drop, one Exchange, and one
Reinforce may be made.
A Move causes a Piece to change it's location and/or level. A Piece
is always in a Square at a particular level. There may or may not be another
friendly Piece in the same Square at the same level. There may be other
friendly Pieces in the Square but at other levels. There may be enemy Pieces
in the same Square but at a different level from any friendly Pieces in the
Square. There may be up to two Articles lying on the Ground here too.
A Fire causes a Piece (if it is a Piece with an Article ability that CAN be
Fired) or an Article to Fire (if it is an Article that CAN be Fired) that
Article's ability at a particular location, in a particular direction, or at a
particular piece. Whenever a Flamer, Stunner, or Conversion Fires, it is 'at'
level (it can only hit something on its present level, the level of the Piece
that Fires). A Pick-up causes an Article laying on the board unowned to
be picked up. A Drop causes an Article being carried by a Piece to drop to the
Board. An Exchange causes an Article to move from one Piece to another or
causes two Pieces to swap Articles. A Reinforce causes reinforcement friendly
Pieces to appear on the board.
Each player starts the game with the following pieces (assuming a standard
game):
10 Pawns, 2 Tanks, 2 Dozers, 2 Subs, 2 Choppers, 2 Destroyers, 2 AAA's, 2
Clerics, 2 Jets, 1 King (or some other equivalent type of primary government Piece),
and 1 Queen (or some other equivalent type of secondary government Piece).
A Pawn Moves diagonally forward (diagonally forward to the left or diagonally
forward to the right) one Square and attacks one Square forward, one Square to
the right, and one Square to the left. The one exception to this movement is
for the 1st movement of a Pawn. In that case, the Pawn may move diagonally
forward 2 Squares (2 rows forward and 2 columns to either the right or left).
Thus when considering where to Move, a Pawn in its starting Square may
potentially go to 4 Squares (+1 row and +1 column, +1 row and -1 column, +2 row
and +2 column, and +2 row and -2 column). Whether a Piece goes +1 row or -1
row depends on whether it is a Black or White Pawn. After leaving its origin Square a
Pawn may potentially only move to two Squares (+1 row and +1 column, +1 row
and -1 column). The 'forward' direction for the Black Player is toward the
White side of the board while the 'forward' direction for the White player is
toward the Black side. Each Pawn has up to two inherent abilities (usually
a Weapon ability and the Weapon defense ability of the type that defends
against the type of Weapon ability of the Pawn).
There are 7 types of Pawns:
Flamer Pawn:has the Flamer ability and the Anti-Flamer ability
Rocket Launcher Pawn:can launch a Rocket at Ground level and has the Anti-Rocket ability
Stunner Pawn:has the Stunner ability and has the Anti-Stunner ability
Conversion Pawn:has the Conversion ability and has the Anti-Conversion ability
Each of the four above Pawns specialize in an attack ability but have the
defensive ability that is the counter to their own attack ability.
Sam and Torpedo Pawn:has both a Sam Launcher and a Torpedo Launcher. There is
no Sam and Torpedo Pawn in a standard game.
XXX Pawn:has a XXX box. The XXX ability is the ability to carry 2 more
Articles (3X, 3 times, the normal number). The XXX Pawn may inherently carry a
total of two Articles(in addition to the XXX).
Stealth Pawn:has the Stealth ability and the Anti-Stealth ability. At game
start in a standard game, the Anti-Stealth ability of the Stealth Pawn has
locked on the enemy Stealth Pawn (and vice versa) (and thus the enemy Stealth
Pawn can be seen just as your Pawn can be seen too).
The Stealth ability is the ability to not be seen by the enemy Player.
'Stealth' as it exists in this game is a complex subject and is covered in the
Full Game Description.
There are 18 types of Articles:
Flamer:in the direction of Fire, at level, at 1 and 2 Squares away, Pieces in the flamed
area (at the level of the flaming piece) are destroyed (if they aren't
defended against flame).
Stunner:in the direction of Stun, at level, at any range, Pieces first
encountered (including undetected Stealthed enemy pieces) are
stunned. Stunned pieces may not move. A stunned Piece Drops all of its
carried Articles to the Ground. When a Piece is stunned, it is stunned
for a number of Turns. The number of Turns until the stunned Piece may move
is displayed over the stunned Piece in yellow.
Conversion:at level in any direction at 1 square away, enemy Pieces in that Square
change sides, become friendly Pieces.
Rocket Launcher:produces a Rocket at Ground level heading in a certain
direction. When that Rocket (which will continue to exist and travel in it's
launch direction until either it hits a Piece (friendly or enemy) or until it
leaves the board) hits a Piece, it destroys all unprotected (unprotected
against Rocket) Pieces in that Square at Ground level.
SAM Launcher:surface to air missile. produces a SAM at Air level. This SAM is
either a directional or homing projectile. If the projectile is directional
then it is at Air level heading in a certain direction. When that SAM (which
will continue to exist and travel in it's launch direction until either it
hits a Piece (friendly or enemy) or until it leaves the board) hits a Piece,
it destroys all unprotected (unprotected against SAM) Pieces in that Square at
Air level.
If the SAM projectile is homing, then it will follow it's homing target (some
enemy piece at Air level) until that enemy Piece leaves the Air level.
At that time, the homing projectile becomes a directional projectile.
Torpedo Launcher:produces a Torpedo at Subterranean level. This Torpedo is
either a directional or homing projectile. If the projectile is directional
then it is at Subterranean level heading in a certain direction. When that
Torpedo (which will continue to exist and travel in it's launch direction
until either it hits a Piece (friendly or enemy) or until it leaves the board)
hits a Piece, it destroys all unprotected (unprotected against Torpedo) Pieces
in that Square at Sub level. Additionally, the Torpedo Launcher ability also
enables the Piece carrying the Torpedo Launcher to detect
Submerged/Subterranean Pieces. Conceptually, the Subterranean level is
intended to represent a 'under' level that is below the Ground level. It can
be thought of as a Subterranean level or as an undersea Submerged level or as
an underground level just to name a few potentials.
The level of the Firing Piece is irrelevant for all types of Launchers. For
example, a Rocket Launcher Pawn being transported in the Air by a Chopper
can Fire its Rocket (which will do its business at Ground level like every other Rocket
regardless of the level of the Piece which Fired it).
If the Torpedo projectile is homing, then it will follow it's homing target (some
enemy piece at Subterranean level) until that enemy Piece leaves the Subterranean level.
At that time, the homing projectile becomes a directional projectile. Rockets
do not home.
Each weapon can only be fired at a certain rate. Once a weapon has been fired
then a certain number of turns must expire before that weapon can be fired
again. This rate of fire for each type of weapon can be set by the user.
Stealth:a stealthed Piece is not seen (unless certain conditions occur, such
as being detected by a Piece with an Anti-Stealth).
Anti-Flamer:A Piece that has an Anti-Flamer is not destroyed by a Flamer (if
the number of attacking Flamers during a turn does not exceed the number of
carried or applied defense abilities (Anti-Flamer in this case))
Anti-Stunner:A Piece that has Anti-Stunner cannot be stunned.
Anti-Conversion:A Piece that has Anti-Conversion cannot be converted.
Anti-Rocket:Invulnerable to a Rocket attack.
Anti-SAM:Not harmed by a SAM.
Anti-Torpedo:Not destroyed by a Torpedo
Anti-Stealth:ability to see Stealthed Pieces.
Bike:a transportation ability at Ground level.
Jump Pack:a transportation ability at Air level.
Scuba:a transportation ability at Sub level.
XXX:the ability to carry 3 articles (the XXX counts as 1 of the 3).
The Flamer, Stunner, Conversion, SAM Launcher, Rocket Launcher, and Torpedo
Launcher are the Weapons and can be Fired. The Bike, Jump Pack, and Scuba can
be Fired but are not Weapons.
Each Board Square has 3 levels:Ground, Air, and Subterranean (Sub). All game
Pieces exist in some Square and at some level. Each Square may hold up to 2
Pieces per level in addition to holding up to 2 Articles at Ground level.
Each Square may hold up to 6 player Pieces (including Pieces from both Players
with the proviso that Pieces from opposing Players never exist at the same
level in the same square) in addition to the Articles. Special circumstances
allow friendly and enemy pieces in the same Square to be at the same level.
When there are two Pieces in a Square at a level, then one or more of the
Pieces must have the ability to coexist in a square with another friendly
Piece (it is not required that BOTH Pieces have that coexistance ability).
The Piece types that have this coexistance ability (there is no Article that
coincides with this ability, it's an ability, not an Ability) are: Sub,
Chopper, Dozer, Destroyer, AAA.
The Sub and Chopper Piece types have the ability to transport the other Piece
in the Square with them. For example, if there is a Chopper and Jet at Ground
level in a Square (the standard game starts with each Chopper on the ground
with a Jet in the same square) then when the Chopper moves it may take the Jet
with it.
The Dozer has the ability to doze nearby Pieces (friendly and enemy). When a
Dozer dozes it selects an unblocked direction and moves itself and it's chosen
dozed nearby Pieces one Square in it's selected direction. The Dozer is able to
move up to one coincident (the friendly piece in the Ground Square with the
Dozer) and four contiguous Pieces one Square in any unblocked direction.
The transportation ability provided by the Bike, Jump Pack, and Scuba
abilities allow more than one friendly Piece to move (but not Move) in one
Turn. In addition to the one Moved Piece that is permitted and required per
Turn, the Pieces which are moving (but not Moving) by Transport Article change
position too.
For example, suppose the present player Moves a Tank. This is the Move that the
present player must do and it is the only Move that the present player can
do. If the present Player has a Transport Article on some other Piece
(barring an inability to move that Piece for some reason) then that Transport
Article can be Fired to move that other Piece. The Bike Transport Article
moves a Piece at Ground level. When the Bike is Fired, the Player selects
where the moving Piece (not a Moving Piece) is going. During this Turn,
after the Fire, the Piece using the Bike will move one square toward the
eventual move-to Square. Note, that during this Turn the Player will have
Moved one Piece and moved one other Piece (by Firing a Transport Article).
The Scuba and Jump Pack Articles work slightly differently because they
provide a way to move from Ground level at one location to Ground level at
another location via their respective non-Ground level. For example, the Jump
Pack allows a Piece to travel via Air from one Ground location to another.
During the Fire of either of these two Article types, the Transporting
Piece either jumps up a level (Jump Packs up to Air level) or submerges (Scuba's down to
Subterranean level). During subsequent Turns by this Player, any and every
Piece using Transport Articles continue toward their destination (requiring no
further Moves or Fires). On the final turn of this Transportation, a Scuba would
surface at the destination and the Jump Pack would land at its destination.
