Game-world size of hexes

[harlandski]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I do a lot of conversions of OSR materials to TFT, and I use a flat 1-MH per 10' square to convert maps. This is a pretty successful system.

This sounds like a neat idea.

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

Older edition was metric 1 1/3 m per hex. So 3' 10'.

1.333 metres is 4 feet and 4.5 inches. The hexes have got smaller in Legacy.

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

bisecting the next hex

I hate half-hexes: it isn't immediately clear whether the hex is a valid place to stand or not. Look at a one-hex tunnel, 90 degrees misaligned from the orientation that would fit the grid neatly: the tunnel is one hex, then two half-hexes, then one hex... what on earth happens in the two half-hex bit? I guess it can't be zero hexes wide so maybe it's two? What if I put two fighters at that point and tell them to kill the guy who steps into the single hex? This is pretty much the worst way to arrange the hex grid there is.

Instead shift the tunnel sideways by half the length of a hexside. Now that first piece of one-hex tunnel consists of 79% (in area) of a hex, which clearly exists, plus 21% of a hex to its right, which clearly doesn't. And the next piece of tunnel is 79% of a hex which exists and 21% of a hex to its left which doesn't. And so on. The wall doesn't exactly fit the grid but nobody is in any doubt about whether they are in a valid hex or not, and there are no silly features as with half-hexes.

[larsdangly]

'If a half hex is occupied, then the occupying figure is considered to also occupy an adjacent half hex'

Done.

[Shostak]

The half-hexes in Steve Plambeck's tiles don't bother me. You can simply rule that they are off-limits, as he does recommends in the notes, or that they are fair to move through, as you prefer. Either way, they don't bother me, and the architecture they create on a table are easily understood as the kinds of rectilinear spaces we tend to be familiar with.

[larsdangly]

It is a fair question as to what you do when your only choice is to move through either of two half hexes. This might be just one narrow situation, but it actually will arise in the case where you move down 1-hex-wide spaces at certain orientations. But I think it is quite easily resolved with some explicit rules about how half hexes work:

1) A 1-hex figure or part of a multi-hex figure may occupy a 'half hex' just as it would a full hex (that way half-hex-only spaces are not artificially 'blocked') .

2) Any full hex adjacent to an occupied half hex is considered to be unoccupied by but adjacent to the figure in the half hex, i.e., with respect to rules governing engagement, rear attacks, etc.

3) Any half hex, 'A', immediately adjacent to (i.e., sharing a common hex side) an occupied half hex, 'B' is considered to be also occupied by the figure in half-hex B.

4) Do your best not to draw your maps in such a bizarre fashion that you create three immediately adjacent half hexes (this should never occur if your half hexes arise from attempts to draw straight walls, but you never know what some people will try to do!).

[ParadoxGames]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

4) Do your best not to draw your maps in such a bizarre fashion that you create three immediately adjacent half hexes (this should never occur if your half hexes arise from attempts to draw straight walls, but you never know what some people will try to do!).

I made a map with straight walls that has three+ adjacent half-hexes. In this case, as the rules go, the unit gets to occupy another legal half hex, player's choice.

Picture:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...64/unknown.png

[tomc]

Since the hexes themselves don't exist in the physical world, but are just a tool, would it make sense to logically separate the hex grid from the map, and slide the grid over half a hex in your mind when convenient?

[larsdangly]

Originally Posted by ParadoxGames

I made a map with straight walls that has three+ adjacent half-hexes. In this case, as the rules go, the unit gets to occupy another legal half hex, player's choice.

Picture:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...64/unknown.png

I see; you accomplished that by drawing rectilinear features that don't follow the guidelines I suggested above. Of course you are free to do that, but it naturally will break up the hex space in much more complex ways. I was imagining that all rectilinear features would have borders that either trace along the 'dashed line' defined by a set of hex sides in one direction, or along the 'charlie brown's shirt zig zag' along the orthogonal direction. In that case, what I wrote should be always or almost always true. If instead you draw features freely, without considering hex boundaries at all, then of course you will create all kinds of peculiar geometries and you would need a different rule. The one you suggest (pick which adjacent half hex you want to also occupy) might be good. Personally, I would still prefer my original suggestion, as it avoids having to keep track of a piece of information that isn't obvious to both sides just from looking at the map.

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

'If a half hex is occupied, then the occupying figure is considered to also occupy an adjacent half hex'

Done.

What if there is no adjacent half-hex?

And why do we need this rule? Why not just draw the map so there are no half-hexes?