Welcome to the Genetess V1.00 Rules Board page.
The picture below shows a Genetess V1.00 board midway through an example game, as seen by the green player.
The key features of this example board are now described in more detail.
Fog of War
Genetess V1.00 implements a fog of war which prevents players seeing parts of the board that are out of range from their own pieces. Details of how far a piece can see are given in the description of the "D" genetic code. Our example shows a view of the board as seen by the green player, who does not yet have enough pieces spread across the board to see every square. The squares green can't see are marked in grey on the example board (e.g. D3).
Walls
A Genetess V1.00 board can contain two types of wall, although in almost all circumstances the difference is not important. Exterior walls (e.g. B2 on the example board) are absolute barriers to Genetess V1.00 pieces and none can move or exist outside the playing area enclosed by exterior walls. Interior walls (e.g. G6 on the example board) are also barriers to Genetess V1.00 pieces, dividing the board up into rooms and corridors, although there are occassionally special powers a piece can gain that might allow it to teleport beyond interior walls.
Playing Area
The playing area on a Genetess V1.00 board is basically every non-wall square within the outer wall. Most of this will consist of open playing area (e.g. F5 on the example board), but it also includes squares occupied by pieces (e.g. J5 on the example board). Without exception, Genetess V1.00 pieces move and exist within the playing area.
Own Pieces
As mentioned above, our example demonstrates a view of the board as seen by the green player. Consequently the board shows all of green's pieces including their genetic sequence (e.g. L7 on our example board).
Unidentified Enemy Pieces
By default when you can see an enemy piece you only get to see its colour, not its genetic sequence (e.g. G9 on our example board).
Identified Enemy Piece
If a piece contains the "F" genetic code it not only sees the colour of an enemy piece, but also the genetic sequence of a piece within range. On our example board green's piece on L7 contains the "F" genetic code and therefore the full genetic sequences of the yellow pieces on K4 and J5 are displayed.
Specials
Most Genetess V1.00 boards contain at least one special square marked in Excel by a cell note. This appears on the map as a small red triangle in the top right corner of the cell (e.g. E9 on our example board) and if you hover the mouse over the triangle you will get a brief description of the nature of the special square. Special squares are always beneficial although their effects vary greatly. Specials are described in full in their own section in the rules.
Skeleton Board Just for round 0 a special view of the board known as a "skeleton board" is displayed to all players. This is described in full in the "Startup" section of the rules.