Only certain Pieces have the inherent motive ability to move in non-Ground
levels. The Sub can move in the Subterranean (Sub) level. The Chopper and Jet
types can move in the Air level. Pieces using Transport Articles can move in their
associated levels.
The piece types other than Pawns have the following inherent abilities:
Jet:SAM Launcher and a restricted Rocket Launcher that launches a Rocket that can only
hit a piece that is no more than 1 square away. This inherent Rocket Launcher
ability on the Jet ALWAYS impacts on Fire (or else cannot be Fired). Because
this special Rocket Launcher can only be Fired if there is a target in range,
it cannot create a Rocket at Ground level that will travel until something
happens to it.
Chopper:Stunner
Dozer:no inherent ability other than dozing
Tank:Flamer
Cleric:Conversion
Destroyer:Torpedo Launcher and associated ability to see nearby Submerged/Subterranean enemy
AAA:Stealth and SAM Launcher
Sub:Torpedo Launcher and the same kind of restricted Rocket Launcher that a
Jet has.
There are two governmental Pieces: the primary governmental Piece and the
secondary governmental Piece. The primary governmental Piece is either a
King, Dictator, Avatar, or President. If you destroy or convert the enemy primary
governmental Piece then you win the game. If your primary governmental Piece
is destroyed or converted then you loose. The secondary governmental Piece is
either a Queen, Assassin, Acolyte, or Prime Minister. The secondary
governmental Piece has a distance-irrelevant Exchange ability which
provides a vital facilitation of piece-to-piece transfer of Articles. All the primary
governmental Pieces types Move alike as do the secondary governmental Pieces types. The
difference between the two types (in addition to their differing graphical image) is
that they have different inherent abilities. Governmental Pieces only have
defensive abilities (with the exception of the Exchange ability which is
associated with the secondary governmental Piece and is neither offensive nor
defensive or both).
Ability breakdown:
King:Anti-Flamer, Anti-Rocket
Dictator:Anti-Conversion, Anti-Rocket
Avatar:Anti-Stunner, Anti-Rocket
President:Anti-Conversion, Anti-Flamer
Queen:Anti-Conversion, Anti-Stunner
Assassin:Anti-Flamer, Anti-Stunner
Acolyte:Anti-Flamer, Anti-Conversion
Prime Minister:Anti-Rocket, Anti-Stunner
Each Player must choose a government type. Choosing a government type set
the type of the primary and secondary government Pieces. The
implied choice for primary and secondary government Pieces given a government
type are:
Monarchy:King and Queen
Dictatorship:Dictator and Assassin
Theocracy:Avatar and Acolyte
Democracy:President and Prime Minister
In the standard game, there is a group of reinforcements waiting for you to
activate. Alas, you must first travel to each reinforcements activation
Square deep within enemy territory (the enemy side of the Board). Each Player
gets 2 Jets, 2 Subs, 1 Queen, 1 Dozer, 1 Cleric, 1 Tank, 1 AAA, and 1
Destroyer as reinforcement which can be accessed at their activation Square.
Reinforcement Pieces enter the game after a friendly Piece moves away from the activation
square for a reinforcement and then the Reinforce Action is invoked. The
newly-available reinforcement appears on the activation square that the
aforementioned friendly Piece just vacated. Reinforcements may be edited in
the board editor but note that reinforcements cannot carry Articles at
in-game creation time.
The special circumstances which allow friendly and enemy Pieces to be at the
same level in the same Square are when a Conversion is fired at two pieces in
the same Square at the same level and 1 of the pieces is vulnerable to
Conversion and the other is not. In this situation, one of the Pieces
converts to the other side and the other does not. Both Pieces are at the
same level in the same Square at this time. This situation continues until
one of the Pieces moves away, or is destroyed, or is re-converted back.
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GAME DESIGN NOTES:
In addition to the wide range of potential tactical and strategic choices to
be made during play (not the least of which is the choice you will make as to
which Pieces and Articles you will combine), there are also three other ways
that the scope of this game have been extended.
The first such extension is accomplished by the integrated board editor.
Assuming you aren't in a competitive game, you switch to Board Editor under
the Files menu and the present game situation becomes your edit buffer. You
can change the Board or create an entirely new Board then. If you would
prefer a different arrangement of Articles at game start then you can create
that Board problem in the integrated Board editor. The maximum number of
Articles that may exist in a game is 200 (2 for each square). Using the board
editor to create more than that would mean that there might not be anywhere to
Drop a particular Article. Do not create a board position where one of the
players cannot make a Move and do not stun the last movable piece of your
enemy in the editor.
The second extension is created by the range of options you can set to change
the nature of the game. If you don't like invisible Pieces, then you can turn
that off (Everyone will always see all pieces). Incidentally, if you don't like having
3 levels, then you can use the board editor to remove all the Pieces that
travel the Sub and Air levels, the Transport Articles that travel non-Ground,
and the projectile Weapon and defense that use the level(s) that you would
discard. If you don't like it being possible for any and every Piece to
perform any Action then you can require that there be only one Action per
Piece. No more of that Move-then-Fire monkey business. If you don't like
Kings flying or going Sub then you can forbid that for this game. Stealth is
normally forbidden to a King (in a standard game) but you can allow unseen
Kings if you choose. You can increase or decrease how far away a Jet can
Rocket the Ground making the Jet more or less powerful. You can even restrict
Actions to just the Move (no Firing, Exchanging, Reinforcing, Dropping, or
Picking-up at all).
The third extension is accessed by using the Undo command. The Undo command
allows you to time travel back into your game and try different ways to play
your present Board problem. Convinced that your mistaken preference for
Anti-Stealth was the reason you lost your last game? Wind back the game and
try picking up some other useful Article preferentially this time. Undo can
undo a game in progress or it can undo back into a saved game (you can only
Undo in a non-competitive game).
Any game is played either in Competitive or Non-competitive mode (every new
game starts life as a Non-competitive game). When a game
shifts to Competitive then the ability to Undo and change pre-game options
becomes unavailable and the movement of stealthed enemy Pieces does not appear
in the game history (One of the things a Player can do is View the Game
History). The Game History is a textual description in Wec game notation that
describes what has happened so far in a game. In a Competitive game, the
concealed information about enemy pieces does not show up in the Game History
while the game is played: this stealthed or unseen-submerged activity does
show up in the Game History when the game is over.
Wec is a unique board game that changes many of the aspects of the way a
board game might be played. Wec also has a strong emphasis on providing many
different ways to play the game. The way that game play has been changed is
with respect to movement, existance and use of neutral objects, and existance
and use of abilities.
Pieces may be combined spatially (by moving two friendly
pieces into the same Square level), may move together (by being moved (Moved)
by a Sub, Chopper, or Dozer), may move at the same time (one Piece Moves while
multiple other Pieces use Transport Articles), and may move as a group (be
dozed to create a moving juggernaut of up to 6 friendly Pieces).
There are objects (Articles) that may be used by either Player. There are a number of
Actions that are used to manipulate the objects. The objects provide a Player
neutral way of providing access to a basic set of abilities.
There are a number of abilities. Some of these abilities can be accessed and
used by picking up an object. Other abilities are associated with particular
types of pieces. All types of pieces have some inherent set of abilities.
These above changes to a 'conventional' board game can be declared to be
analogous to adding to the board game some of the characteristics of a
conventional real-time simulation game. Many RTS games can do most or all of
the above game play actions. Now there is a board game that can do the same,
but in a simplified framework typical of a board game.
There are a few other changes to a conventional board game. One of those
changes is the addition of a playable extension to three dimensions. Wec
facilitates playability by visually cueing the user by color coding Board
graphics to emphasize level status of Pieces. Pieces in the Air are
blue (dark blue for Black, lighter blue for White) while Sub Pieces are green
(dark green for Black, lighter green for White). All unowned Articles are on the
Ground and cannot be picked up by Pieces in the Air or at Sub level. The
number and types of Pieces that have non-Ground level interactions has been
reduced. Only the Sub travels by itself at Sub level (and it does so slowly,
1 Square at a time or surfacing where it is). Only the Jet and the Chopper
can travel to and from the Air level by themselves. There is no need in Wec
to mentally shoot 3D 'angles' from each piece into 3D space to see if your
piece can move or attack at some 3D angle to some other location. A Jet
(once launched into the Air level) can go 2 squares in any direction in
the Air (or land where it is). The Chopper always must land the turn
after it moves away from its position into Air level (the knowledge of which
simplifies the mental calculation the user must do). The projectile weapons
which can Fire into the level in question can all be easily located on the
board as can the Piece types which can Fire into the level in question.
Therefore, in Wec, the addition of the Air and Sub levels per se should not
overload the user visually or cognitively.
During a standard game, there is one aspect to the existance of Subterranean
level that might well place a heavy load on the user. Pieces at Sub level are
hidden whenever they are not detected (detected by Torpedo Launcher). Pieces
you can't see can be expected to be hard to deal with. Fortunately, both
Stealth and submersion invisibility can be turned off before a game is
started. Additionally, game balance is aided by the selection of specific initial
pieces and by the availability of Anti-Stealth and Torpedo Launcher Articles.
It may not matter that a Piece can't be seen if it is also too far away to
hurt you (because your detectors allowed you to see and deal with anything
close enough to affect you). Also remember that you can always use the
board editor to add things like Torpedo Launchers, Anti-Stealth, SAMs, and so
on to make life harder for particular types of Pieces.
Each side starts with two AAA's, one Stealth Pawn (which detects the enemy
Stealth Pawn and is detected by the enemy Stealth Pawn), and 2 Subs. Because
the Stealth Pawn of both sides is detected they are
always visible (until one of the Stealth Pawns are destroyed or converted). The
two AAAs can only harm Air units so they do not affect play at Ground level
(unless that AAA adds an Article Weapon). The Subs are far away and will not
affect play for several turns (probably). Once again, matters have been
arranged so that playability is maintained in the presence of low-observable enemies.
Every effort has been made to maintain game balance. Any tactical or
stragetic move by one side to gain some ability related advantage can be
countered by the opponent selecting the right defensive ability as a counter
(thus maintaining the balance). If one side trys to stock up in some ability
and dominate by doing so, the opponent can counter in many ways. If one side
stocks up on a particular Weapon then the other side can stock up on the
matching defense or could compete with the enemy to pick up the remaining
available weapons of that type. For example, if one player tried to
monopolize the Stealth Articles (creating an invisible army) then the other
player could try to get those same Stealth Articles too and create his/her own
invisible army. As another example, if one player tried to specialize in
simultaneous movement by getting all the Transport Articles (snarfing up every
possible Bike, Jump Pack, or Scuba) then the other player could counter by
preferring projectile Weapons and saying to the first player: "Come to me so I
can shoot you."
