Commenters play White.
Kongo plays Black.
Instrument activation and application each take a move.
Instruments have only one charge each.
White has a "fusion" instrument.
When activated, choose a friendly piece.
When applied, move the chosen piece. All friendly pieces around it will copy the movement (move together). Both captures and friendly-fire are possible.
White has an "entanglement" instrument.
When applied, choose one friendly piece of each type, exchange the positions of the 6 pieces. Only shuffles, where all 6 pieces are get a new position, are allowed.
White has a "gravity" instrument.
When applied, all pieces "seen" by white queen are moved towards her and land next to her.
Black has a "reality anchor" instrument.
When activated it records a 3x3 square around the black king.
When applied, it rewrites the 3x3 square around the king to whatever state was recorded. Both piece deletion and duplication are thus possible.
Black has a "time machine" instrument.
When applied, choose any piece and move it 2 positions back in time.
Black has a "continental shift" instrument.
When applied, pick right/left/up/down. All friendly pieces are moved 1 square in the given direction. Piece is not moved if there is an obstruction.
Game takes place in the comments. When a comment with a proposed white move gets 3 likes from other people the move is made.
Related questions
@traders I do not like the idea of taking instruments away. But I see that current setting does not encourage you much? I gave reality anchor myself because I like it most out of the mechanics I invented and I know that my Elo is less than the Elo of hivemind. If you don't think that's interesting, then I will give a new pair of instruments.
White has a "teleport" instrument.
When applied, allows to use application on the next move.
When applied, all pieces around white king except pawns get teleported to empty locations chosen by White.
Black has an "shortrange wormhole".
When applied, swap locations of the black king and a piece next to him.
In exchange for that I will limit thinking time for white down to 3 days. Do you guys agree for that update? 3 likes to say yes.
@KongoLandwalker I am not really against the current setting, it is just that I want to do more theory creating before the first move exactly because black has an advantage.
@KongoLandwalker Personally I will be happy to make a move if you make continental shift takes two moves (activate -> do nothing). This is mainly because using continental shift on move 1 to go downwards seems way too powerful combined with reality anchor
@SavioMak I see you have already bet on the first version of the rules. Reasonable stop for updating the rules.
@SavioMak I am not ready to downgrade continental shift, because I wanted to use it midgame/endgame to shuffle position.
The tactic you proposed is like having another starting position - does not feel as having an instrument.
@KongoLandwalker Btw my suggestion is not two consecutive moves, it is just that you need to waste one more move at any time before using the instumental
I am thinking Black's advantage is just too great. Reality anchor will be used to add several valuable pieces. Early on a fusion attack move is easy to block with pawn obstructions. Once black completes reality anchor, black will just have too great a material advantage. However I accept that it is possible that when it is played out it will seem completely different. Perhaps there will be lots of fusion move threats that have to be countered without using up the one fusion attack?
@ChristopherRandles I think the key for white is to win fast and prevents the piece duplication. Since reality anchor can only be activated when the king is not on the edge, black needs to do some sort of bongcloud opening possibly, and maybe white has a chance to punish it?
@SavioMak good point. Before the game has started, We can redefine gravity instrument to act on your king, not queen. It becomes a defensive endgame thing, but independent from queen.
On the other hand, we do not know whether concentrated power is a downside or benefit. I would prefer to not change anything and see what happens in game.
@KongoLandwalker I don't really mind, just sharing information to other players that more attention should be put on strategizing around the queen
@KongoLandwalker What if it is activated while king is on the edge? Does out of bounds counts as empty or null? (i.e. when applied, will the originally OOB locaitons relative to the king be rewritten as empty or remain unchanged)
@KongoLandwalker You said captures are impossible, so time machine cannot be applied if the destination (d2) has a piece? What about the intermediate location (h5), does it also have to be empty?