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This is a rough idea which is why it is in my blog and not in the Sports and Games section.
What is STARCHESS?
STARCHESS is a game of strategy, teamwork, and most of all, EPICNESS. We have had six chess matches on Team Liquid and all of them have been fine and dandy, but they have been lacking something. Team Liquid is a StarCraft site. However, plain old StarCraft gets boring. I know I only like to watch SC2 tournaments (for fun at any rate) if there's a foreigner, so I can root for him to beat the evil Korean Empire. But put them together and you get THE ARCHON OF STRATEGY GAMES. You get STARCHESS.
STARCHESS is a portmanteau of StarCraft and Chess. ChessCraft is an actual SC2 custom game so it shall not be mentioned. We do not speak of ChessCraft here. We speak of STARCHESS here.
Yes, but what IS StarChess?
There is no such thing as StarChess.
But... you just said--
There is no such thing as StarChess.
Do I have to write it in capital letters?
Affirmative. Only CAPITAL LETTERS can convey the EPICNESS that is STARCHESS.
Fine... what is STARCHESS?
STARCHESS plays exactly like regular chess. Except in regular chess, there is no action. There is no adventure. In the glory that is STARCHESS, every time you capture a piece you must fight for that square. You must invest all your pride and glory into that square. Except you can only invest once every five moves.
There are two teams of five. One team shall command the side henceforth known as white, and the other shall command the side henceforth known as black. The members of each side may deliberate as to which piece they will move for that turn, then select a move to make, and pass the turn to the other team. You may recall this is like normal chess except there are teams of five instead of players. This is also called League of Chess. However, we do not speak of League of Chess here. We speak of STARCHESS here.
This is the important bit.
When a team makes a move to capture an enemy piece, the chess portion gameplay is suspended. Here begins the StarCraft portion. Each team may select not two, not four, but ONE player blindly, without knowledge the other team's selection. These two players will do battle in a game of StarCraft. The winner of the game will secure the square for their team, whether they be the attacker or defender. The loser's piece is removed from the game.
You can lose your king this way 
This will go on anytime a capture is made. When a player chooses to bring glory to their team, they may not bring any more glory until the other four team members have also played. This means that since there are 15 pieces that are not the king per side, each member will play a maximum of SIX games of StarCraft over the duration of their STARCHESS game, with a SEVENTH for him who chooses to put the final nail in the coffin (ace match!).
Standard rules of Chess are present, except concerning checkmates. We are not pussies in STARCHESS. We don't take prisoners. The game will end when the king DIES. The team whose king dies is the loser and brings no glory to the gods of STARCHESS.
Due to this change of rules: - Check is announced, but a king is not obligated to move out of check. A king can also move into check.
- By extension, a king can castle out of check, into check, or across any square where he would be otherwise in check.
- Strategy goes out the window. You can prance your queen around and go on a killing spree if you get lucky enough with your picks.
Other comments:
- Team balance will be done to the best of my ability. There is a huge range of SC2 skills on this site, so while balancing teams (and incoming replacements) will be straightforward, a team's range of picks may be unstable. Perhaps host multiple games of STARCHESS, with different skill brackets?
- Pieces have different values according to their movement abilities. Consider having biased best-of series towards the more powerful pieces. For example, if a knight and a pawn are fighting, we could do a modified best of 3 where the knight is already one up. So the pawn needs 2 wins of SC to win, while the knight would only need 1 to keep its place. Or perhaps the movements already balance the pieces as they are?
So right now, in its unfinished state, who thinks this could turn out to be a good idea?
Poll: Would you play a game of STARCHESS?YES! (11) 52% NO! (8) 38% Maybe (1) 5% I would if I played StarCraft II (1) 5% 21 total votes Your vote: Would you play a game of STARCHESS? (Vote): YES!
(Vote): Maybe
(Vote): NO!
(Vote): I would if I played StarCraft II
Poll: For demographic purposes, what is your SC2 league?I DONT PLAY! (7) 33% Diamond! (5) 24% Platinum! (4) 19% Masters! (or gm) (3) 14% Bronze! (1) 5% Gold! (1) 5% Silver! (0) 0% 21 total votes Your vote: For demographic purposes, what is your SC2 league? (Vote): Bronze!
(Vote): Silver!
(Vote): Gold!
(Vote): Platinum!
(Vote): Diamond!
(Vote): Masters! (or gm)
(Vote): I DONT PLAY!
Poll: DO YOU LOVE CAPITAL LETTERS?YES (8) 62% Yes (5) 38% 13 total votes Your vote: DO YOU LOVE CAPITAL LETTERS? (Vote): Yes
(Vote): YES
Please leave any and all comments/questions/complaints below
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If a game is played every time a piece on the board is to be removed, wouldn't that make for a total of 32 potential games, of which each side has to elect a player to compete in? I guess one king must survive, so its more like a potential 31 games total. Divided by 5, I get a maximum of 7 games one player may play per game of STARCHESS.
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On July 20 2013 09:10 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:
This means that since there are 15 pieces that are not the king, each member will play a maximum of THREE games of StarCraft over the duration of their STARCHESS game.
Logical FAILURE here. Each player has 15 pieces that are not the king, so up to SIX games per person are possible over the duration of a STARCHESS game (or possibly SEVEN games for two lucky players).
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Ah yes you two are correct. Changes have been made.
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United States7572 Posts
mmmmmmmm, I love starches
![[image loading]](http://www.criticalbench.com/images/know-resist-starch1.jpg)
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Yeah, I totally read the title as STARCHNESS. Needless to say I was surprised when I opened the thread, expecting something more like the pic above.