One of the goals of Wec was to 'modernize' a tactical/strategic board game in
some sense. In this day and age, there is a rather large repertoire of
different ways to wreak havoc. It is reasonable to expect that at least 1
game should exist that tries to abstractly reflect this real world fact. Note
this goes in the exact opposite direction RTS games took to respond to the
large repertoire:making each 'Weapon' visually and audibly identical with the
real world weapon. Instead of creating near-photorealistic and
near-audiorealistic copies to show to the players, let us go in the other direction
and abstract down to relatively simple visual shapes while simultaneously
increasing the diversity of potential tactical and strategic choices.
There are a vast range of different projectiles in existance. In Wec, these
have been abstracted and reduced to Torpedos, Rockets, and SAMs. There is a
class of weapon characterized as 'non-lethal.' In Wec, a Stunner is
non-lethal. One of the banes of modern civilization is based on the
conversion of someone to a different (lethally different) side. The
Conversion ability is one way to abstract and represent such. One of the
other modern ways to deal death instantaneously affects a small, close area.
The Flamer Article abstracts this type of weapon.
In the modern world, there are many different ways to move. In Wec, this
variety of potential transportation is imported by the incorporation of
separate levels and by giving specific Piece types certain transportation
abilities and by providing the Transport Articles. Also, coordinated movement
of multiple units in simultaneous attack might be considered to be a
characteristic of modern conflict (certainly so sometimes). The Transport
Articles, the ability to doze, and the ability of Choppers and Subs to
transport other pieces incorporate a way to move multiple pieces at once.
The modern day infantryman, the individual combatant is much more capable (due
to better, more advanced, more lethal technology) than earlier warriors. This
is embodied in the definition of the Pawn type.
The good old days when Kings were not to be killed are gone. In this day and
age, rulers are often considered to be fair game to some variety of assassin.
A game of Wec is won by destroying the King (by taking or converting whatever
the primary government Piece is while simultaneously avoiding having your own
primary government Piece destroyed that same turn). In fact, sometimes it is
possible to make peace and become equal members of the same side. Conversion
of a primary government Piece abstracts this real world look-alike.
As always, a tactical confrontation can be modified if reinforcements arrive
(friendly or enemy). Similarly, in an ambush the unexpected appearance of the
enemy changes the tactical situation. The availability of Reinforcements in
enemy territory abstracts both real world reinforcement and ambush. If the
board editor is used to put friendly Reinforcement activation Squares deep in
friendly territory then it might be hard to claim that they are anything other
than reinforcements. However, if the enemy moved into friendly territory to a
position near an activation square and that Reinforcement WAS activated to the
detriment of the invader then that could be considered an abstracted
instantiation of an ambush.
One of the major military capabilities of modern armies is the the ability to
air-mobile troops and equipment from one location to the other via the air.
One of the capabilities of some types of submarines is an ability to transport
small numbers of troops. The transportation ability of Choppers and Subs
represent these real-world entities.
The ability to not be seen is critical to modern militaries because anything
that can be seen can be hit and anything that can be hit can be destroyed.
Both the Stealth ability and submersion concealment abstract the ever adaptive
attempt to be unseen.
In the world of cloak and dagger (a sub arena of conflict), there are secrets
which some people want to discover. The Stealth ability characteristic of
locking-on to one Stealth-active enemy Piece and persistently maintaining that
lock-on abstracts knowing a secret, knowing the status and location of an
enemy Piece.
A relatively new word heard in descriptions of modern conflict is 'fratricide.'
In Wec, it is possible for fratricide to occur (Weapon use may affect friendly
Pieces, to destroy and stun them).
When the pre-game options are set to mandate Stealth and submersion visibility
detection at range, then (in addition to whatever the lock-on activities have
been or are) enemy low-observables are detected if they approach within a
certain range of a detector. This makes this version of visibility similar to
the use of radars and sonars and other means of range-dependent location.
If the pre-game stealth related options are so set, then an unseen Piece which
Fires an Article becomes visible (this is analogous to the real world
situation of a soldier giving away his/her position because they fired their weapon).
In addition to abstracting technological capabilities, the Articles can also
be considered to have 'value' of some sort and thus to act like money in some
sense. A given Player can certainly be considered to be Article poor (if the
Player doesn't have very many Articles) or Article rich (if the Player's
Pieces are all armed to the teeth with Articles).
One of the interesting possibilities in Wec will be to allow the user to
create a wide range of 'multi-pieces' composed of multiple Pieces. Wherever
there are two Pieces together in a Square at the same level that might be
considered one multi-piece. Putting different Articles on the multi-piece
cause it to change its behavior and abilities even further. Another type of interesting
possibility is to use the Dozer to create an even larger multi-piece. This
multi-piece are all those Pieces dozed by a Dozer. Yet another type of interesting
possibility is moving more than one Piece during one Turn using Transport
Articles. One Piece would Move and the others would move by Firing (or by
virtue of having Fired) their Transport Article. Only one kind of multi-piece
can take an enemy Piece by Moving (a Chopper transporting some other piece,a
Chopper takes enemy pieces when it Moves). All the other kinds of
'multi-piece' have only a non-combat movement at best. Some kinds of
'multi-pieces' cannot move at all without breaking up (e.g. a Destroyer and a
Pawn). 'Multi-piece' is just a phrase coined here and now in these design
notes, the phrase 'multi-piece' does not exist in the lexicon of the game
known as Wec. The Wec game interface (GUI) does not know what a 'multi-piece' is.
Special operations forces sometimes parachute or scuba to their destination.
If the pre-game options are set properly then a Piece being transported by a
Sub or a Chopper may Fire its Jump Pack or Scuba and start moving using that
transport even though the Piece itself is not at Ground level.
The game design presumption was (and is) that abstracting all these facets
of conflict in a way that they can be incorporated in a board game would lead
to a worthwhile board game. Time will tell.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GLOSSARY
Black:The name for one of the two Players in every game. There is always a
Black Player and a White Player. The color of the Black Player's Pieces is
black. The color of the White Player's Pieces is white.
White:The name for one of the two Players in every game.
Board:A board which has 100 Squares, 10 rows of 10 Squares each. The Board
is in a checkerboard pattern with Black alternating with White. At any Square
on any row, if that Square is one color then the preceeding (if there is a
preceeding Square) and successive (if there is a next Square to the right) are
of the opposing color. The Squares 'above' and 'below' this same Square are also
of the opposite color. Each Square has 3 levels: Ground, Subterranean (which
can also be referred to as the 'Sub' level), and Air.
Square:has 3 levels: Ground, Sub, and Air. Inside each Square are the Pieces
that presently occupy that Square. There may be Pieces at every level. There
may be both friendly and enemy Pieces present in the square. There may be up
to two Articles in the Square at Ground level.
Piece:A game piece owned by a Player that can move under its own power (as
opposed to Articles which cannot move by themselves).
Article:A permanent game piece which can be either unowned (existing on the
Ground in some Square) or presently owned by a Player (being carried by some
Player Piece).
Ground:One of 3 levels in the game, a plane in which game pieces can exist.
A standard game starts will all Pieces and Articles in the Ground level.
Articles, when unowned, always rest at Ground level.
Air:The level above Ground. The level traveled by Jets, Choppers, and pieces
using Jump Pack Articles.
Subterranean:also known as the Sub level, this level can be thought of as
the underground or underwater level. This level is below the Ground.
Player:Either the program's user or the user's hotseat opponent or the
computer opponent or another human across the Net playing as the opponent.
Turn:The two players make alternating turns. The game ends when one of the
Players takes the primary government Piece of the opposing Player.
Move:Each player must make exactly one Move during their turn. Every Piece
has the ability to Move(to change its location and or its level).
Fire:Some of the Articles can be Fired. Some of these Firing Articles are
Weapons capable of harming the enemy (and are equally capable of harming
friendlies). The types of Articles that are Weapons are Flamer, Stunner,
Conversion, Rocket Launcher, Torpedo Launcher, and SAM Launcher. Some
Articles are not Weapons and yet can be Fired. These types are Bike, Scuba,
and Jump Pack. The two article types which cannot be Fired are Stealth,
Anti-Stealth, and XXX.
Pick-up:A Player may pick up Articles that are laying on the Ground in the
same Square with on of the Player's Pieces provided the capacity of the Piece
to carry Articles has not been used up already. All Pieces with the exception
of the XXX Pawn can carry at most 1 Article. The XXX Pawn has a XXX box as
its inherent Article and can thus carry two Articles.
Drop:A Player may Drop Articles carried by the players pieces.
Exchange:A Player may cause Articles to be exchanged between the Player
Pieces. An exchange may be a transfer from one Piece to another of an Article
or it may be a Swap of an Article of one Piece with the Article of another
Piece. The secondary government Piece (the Queen) may Exchange at any
distance, does not have to be in a Square next to the other Piece exchanging.
Reinforce:Reinforcement is the act of bringing new Pieces onto the Board.
Assuming there are reinforcements, each Reinforcement Piece is associated with
some Square (the activation Square) on the Board. To activate that
reinforcement Piece, the owner of the reinforcement Piece must first move
some presently existing Piece to be at Ground level in the activation Square.
On some subsequent Turn, this presently existing Piece is moved away from
that Square leaving an empty Square. At this point, the owner of the
reinforcement Piece may make the Reinforcement action and the reinforcement
Piece now appears on the Board at Ground level in the activation Square.
Flamer:in some selected direction the Flamer ability destroys
non-flame-resistant Pieces 1 and 2 squares away at level.
Conversion:in some Square next to the Firing Piece or Article, all enemy
Pieces in the Square are converted to the friendly side. An enemy primary
government Piece may be converted (if it is not protected) ending the game.
Stunner:at unlimited distance (in a standard game), at level, the pieces first
encountered in that selected directions are stunned (friendly or enemy,
stealthed or submersion concealed). Stunned Pieces drop their Articles. If
there is room at Ground level in the Square where the newly-stunned Piece
occupies then those stunned-off Articles drop there. Otherwise, these
stunned-off Articles are distributed to nearby locations. A Piece using a
Transport Article in some level other than Ground has the Transport Article
stunned off and becomes stunned at Ground level at that time. If this newly
stunned flying or scubaing Piece cannot go to Ground at that time (e.g. Ground
level Square occupied by the enemy) then the stunned Piece is destroyed.
Rocket:A projectile at Ground level created by a Rocket Launcher that travels in a
direction selected at launch-time. A Rocket can never home.
Torpedo:A projectile at Sub level created by a Torpedo Launcher that either
travels in a direction selected at launch-time or acts as a homing
projectile. A homing projectile has locked on to some selected in-range enemy
Piece (at Sub level in this case). Each turn, the homing projectile will
travel one Square closer to the homing target until the projectile impacts the
target. The only way for an opponent to break the lock is to surface. At
this point, the homing projectile becomes a directional projectile (is no
longer homing).
