Helios

Some-what revision to #1487

The name "Helios" (Ἥλιος) describes "Pertaining to the sun", which personifies the atomic concepts in this pretty well. If a PR is needed to put dead pieces in the center to balance, then I would accept the PR if needed.

It's time to pull out the wildcard.

Can CGAs test version https://www.chess.com/variants/custom/game/83353105 instead of the posted games? I found some issues with copycatting from yellow, forced and sharp openings, and torpedo just being too powerful in the opening post-submission.

Luckily, a fix is able to be made regarding this(see game above), though it changes the opening and endgame much significantly, similarly to the testing games without torpedo. Adding a dead pawn wall in the middle two ranks gets rid of a sharp opening and calms it significantly.

If more testing games are needed, please let me know by DMing me.

The variant's opening is 100% balanced within the first 5-10 moves, I spent more than an hour calculating all the lines possible, and there are winning moves/balancing moves for yellow and red alike.

Edit: Yellow has a materialistic advantage when copycatting red, https://www.chess.com/variants/custom/game/83353105 fixes these issues.

Welcome to a completely new game rather than variant, and this one is... Atomic. At first glance, the variant is very complex, but once you understand the basics, it is extremely fun and balanced. This is perhaps my best ever variant and is extremely fun once you understand it.

To win, score the most points by capturing pieces, stalemating the other player, or unlocking the hill. Promoted grasshoppers are sacrificed to the muncher, who is then stalemated to unlock a hill beside the royal. But beware, zugzwang can be used to stalemate you.

The variant is reminiscent of Villagers Chess, but less sharp and you can't lose as easily, and comebacks are always bound to happen. Don't be fooled by GoP, because the gameplay is actually closer to P4M.

I hope you have fun testing and playing this variant, and if the CGAs feel like they can't understand the variant, feel free to DM me.

Thanks to @samuelysfung and @yx-111aynye for testing this variant many, many times.