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# Kyrras
Inspired by George R. R. Martin's Cyvasse

## Overview

In Kyrras, the goal is to capture the opposing player's king while protecting your own. 

Imagine chess, but on a hexagonal board with a new cast of pieces, each with unique movement abilities and advantages. Kyrras combines the strategic depth of chess with the spatial reasoning of games like Go, all on a distinctive battlefield with territory that changes each game.

## What Makes Kyrras Special

- **Dynamic Terrain:** The mountain placement phase lets you help shape the battlefield before the game even begins.
- **Directional Defense:** Elephants and Spears can only be attacked from certain angles, creating interesting defensive formations.
- **Command Structure:** Your Viceroy empowers your other pieces. If lost, your army is weakened until you select a replacement.
- **Multiple Paths to Victory:** You can win through aggressive attacks or by outlasting your opponents in multiplayer games.
- **Balanced Forces:** Each piece type has strengths and vulnerabilities, encouraging diverse strategies.

## Quick-Start Tips

Kyrras rewards spatial thinking, long-term planning, and tactical flexibility. Here are some tips to get started: 
- Position your Mountains strategically to protect approach routes to your King
- Keep your Viceroy protected but active - it's your second most valuable piece
- Use your directional pieces (Elephants and Spears) to create defensive walls
- Position your Dragon for maximum mobility while keeping it away from groups of enemy Rabble
- Look for opportunities to promote your Rabble pieces to more powerful Raiders

## Board

The board is a hexagonal tile board with a radius of 4 for two player games, 5 for three player games, and 6 for four player games. The board is divided in half for two player games, with the two players facing each other. For three player games, the board is divided into three sections, with the three players facing each other. For four player games, the board is divided into four sections, with the four players facing each other.

## Setup

1. Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player places one Mountain piece anywhere on the board until all Mountain pieces have been placed.

2. Players then take turns placing 2 pieces at a time in the hexes of their home territory (the closest rows of hexes to the edge of the board where they are seated, not going past the center of the board). 

Note: in games with more than two players, a player’s home territory may slightly overlap with the home territory of a player seated directly next to them; both players may place pieces in this “contested” territory. Only one piece may occupy a hex tile at a time, (except temporarily in the course of piece movement for certain pieces that can move through enemy or friendly territory on their way to another hex tile).

3. All placements are visible to all players.

4. Setup continues until all pieces are placed.

5. A setup must not leave any King threatened by an enemy piece. Random and automatic deployments always respect this; when you place pieces by hand, the game warns you if a King would start threatened.

## Gameplay

Players take turns, moving one piece on their turn, until only one King is left on the board. Play passes clockwise. 

- **Elimination:** a player is eliminated when their King is captured, when they are checkmated in a game with three or more players left, or when they resign or forfeit in a game with three or more players left. All of their remaining pieces leave the board (only a captured King counts as captured), any Viceroy replacement they owe is dropped, and play skips them from then on. The last player left wins. When an elimination ends the game, the final position stays on the board.
- **Checkmate:** a player whose King is threatened and who has no legal move is checkmated. With two players left, the opponent wins; with three or more, the checkmated player is eliminated and play continues.
- **Resigning:** with two players left, resigning gives the game to the opponent; with three or more, only the resigning player is eliminated.
- **Stalemate:** a player who is not in check but has no legal move is stalemated. With two players left, the game is a draw. With three or more, the stalemated player chooses to **pass** (skip this turn) or **forfeit** (they are eliminated). If every remaining player passes in turn with no move in between, the game is a draw.
- **Draws:** besides stalemate, the game is a draw when only Kings are left on the board (Mountains do not count), since a King can never capture a King. There is no draw by repetition and no move limit.
- **First round:** no King may be captured until every player has taken their first turn. Check is still shown and you still may not leave your own King threatened, but nobody can lose or draw before their first turn: a player with no legal move before their first turn simply passes.
- **Capturing the last King:** capturing the last opposing King ends the game at once, so it is allowed even if it leaves your own King threatened. In a 2-player game this is every King capture. With three or more players still in the game, a King capture that would leave your own King threatened is not allowed.

