The problems you describe with the "drop" feature are pretty close to what I suspected. That's why I said it would be "later." (And since I have yet to even think of a game that uses it, I'm in no hurry for it myself.)
If you ever do start working on it, I think some of the load can be taken by keeping a running score for each square for how useful a certain move (of one space) from that square would be for a drop. Something similar could also be done for how vulnerable the space is, and from what direction; this could evaluate how useful the space is as a block (since a drop can also be used to block a slider's or rider's move from check or capture). Those functions, which would activate only if drops are active, and could be calculated for each combination of piece and open space. That method is kind of crude and rough compared to "evaluating the future," but it's a possibility.
I suppose I could let the user enter the matrix per row, and then assign that row to a piece (the moving piece). Then there could be an Nx2 auxiliary board displayed, which on the upper rank shows all participating piece types, and pieces could be dragged to the lower rank to indicate what the moving piece should change to when it captures the piece displayed above it.
This does strike me as a very useful method. The matrix would be a separate table, I take it?
The problems you describe with the "drop" feature are pretty close to what I suspected. That's why I said it would be "later." (And since I have yet to even think of a game that uses it, I'm in no hurry for it myself.)
If you ever do start working on it, I think some of the load can be taken by keeping a running score for each square for how useful a certain move (of one space) from that square would be for a drop. Something similar could also be done for how vulnerable the space is, and from what direction; this could evaluate how useful the space is as a block (since a drop can also be used to block a slider's or rider's move from check or capture). Those functions, which would activate only if drops are active, and could be calculated for each combination of piece and open space. That method is kind of crude and rough compared to "evaluating the future," but it's a possibility.
This does strike me as a very useful method. The matrix would be a separate table, I take it?