Welcome to the Genetess V1.02 Rules Submitting Orders page.

Submitting orders in Genetess simply consists of sending a one line e-mail to the game account (bobbyk@bobbyk.demon.co.uk), which can also be achieved by replying to any of the turnsheets.

Your e-mail needs to indicate which Genetess game you are submitting an order for, using the game name or number in either the subject field or text of your e-mail. It is also a good idea to include your name or the pseudonym under which you are playing in the game in question, especially if you use more than one e-mail account.

Finally your e-mail needs to indicate the actual order you are submitting. This will take the form of either a general order (such as PASS or HOLIDAY), or an action in the game (such as MOVE G4 E).

Three examples of e-mails that could be sent in with orders are shown below.







As Genetess relies on e-mail systems to be working it is often a good idea to register more than one e-mail address is you have them. That way if you have difficulty sending or receiving orders using one account you can switch to another. Yout turnsheets can be sent to as many e-mail addresses as you wish to register.

The deadline in Genetess is rigidly enforced from V1.02 onwards. So if you miss your deadline either your stored move will be processed if you have one, or you will be timed out. Any order you send in after your deadline will simply be stored for your next turn. Different deadline periods will apply to different games, so if you prefer the game to move quicker or slower keep an eye out for them.

You can submit your next order as early as you like, and if it arrives before it is your turn to move it will be stored in your Stored Move field. Such a Stored Move is only actioned if you are timed out on your next move (fail to send in an order by e-mail before the deadline). It therefore provides some protection against forgetting to send an order in if you are busy. However if you are going to away for more than a couple of days you should actually use the HOLIDAY order which will suspend the game until you return. Each player is limited in the number of holidays they can call in each game however.

And for the really brave players amongst you (or perhaps when the board is still simple at the start of the game), you can even submit your next order as early as you like, and have it automatically processed when it is your turn without the game waiting to see if you want to change your mind when it is your turn. This speeds the game along nicely but does mean you might have a problem if the board changes significantly between when you send in your move and when it is your turn. To mark a stored move to be processed immediately when it is your turn you simply start it with a "*". For example "*MOVE A6 W".

You are not limited to how many advanced orders you can store, they will be seperated on your turn sheets by the "/" character. So for example you might have "MOVE E6 S / MOVE E7 S / TELEPORT D10 D15 / * MOVE D15 W-W-W / HOLIDAY" stored if you really want to take forward planning to the extreme. Obviously the risk of doing this is that 3 or 4 moves down the line you really don't know what the board is going to look like. Rules on failed orders also apply to stored moves, so if one stored move fails and you are allowed another turn your next stored move will be processed instead. Note that only valid Genetess orders can be stored - no conditional orders what so ever will be accepted. Anyone trying to slip in an order such as "if Ragnar's piece on G3 is still there I'll move H4 NW" will simply find the order "MOVE H4 NW" stored for them.

Any order you submit might of course fail. The most common cause would be if you mis-type it, although sometimes events outside your control may cause an order to fail - e.g. if a phased (invisible) piece is in the way. Such failed orders are handled in one of two ways.
i) If your order was occuring entirely within squares you can see then the turn sheets will be sent out again and you will be given another full deadline period to reformat the order. You will also be told what was wrong with your original order.
ii) If however your order involved a piece moving or acting outside your view - e.g. you attempted to teleport into a grey area of the map which is hidden by the fog of war, you will be told why your order failed but you will only be given another attempt at the order this round if the deadline has not yet expired - if it has expired you will instead be timed out. This is to disuade players from trying too many random orders into areas of the board they can't see, in an attempt to fish for information. This practise can delay games for days and seriously annoy the poor person running the game :-)

The actual orders and actions you can send in are now listed below. In each Genetess round each player can only perform one order. So they may decide to PASS, or to invoke a HOLIDAY, or to move their piece on G3 E-E-E, but they may only do one thing.

Further details of the genetic code can be found in the Pieces section of the rules.