SAM:A projectile at Air level created by a SAM Launcher that either
travels in a direction selected at launch-time or acts as a homing
projectile. A homing projectile has locked on to some selected in-range enemy
Piece (at Air level in this case). Each turn, the homing projectile will
travel one Square closer to the homing target until the projectile impacts the
target. The only way for an opponent to break the lock is to land. At
this point, the homing projectile becomes a directional projectile (is no
longer homing).
XXX:a box that allows more Articles to be held. A XXX allows a Piece to carry
3X (three times) what a Piece normally carries (just 1). If a Piece has a XXX
box then it can carry two more Articles. XXX Articles cannot be operationally
stacked. That is, if you put more than one XXX on a Piece then that Piece
does not gain the ability to carry more Articles. Only one XXX can be
effective on a single Piece.
Stealth:A Piece that has a Stealth Article cannot be seen (unless its stealth
has been counteracted). This counteraction occurs in two ways. The first way
is when it is assumed that lock-on Stealth is in action. In a standard game,
this is true. When Stealth articles are assumed to function in lock-on mode,
there is a process which establishes which Stealthed Piece(s) become seen.
The following paragraphs describes this process:
Whenever an Anti-Stealth is picked up by a Piece, that Anti-Stealth Piece
locks on to some presently unseen Stealthed enemy Piece (if 1 exists). That
particular enemy Piece is now fully visible. In a standard game, the two
Stealth Pawns start the game being locked on to their opposing Stealth Pawn.
The other way Anti-Stealth can function is when the "See If Within Detect
Range" Stealth option has been turned on. In this case, each Anti-Stealth
Article acts as a detector and if a Stealthed enemy Piece gets too close it
will be seen. Detection of unseen submerged enemy Pieces also functions
this way (this detection ability resides in the Torpedo Launchers). It is
possible for lock-on Stealth and detector Stealth to be in play at the same time.
Anti-Conversion:immunity to being hit by one Conversion attempt
Anti-Stunner:immunity to being stunned by one Stunner
Anti-Rocket:immunity to being hit by one Rocket, heavy armor
Anti-SAM:immunity to being hit by one SAM, jet armor
Anti-Torpedo:immunity to being hit by one Torpedo, naval armor, does NOT
counter the detection ability of Torpedo Launchers
Anti-Flamer:immunity to being hit by one Flamer
Rocket Launcher:the Article that Fires a Rocket
SAM Launcher:the Article that Fires a SAM
Torpedo Launcher:the Article that Fires a Torpedo. also has the ability to
detect near enemy subterranean Pieces
abilities vs Abilities:An Ability is always available on an Article. The
Abilities are Flamer, Stun, Conversion, Rocket Launcher, SAM Launcher, and
Torpedo Launcher. The Dozer has the ability to doze and the secondary
government Piece has the ability to exchange Articles at a distance. The
Destroyer, AAA, Chopper, Sub, Jet all provide the ability to coexist at a level
in a Square with another friendly Piece. The Chopper and the Sub have the ability to
carrying along another Piece wherever they go.
Move vs move:Every Piece can Move in a specific way. Move always changes
either the location or the level of the Moving Piece or both. 'Move' only
refers to this type of locomotion. A 'move' is when a Piece changes location
and/or level without Moving. One way to 'move' is to use a Transport Article
to change a Piece's board location. Another way is to use the Dozer to doze
the Piece to some new location. Note that during dozing that the Dozer itself
Moves but the dozed Pieces all move.
Stealth vs Submersion: Some Pieces that have Stealth and some Pieces that are in the
Sub level cannot be seen. A Piece that has Stealth can be seen if lock-on
Stealth detection is enabled and some enemy Piece has locked on to this
Piece. A Piece that has Stealth can also been seen if range-dependent
detection is enabled and some enemy Piece with Anti-Stealth is close enough to
see this Stealthed Piece (a Piece attempting to be stealthy in any case).
There is no lock-on mode for Sub detection, there is only range-dependent
detection by Torpedo Launchers (or by a Piece which has an inherent Torpedo
Launcher Ability). Note that usually there are even more detection conditions
that apply (such as you revealing your position by Firing).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAME CHARTS:
Standard Game:
Starting Position for the Player Pieces in a Standard Game ('empty' means no
Pieces in this Square):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Tank |Dozer |Cleric|Chopper |Queen |King |Chopper |Cleric|Dozer | Tank |
| |Sub | | Jet | | |Jet | |Sub | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Rocket |Stunner|Flamer|Conversion|XXX |Stea-|Conversion|Flamer|Stunner|Rocket |
|Launcher|Pawn |Pawn |Pawn |Pawn |lth |Pawn |Pawn |Pawn |Launcher |
|Pawn | |AAA |Destroyer | |Pawn |Destoyer |AAA | |Pawn |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty|empty |empty |empty |empty |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty|empty |empty |empty |empty |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty|empty |empty |empty |empty |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty|empty |empty |empty |empty |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty|empty |empty |empty |empty |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty|empty |empty |empty |empty |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Rocket |Stunner|Flamer|Conversion|Stealth|XXX |Conversion|Flamer|Stunner| Rocket |
|Launcher|Pawn |Pawn |Pawn |Pawn |Pawn |Pawn |Pawn |Pawn | Launcher|
|Pawn | |AAA |Destroyer | | |Destroyer |AAA | | Pawn |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Doze | |Chopper | | |Chopper | |Dozer | |
|Tank | Sub |Cleric|Jet |King |Queen|Jet |Cleric|Sub |Tank |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
lower right square ^
as seen by a Player |
--------------|
Starting Position for the Articles in a Standard Game('empty' means no
Articles in this Square):
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |
| | | | | | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |
| | | | | | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Stealth|Torpedo|Bike |Jump |Scuba |Scuba |Jump |Bike |Torpedo|Anti |
| |Lnchr |SAM Lnchr|Pack | | |Pack |SAM Lnchr|Lnchr |Stealth |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Anti |Anti |SAM |Anti |Anti |Anti |Anti |SAM Lnchr|Anti |Anti |
|Torpedo|Stealth|Lnchr |Conver-|Rocket|Flamer |Stunner | |Stealth|Torpedo |
| | | |sion | | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Torpedo|Stealth|Anti |Conver-|XXX |XXX |Stunner |Anti |Stealth|Torpedo |
|Lnchr | |SAM | sion |Rocket|Flamer | |SAM | |Lnchr |
| | | | |Lnchr | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Torpedo|Stealth|Anti |Stunner|XXX |XXX |Conversion|Anti |Stealth|Torpedo |
|Lnchr | |SAM | |Flamer|Rocket Lnchr| |SAM | |Lnchr |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Anti |Anti |SAM |Anti |Anti |Anti |Anti |SAM Lnchr|Anti |Anti |
|Torpedo|Stealth|Lnchr |Stunner|Flamer|Rocket |Conversion| |Stealth|Torpedo |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Anti |Torpedo|Bike |Jump |Scuba |Scuba |Jump |Bike |Torpedo|Stealth |
|Stealth|Lnchr |SAM Lnchr|Pack | | |Pack |SAM Lnchr|Lnchr | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |
| | | | | | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |empty |
| | | | | | | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
lower right square ^
as seen by a Player |
--------------|
There are 3 general types of movement available in Weaponized Chess. The next
3 sections each describes one type of these movements.
Game Options During A Standard Game using Weaponized Chess Movement:
This section describes the 1st movement type which is also referred to as "Weaponized Chess" movement.
During a standard game, enemy Pieces may become unseen (both Stealth and
submersion invisibility is possible). Additionally, stealthed Pieces are seen
when they Fire, when an Anti-Stealth locks on to them, and whenever they take a Piece.
Submerged Pieces are seen when they Fire and when they are detected by a
Torpedo Launcher.
The government type is Monarchy. There are normal numbers of Reinforcements,
Weapons, and XXX boxes. The range for the Jet Rocket Launcher is 0 (a
rocketing jet must be directly over its target). Stealth and submersion
detector ranges are 3 (enemy unseen Pieces are seen if they are 3 or less away
from a detector). Homing range is 3 (a SAM Launcher or Torpedo Launcher may
lock a projectile onto a detected enemy at a distance of 3 or less). Stunners
can hit at range 9 (all the way across the board). A Piece may be stunned for
3 turns, no more. Flamer range is 1. Enemy Pieces can be dozed by your Dozer
(just as your Pieces can be dozed by the enemy). There are no restrictions on
Kings and Transport Articles only permit Ground-to-Ground movement. There are no
restrictions during a standard game on Actions. Standard games (all games)
are non-competitive at creation time. The rate of fire for a Stunner is 2
(every other turn). The rate of fire for flamers, conversion symbols, and
projectiles is 4. The present turn of a Fire counts as a turn in the count
down display. After a weapon is fired, the count down to the next possible
Fire is displayed above the firing Piece.
Piece Type Movement Definitions:
Pawn:The following diagram shows where a Pawn (P) can either Move (M) or attack (A)
when it is moving or attacking from its origin square:
-----------
|M| | | |M|
-----------
| |M|A|M| |
-----------
| |A|P|A| |
-----------
The following diagram show where a Pawn could Move or attack when it isn't Moving or
Attacking from its origin square:
-----------
| | | | | |
-----------
| |M|A|M| |
-----------
| |A|P|A| |
-----------
King, Dozer, Destroyer, AAA all Move 1 Square in any direction on their
present level. The King also takes 1 Square in any direction (Dozer,
Destroyer, and AAA all have no combat movement, they cannot take an enemy Piece by
Moving or moving, all movement is non-combat).
A Sub also Moves 1 Square in its present level. Alternatively, it can also
Move directly up or down to and from the Subterranean level. The Movement of
a Sub is non-combat, it can never take an enemy Piece by Moving.
A Jet either changes its level or moves within its native level (analogously to
the Sub). It a Jet changes its level it Moves directly up or down within its
present Square (analogously to the Sub). A Jet can go to the Air level in its
present Square or it can go to the Ground level in its present Square. A Jet
can move 2 Squares in any direction at Air level. The Movement of a Jet is
non-combat, a Jet cannot take an enemy Piece by moving to its location.
A Sub or a Jet can break a homing projectile lock-on by surfacing (Sub) or by
landing (Jet).
