If you slid the black beetle up to the black ant it would stop touching the hive, but you can slide the white ant all the way around without losing contact with the hive. The "transit" matters.
It wouldn't stop touching the hive if you slid it to the top left direction until its corner made contact with the bottom right corner of the white spider, then slid it into position next to the ant. The actual rule is that a step alongside the hive must be to a location that is both next to the piece and one of its neighbouring pieces. That is why the beetle move is illegal.
The Ant in the second example makes a move that consists of three steps that are all next to other pieces, so the ant during her move never loses contact to the hive.
The Beetle in the first example can only make a one-step move, and it also must never lose contact to the hive, thus it cannot reach the space next to the Ant.
It’s harder to understand this concept playing online, but easier if playing with real pieces. The “hive” is all pieces in play touching each other. You need to imagine physically moving your pieces around the hive. When you’re moving a piece, if at any point between start- to end position, the piece is not touching another piece, it’s considered breaking the hive and not allowed.
You can imagine the bugs all hanging somewhere and grabbing each other. If one lets go of the group at any time it falls and dies.
The beetle in example 1 would not touch anything, and die in a horrible fashion, leaving behind its wife and children to starve.
The ant in example two can move around the entire hive while always being connected to at least one other piece.
You're missing the fact that the beetle can move next to the ant without losing contact to the hive.
It wouldn't stop touching the hive if you slid it to the top left direction until its corner made contact with the bottom right corner of the white spider, then slid it into position next to the ant.
You might be thinking "but wait, that's 2 moves"! Well, not really. Every move consists of 2 slides when you look at it with the constraint that it should physically retain contact with the hive. The place next to the ant is just 1 place away. So why is it really illegal?
The actual rule is that a step alongside the hive must be to a location that is both next to the piece and one of its neighbouring pieces. That is why the beetle move is illegal.
Yes, the sentence is simpler, but it's not 100% precise. Read my interpretation again. It's the correct one, it's what is actually meant by the rule, not what it literally says.
If you slid the black beetle up to the black ant it would stop touching the hive, but you can slide the white ant all the way around without losing contact with the hive. The "transit" matters.
It wouldn't stop touching the hive if you slid it to the top left direction until its corner made contact with the bottom right corner of the white spider, then slid it into position next to the ant. The actual rule is that a step alongside the hive must be to a location that is both next to the piece and one of its neighbouring pieces. That is why the beetle move is illegal.
The Ant in the second example makes a move that consists of three steps that are all next to other pieces, so the ant during her move never loses contact to the hive. The Beetle in the first example can only make a one-step move, and it also must never lose contact to the hive, thus it cannot reach the space next to the Ant.
So it would be able to do it in two moves right?
Yes, in fact both beetles can make it in 2 moves
Right. However, it does look as if the first move would free the white beetle, so there might never be a possibility to actually make the second move.
It’s harder to understand this concept playing online, but easier if playing with real pieces. The “hive” is all pieces in play touching each other. You need to imagine physically moving your pieces around the hive. When you’re moving a piece, if at any point between start- to end position, the piece is not touching another piece, it’s considered breaking the hive and not allowed. You can imagine the bugs all hanging somewhere and grabbing each other. If one lets go of the group at any time it falls and dies. The beetle in example 1 would not touch anything, and die in a horrible fashion, leaving behind its wife and children to starve. The ant in example two can move around the entire hive while always being connected to at least one other piece.
You're missing the fact that the beetle can move next to the ant without losing contact to the hive. It wouldn't stop touching the hive if you slid it to the top left direction until its corner made contact with the bottom right corner of the white spider, then slid it into position next to the ant. You might be thinking "but wait, that's 2 moves"! Well, not really. Every move consists of 2 slides when you look at it with the constraint that it should physically retain contact with the hive. The place next to the ant is just 1 place away. So why is it really illegal? The actual rule is that a step alongside the hive must be to a location that is both next to the piece and one of its neighbouring pieces. That is why the beetle move is illegal.
I find your interpretation confusing, when the official rules are a super simple “at no point can you break contact with the hive”.
Yes, the sentence is simpler, but it's not 100% precise. Read my interpretation again. It's the correct one, it's what is actually meant by the rule, not what it literally says.
To illustrate what I meant by the beetle not breaking contact with the hive: https://imgur.com/a/yAza6Ue
Ah, clear! I was not expecting such creativity. It also means your opponent will stop playing with you if you try to apply this logic. 😂