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Outer Space Chess. Space-themed game with hyperspace and regular space boards. (2x(5x8), Cells: 43) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Nicholas Kuschinski wrote on Sun, Apr 13, 2003 09:19 AM UTC:

Sorry. I was angry at the time, and felt like I had to vent it somehow. I
certainly did not mean to seem insulting to you (although I refuse to say
the same about cheesy software), and I assure you that I read your comment
in full. I will now respond to comments about the game: I feel that a
completely disinhibited nebula isn't much fun as a royal piece. Its far
too free and keeps the game from looking (intuitively at least) like it is
headed towards a conclusion. I feel it is necessary to keep it on a leash:
It increases the tactical element rediculously, as it permits interesting
combinations to be used to hold it in place, and makes defensive play much
more urgent. I had intended to create an extremely defensive game that had
a back-heavy tactical weight: Keeping the nebula surrounded. You could
certainly try this as a variant, if it suits you better, but this brings
up a sharp contrast with my original vision of the game.
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As to Antoine's comment: It seems black is behaving more agressively than
it should. The way to play this game (at least I hope so, I haven't had
the time to look into this more thoroughly) is to keep everything tightly
knit and well defended in the back. Breaking up a good defensive structure
is probably more dangerous here than in any other chess variant I have
ever seen. I have specifically chosen the lineup so that a good defensive
structure can be obtained before there is any real danger, but it must be
done quickly (of course, if your opponent is making dumb moves, it is
still possible to attack quickly and take advantage of the situation).
This analysis is rather disturbing however, and I fear that even with the
new rule that permits black to keep up with white in hyperspace the sides
may still be unequal. I am fairly certain that this game is still flawed
(most games are) but I was hoping it was less so than before. At this
stage I fear there is little I can do about it, but I may yet come up with
some burst of brilliant insight in the near future, it is hard to tell.