A Tank can Move in one of 4 different directions. These directions exist as 4
paths originating at the Tank and following a specific path away from the
Tank. To trace a path, pick one of the following four Squares contiguous to
the Square of the Tank which are not a diagonal square: the Square immediately
forward toward the enemy side,the Square to the right, the Square to the left,
and the Square immediately behind. Go in this direction for 4 Square distances
away from the Tank. At this point, the direction in which the path continues
depends on the type of Tank. There are two kinds of Tank, the right Tank and
the left Tank. At this point in tracing the move/take path of a Tank has gone
along one of four directions 4 Squares. If the Tank is a right Tank then the
path will bear to the diagonal right for 3 squares (each new Square along the
path that the Tank may Move or take is diagonally forward with respect
to the direction of the present path). A left Tank would have turned toward
the diagonal left. In the following diagrams the + indicates where a Tank in
a standard game could move. Changing the Tank movement from 7 to 6 or 8 would
allow the Tank to move to the * designated squares as shown in the following figures.
The Movement of a Tank (T) is better described by showing where a Tank (a right Tank
in this case) could move in a hypothetical 20 by 20 Board (only 10 by 10
Boards exist in Wec).
A right Tank moves as follows:
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |/| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | |*| | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |\| | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |<|<|<|<|T|>|>|>|>| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | |\| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | |*| | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |/| | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
A left Tank moves as follows:
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |\| | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | |*| | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | |/| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |<|<|<|<|T|>|>|>|>| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |/| | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | |*| | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |\| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
The graphical image of the Tanks in the game show whether they are left or
right (the Tanks always point in the direction their Movement takes after
their turn on the Board).
Clerics also always exist as either a right or a left Cleric. A Cleric can
Move in one of 4 different directions. These directions exist as 4
paths originating at the Cleric and following a specific path away from the
Cleric. To trace a path, pick one of the following four Squares diagonal to
the Square of the Cleric: the Square immediately to the forward (foward toward
the enemy) right, the Square immediately to the forward left, the Square
immediately to the back right, and the Square immediately to the back left.
Go in this direction for 5 Square distances away from the Cleric. At
this point, the direction in which the path continues depends on the type of
Cleric. A right Cleric would now turn 90 degrees to the right while a left
Cleric would turn 90 degrees to the left. Then the path Moves forward('foward'
now means 'in the direction of the path') two Squares. After this, there is
one more Square to move. The direction of the path turns back into the
direction the path had when it initially left its Piece. In the following
diagram the + indicates where a Cleric in a standard game could
move. Changing the Cleric movement from 7 to 6 or 8 would allow the Cleric to
move to the * designated squares also.
The left Cleric (C) Moves as follows:
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |\| | | | | | | | | |/| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| |*| |\| | | | | | | |/| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | |\| | | | | |/| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |\| | | |/| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |\| |/| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |C| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |/| |\| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |/| | | |\| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |/| | | | | |\| | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |/| | | | | | | |\| |*| |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |/| | | | | | | | | |\| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
The right Cleric Moves as follows:
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |\| | | | | | | | | |/| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |\| | | | | | | |/| |*| |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |\| | | | | |/| | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |\| | | |/| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |\| |/| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |C| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |/| |\| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |/| | | |\| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | |/| | | | | |\| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| |*| |/| | | | | | | |\| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |/| | | | | | | | | |\| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
Choppers are also of either the left or right variety. When calculating which
Squares can be moved to for a Chopper the path is traced through 3D space. If
there is no path from the Chopper's present location to its destination then
that potential (but now determined-to-be-unreachable) destination will not
change color to yellow (the highlight color) and won't be selectable. A
Chopper may not fly THROUGH any piece (regardless of color). The Jet Movement
also has this characteristic. So does the Movement of Tanks and Clerics.
When a Player makes a Movement that goes through an unseen enemy Piece, the
Moving Piece stops in the Square where it takes whatever enemy Pieces are in
the Square at that level. Notice this means that making a Move does not
always guarantee that your Piece will actually always go to where you tried to
Move it (it might hit and kill some unseen enemy Pieces instead). This is
seen in the Game History as there being a difference between the reported Move
and the reported Results.
The Movement of a right Chopper (C) is as follows (X marks a destination of the Chopper):
-----------
|X| | |X|X|
-----------
|X| | | | |
-----------
| | |C| | |
-----------
| | | | |X|
-----------
|X|X| | |X|
-----------
The Movement of a left Chopper is as follows:
-----------
|X|X| | |X|
-----------
| | | | |X|
-----------
| | |C| | |
-----------
|X| | | | |
-----------
|X| | |X|X|
-----------
If a Chopper is on the Ground then it may decide to end up in either the
Ground or Air Square. If a Chopper is in the Air its destination must be on
the Ground.
The secondary governmental type (2) Moves as follows (an '+' is where 2
potential paths cross and is the maximum range of a Queen in a standard
game):
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| | | | | | | |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |+| | | | | |+| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| |*| | | |*| |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |\| | | |\| |/| | | |/| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| |*| |\| | | |^| | | |/| |*| |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | |\| | |^| | |/| | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | |*| | | |\| |^| |/| | | |*| | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |\| | | |\|^|/| | | |/| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |<|<|<|<|2|>|>|>|>| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |/| | | |/|v|\| | | |\| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | |*| | | |/| |v| |\| | | |*| | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | |/| | |v| | |\| | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| |*| |/| | | |v| | | |\| |*| |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |/| | | |/| |\| | | |\| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| |*| | | |*| |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |+| | | | | |+| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| | | | | | | |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
The X also marks where a secondary government piece may move if the QueenTank
and QueenCleric movement range are both 7. They are both 7 in a standard game.
Take particular notice that QueenTank and QueenCleric can be set to different
numbers which in turn can be different from the Tank and Cleric ranges.
Dozer movement allows the Dozer to select a group of nearby Pieces and move
them one Square in a certain direction. Before any dozing can occur the Dozer
must share the Ground level of its Square with some other friendly Piece.
This other Piece in the Square accompanies the Dozer during dozing.
After it is ascertained that dozing is possible (which is after the user has
selected a friendly Dozer for movement), every possible combination of
contiguous Pieces is presented to the user to be selected as the Pieces being
Dozed. Any contiguous Square which has any Pieces at Ground level
participates in every such combination that includes that contiguous Square.
After the user chooses which particular combination is to be dozed then based
on this selection, the user then chooses the direction all these dozed Pieces
are moving. After the user chooses the direction, they move.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Options During A Standard Game in Standard Chess Movement:
This section describes the 2nd movement type which is referred to as
"Standard Chess" movement. This type of movement is provided for those users
who would like to see what conventional chess would be like if some or all of
the additional features of Weaponized Chess existed in standard chess. This
movement change does NOT result in a game that is exactly like standard
chess. In fact, under this modification, no single piece moves or is exactly
like another piece in Western chess. When move-only is selected, the user
is given the chance to make Subs and Jets have combat movement. In this type
of movement the movement for Tanks, Clerics, Choppers, Pawns, and the Queen
type change. The movement and function of AAAs, Destroyers, Dozers, and the King
type piece is unchanged. All the other default selections (such as Monarchy
being the default government type in a standard game, the various ranges,
etc.) are the same as for Weaponized Chess movement.
Piece Type Movement Definitions:
Pawn:The following diagram shows where a Pawn (P) can either Move (M) or attack (A)
when it is moving or attacking from its origin square:
-----------
| | |M| | |
-----------
| |A|M|A| |
-----------
| | |P| | |
-----------
The following diagram show where a Pawn could Move or attack whenever it isn't Moving or
Attacking from its origin square:
-----------
| | | | | |
-----------
| |A|M|A| |
-----------
| | |P| | |
-----------
The above movement is the same as in standard chess. However a Pawn in
Weaponized Chess in Standard Chess movement does not perform en passant takes
,does not participate in castling, and does not participate in pawn promotion.
King, Dozer, Destroyer, AAA all Move 1 Square in any direction on their
present level. The King also takes 1 Square in any direction (Dozer,
Destroyer, and AAA all have no combat movement, they cannot take an enemy Piece by
Moving or moving, all movement is non-combat). The King type does
participate in castling or in checks or in checkmate.
A Sub also Moves 1 Square in its present level. Alternatively, it can also
Move directly up or down to and from the Subterranean level. The Movement of
a Sub is non-combat unless the user decides for the Sub to have combat
movement. If a Sub does have combat movement then all of it's moves can be
combat. If Subs have combat movement then so do Jets.
A Jet either changes its level or moves within its native level (analogously to
the Sub). It a Jet changes its level it Moves directly up or down within its
present Square (analogously to the Sub). A Jet can go to the Air level in its
present Square or it can go to the Ground level in its present Square. A Jet
can move 2 Squares in any direction at Air level. The Movement of a Jet is
non-combat unless the user decides for the Jet to have combat movement. If a
Jet does have combat movement then it is for 1 square away in the air and for
launching and landing. If Jets have combat movement then so do Subs.
A Tank can Move in one of 4 different directions in a straight line for 7
squares. A rook in standard chess moves in a straight line until it reaches
the end of the board. A Tank does not participate in castling. Whether a
tank is right or left does not change it's movement under Standard Chess
movement in Weaponized Chess. In the following diagrams the + indicates where a Tank in
a standard game could move. Changing the Tank movement from 7 to 6 or 8 would
allow the Tank to move to the * designated squares as shown in the following figures.
The Movement of a Tank (T) is better described by showing where a Tank (a right Tank
in this case) could move in a hypothetical 20 by 20 Board (only 10 by 10
Boards exist in Wec).
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*|+|*|<|<|<|<|<|T|>|>|>|>|>|*|+|*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
Clerics also always exist as either a right or a left Cleric. A Cleric can
Move in one of 4 different directions in a diagonal direction for 7 squares.
A bishop in standard chess moves in a straight diagonal line until it reaches
the end of the board. Bishops in standard chess are of a particular color and
can only move on their own color. A Cleric in Weaponized chess can exist and
move on any square regardless of the square's color. Cleric in Standard Chess
movement are still of a right or left type but that does not affect their movement.
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | | | | | | | | | | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |\| | | | | | | | | |/| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |\| | | | | | | |/| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |\| | | | | |/| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |\| | | |/| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |\| |/| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |C| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |/| |\| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |/| | | |\| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |/| | | | | |\| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |/| | | | | | | |\| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |/| | | | | | | | | |\| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | | | | | | | | | | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
Choppers under Standard Chess movement still move through 3D space under the
same conditions and restrictions in Weaponized Chess movement with the
following differences:
The Movement of right and left Choppers (C) is as follows (X marks a destination of the Chopper):
---------------
| | | | | | | |
---------------
| | |X| |X| | |
---------------
| |X| | | |X| |
---------------
| | | |C| | | |
---------------
| |X| | | |X| |
---------------
| | |X| |X| | |
---------------
| | | | | | | |
---------------
Recall that knights in standard chess do not transport, do not travel or exist
at an Air level, and do not coexist in a square with another piece.
