I am wondering if it wouldn't be better to restrict the rifle capture of Viper and Cobra to the forward directions, and give it a normal move+capture in the other directions. This makes them more similar to Chu Shogi's Horned Falcon and Soaring Eagle, which they are caricatures of. These would then have exactly the same rifle captures.
Originally I wanted to avoid asymmetry, but there is really no reason for that. As this is a shogi variant, and Gold and Silver already participate as asymmetric pieces. With all its orthogonal steps rifle captures the Viper would be color bound, which is a bit strange for a piece of which you have only one. Making some of those normal moves would lift the color binding. It would allow Bishops (which promote to Viper) to promote to a piece that is not color bound, while the Silver, which promotes to Bishop, is not color bound, so that you can choose on which color you promote it. So you would not easily end up with two color-bound pieces on the same color.
I am wondering if it wouldn't be better to restrict the rifle capture of Viper and Cobra to the forward directions, and give it a normal move+capture in the other directions. This makes them more similar to Chu Shogi's Horned Falcon and Soaring Eagle, which they are caricatures of. These would then have exactly the same rifle captures.
Originally I wanted to avoid asymmetry, but there is really no reason for that. As this is a shogi variant, and Gold and Silver already participate as asymmetric pieces. With all its orthogonal steps rifle captures the Viper would be color bound, which is a bit strange for a piece of which you have only one. Making some of those normal moves would lift the color binding. It would allow Bishops (which promote to Viper) to promote to a piece that is not color bound, while the Silver, which promotes to Bishop, is not color bound, so that you can choose on which color you promote it. So you would not easily end up with two color-bound pieces on the same color.