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David Paulowich wrote on Thu, Jun 21, 2007 10:56 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Piece Values on 5x5x5: I am using the name Alicorn for the piece in Raumschach with triagonal movement and Unicorn for a piece combining the moves of Alicorn and Ferz (called a Ferzicorn by David Moeser in 2001). Wizard combines the moves of Alicorn and Bishop, this piece was used in Jim Aikin's Five Up (2001). Narwhal combines the moves of Alicorn and Rook. 'Alicorn' is the name for the horn of a unicorn, centuries ago narwhals were the main source of fake alicorns. Favourite combines the moves of Bishop and Rook, some 3D variants use it to replace the Raumschach Queen, which combines the moves of Alicorn and Bishop and Rook. Setting the value of a Knight equal to 30 points, Zillions thinks the Pawn is worth around 11 points in Raumschach. 

Alicorn=15, Rook=25, Bishop=30, Knight=30,
Unicorn=40, Narwhal=50, Wizard=55, Favourite=60, Queen=80.

Zillions tends to simply add the values of component pieces together, giving 30 + 25 + 15 = 70 for the Queen, while I believe that 80 points is a more reasonable value. Using the Queen as a benchmark, I have estimated values for Unicorn, Narwhale, Wizard and Favourite. Note that the Unicorn and Wizard can visit all 125 cells, unlike their components. Use these numbers until something better turns up - and remember that the original Zillions calculations were based on a game with Kings that moved to all 26 adjacent cells. A final note: Zillions assigned 9 points to Pawns that move straight up (Black Pawns move down) in a 5x5x5 variant I was testing - but that value may have been influenced by the fact that the Favourite was the strongest piece in the game.


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