The secondary governmental type (2) Moves as follows (an '+' is where 2
potential paths cross and is the maximum range of a Queen in a standard
game):
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | | | | |+| | | | | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | |*| | | | | |*| | | | | |*| | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |\| | | | |^| | | | |/| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |\| | | |^| | | |/| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |\| | |^| | |/| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |\| |^| |/| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |\|^|/| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*|+|*|<|<|<|<|<|2|>|>|>|>|>|*|+|*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |/|v|\| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |/| |v| |\| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |/| | |v| | |\| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |/| | | |v| | | |\| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |/| | | | |v| | | | |\| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | |*| | | | | |*| | | | | |*| | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | | | | |+| | | | | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
Recall that a Queen in standard chess moves in a straight line
in any direction until it hits the end of the board. A secondary government
piece in Weaponized Chess has 2 inherent defenses (regardless of whether
firing is allowed) and has the Exchange ability (regardless of whether there are any
Articles in the game).
The X also marks where a secondary government piece may move if the QueenTank
and QueenCleric movement range are both 7. They are both 7 in a standard game.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Options During A Standard Game in Chess of Mass Destruction:
The 3rd type of movement is termed "Chess of Mass Destruction." In this type
of movement the movement for Tanks, Clerics, Choppers, Pawns, and the Queen
type change. In addition, there are 3 different choices of Pawn movement.
All the other default selections (such as Monarchy as the default government
type in a standard game, the various ranges, etc.) are the same as for
Weaponized Chess movement.
Piece Type Movement Definitions:
Pawn:When the user changes to Chess of Mass Destruction Movement the user must
select one of three different types of Pawn movement: All Sides and Forward,
All Forward, All but Directly in Front. Pawns cannot move 2 squares on their
1st move.
All Sides and Forward Pawn Movement:
The following diagram shows where a Pawn (P) can Move and attack (X)
when it is moving or attacking:
-----------
| | | | | |
-----------
| |X|X|X| |
-----------
| |X|P|X| |
-----------
All Forward Pawn Movement:
The following diagram shows where a Pawn (P) can Move and attack (X)
when it is moving or attacking:
-----------
| | | | | |
-----------
| |X|X|X| |
-----------
| | |P| | |
-----------
All but Directly in Front Pawn Movement:
The following diagram shows where a Pawn (P) can Move and attack (X)
when it is moving or attacking:
-----------
| | | | | |
-----------
| |X| |X| |
-----------
| |X|P|X| |
-----------
King, Dozer, Destroyer, AAA all Move 1 Square in any direction on their
present level. The King also takes 1 Square in any direction (Dozer,
Destroyer, and AAA all have no combat movement, they cannot take an enemy Piece by
Moving or moving, all movement is non-combat).
A Sub also Moves 1 Square in its present level. Alternatively, it can also
Move directly up or down to and from the Subterranean level. The Movement of
a Sub is non-combat, it can never take an enemy Piece by Moving unless
move-only is selected. When move-only is selected under Action Restrictions
in Chess of Mass Destruction (This can ONLY be selected in Chess of Mass
Destruction), the user may decided to have Subs and Jets have combat movement.
In this case, all Sub movement is combat and all Jet movement is combat
except for the 2nd move at Air level.
A Jet either changes its level or moves within its native level (analogously to
the Sub). It a Jet changes its level it Moves directly up or down within its
present Square (analogously to the Sub). A Jet can go to the Air level in its
present Square or it can go to the Ground level in its present Square. A Jet
can move 2 Squares in any direction at Air level. The Movement of a Jet is
non-combat, a Jet cannot take an enemy Piece by moving to its location unless
move-only is selected and Sub/Jet movement is set to combat.
A Tank can Move in one of 4 different directions. These directions exist as 4
paths originating at the Tank and following a specific zigzag path away from the
Tank. In the following diagrams the + indicates where a Tank in
a standard game could move. Changing the Tank movement from 7 to 6 or 8 would
allow the Tank to move to the * designated squares as shown in the following figures.
The Movement of a Tank (T) is better described by showing where a Tank (a right Tank
in this case) could move in a hypothetical 20 by 20 Board (only 10 by 10
Boards exist in Wec).
A right Tank moves as follows:
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |\| | | |<| |^| |>| | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| |*| |<| |<| |T| |>| |>| |*| |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | |<| |v| |>| | | |>| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |/| | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
A left Tank moves as follows:
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |\| | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| | | |<| |^| |>| | | |/| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| |*| |<| |<| |T| |>| |>| |*| |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |/| | | |<| |v| |>| | | |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |v| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |\| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
Clerics also always exist as either a right or a left Cleric. A Cleric can
Move in one of 4 different directions. These directions exist as 4
paths originating at the Cleric and following a specific spiral path away from the
Cleric. In the following diagram the + indicates where a Cleric in a standard
game could move. Changing the Cleric movement from 7 to 6 or 8 would allow
the Cleric to move to the * designated squares also.
The left Cleric (C) Moves as follows:
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |/| | | |\|\|\| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |/| | |\| | | |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |/| |\| |/| | | |+| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | |*| | | |/| |C| |/| | | |*| | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |+| | | |/| |\| |/| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| | | |\| | |/| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |\|\|\| | | |/| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
The right Cleric Moves as follows:
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |/|/|/| | | |\| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*| | | |/| | |\| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | |+| | | |\| |/| |\| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | |*| | | |\| |C| |\| | | |*| | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |\| |/| |\| | | |+| | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |\| | |/| | | |*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |\| | | |/|/|/| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |+| | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
The Movement of a right Chopper (C) is as follows (X marks a destination of the Chopper):
---------------
| | | | |X| | |
---------------
| |X| | | |X| |
---------------
|X| | | | | | |
---------------
| | | |C| | | |
---------------
| | | | | | |X|
---------------
| |X| | | |X| |
---------------
| | |X| | | | |
---------------
The Movement of a left Chopper is as follows:
---------------
| | |X| | | | |
---------------
| |X| | | |X| |
---------------
| | | | | | |X|
---------------
| | | |C| | | |
---------------
|X| | | | | | |
---------------
| |X| | | |X| |
---------------
| | | | |X| | |
---------------
The secondary governmental type (2) Moves as follows:
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |^| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |+| |+| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |+| |+| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |*| |^| |*| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |<|<|^| |^|>|^| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*|^| | |^| | |^|*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| |+| |<| |<| |^| |>| |+| |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| |*| |*| |<| |<| |2| |>| |>| |*| |*| | |
-----------------------------------------
| | |+| |+| |<| |v| |>| |>| |+| |+| | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | |*|v| | |v| | |v|*| | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | |v|<|v| |v|>|>| | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |*| |v| |*| | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |+| |+| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | |+| |+| | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |*| | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------
The X also marks where a secondary government piece may move if the QueenTank
and QueenCleric movement range are both 7. They are both 7 in a standard game.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WEC GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (THE GUI)
The game is controlled by a task bar along the top of game display. There are
4 sets of menus available on the bar: File, Play Change, View, Undo, and
Action. The File set of menus (roughly standard in usage across applications)
is primarily concerned with saving and loading games. The Play Change set of
menus allows the user to change the rules of the game. The View set of menus
allows the user to change the things seen during normal game play (allowing
the user to focus on immediate concerns). The Undo set of menus allows the
user in non-competitive play to have fun by exploring different alternative
ways to have played a game. Similarly, the integrated board editor allows a
user to explore possible different start Boards. The Action menu allows the
user to make game Actions (such as Moving and Firing).
The mouse cursor is used to control the task bar and to control game activity
in the display on the Board. With respect to the large, centered Board, the
mouse is used to select Pieces, Articles, and Squares.
At the start of each Turn, the left mouse button selects Move items and the
right mouse button selects Fire items. When Actions other than Move/Fire are
selected in the Action set of menus, the left mouse button then selects for
that newly selected Action (the right button continues to be whatever it was).
When two Fires have been made during a Turn, the right mouse button now
selects the same as the left button.
The shape of the cursor is the shape that goes with the preferred action of
the left mouse button (goes with the presently selected Action, the left
button starts the Turn being selected for Move).
Typically, during move action, left select the Piece to Move by single clicking on it
with the left mouse button. After being so selected, if there is anywhere the
Moving Piece can go, then those Squares are highlighted with a yellow color.
Subsequently, the user can select some Square as the actual destination.
Click the destination square to cause the Move to occur.
The user does not always have to click directly on a Piece in order to select
it. If there is only one Piece in a Square then the Piece can be selected
merely by clicking on the Square. If there are multiple Pieces in the Move
then this is how both Pieces in a Square are selected (click on the Square).
If there are friendly Pieces on multiple levels, then if the Square is clicked
then typically the user is prompted to select one of the levels.
During Fire, right click on either the Article to be Fired or on the Piece Firing
(to select the Pieces inherent Weapon ability). Then right click on the
target. The target might be a yellow highlighted homing target or might be a
direction (be one of the now yellow highlighted contiguous Squares).
During Pickup: left click the Article to pick up.
During Drop: left click the Article to drop.
During Reinforce: Move a Piece away from the reinforcement activation Square
and select Reinforce in the Action set of menus.
During Exchange: left click the source Article then either the destination
Piece or the Article being swapped with.
When you are done for the Turn, select End Turn under Actions.
If the game ever crashes, select Continue under File to continue the game
loosing only the last move.
You can change all the colors by choosing Change Colors under View.
If you want to play White, then Switch Sides under Play Change then select New
Game under File. The Black Player will move and then you make moves as White.
If you wish to decide yourself some of Black's actions you can do so. Do some
of Black's actions that you want to set yourself then Switch Sides and select
New Game. You can do this at any game move in a non-competitive game (You
would have to switch to Black first before you force any of Black's Actions).
Select Hotseat under Play Change if you and a friend want to play a game
against each other on your computer. Select human versus computer to play a
game against the computer.
The default setting which defines a standard game are always available as the
game defaults. If you would like to change some or all of these settings then
you can do so then select Save Present Settings as User Preferences under Play
Change. If you subsequently select Set to User Preferences and then Toggle at Start Use
User-Preferences/Original-Game-Defaults then whenever you start the game
program your user preferences will be loaded instead of the standard game
settings. If you wish to twiddle further with the settings but later decide
you want to go back to your user preferences (without halting the game
program) then you merely need to Set to User Preferences. If you decide you
want to go back to playing a standard game then you Restore Original Game
Defaults. If you have changed the colors then your new colors are saved as
part of your user preferences.
