George Duke wrote on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 04:42 PM UTC:
TABLE OF SOVEREIGN VALUES (VI) There are not so incidental variant Kings
P/T P/V Mate# and win conditions among thousands of
DIMAECHAER 3.5 5 presentations by the modern CV artists.
HOPLIT 3.5 5 King, however, is remarkably stable across
HOPLOMACH 3.5 5 all forms, Xiangqi to current f.i.d.e.
RETIOR 3.5 5 OrthoChess. It figures that 'Mate#' is
PEGNIOR 3.5 5 mandatorily one of the two numbers com-
SAGITTAR 3.5 5 prising the complete SOVEREIGN VALUE. Each
THRAEX 4.0 4 SOVEREIGN PIECE-TYPE has both its piece
VELES 4.0 4 value V and Mating Number M. One-stepping
RANGER 3.5 2 King, the four directions become eight,
SPEARSMAN 3.75 2 power and vulnerability -- eternal
attributes. From first conception in East/South Asia two millenniums
ago, one King per side and how to run Him down, emulating own's own; today more scientifically
the question exactly how many attackers sufficient, expressed in the
Mate#. Mate# is generally stable across boards 64 to 144: 1,2,3,4,5,6, or 7, or interesting cases to come findably higher, legitimately Sovereign. However, that should not be read as *always* the same between extremes 64 and 144 for a given specific piece-type, just usually so, and convenient to begin assigning values. Two numbers then complete definition a p-t, V and M, without which name and definition by themselves represent mere art for art's sake. Bifurcators above again, the eight more, attain clarity
attacking/capturing/mating first leg; the challenging other half of them
capture second leg and may all have Mate# '5'(provisional).
'Provisional' in that subject to determining for sure whether fixed checkmate set-ups each bifurcator are attainable in practice against Black best play. This Spearsman and Ranger are Outback Chess.