Don't worry about not posting as I didn't expect you to; it being a long-weekend (at least where I am).
Allow me to reiterate why I had the front pieces set up the way I did (L,N,C,Gs, from front to back). The set-up was designed so that the knight and goose wouldn't get in each other's way until they got to the other side of the board. The lance was in front so that it could defend pieces in front once the pawn was further down the board or captured. The gold general (or copper general as per your suggestion) was able to move forward as soon as either the knight or the lance moved and backward as soon as the goose moved. This way the pieces wouldn't trap each other as they moved out onto the board.
I like a lot of what you changed, including moving the kirin to the front, the copper general to the back, and having the gold cannon as the demoted value of the cannons, but I think the order of the front four pieces could be improved (no offense, just offering constructive criticism :P). With your current set-up, the kirin is stuck until the pawn moves and the lance is stuck until the kirin moves. Also, because the knight is only one square in front of the goose, they both land on the same square for their first move, so when one moves, the other cannot move until the first is moved again.
My suggestion is that the order of the front pieces is changed to this:
P
-
N
Kn
L
Gs
This allows the kirin to move out right away, as it can now jump over the pawn. The knight also jumps over the pawn and lands on a different square than the goose. The lance is still not useful for a while, but I don't think that is much of a problem. To demonstrate how much of the board the pieces will be able to cover, I'll make a diagram with the initial of the three jumping pieces on each square they can reach with their demoted value. The bottom of the diagram is the starting positions of the pieces and it extends to the position of the goose on the opposite side. I will use italicized letters for white's pieces and emboldened letters for black's so that I can show both sides. Below it, I will diagram the same thing with your set-up, just so we can see the strengths and weaknesses of both (not so that you can see how bad yours is or anything ;)). Also note that the dash only indicates a square that none of these three pieces can move to, not necessarily an empty square.
My set-up:
Gs/Kn/Gs
N
Kn/Kn
N
Kn/Gs/Kn/N/Gs
-
Kn/N/Kn
N
Kn/Gs/Kn/Gs
N
Kn/N/Kn
-
Kn/Gs/Kn/N/Gs
N
Kn/Kn
N
Gs/Kn/Gs
Your set-up:
Gs/N/Gs
N/Kn
-
Kn*/Kn/N
N/Gs/Gs
Kn/Kn
N
Kn/N/Kn
Gs/Gs
Kn/N/Kn
N
Kn*/Kn
N/Gs/Gs
Kn/Kn/N
-
N/Kn
Gs/N/Gs
*The kirin cannot move to this square until the pawn has been moved.
I must say I'm glad I made that diagram because I can now spot flaws with my own set-up. Your arrangement results in limited movement for the first few turns, but covers more squares than mine does. With mine, all three jumping pieces meet up on the square in front of the opposing knight which allows for a the pieces to back each other up, but also results in less coverage. You'll notice that each knight has two safe squares in the first diagram, while it only has one in the second. Additionally, pawns are protected until they move (or a piece promotes) in the first diagram. You can study them for a bit and figure out which one is more flawed, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on which flaw you think is easier to live with: limited early moves or less coverage.
I'll suggest another set-up in case I can convince you to go with my suggestion to move the pawn forward:
P
-
-
Kn
N
L
Gs
I would suggest a 31 square board for this set-up to allow a bit of space between the pawns. This arrangement still prevents the goose and knight from getting in each other's way and the kirin does not have to wait for the pawn to move. The knight and kirin land on the same square for their first move, unfortunately, but I don't think this is a big deal. The move diagram for the jumping pieces with this set-up looks like this:
Gs/Gs
Kn
N/N
Kn/Kn
Gs/Gs
Kn/N/Kn/N
Kn/Kn
N/Gs/N/Gs
Kn/Kn
Kn/N/Kn/N
Gs/Gs
Kn/Kn
N/N
Kn
Gs/Gs
This only leaves three squares not reachable by these pieces and the knight doesn't get in the way of the goose until the centre square. However, you may be able to see a big flaw with this one...pretty much only one of these pieces can land on each square until they start getting promoted. There are only 3 exceptions each way in this section of the board, so that doesn't leave much room for them protecting each other. It is also really conducive to trades which can be kind of boring. Of course the pawn and lance will be able to backup these pieces, but they don't usually work as well for that as jumping pieces do.
Maybe you can find a solution to these flaws, or maybe we'll just have to go with one, but either way, I'm looking forward to your thoughts. I'm sorry I didn't come to you with my conclusions but instead made you follow my thought process in a painful fashion, but I began typing the post thinking I had the solution, only to realize I didn't when I made the diagrams. It does help both of us see what will and won't work though, so maybe you'll be able to make something out of it. :P