GAMBLE
The GAMBLE order is only used in round 0 of games and is described in detail in the Startup section of the rules.
Example :- GAMBLE 3E 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st
Example :- GAMBLE 0E on GPC3, GPC6, then don't care


PASS
The PASS order simply means you will take no other action this round and play moves on to the next player. The only advantage of this is that it speeds the game up, and avoids you being timed out for missing a deadline which would be indicated to all other players.
Example :- PASS


HOLIDAY
The HOLIDAY order means that when it is next your turn the game will be suspended. The game will restart when either you send in another order, or you run out of holiday days for this game - whichever happens first. If you have stored moves after your HOLIDAY order, e.g. "HOLIDAY / MOVE E5 E" then the holiday order will run until you run out of holiday at which point your next order will be processed.
Example :- HOLIDAY


CREATE
The CREATE action can only be performed by a piece containing the K genetic code, usually referred to as a King. The order spends some of your stored E to create a new piece. The new piece must be created in one of the 8 squares bordering your King, and must be created on an empty square (although it can be created on a special square, and if the piece being created contains the O code then it can be created on an interior wall which will be immediately changed into an empty square). The CREATE action needs to specify the location of the new piece, and its genetic sequence. If the piece costs more E than you currently have the CREATE will fail. If the created piece would not be viable (e.g. would not have at least 1 A or K code) the CREATE will fail.

Example :- CREATE K2 ABBBC
Example :- CREATE K3 A
Example :- CREATE ABCDDDDDEF L3


MOVE
The MOVE action can be performed by any piece, although specific circumstances on the board may temporarily prevent a piece from using it. Although simple in design, the MOVE action can become quite complicated because several genetic codes enhance it, and multiple B codes can be used to allow a piece to make compound moves in a single action. To try and avoid confusion, each code that influences the MOVE action is introduced in turn in the following description.
The A and K codes grant pieces with the ability to move 1 square N, E, S, or W (north, east, south, or west).

Example :- MOVE L2 W
Example :- MOVE J3 N
The C code allows a piece to move diagonals as well as, adding NE, SE, SW, and NW (northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest) to the permissable directions. The C code does not allow a piece to make any more moves in 1 action, but any moves it does make can be diagonal if required.

Example :- MOVE J3 NW
Example :- MOVE J3 NE
Example :- MOVE J3 N
The B code is a vital Genetess genetic code. It can be repeated in a piece as many times as required and each occurance in a piece adds an additional move to that piece. So a piece with genetic sequence AB can move 2 squares instead of just 1. One important restriction is that a piece must move all its available moves in its action. So in fact a piece with the genetic sequence AB must move 2 squares, and is not allowed to move only one. Pieces can double back on themselves within a single MOVE action however.

Example :- MOVE L2 W-W
Example :- MOVE K3 NW-E
Example :- MOVE L3 NW-W-W
Example :- MOVE L3 W-W-S *** Fails because green's own pieces are in the way on K3 and J3 ***
Example :- MOVE K3 N *** Fails because the piece on K3 has 1 B code and therefore MUST move 2 squares ***
Before moving onto the next genetic code that affects the MOVE action, it is a good time to look at taking pieces belonging to opponents. This is performed exactly as in chess, with a piece finishing its MOVE action on the enemy piece to be removed from the board.

Example :- MOVE J3 S
Example :- MOVE L2 W-W
Example :- MOVE K3 N-W
Example :- MOVE K3 Sw *** Fails because the piece on K3 has 1 B code and therefore MUST move 2 squares ***
The E code allows a piece to jump through as many other pieces as it requires on its MOVE action. It does not allow the piece to move any further than it could have done without the E code, but simply allows it to ignore pieces that might be in its way. It does not allow a piece to land on one of its own pieces, or to take pieces belonging to opponents other than on the last move of its action.

Example :- MOVE L3 W-W-N
Example :- MOVE L3 NW-SW-S
Example :- MOVE L3 W-W-E *** Fails because the ABBCE piece on L3 is not allowed to finish its MOVE action by landing on a piece of the same colour on K3 ***
The G code doesn't change the MOVE action of a piece in any way, however if a piece containing the G code takes an opposing piece, the E cost of the opposing piece is added to your E store. If a piece containing the G code takes an opposing King you also gain all the E stored by the player owning that King. The G code has no effect if taking your own pieces.

Example :- MOVE K3 W-N *** Capturing the ABC piece on J2 and gaining (1+2+2)+(1*2*2)=9E ***
Example :- MOVE K3 W-S *** Capturing the ABE piece on J4 and gaining (1+2+3)+(1*2*3)=12E ***
Example :- MOVE L2 W-W *** Capturing the ABC piece on J2 but gaining 0E as the piece on L2 does not contain a G code ***
The I code allows a piece to take a piece of the same colour. The normal rules of moving and taking enemy pieces must be obeyed, but with this code present a piece of the same colour can be landed on and taken from the board. When taking a piece of your own colour the G and L codes have no effect. You can never take one of your own pieces containing the K code.

Example :- MOVE L2 W-S
Example :- MOVE K3 N-E *** Fails because the piece no K3 does not contain the I code ***
The L code doesn't change the MOVE action of a piece in any way, however if a piece is taken containing genetic codes the taking piece does not have, these genetic codes will be added to the taking piece. The L code has no effect when taking your own pieces.

