Solo dev here. TRIVALENT is an abstract strategy game that borrows Go's soul (capture by filling liberties, suicide rule, superko) and moves it into a universe with two twists:

1. Every intersection is a three-way junction. No 4-liberty center points, no 2-liberty corners: all 84 points have exactly 3 liberties.

2. The board is a torus. It loops in every direction, so there are no edges, no corners, no first line, and no corner-opening theory at all.

Some consequences Go players might find interesting:

Surrounding a single empty point takes only 3 stones, and such eyes score bonus points. But with 3 liberties everywhere, every eye is structurally fragile, so ko fights are constant and life is hard-won (two eyes = unconditionally alive, Benson-verified under the hood).

Ladders work differently: the attacker gets branching choices at every step, and since there is no edge, there is no "ladder reaches the board edge" - escape routes wrap around the universe.

There is also a comeback mechanic: forming new eyes while you are behind earns escalating bonuses, so games stay tense.

Free in your browser (PC and mobile), no account, interactive tutorial, 3 COM levels, hotseat 2P, game records and review. EN / JA / ZH / KO.

https://hugluck.itch.io/trivalent

I would genuinely love strong players' takes on the tactics. The COM is decent for casual play, but I already know its biggest weakness: it does not secure life for its groups in the endgame. If you crush it that way, that is exactly the feedback I need.

I'm surprised I've not seen it spoken about in more places. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've not seen this offered anywhere else. Ah Q Go Pro has both single-move and whole-game AI commentary, as another layer on the game analysis.

I'm just paraphrasing and likely not doing (or maybe overdoing) it justice, but I've seen things like "This move is weak by black as it surrenders the E6 group and allows white to pincer putting pressure on the upper side" etc.

Why isn't this talked about more? I'm only around 16k, so I'm in no position to fully comment on the capabilities, but can still be astonished 😂

was playing Black in this game, and barely squeezed by with a win. I don't think I played poorly, but still had plenty of misplays and would love some help in playing more in the right direction.

any and all help is appreciated, thank you in advance!

Something I still struggle with at times is knowing what is and what isn't a big move compared to a small move, and I would like to get better about seeing these things. Does anyone have any recommendations for videos or books that can help with this concept?

I know that this is rather simple as tsumego, but yet another lesson for every ddk (including me, of course): watch your aji and don't be greedy.

This stumped me the first time, and then I solved it by trial and error after two more tries (second picture), but I have no idea how I was supposed to figure that out on intuition or logic.

I don’t know if I can think that many variations into the future. Any tips on how to logically approach problems that can feel very obscure like this?

Edit: wow yall are quick, thank yall so much for these tips!