Needs some kind of tutorial

[Jonman[GWJ]]

I've booted this up, and it's baffling. I read the rules, but they don't help. Example puzzles are necessary, to demonstrate how the mechanics work.

[Jonman[GWJ]]

I accidentally solved Puzzle 1, and I don't understand how. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2174498790
How is that checkmate? The black king can move right or right-down and be out of check???

I DON'T UNDERSTAND?!

[Jonman[GWJ]]

Puzzle 2 is also baffling: I'm supposed to get checkmate in one move, but I can't see a way check both enemy kings - I only have three pieces to move - my king is too far from the opponent's kings to matter, I can only move one rook across timelines.
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1483324826177682474/EB2E54A3A1E3B5ABE2D1F17C96A21F2C59D21888/

WHAT AM I MISSING?

[nfreakct]

For the 1st puzzle, it's checkmate because you can send your rook back to the 1st move of the game in the top-right corner position where it's impossible for the enemy king to avoid getting out of check.

[Jonman[GWJ]]

I appreciate your attempt to explain that, but it still doesn't make sense.

Sure, the rook in the top right of the last move is putting the king in the 1st move in check, but THAT king could simply move diagonally left-down out of check?

Like, I don't understand how that results in a checkmate.

[BaronBliss]

Originally posted by JonmanGWJ:

I appreciate your attempt to explain that, but it still doesn't make sense.

Sure, the rook in the top right of the last move is putting the king in the 1st move in check, but THAT king could simply move diagonally left-down out of check?

Like, I don't understand how that results in a checkmate.

Not sure if this is correct but my understanding is that you can't move pieces on earlier boards. So since the first board is well into the past the opposing player couldn't move their king out of check which makes the rook move checkmate

[shine.leo]

For puzzle 2 you just have to move the rook so that it threatens a king backwards in time.

[Jonman[GWJ]]

Riiiiiiiight. I think I grok why these things are working. BaronBliss' explanation worked for me.

[Dancing]

I agree, I am getting Checkmated/Checkmating... and I am so confused how it's coming to those conclusions

[TemmieNeko]

Originally posted by Dancing:

I agree, I am getting Checkmated/Checkmating... and I am so confused how it's coming to those conclusions

seems you create a " future " board whenever you move a piece, and the " present board " ( the one you just moved on ) becomes the " past board "
You cannot affect the past, it already happened. A move you make in real time, becomes past tense, and the anticipated move becomes present tense > future tense.
If i understand how this game is setting it up.

[bluecheez]

Moves that have already occurred are unchangable. (As you probably understand when you go back in time, you DONT alter the origional past, but create a new worldline that has altered branching outcomes.) Checkmate in chess is defined as when your opponent cannot do anything to stop their king from getting killed. Because of this, you can "checkmate" someone simply by attacking a king that is in one of these unchangable pasts. It's because of this feature that these time-travel games actually in general lead to checkmate much more quickly than a normal game of chess.

In the case of the mate-in-1 with the knight. Your knight can go 2moves on the board and one back in time. This means that if your knight is ever 2 tiles in a row away from the enemy king, it's likely checkmate. It's checkmate because there's nothing they can do on their next turn to stop you from taking their king. (because you will go back in time and move 2 tiles to kill it!)

If you hit the red exclamation point, you can click on it to see exactly what is attacking what, which I think will make the checkmate more clear.

[bluecheez]

As for who's turn it is:
it's your turn in the game if it is your turn on the "least developed worldline." That is, if you send a unit further in time than the present, it switches to your opponents turn (because they now the "least developed worldline". They could either choose to make a move on that board (and then i'd be your turn), OR they could send a piece further back in time (making the opponent now have the least developed worldline)!

In these checkmate situations, it indicates that no matter what they do, there's no board that can flip the turn order in a way that stops your king from being killed. In the knight example, if you tried to send king back in time, it wouldn't stop the checkmate becaue the knight is actually attacking the king that is "locked in time" in the past!

[John Landers]

The best way I find to understand this mess was launching a game with the simplest IA on the smallest board configuration, and I win the first one. Then after a few game puzzle seems easier to understand.

[themadichib0d]

So basically as Im understanding it, you can only change the past/create a branching timeline if youre able to send a unit back in time. So you could avoid mate if sending a unit back in time to block was legal yes? Hence why Knights are so powerful, you can't block them, you have to be able to capture it now, not in the past.