H. G. Muller wrote on Fri, Nov 8, 2019 08:04 AM UTC:
The Q=9 > LH=8 was from http://tenjiku-shogi.net/tutor3.htm, which discusses the 'modern' version of the game, i.e. with full Lion power for the LH. (Which, IMO, also is the historic move.) But I admit that these values are controversial. In the ongoing game (#2188) at the PBeM server the opponent of my engine happily traded his Queen for the bot's Lion Hawk. As neither of the remaining Q/LH has engaged in battle so far, it has still remains to be seen who had the good deal there. It should also be taken into account that a Queen is promotable, and a Lion Hawk not. But the Q=9 value comes from a rule set that uses the TSA move for the Free Eagle, which is a rather insignificant promotion (no igui, just 4 extra jump moves to already accessible squares).
It is difficult to guess whether GG or VG is the strongest general in Suzumu Shogi. I think that even in Tenjiku Shogi GG is only better than VG because of the ranking. An area move is very powerful (up to 48 targets!), and could very well be worth more even than the orthogonal jump-captures over arbitrarily many pieces. Limiting it to jumping 2 pieces would obviously weaken the latter further.
As to the number of checks: it is obvious that the conventional rules for perpetual checking can make some theoretically won end-games very tedious, and in combination with a 50-move type rule possibly even draws. I am not sure that limiting this to 4 doesn't hurt the game, though, by making it too easy to draw. On such a big board it might be too easy to deliver 4 checks before a King can reach shelter. Think of a Rook versus an exposed King; normally the King would just creep up to a checking Rook, after which it cannot continue checking, and the checked side gets the opportunity to start his counter attack (say in K + Ln vs K + R). Especially with Jumping Generals it could be difficult to defend against checking, when the board population thins.
The Q=9 > LH=8 was from http://tenjiku-shogi.net/tutor3.htm, which discusses the 'modern' version of the game, i.e. with full Lion power for the LH. (Which, IMO, also is the historic move.) But I admit that these values are controversial. In the ongoing game (#2188) at the PBeM server the opponent of my engine happily traded his Queen for the bot's Lion Hawk. As neither of the remaining Q/LH has engaged in battle so far, it has still remains to be seen who had the good deal there. It should also be taken into account that a Queen is promotable, and a Lion Hawk not. But the Q=9 value comes from a rule set that uses the TSA move for the Free Eagle, which is a rather insignificant promotion (no igui, just 4 extra jump moves to already accessible squares).
It is difficult to guess whether GG or VG is the strongest general in Suzumu Shogi. I think that even in Tenjiku Shogi GG is only better than VG because of the ranking. An area move is very powerful (up to 48 targets!), and could very well be worth more even than the orthogonal jump-captures over arbitrarily many pieces. Limiting it to jumping 2 pieces would obviously weaken the latter further.
As to the number of checks: it is obvious that the conventional rules for perpetual checking can make some theoretically won end-games very tedious, and in combination with a 50-move type rule possibly even draws. I am not sure that limiting this to 4 doesn't hurt the game, though, by making it too easy to draw. On such a big board it might be too easy to deliver 4 checks before a King can reach shelter. Think of a Rook versus an exposed King; normally the King would just creep up to a checking Rook, after which it cannot continue checking, and the checked side gets the opportunity to start his counter attack (say in K + Ln vs K + R). Especially with Jumping Generals it could be difficult to defend against checking, when the board population thins.