Ok fine, I don't think you should be able to see who is what piece. This way you you can't make assumptions such as: If I move to X location, even though Y number of pieces can attack me I'm certain my piece cannot lose. This would give the attacker the advantage of using his or her strongest piece and making it so the defender can't bank on taking cover in the line of fire.

I really don't feel like reading. So tough! I am just going to say what I want.

I think we should just make battlechess like miniture arena events. Except larger areas and open roof. This gives mages and druids a bit of an advantage. I think that after a certain amount of time, the one with the most health wins? Or something like that.

EDIT: forgot my buddies in the communes. :x

NO! You're an illegal move!

Xenthos 1 Llandros 0

Not knowing where your opponents' demicombatants are makes sense. You can make a reasonable guess based on the piece and position, but you can't throw Vathael right next to five attacking pieces without risk.

lol battlechess being about strategy.

There is no strategy in moving the guy with pit traps around the board to attack everything then just pit trap and run.

Moving into check is retarded.

Being able to even fight the King at all is retarded.

The only similarity between battlechess and chess is that you play on a chess board and your pieces have the same movement.

Beyond that it is 2 room duels with a 3 minute timer that the cheapest person can game.

No moving into check plz.

Why is being able to move into check a big deal? Why would you want to do that in the first place?

Because it makes trapping a king much harder, which tends to drag out fights.

That was Mariello's entire thing-- moving into check around pieces that weren't controlled and using them as a shield from pieces that could attack him.

If you're attacked by an NPC, you're fine. They're easily soloable by pretty much anyone.

And it means you can't trap the king very easily for this reason.

Battlechess has strategy, it's just not strategy resembling normal combat or, to be honest, anything that is interesting to play. I agree that kings shouldn't move into check and that the three minute rule is dumb. The attacker needs the advantage, but that's now how to do it. Instead, make it so that the defender is transported into the attacker's room for the duration of the fight, where the attacker has demense/ maelstrom /pits/ and the defender doesn't, instead of the other way around. Or, really, any other bonus that's not time limits.

I've never played battlechess, but it seems to me that if you want a chess game, you can just go to the chess board. Arena games should be about fighting, rather then trying to outlame your opponent I'd think... If the attacker is meant to always win, whats the point of using players as the pieces? Stronger fighters should = win, with a small impact of strategy to make it different then just randomly dueling.

I really like the idea of battlechess, but it does need some changes.

The problem is making it a worthwhile mix of chess and fighting.

I do think you shouldn't be able to tell which piece is which player, which would help some, but you're still going to know that the queen is a stronger combatant. And the attackers do need to have some advantage - a considerable one, I think - because that's how chess works and otherwise you could just have anyone as any piece, it wouldn't matter. 3 minutes and the attacker wins isn't ideal though.

edit: oh, and what's the purpose right now of allowing the king to move into check? that seems pointless and just drags games out needlessly - am I missing something?

If the king is threatened by an NPC piece, the king is not threatened at all.

Everyone has already said it all, but that has never really stopped me.

1) No moving into check
2) Transport the defender to the attacker's room, so the attacker can have a full advantage. Alternatively, give the attacker some kind of passive bonus - affliction healing, regen, something similar. After 5 minutes, if neither is dead, both are removed from the board.
3) Do not allow the enemy team to see which piece is which. You should obviously be able to tell who is who on your own team, but not on the opposing team. This will only really help until a piece attacks for the first time - after that point, whoever is attacked will tell everyone who is playing that piece, but it will still help with the setup and the flow of the beginning of the game.

Those three things seem like they would pretty much fix battlechess. It still gives the attacker an advantage and makes actual skill in chess important, but it lessens the effectiveness of cheap skill-whoring and makes combat ability actually matter.