Example :- MOVE K3 N-SW-N *** Move works but the green piece already has A, B, and C codes so gains no extra codes ***
Example :- MOVE K3 N-SW-S *** Move works and the green piece gains an E code to become ABBCEIL ***
Example :- MOVE K3 W-NE-SE *** Move works but you the L code never subsumes codes from pieces of the same colour so the taking piece is unaltered, and the taken piece is simply removed from the board ***
Example :- MOVE K3 W-NE-E *** Move fails as you can never take a piece of your own colour ***
The O code changes the MOVE action to allow a piece to take a single interior wall as if it were an enemy piece.

Example :- MOVE K3 NW-W-S *** Removes the interior wall on I3 ***
Example :- MOVE K3 S-NW-W *** Fails because the move S through a wall square is never allowed ***
Example :- MOVE K3 W-N-N *** Fails because J1 is an outside wall and can never be removed ***


DIVIDE
The DIVIDE action can only be performed by a piece containing the H code and splits a piece's genetic codes into two pieces. The order for the action lists the square of the piece performing the DIVIDE, the genetic codes to be ejected, and the single neighbouring squre onto which they will be ejected. The H code can be one of thse ejected if required. If either the original or ejected piece are invalid (have neither a K or A code) the DIVIDE action will fail.

Example :- DIVIDE K3 ABC J2 *** Creating a green ABC piece on J2 and leaving a green ABH piece on K3 ***


TRANSFER
The TRANSFER action can only be performed by a piece containing the J code, and once it is performed 1 J code is removed. The order for the action lists the square of the piece performing the TRANSFER, the single genetic code to be transferred, and the square of the piece receiving the genetic code. Note that codes can be transfered into your own or opposing pieces. The target piece must be in view for the transferring piece.

Example :- TRANSFER L3 B J5 *** Leaves a green ADF piece on L3 and a AABBBCH piece on J5 ***
Example :- TRANSFER L3 B F4 *** Fails because the green piece on F4 is not in view for the green piece on L3


RADIATE
The RADIATE action can only be performed by a piece containing the M code, and it then removes 1 random genetic code from all pieces in its view (including itself). Pieces can never be destroyed by this action so the final K or A codes in a piece's genetic sequence can never be lost. The order for the action lists the square of the radiating piece.

Example :- RADIATE L3


TELEPORT
The TELEPORT action can only be performed by a piece containing the N code, and it allows a piece to jump immediately to any unoccupied square in its view. The order for the action lists the starting and finishing squares for the teleporting piece.

Example :- TELEPORT L3 L5


PETRIFY
The PETRIFY action can only be performed by a piece containing the Q code, and it irrevocably changes a piece into an interior wall. The order for the action lists the square of the petrifying piece.

Example :- PETRIFY L3


PHASE
The PHASE action can only be performed by a piece containing the R code, and it makes the piece invisible until it takes another action or is bumped into by another piece. The order for the action lists the square of the phasing piece.

Example :- PHASE F4


CONVERT
The CONVERT action can only be performed by a piece containing the S code, and it converts all orphaned pieces in the view of the converting piece to its own side. An orphaned piece is one without a P code who's owner has been eliminated from the game. The order for the action lists the square of the converting piece.

Example :- CONVERT L3


REPULSE
The REPULSE action can only be performed by a piece containing the T code, and it repels other pieces. The order for the action lists the square of the repelling piece.

Example :- REPULSE J5


FLARE
The FLARE action can only be performed by a piece containing the U code, and it illuminates the entire board for one round. The order for the action lists the square of the flaring piece.

Example :- FLARE J5


HOME
The HOME action can only be performed by a piece containing the V code, and it allows the piece to jump immediately onto a vacant square neighbouring an allied King. The order for the action lists the starting and finishing squares of the homing piece.

Example :- HOME F4 K3


ATTRACT
The ATTRACT action can only be performed by a piece containing the X code, and it attracts other pieces. The order for the action lists the square of the attracting piece.

Example :- ATTRACT J5


SANCTUARY
The SANCTUARY action can only be performed by a piece containing the Y code, and it swaps location with an allied King. The order for the action lists the square of the piece performing the action, and the square of the King to be swapped with.

Example :- SANCTUARY F4 L2


CHARGE
The CHARGE action can only be performed bya piece containing the Z code, and allows a piece to charge in a straight line until it is blocked by a piece or a wall. The order for this action lists the square of the piece to charge and the direction in which to charge.

Example :- CHARGE L2 W