## Piece Movement Rules

### Immobile Pieces

**Mountains** (M) (If 2 players: 4 per player; if 3 players: 2 per player; if 4 players: 2 per player)

- Cannot be moved once placed
- Blocks movement
- Cannot be captured or moved by any means

### Royal Pieces

**King** (K) (1 per player)

- Moves 1 hex in any direction
- Can capture once per turn
- Cannot move through other pieces
- Must be captured to win the game
- Special Protection Rules:
  - Cannot move into a threatened hex (a hex that an enemy piece could reach on its next move; Elephants and Spears threaten in all six directions, because they may rotate before moving)
  - Cannot capture pieces in threatened hexes
  - Cannot be captured by Rabble pieces or by another King (Kings never capture Kings, and since a King threatens its neighbouring hexes, two Kings can never move next to each other)
  - Can only be captured by non-Rabble, non-King pieces if they have at least one supporting friendly piece (from the capturing player or another player, but not from the defending player) that can also reach the King's position

### Heavy Pieces

**Viceroy** (V) (1 per player)

- Moves up to 3 hexes in a straight line, in any of the six directions
- Can capture once per turn
- Cannot change direction during movement
- Can move through friendly pieces but not enemy pieces
- If captured while King still lives, the defending player may choose another piece to become the Viceroy. That piece stays where it is on the board, but loses its special ability and becomes the new Viceroy. The defending player may elect not to immediately replace their Viceroy, but all their other pieces lose their Special Abilities until a new Viceroy is chosen. The replacement Viceroy is chosen at the beginning of the player’s turn before moving or capturing.

**Dragon** (D) (1 per player)

- Moves up to 4 hexes in a straight line, in any of the six directions
- Can capture once per turn
- Cannot change direction during movement
- Can move through any pieces (friendly or enemy)
- Special Abilities:
- Cannot be captured by lone Rabble pieces; Requires 2+ adjacent Rabble pieces to be captured

### Directional Pieces (Elephants and Spears):

- At the start of the piece's movement, the player may rotate it to face any direction. Only the piece being moved may be rotated, and rotating alone is not a turn: you must still move it
- Any movement must then continue in the direction the piece is facing
- A piece that doesn't move on its turn maintains its current facing
- Frontal abilities (like immunity to capture) protect one side of the hex: the side the piece is facing
- Because they can rotate before moving, Elephants and Spears threaten (and support King captures) along all six directions, not only the way they face. Their armour still uses the direction they currently face
- Rotating is not a move and does not use up your turn
- The piece may only change direction before it moves, not after.

**Elephants** (E) (2 per player)

- Moves up to 2 hexes in a straight line
- Must move in the direction it is facing, but can change direction before moving
- Can capture once per turn
- Cannot change direction during movement
- Cannot move through other pieces
- Special Abilites:
- Cannot be captured head on (from the direction it faces) except by another Elephant, a Dragon, or a Knight
- Can capture Spears head on
- Can capture other Elephants head on
- Can capture all other pieces as normal

**Spears** (S) (3 per player)

- Moves up to 2 hexes in a straight line
- Must move in the direction it is facing, but can change direction before moving
- Cannot change direction during movement
- Cannot move through other pieces
- Can capture once per turn
- Special Abilities:
- Cannot be captured head on (from the direction it is facing) except by Elephants, Knights, and Dragons
- Can capture all other pieces as normal

### Mobile Pieces

**Knights** (N) (2 per player)

- Moves in an L-shape pattern: 1 hex in one direction, then 1 hex diagonally in any direction
- Can move through any pieces (friendly or enemy)
- Movement must be completed (cannot stop after first hex)
- Can capture once per turn

**Raiders** (R) (2 per player)

- Moves up to 3 hexes in a straight line, in any of the six directions
- Can capture once per turn
- Cannot change direction during movement
- Can move through friendly and enemy pieces

### Light Pieces

**Rabble** (B) (6 per player)

- Moves 1 hex in any direction
- Can capture once per turn
- Cannot move through other pieces
- Can capture Dragons only when 2+ Rabble or Raiders are adjacent to the Dragon (when playing with more than 2 players, Rabble from all players expect the defending player count towards this quota)
- Special Abilities:
- Promotes to a Raider if reaches an edge of the board not directly adjacent to its home edge (i.e., the edge must be on the other half of the board from where it started).

## Victory Conditions

The game can be won by:

1. Capturing an opponent's King
2. Being the last player with a King when playing with 3-4 players


# Notation System
(This is advanced content mostly intended for consistent game documentation. You can safely skip reading this if you just want to get started playing!)