Under View, selecting Game Status will show you a screen which textually
describes how the game is presently set. Select Shape of Pieces lets you
choose between a simpler, more-rapidly-drawn set of pieces and a more complex
visually-detailed set of pieces. Toggle Reinforcement Display lets you see
which squares contain Reinforcements. It does not show what type the
Reinforcements are. Game Move History lets you see the game history in game
notation. In a competitive game, information about unseen pieces will be
edited out from the game history. When the game ends, the game history
becomes uncensored. Toggle Lighting turns off lighting and shadows which
speeds up the drawing process. Toggle See Big Board Only turns on the drawing
of the 3 boards in the upper right portion of the screen and the drawing of
the presently selected piece. This speeds up the draw speed. Toggle Continue
to See turns on and off the display of a transluscent marker for where enemy
stealthed pieces went invisible.
Autoplay and Show Possible Locations are not presently implemented.
The integrated board editor selectable under File lets the user build new
start Boards.
Typically, a user interested in doing this would start the board editor, then
clear the Board. Then the user would presumably populate the Board with the
desired Pieces. The board editor does this by the Add selection under the editor
Action set of menus. Select Add then select the kind of board piece you want
to add and where to put it. Make sure a selection is made from every set of
menus. If you aren't building a piece that will be a reinforcement then
select non-reinforcement. Sometimes the editor will be able to help you
figure out some selections but safe use means select once from each set of
menus. The board editor can create any start position except for starting
situations where in the first move there are already piece(s) in Transport
movement or where there was a homing selection before game start that set up a
homing target projectile. The way to create such start Boards is to concoct a
plausible cover story (a hypothetical Board arrangement) for your eventual
start Board about what that Board looked like before the Transport use or before the
homing projectile launch. Then proceed from there to make Actions and end
Turns until you have chaperoned your edit board to your final desired start
Board.
There aren't many logical restrictions in the board editor. Someone with a
suspicious, nasty turn of mind might explore the limits and notice that
nothing prevents a user from entering more than 1 prime governmental piece on
a side. And that the Wec program thinks the destruction or conversion of
a prime government Piece ends a game (unless a friendly prime government Piece
is destroyed that same turn in which case the friendly player loses the game).
There are a number of pre-defined saved games that can be loaded (click Load
Game under File) that have various starting board configurations. These saved
games are only a few of the possible ways to change the pieces you have at
the start of the game.
Think of all the possibilities
Play all the possibilities, if you want...and have the time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAME HISTORY
There is a concise game notation for Wec. The Game History option under the
View set of menus shows the present Game History. During competitive games,
this Game History reflects the fact that some facts are not known. When a
competitive game is ended, the game history at that time changes to reveal all.
The Game History contains a record of everything that has happened during a
game. It is sufficiently detailed that reading this History allows a game to
be restarted if saved to disk. A saved game like this can also be Undone,
that is, the user can step back through game events to recreate earlier
situations in the saved game. A game in progress can also be Undone.
There is a string of letters and numbers which describes what a Player did
during a Turn. The following is the definition of this string (S):
S=MV:Piece_description->LevelLocation{Transport_description|Dozer_description}{Fire_description}{Pickup_description}{Exchange_description}{Reinforce_description}{Drop_description}{Results_description}
Piece_description=Piece_typeLevelLocationArticlesOrient
Piece_type=DO|TA|CH|JE|SU|DS|AAA|CL|Q|K|PR|PM|DI|AS|AC|AV|RP|FP|SHP|SP|CP|XP|SOP
Level=^|v
Location=(Row,Column)
Row=1..10
Column=1..10
Article=FL|ST|CS|TL|RL|SL|SH|XXX|ARL|ASL|ATL|ACS|AST|AFL|ASH|BI|SC|JP|TK|RK|SK
Articles=CountArticle{Article{Article}}
Count=1|2|3
Transport_description=-TRA->Piece_type
Dozer_description=,DO>LocationPiece_typeLocation{,Piece_typeLocation{,Piece_typeLocation{,Piece_typeLocation{,Piece_typeLocation}}}}
Orient=<|>
Fire_description=,FI1:Firing_article/Firing_from_piece_description[->LocationOrient|=>Target_piece_description]{,FI2:Firing_article/Firing_from_piece_description[->LocationOrient|=>Target_piece_description]}
Firing_from_piece_description=Piece_description
Target_piece_description=Piece_description
Firing_article=FL|ST|CS|RL|TL|SL|BI|SC|JU
Pickup_description=,PU:Piece_description^Article
Exchange_description=,EX:Exchange_from_piece_description->Article_being_exchanged[<=>Article_being_swapped_with<-|->]Exchange_to_piece_description
Exchange_from_piece_description=Piece_description
Exchange_to_piece_description=Piece_description
Article_being_exchanged=Article
Article_being_swapped_with=Article
Reinforce_description=,RE:LocationReinforcement_piece_typeOrient
Reinforcement_piece_type=Piece_type
Drop_description=,DR:Dropping_piece_descriptionvArticle_being_dropped
Dropping_piece_description=Piece_description
Article_being_dropped=Article
Results_description=,RS:Result_type[->LocationOffset|vLocation|*Happened_to_piece_description{Stun}Color|=>Homing_target_piece_description->Location]{,Result_type[->LocationOffset|vLocation|*Happened_to_piece_description{Stun}Color|=>Homing_target_piece_description->Location]}
Homing_target_piece_description=Piece_description{Stun}
Happened_to_piece_description=Piece_description
Result_type=R|T|S|RK|TK|SK|STK|CK|Piece_type
Offset=({-}Offset_magnitude,{-}Offset_magnitude)
Offset_magnitude=0|1
Color=B|W
Stun=0..255
To read the above, realize that:
A|B means string A or string B is to be inserted. '|' never appears in Wec notation.
[A] means that the string A occurs. In the above description [A|B] is used
to indicate that definitely one or the other of A or B will occur. The letters
'[' and ']' never occur in a real Wec notational description of a game.
A..B indicates that A and B are numbers with A being less than B. '..' never
appears in notation
{A} means that an indefinite number of occurrences of A appear. 0 to some
unknown upper limit
'v' indicates the Sub level and '^' the Air level (or 'v' indicates that a
Article is going down or '^' indicates that an Article is being picked up)
'>' indicates a right orientation of a Piece or it indicates a starboard path
'<' indicates a left orientation of a Piece or it indicates a port path
when levels are not indicated, piece orientation is not mentioned, and when
the path is not specifically mentioned then the level is Ground, the
orientation is neither and the path is the beeline path.
B is used in the results to indicate that the result happened to a Black Piece
and W is used to indicate the result happened to a White Piece. Pieces from
either side can be affected by Weapon use.
The following specifies what is indicated by every other terminal string:
R:Rocket
T:Torpedo
S:SAM
RL:Rocket Launcher
TL:Torpedo Launcher
SL:SAM Launcher
BI:Bike
SC:Scuba
JU:Jump Pack
FL:Flamer
ST:Stunner
CS:Conversion Symbol
AFL:Anti-Flamer
AST:Anti-Stunner
ACS:Anti-Conversion
SH:Stealth
ASH:Anti-Stealth
XXX:XXX box
ARL:Anti-Rocket
ATL:Anti-Torpedo
ASL:Anti-SAM
RK:Rocket kill
SK:SAM kill
TK:Torpedo kill
STK:Stunner kill
CK:Conversion kill
DO:Dozer
JE:Jet
SU:Sub
TA:Tank
CL:Cleric
CH:Chopper
K:King
Q:Queen
PR:President
PM:Prime Minister
DI:Dictator
AS:Assassin
AV:Avatar
AC:Acolyte
DS:Destroyer
AAA:AAA
RP:Rocket Launcher Pawn
STP:Stunner Pawn
CP:Conversion Pawn
FP:Flamer Pawn
SOP:Sam and Torpedo Pawn
Note that these Actions are always listed in the same order (but there is no
restriction of Actions to this order). For example, the Move may be the last
thing the Player did but is always listed first in Wec game notation.
Weapon attacks and defenses stack. That is when some Piece has an Anti for some
Weapon then the fact that it has been hit once by a Weapon does not fully
determine what the attacked piece's status will be at the end of the turn. A
Piece that has been hit once might be hit again (because the enemy can Fire
twice or because multiple same-level projectiles hit). The Wec game remembers
how many times each Piece has been hit with each Weapon and knows how many
Anti's of the matching type the Piece has. Subsequently, when the number of
attacks exceeds the number of defenses the Weapon effect occurs. A single
Anti can be overwhelmed by two or more matching Weapons. Two Anti's of a type
can be overwhelmed by three attacks of a type and so on. When a Piece has more than one
of a Weapon type, and Fires that type at a target then all the Weapons of that
type fire at that time (and this only counts as one of two possible Fires).
Stealth does not stack. XXX boxes do not stack.
Maximum Defense Strengths:Pawns can attain the highest defense strength
because all except XXX, Stealth, and Sam-and-Torpedo Pawns have inherent
strength 1 defense of one type. If those Pawns add a XXX and two more
defenses of the same type then they go to defense strength 3. The prime and
secondary government pieces have inherent defenses (depending on what they
are). They can reach strength 3 too. All other Pieces can only get up to
strength 2 in defense in some Anti.
Maximum Attack Strengths:Pawns can attain the highest attack strength
because all except XXX and Stealth strength 1 attack of one type. The Tank,
Sub, Destroyer, AAA, Cleric, Jet, Chopper, and SAM and Torpedo Pawns can all
attain attack strength 3. A Jet and a Sub can attain an attack level 3 Rocket
attack at off-level rocket range (the pre-set range a restricted-range Rocket
Launcher can hit). If a Piece does not have a particular Weapon as an
inherent ability it can only get to attack strength 2.
Realize that stacking Articles to the maximum on your Pieces may not be the
best tactic as there will usually be an enemy Piece around with a Stunner
just waiting to coldcock any Piece with dreams of world domination. It isn't
very efficient to expend a lot of Moves to try to pick up Articles to build a
super Piece only to have it knocked unconscious and have its hard earned
Articles strewn all over the Ground. There is some degree of truth to
considering Article accumulation to be abstractly financial. There is a cost
to collect Articles and a value to be had by owning and using them. A player
action mistake might turn out to be expensive in terms of lost Articles.
Conversion kills occur when there are either 2 Pieces in the Air or 2 Pieces
at Sub level and Conversion is applied to the Square and level. If one of the
targeted Pieces is immune to the applied level of conversion but the other
isn't then various types of results can occur. If both Pieces can independently
exist at their level (its two air-traveling pieces or 2 Subs) then one
targeted Piece is converted and the other isn't. At this peculiar instant,
there exist a pair of opposingly-colored Pieces at the same level and same
Square. Until one or the other Piece moves away from this strange
association, no other Piece may move into that Square. The other type of
result occurs when one of the two Pieces is being transported by the other (is
the sole means of support for that transported Piece). If the transporting
Piece is converted, then the transported Piece is destroyed, is conversion
killed. If the transported piece in converted, the the transported piece
becomes conversion killed.