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This is incredibly awesome. Just some game suggestions:
Preface:
Starchess is a classical adaption of the time-less game Chess, with a small twist. In regular chess, there is no action, no adventure; there is no exertion of competition! Starchess is a team-based game, waged over a seemingly normal chess board where one’s team wages The War of Glory for the Squares. The Team captain is in charge of playing the actual physical game of chess, yet when he is attempting to either take or defend a piece, a challenge for the glory of the square commences. Challenges explained more later. Standard rules of Chess are present.
General Rules:
• Check is announced, but a king is not obligated to move out of check. A king can also move into check.
• By extension, a king can castle out of check, into check, or across any square where he would be otherwise in check.
• Strategy goes out the window. You can prance your queen around and go on a killing spree if you get lucky enough with your picks.
Roles:
Team Captain: The player in charge of making the actual moves. The team captain must be comparable in skill to the opposing team’s captain. He shall receive no help from the rest of the team involving the physical chess game, but may be advised in which participant(s) to select.
Teammates: Shall participate in The War of Glory for the Squares. Shall fight for their team through competition in the various challenges.
Team Balance:
The original Starcraft based Starchess has been revamped to prevent team balance becoming an issue. Now, the challenge for The War of Glory for the Square, is decided upon my the declared attacker. For instance, take the move Bxb3. The Bishop wielding player will declare a challenge, ranging from a normal game of starcraft, team games, Arcade, or even other activites that extend beyond the starcraft realm. Once the challenge is declared, both teams blindly (unbeknownst to their opponents) select their participant(s), and reveal simultaneously. If a team game is selected, the
Piece Valuing:
The attacking player, the bishop from the example above, shall consider and propose an advantage pieces have over another when their values are not equivalent. The defender must accept these conditions, and they are in progress for the remainder of the game.
Eg: When a bishop challenges a pawn for spatial possession, they must play a modified best of 3, in which the bishop is already up one game.
Eg: When the bishop challenges the pawn for spatial possession, the pawn must not mine for the first 20 seconds of the game.
Eg: When the bishop challenges the pawn for spatial possession, the Bishop is already up in one point of the acclaimed game Starstrikers.
Eg: When the bishop challenges the pawn for spatial possession, the Bishop is already up in 10 points of a micro tournament, in which the entire team participates.
Please note. The king assumes equal value to any attacking, or defending piece.
Winning Conditions:
Once a challenge is won by one team, he successfully retains the square. If the attacker wins The War of Glory for the Square, then he takes the square. If the defender wins The War of Glory for the Square, then the opponent’s move is made void, and his turn is completed.
Checkmate occurs when the king is taken, and the game is finished. Winning team records their blows in the book of The War of Glory for the Squares, and finds the next challenger to remain king.
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This sounds like it takes a long time to finish. But inn true nerd fashion I recommend the whole game be played in one sitting, with lots of coffee Monster.
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heres how you fix this, make each time you capture a piece a mini micro battle rather than a whole game of sc.
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On July 20 2013 14:13 XXXSmOke wrote:
heres how you fix this, make each time you capture a piece a mini micro battle rather than a whole game of sc.
Agreed. It would take forever to play all those games of Starcraft II. Micro battles would still be fun and would take considerably less time.
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Why not just play an SC series? The actual chess is pretty irrelevant when SC decides which piece dies, regardless of who the attacker is.
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On July 20 2013 14:51 esReveR wrote:Show nested quote +On July 20 2013 14:13 XXXSmOke wrote:
heres how you fix this, make each time you capture a piece a mini micro battle rather than a whole game of sc. Agreed. It would take forever to play all those games of Starcraft II. Micro battles would still be fun and would take considerably less time.
TL chess takes forever as is.
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Haha I saw your idea in the Balance Chess blog (I think that was the one). I like the idea, even though it sounds like it would take forever. I'm assuming we don't have to create a battle-report for each game we play right?
I wouldn't be adverse to playing in this I think.
An idea: How about whenever a match is played, an observer streams it (and maybe commentates idk) and posts it up on here so we can all watch who won and what happened in game.
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We can do that.
Personally I can't commentate because people take offense to my 5:4 monitor, but I'd be more than happy to take volunteers.
So here are some things I'm definitely implementing from Caissa's post - if the attacker wins, the capture goes through, otherwise he just loses his turn but no piece dies. Also we can have 2v2's where each side has one Diamond-Master player and one Bronze-Plat player. A lot of strategizing could be done on ordering teams. Each team may choose which they would like to do, or maybe just have a rotation.
We'll have some leeway for SC games so people can find each other, like a week, while teams have 1 day to make normal moves.
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I'm going to launch this on Monday, August 5th once I come back from vacation, give a month for players, a sizable pool of replacements, commentators, etc., and hopefully get everything ready and started by the beginning of September. We've got a little over half the people voting saying "yes", so hopefully the Sports and Games forum greets this with as much enthusiasm.
Anyone who wants to stream and/or commentate at least one game (games will be irregular and probably span an entire year), send me a PM!
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United States5162 Posts
On July 20 2013 10:26 sob3k wrote:mmmmmmmm, I love starches
LMAO that's exactly what I thought when I saw the title.
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Rofl... I have no idea why you never cited me for inspiration.  5/5
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It seems that there is not really a strategy in the chessplaying? All pieces are of equal value, so it only makes sense to protect the king with all your pieces.
Would it not be more fun if the starcraft game was played with possible handicaps on one side, depending on the respective value of the pieces on the square?
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EPT
