Re: Map feel

Frits Kuijlman (frits@ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
Tue, 11 Aug 92 18:01:02 MET DST

Rich says:
>
> It seems many people think the current system works, but secretly wish
> for a hex-based system. I went for the nodal-style map because hexes
> seemed too "small" for a game with a week turnaround. After all, I can't
> just show you one hex, I have to show you the n hexes around each of your
> characters. Out goes the textual representation of the map, in comes
> crude ASCII grids.

YUK! Please, whatever you do keep it textual. Grid coordinates? Eeek!

>
> There are other messy issues too: how many units can be in a hex at
> a time? How far can you see? Can you see over mountains, or should
> I throw in line-of-sight for good measure? Just what would a "castle"
> do in a hex system? Do I name hexes, or clusters of hexes? Ick.
>
> > > Interior cities, features, perhaps making "plains" and "forests" and such be
> > > interior features as well...
> >
> > With a region-style map, the more interior features the better.
>
> Let me clarify: one proposal is to make "forests" and "plains" interior
> features. These things might even be tardis-like subregions that you
> could enter and move about in. What do you think?

This might give the game a good feel. You could move through a region and
just see that there is a forest or a city, but you have to enter specific
features to see what is in them.

Or would it be more something like having a small "interior" map so that when
you enter from the north you have to explore some before finding the road to
the south? To make this a bit more realistic you would have to add travel
times within a region.

Example:
Tillitok to Azaril is now 18 days it would then become :
Tillitok : town ->(3 days) eastern swamp ->(3 days) Azaril
Azaril : western swamp ->(12 days) central plains
In Tillitok you wouldn't see in what part of Azaril you would arrive.
You would just see what time it would take to arrive in Azaril, not
what it would take to get to the center of Azaril, or what part of it.

> What do you think of making castles and the like more proper "locations"
> that can be entered instead of being stacked with?

If you would introduce subregions then making cities and castles locations
would be not an option but a consequence. A city would then have features
with NO travel times between them. I don't know if castles or citadels
can have interior features but this is open to the interpretation of
these structures.

If I get a bit megalomaniac and want to create a huge fleet it would be a bit
bothersome to have a guard in each ship. Would I have to create my own town
with town walls and let nobody in or could I create a big wharf with great
walls and 1 big guard unit. I don't want to let other people see what I am
actually building and defending 10 ships with 10 units seems a lot less
effective then defending a wharve with 1 big unit.
(Don't worry, at least for a couple of days I won't have the money to do this.
:-), GRIN etc.)

-- 
Frits Kuijlman                      frits @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl
Delft University of Technology               The Netherlands


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