Placement of Stunned-Off Articles:When a Piece is Stunned, all of the Articles
it carries drop off. If there are enough places at Ground level in the
same Square to place these dropped Articles then they all go there.
Otherwise, there is a process which decides where these crowded-out Articles
go. On failure to place in the same Square, an attempt is made to place these
dropped Articles in the 3 Squares forward of the present location (diagonally
to the right, directly forward, and diagonally to the left). Preferentially,
the leftmost Squares are selected. If all 3 of the forward Squares are full,
then drop is attempted to the left Square. Then drop is attempted into the
Square to the right. Then an attempt is made to place remaining dropping
Articles in the 3 Squares behind the dropping Piece, preferentially to the
leftmost. If these 3 are full, then a drop attempt is made into the next ring
out from the Piece (Squares next to the Piece are the first such ring).
Any failure to Drop causes the drop ring to expand. Eventually, a Square is
found which doesn't already have 2 Articles at Ground level. Take care when
using the board editor to build new starting Boards that there is always a
free location on the Ground for the last Article to drop into.
The option Change Stealth/Submersion Dominance allows a selection of which
type of detection dominates. Among those Pieces which are Submersion
Detected, do the effectively Stealthed become visible when they are detected
by Torpedo Launchers or not? If Torpedo Launchers can detect effectively
Stealthed Pieces by virtue of the fact that they see the Submersion then
Submersion dominates. If Pieces that have managed to maintain Stealth even
though they are Submersion detected are not visible, then Stealth detection
dominates over Submersion detection. If Stealth dominates, then looking at
the Board, it will sometimes be possible to see Pieces that are not Subs that
appear to be in the Sub level (and they are). Sometimes it will be possible
to see Subs that do not appear to be carrying anything (but which are). If
Submersion dominates then there is no additive benefit to being Stealthed in
the Sub level; if you're detectable in the Sub level by Torpedo Launcher then
you've been detected (Stealth or no Stealth).
When using Transport Articles, take care in attempting to set a path. It is
possible to select a destination which will cause your Piece(s) to crash on
the first move (with a potential fatal result). Look before you launch.
If a reinforcement is 'handed' (must be right or left handed) then there can only be 1
reinforcement in that square. There cannot be 2 handed reinforcements in the same square
and there cannot be 1 handed and 1 non-handed reinforcement in the same square.
One of the possible Action Restrictions is 12DPXMR. When this Action
Restriction is active then Actions must occur in a particular sequence: Fire
1 (if it occurs at all) then Fire 2(if Fire 1 has occurred, if it occurs at
all) then Drop (if it occurs at all) then Pick Up (if it occurs at all) then
EXchange (if it occurs at all) then Move (which always must occur) then
finally Reinforce (if it occurs at all). Any Piece which is capable can
perform any Action but the Actions must occur in this fixed sequence. Another
possible Action Restriction is 12DPXMR Only For 1 Piece. In this case, during
a Turn, only one Piece may perform actions and it must perform it's Actions in
the 12DPXMR sequence although the only Action it must perform is Move.
Instructions for Playing a WiFi Game:
This game can be played using a WiFi link. During game play you only need the two
WiFi capable devices but confirmation that the game installation is legal requires
that a wireless router which is connected to the Internet be briefly available. Once
the game has been authenticated then the wireless router is no longer needed. This means
that you can play a WiFi game (after the initial wireless Internet confirmation) in an
area which does not have WiFi service. The two mobile devices communicate directly with
each other. You can play a wireless game during an airline flight for example (if it
is allowed for your devices to communicate wirelessly). You can play a wireless game during
a long road trip where you do not have a WiFi connection to the rest of the Internet. Note
that the initial legality confirmation does not require that the available WiFi router be your
router, anyone's router can and will be used automatically for this purpose.
To play a WiFi game, start the game, touch File, touch Play WiFi Game. Do this on both
devices. On both devices, touch Discover. Assuming both devices are in communications range
and functioning properly, both devices will display under PEERS the other device that it
sees. Each device will report itself under ME. The very first time a new device is contacted
you will have to permit it to communicate with your device using this communcation method (but
you will only see the confirmation request once). On both devices, touch the device reported
under PEERS. On one of the devices touch Connect. On both devices, touch Start a Game and
select your preferred color. If you both want the same color, colors will be randomly assigned.
At the bottom of the screen on both devices touch the left-most icon which is the back arrow.
On both devices touch, "Touch this to Get Your Instructions and To Continue". Read the instructions.
On both devices touch "Stop reading WiFi Set up Instructions". If you do not wish to make
any changes to the type of game then touch Finish WiFi Setup under File. The game begins at this
point. Black is to make the first move. If you are willing for there to be changes to the game or
if you yourself wish to make changes to the game then do not touch Finish WiFi Setup at this time.
To make changes use the options under Play Change to request a change. Each change you or your
opponent requests must be approved by the opponent. When either party is unwilling to allow
any further changes, touch Finish WIFi Setup. Note you do not need the permission of your opponent
to change your government type or to change any of the View settings.
When the game is over and you want to play another WiFi game then at this time you need to reboot
your device(s).
At this time it is not possible to load a saved game and play the loaded saved game in a WiFi game.
Recent Modifications to Game Operation:
In order to make it easier to play the game "zoom crosses" have been added. Besides the game board there
are four green crosses drawn. In addition to touching the board you can touch these crosses. When you
touch a zoom cross the screen zooms in on the quarter of the board associated with that zoom cross. For
example, there is a zoom cross near the lower right of the board. If you touch that then you zoom in on
the lower right quadrant of the board. After you have zoomed in you can touch the board and interact with
the game as you normally do. For example, to move a piece this way, touch the zoom cross for the quadrant
of the piece you wish to move. After the zoom, touch the square of the piece you wish to move (let us
assume there is only one piece there). After you touch the square/piece the piece is selected and the screen
automatically zooms back out. Decide where you want the piece to move and touch the zoom cross of the quadrant
where the move-to square is. Then touch the exact move-to square. You have made your move. The zoom
crosses were primarily added to help facilitate selection of squares for small displays but it is useful
whenever you have difficulty selecting a square. Note that you can always use the Emergency Square Select
under File to select a square. That way, you never have to touch the game board to move a piece. Note that
assuming a Black View of the board that the square at the farthest to the left of the nearest row is the square
with the coordinates row == 1 and column == 1. The square on the row nearest to you and the furthest to the
right is row 1 column 10. The zoom crosses are available in the White View and are available in both portrait
and landscape orientations of the mobile device.
Another modification has been made to improve your ability to control the game. This modification helps you
to correctly touch the right square. Under File you touch Fix Views and Screen Touch Points for this Install
to access this functionality. You can do two things here. You can modify (just for the Landscape orientation)
the view you see for all eight board views. You can change where you look at the board from and the exact
point on the board you look at in that view. The purpose of allowing this modification is to make it so
this game can be properly 'touched' on any mobile device. If, for any given view, the view you see on your
particular mobile device does not closely match the view that is normally seen (you can look at all the different
Views on the Steam store page to determine what the View should look like) then you can change to look from
location and the look to location to make the view become what it should be. Why would this be necessary?
Because although the game software installed on all the game devices is exactly the same, the exact view shown
differs due to a difference in the function of the hardware and the OpenGL implementation on that device. For
example, in a correctly drawn Black View on a Nexus 10, the nearest row to you just barely is not cut off. You
can see just a tiny bit a background color between the nearest row and the end of the screen. When the Black View
is drawn on a Nexus 9 there is much more background color visible. The view has shifted noticeably. Fortunately,
for a Nexus 9, the view has not shifted enough to destroy the ability to touch the squares. On a Nexus 7, for the
Black View, the view shifts differently, Now, the Black View clips off a sliver of the nearest row. Again,
fortunately, the view shift has not destroyed the ability the touch the squares. If the view shift for a particular
devices does shift too much then you can use the Fix screen to change the view, make the view match what it should
be, and the touch ability will start working again. If you do not want to do that and the shifted view is not
too distorted then you can alternatively use the Learning button in the Fix screen to learn the touch points of the
shifted view. Once the device learns the new screen it will remember/know where every square is. After you complete
the learning process reboot the device and it will use it's new learning to control identifying touching of the board.
As of this time, the ability to learn fails on the Nexus 6P. Fortunately, the view shift is not enough on a 6P to destroy the
basic touch ability, the zoom crosses and the associated touch ability work, and the emergency square select works
on the Nexus 6P.
Steam Windows version: The newest version runs on Steam under Windows, is fully animated, and supports online multiple player games. Leaderboards and Achievements are provided. You can control how much animation you want to see. You can play online games with your Steam friends. To do so, click File then click Play Online. First you must start either a Private or Public Server. It does not matter which. Then you invite a friend. If you friend is already playing this game then only one invitation will be required. If your friend is not playing this game then possibly you will need to send two invitations. The first invitation gets your friends attention and gets the friend to start the game. Once that is done, the friend can join you. Once your friend has joined you can click Start Game. You and your friend will be prompted to choose what color you want to play. Conflicts are resolved randomly. Next you and your friend can negotiate which rules you will use. If you want a certain change then make a change using Play Change the same way you would during a local multiplayer game (Human-vs-Human, hotseat play). Your opponent can either accept or reject any request you make as can you (including a request to load a saved game). You can load pre-built scenarios or old multiplayer games you and your friend saved previously. Once negotiations are finished one of you two must end the negotiations. At any time during the game, either player can trigger a save of the multiple player game. A save of the game is written to both computers and can be reloaded later but only by the exact same players who are the playing the same color they had when the saves were created. Note that saving a multiple player game allows an opponent to cause a file to be created on your computer but this does not involve the transmission of a file from their computer to yours. On each computer the save file is generated based completely on local data. In other words, your opponent does not transfer a file to your computer. The only thing that gets transferred is the name of the file to be written. Theoretically there is no way for an opponent to see your hidden moves either!
The Windows version does not have an artificial intelligence. It will not play a game with you. However, when you buy the game you get both the Windows and Linux/SteamOS version at the same time. The Linux/SteamOS version is the older version and it does have an artificial intelligence. All you have to do is add Linux to your Windows PC and load and play the game there to play against the computer. The whole purpose of Linux is to be non-destructively added to a Windows PC. At boot time you choose whether to start Windows or Linux. The website for this game has detailed instructions on how to add Linux to your PC. You need about 45 gigabytes free to add Linux and you need 45 minutes for the installation. Downloading Linux may take a couple of hours depending on the speed of your Internet connection.