## Board Coordinate System

### Hex Grid Coordinates
- The board uses an axial coordinate system with q,r coordinates
  - The center hex is (0,0)
  - q-axis runs from northwest to southeast
  - r-axis runs from southwest to northeast
  - Format: (q,r)

### Player Positions
- Players are numbered clockwise from the south position
- P1 starts at south, P2 at north in 2-player games
- P1 south, P2 northwest, P3 northeast in 3-player games
- P1 south, P2 west, P3 north, P4 east in 4-player games

## Piece Notation

### Basic Piece Symbols
- K: King
- V: Viceroy
- D: Dragon
- E: Elephant
- S: Spear
- N: Knight
- R: Raider
- B: Rabble (using B to avoid confusion with R for Raider)
- M: Mountain

### Player Ownership
- Prefix piece symbol with player number: P1K, P2D, P3S, etc.
- Mountains placed in setup have no player prefix

### Directional Pieces
For Elephants and Spears, append direction after piece symbol:
- N: North
- NE: Northeast
- SE: Southeast
- S: South
- SW: Southwest
- NW: Northwest

Example: P1E-NE (Player 1's Elephant facing northeast)

## Move Notation

### Basic Move
Format: [Piece][Start Coordinate]-[End Coordinate]
Example: P1K(0,2)-(0,3)

### Directional Piece Movement
Format: [Piece-CurrentDirection][Start]-[End][NewDirection]
Example: P1E-N(0,2)-(0,4)SE (Elephant moves and changes facing to southeast)

### Captures
Add 'x' before captured piece
Example: P1D(0,2)xP2K(0,3)

### Special Moves

#### Viceroy Replacement
Format: V:[Original Piece][Coordinate]
Example: V:P1R(2,3) (Raider at (2,3) becomes new Viceroy)

#### Rabble Promotion
Format: =[New Piece]
Example: P1B(4,2)-(5,2)=R (Rabble promotes to Raider)

## Game Notation

### Setup Phase
Format each mountain placement:
M:[Coordinate]
Example: M:(2,3)

Format each piece placement (two per turn):
[Piece][Coordinate];[Piece][Coordinate]
Example: P1K(0,1);P1V(0,2)

### Full Game Example
```
// Setup Phase - Mountains
M:(2,3)
M:(1,-2)
M:(-1,3)
M:(-2,1)

// Setup Phase - Pieces
P1K(0,6);P1V(1,5)
P2D(-1,5);P2E-N(0,5)
P1S-SE(2,4);P1R(1,4)

// Movement Phase
1. P1E-N(0,4)-(0,2)SE
2. P2S-S(-1,3)xP1B(0,3)
3. P1R(2,2)-(3,4)
4. P2D(0,1)xP1V(0,2)
5. V:P1R(3,4) // Raider becomes new Viceroy
6. P2N(-2,1)-(-1,0)
7. P1B(5,1)-(6,1)=R // Rabble promotes to Raider

```

## Special Cases

### Multiple Captures
When multiple pieces coordinate to capture (e.g., Rabble capturing Dragon):
- List all contributing pieces in parentheses
- List the piece that executes the capture first (this is the piece that actually moves to capture the target piece)
Example: (P1B(1,1),P1B(1,2))xP2D(1,0)

### Contested Territory Placements
In 3-4 player games, note contested territory placements with '*':
- Note that no hex may be occupied by more than one piece at a time, contested territory only refers to the color coding of the hex tile, not whether the hex is occupied by a piece or not
Example: P1K(0,6)*;P1V(1,5) (King placed in contested hex)

### Board Size Notation
Prefix game record with board radius:
- R4: 2-player game
- R5: 3-player game
- R6: 4-player game

Example:
```

R5 // 3-player game
Players: Alice(P1), Bob(P2), Charlie(P3)
...

````

## Usage Guidelines for Training

### Recording Live Games
1. Use algebraic notation during play
2. Note time stamps for significant moves (optional)
3. Record all special conditions and contested placements
4. Maintain an integrated log for replacements and promotions

### Game Analysis
1. Use move notation with annotations:
- ! : Strong move
- !! : Brilliant move
- ? : Questionable move
- ?? : Blunder
- !? : Interesting move
- ?! : Dubious move

Example: 5. P1D(2,3)-(4,1)!! // Brilliant tactical strike

2. Include variations in parentheses:
Example: 5. P1D(2,3)-(4,1) (5. P1D(2,3)-(3,2)? P2NxP1D)

### Digital Implementation
1. Store coordinates in zero-based array format
2. Include timestamp and move number
3. Maintain game state hash for verification
4. Record full piece state after each move

Example JSON format:
```json
{
  "moveNumber": 5,
  "timestamp": "2024-12-22T14:30:00Z",
  "notation": "P1D(2,3)-(4,1)",
  "pieceState": {
    "P1D": {"q": 4, "r": 1, "active": true},
    ...
  }
}
````