RAMhouse

	A variant of RAMbots for Treehouse owners Updates The first version of RAMhouse was written before I'd actually played a game of RAMbots/RAMhouse. This caused two problems; one with the "precedence stack" (being based on the colour of the move rather than the colour of the bot) and one with the fact that there aren't five simultaneous rounds like RoboRally (instead, the movement precedence is checked after every individual move, such that one player may complete all their moves before anyone else has a single move). Thus, the version below is my second attempt. Version 2 RAMbots is a Robo Rally-like game that uses a chessboard and an Icehouse "stash". The official rules are here. However, Looney Labs are now selling Icehouse pieces as Treehouse sets. This then is a small set of variations to the RAMbots rules to allow you to play with a mixture of four or five Rainbow and Xeno Treehouse sets. Play with the standard rules, except for the changes below: Setup You can use any number of pyramids of any colours, though you need at least 20 trees total for anything sensible. This guide details how to use the colours in both the Rainbow and Xeno Treehouse sets, plus the grey stash. As more colours become widely available effects will be added to these rules. Put all the pieces you wish to play with into a central area... In RAMhouse, the bots are represented by the smallest size pyramids, the flags by medium sized pyramids and the precedence stack is kept off-board and represented by the largest size pyramids. The reason for this change is to be friendlier to smaller chess boards. Players each pick a different colour bot (small pyramid) from the available peices. These should be taken from the least common colours available in the pile. The flags should be chosen from the most common colours available. Take one large pyramid of each colour from the central pile and create the precedence stack randomly. This may mean that for some colours only a single medium pyramid remains in the central pile. That's okay. Each player then builds their code-pool by taking, in turn, one piece at a time from the central pile. If there are not the right number of pieces for everyone to have the same number, the last odd little few are set aside. Players should make a legitimate attempt to collect at least one pyramid of each of the flag colours for the goal stack. When creating the goal stack, use exactly matching colours where possible or unambiguous near-matches as the second best option. If a player is unable to create a meaningful goal stack from their code-pool, make a "tutting" sound and slowly shake your head in a disappointed way, then reluctantly offer to trade pieces until their mess can be sorted out. Coloured Energy Beams Black - Turn Around A black beam will cause any RAMbot that it hits to turn 180 degrees. Orange - Rear Flame Instead of firing a beam forwards, the orange effect is a burst of flame from the rear of the RAMbot that damages (as per red) any RAMbot behind the firing bot in a straight line for three squares. Purple - Remote Control The player controlling the attacking bot switches the currently loaded program register of the victim with any other pyramid from the victim's code pool. The direction does not have to match the original instruction. Ignore this effect if the bot has no remaining loaded moves, or the player has no spare pyramids. Xeno (Light) Blue - Erase A Xeno blue beam causes the RAMbot it hits to delete its next programmed instruction. Return that pyramid to the victim's code pool and immediately load the next program register, if there is one. White - Vent Instead of firing a beam fowards, the white effect is a violent venting of air and steam from the front, back and sides of the bot. This pushes all bots in the four squares adjacent to the bot (but not on the diagonals) one square away from the bot, where possible, using normal push rules. Clear - Polarize A clear beam will cause any RAMbot that it hits to rotate to match the firing bot's current orientation. Grey - Tag The grey beam can be used to tag a flag in the square directly in front of the firing RAMbot. It has no effect on other RAMbots. Changelog Version 2: Altered the size used for bots, flags and the precedence stack to be friendlier to small chess boards. Changed the setup of bots, flags and the precedence stack into separate items. Reduced the flexibility of the goal stack creation, due to tracking issues caused by a successful flag tag moving that pyramid into the code-pool. Altered the Black beam effect because of the way turns work. Altered Purple, Xeno Blue, Clear and White beam effects because the movement modification effects were too difficult to keep track of. Included an effect for Grey. Version 1: Original version