Game manual

Core Gameplay & The Map

Caissan Chess is an MMO empire game played on an infinite grid of connected 5×5 micro-boards. Three realms run on 6-hour, 10-hour, and 24-hour clocks, giving you time to plan before all orders execute simultaneously.

• Starting State: You begin with three boards. Each contains a King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, and Knight.
• The Objective: Capture enemy Kings to conquer their boards and expand your empire.
• The Map: Every 5×5 board touches eight neighboring boards. Pieces may cross into one adjacent board per move, but never two.

Movement & Combat

Pieces use standard chess movement. You cannot slide through pieces, though you may issue an order through an enemy hoping they move before you arrive.

• Guarded Pieces: You cannot order the capture of an enemy piece that is protected by another of its owner's pieces. Exceptions: Kings are always vulnerable, never guard others, and third parties do not provide guarding. Moves that start defending later in the round do not save a piece hanging at the start.
• Micro-Step Resolution: Pieces move step-by-step. If pieces meet, combat occurs:
  • Passing through a sitter: The stationary piece stops the passer and banks it into their Vault.
  • Landing on an unprotected sitter: The arriving piece captures the stationary piece.
  • Simultaneous Arrivals: The strongest piece wins and banks the others (Queen > Rook > Bishop > Knight). Equal pieces destroy each other and return to their respective owners' Vaults.
  • Multiple Landers vs. Sitter: Arriving pieces fight each other first using the hierarchy above. The sole winner then takes the sitter. If the landers destroy each other, the sitter survives.

Kings & Territory

Kings are tied to their specific 5×5 board and can never leave it.

• Check & Rescue: If an enemy can capture your King in one move, you must order a rescue (flee, block, or capture). You may use another board's action to remove the threat to unlock the King's board. If you fail to use an available safe flee, the server will move the King for you. If no safe move exists, you are free to make any move.
• Conquest: Capturing a King instantly transfers control of that board to you. Any remaining pieces belonging to the former owner on that board go directly to your Vault. Visiting pieces from third parties remain on the board.
• Respawning Kings: After conquering a board, you must place a new King on an empty tile before the next round begins (if you forget, the AI places it).

Turn Resolution

You receive one action (move, drop, or pass) for every board where you have at least one piece. Orders remain secret until that realm’s deadline.

1. New Kings drop onto the board (they are instantly lost if an enemy piece lands on their tile this turn).
2. Vault Drops appear on the map.
3. Knights teleport directly to their target locations (Micro-step 1).
4. Sliders (Queens, Rooks, Bishops) move field by field through micro-steps, resolving collisions as they go.

The Vault

Captured and intercepted enemy pieces go to your global Vault (capped at 50). You can drop them onto empty fields, but only on boards where you already have at least one piece.

Elimination

• Eliminated: You are eliminated if you lose all your boards and pieces on the map. Vault stock cannot save you without an active presence to deploy them.
• Inactivity: Idle players are replaced by a bot after 10 rounds. After 45 rounds, their boards can be overwritten by new players. Abandoning an empire triggers a 24-hour lockout.

Moving to Other Cities

Cities are separated by empty ground. Ordinary pieces cannot walk from one city to another. The only crossing is the road network on the world map, and only queens use it.

• Roads: From your home city you may send a queen only to a linked city that already has a present player.
• Five queens: Spend five queens from your vault. After the next resolution, one queen appears on a random active border board of the destination city on the side facing your home. The other four go to the mayor vault of your home city.
• Enemy ground: The arriving queen lands on an existing board in that city. No new boards are opened by the transfer.

Mayor Actions

The mayor is the player who owns the most boards in a city (ties break on pieces). Only the mayor can use the crown menu and the mayor vault.

• Rename & message: Rename the city (same mayor waits 7 days) and set a message of the day once every 24 hours.
• Mayor vault: Queens left behind by city transfers collect here. Each round the mayor may donate pieces from this vault into a player’s personal vault, at most two pieces to the same player per round (including themselves).

Chatboxes

Each realm keeps its own transmission logs. Everyone can read a log; who may write depends on the level.

• Sector: Open from a board. You can read and write only while you have at least one piece standing in that sector. Newest 100 lines; one post every 5 seconds.
• City: Open from the city name on the home map. Everyone in the realm can read. The Top 20 card lists board holders (bots included) with each player’s sector and board counts. Only the top 20 real players in that city may write (most boards owned there, then pieces on those boards). Same 100-line cap and 5-second pause.
• World: Open from the world name on the world map. Everyone can read. The Top 20 list includes bots and shows each player’s city, sector, and board counts. Only the top 20 real players in that realm may write (most boards owned in the realm, then pieces). Same 100-line cap and 5-second pause.