H. G. Muller wrote on Sun, May 9, 2021 03:26 PM UTC:
I am scanning these pages to see if any quality armies have been proposed that I could add to my 'universal' CwdA diagram, and came across this one. So let me join the discussion, albeit a bit late:
The claim that the lame multi-path pieces are weaker than B4, R4, Q4 in the end-game seems (1) questionable, and (2) not very relevant. Not relevant because when they are overwhelmingly strong in the middle-game, the Shooters will enter the end-game with such a large material advantage that they will still have an easy win. And for the Hero, the ability to jump seems extremely valuable even in the end-game: it can protect a passer from behind, and would still attack the squares in front of it, so that the passer cannot be blocked.
Thus my estimate is that this army is far too strong. What I once did measure is that Q3AD on 8x8 is exactly as strong as a Queen (opening value). But the War Elephant here is even better than this: it can also hop to the third square. Also, a pair of unlike FA is about as strong as two Knights, which makes the FA hardly weaker than a lone Bishop. The ability to reach the 2nd square jumping rather than sliding is apparently worth nearly as much as all the more distant moves together. And the Shaman is so much stronger than that, as it can also reach the 3rd square, in a way that would require two obstacles to block it..
When I am done with my current tests on lame ski-sliders, I will try the Shatranjian Shooters against FIDE, but my prediction is that they will completely crush it.
I am scanning these pages to see if any quality armies have been proposed that I could add to my 'universal' CwdA diagram, and came across this one. So let me join the discussion, albeit a bit late:
The claim that the lame multi-path pieces are weaker than B4, R4, Q4 in the end-game seems (1) questionable, and (2) not very relevant. Not relevant because when they are overwhelmingly strong in the middle-game, the Shooters will enter the end-game with such a large material advantage that they will still have an easy win. And for the Hero, the ability to jump seems extremely valuable even in the end-game: it can protect a passer from behind, and would still attack the squares in front of it, so that the passer cannot be blocked.
Thus my estimate is that this army is far too strong. What I once did measure is that Q3AD on 8x8 is exactly as strong as a Queen (opening value). But the War Elephant here is even better than this: it can also hop to the third square. Also, a pair of unlike FA is about as strong as two Knights, which makes the FA hardly weaker than a lone Bishop. The ability to reach the 2nd square jumping rather than sliding is apparently worth nearly as much as all the more distant moves together. And the Shaman is so much stronger than that, as it can also reach the 3rd square, in a way that would require two obstacles to block it..
When I am done with my current tests on lame ski-sliders, I will try the Shatranjian Shooters against FIDE, but my prediction is that they will completely crush it.