How big should hexes be?

[Helmling]

This can be done if the game only uses simple 2D graphics (something like the strategic view). But I wouldn't like to play such game, managing thousands of cities isn't fun. Such thing would be good only for the "realism junkies"

As a realism junky, let me say that that sounds like too much even for me.

 

[Skwink]

Oi, 4,000,000 hexes. What a huge game it would be; probably it would take months to reach a decisive point.

1UPT would not be so bad here as well. The time scale may also need reducing, maybe by a factor of 10?

I would absolutely love to play this new game that has:

-4,000,000 hexes
-1UPT
-Strong Multiplayer capacities (possibly 48-144 players)
-Such dynamic and different resources like the ones in Civ4
-Competent AI (this would take a while to develop, I would prefer huge multiplayer games)
-Great/Less expensive buildings like the ones in Civ4
-More specific units for specific eras
-The ability to conglomerate a formation of units into a front, which can be controlled/moved/rotated in any direction with just a few clicks (NOT 1000s of clicks)
-Time at 4000 BC starting at rates of 4 years - in the Modern Era, turns pass by weekly
-It doesn't need the great graphics; nice 128 x 128 2D sprites and health bars and such are fine with me (anti-aliasing doesn't matter that much either to me)
-Ranged units, that actually seem more realistic.
-Multi-level mountains, for example hills, high hills, crossable mountains, and impassable mountains
-A nice built in voice chat system such as ventrilo or skype (this would keep everyone on for hours)
-More permanent diplomatic events (no more 10-turn peace treaties, each negotiation counts for quite a while)
-A 1-3 turn period of time to make decisions before actually voting on a resolution/gifting a tech/accepting a peace treaty
-Game speed could be increased by dividing the map into several 1000 areas around 1000-2000 tiles in size; this could render the area YOU are looking at much faster, and it would not impose nearly as much processing power on the other 1000s of areas (kind of like how a computer doesn't use RAM to store a 10 GB program, for example)

I am kinda sorry I just rambled on a bit, these ideas just kept popping in my head and I felt like posting them. The point is that I would love 20km hexes.

Dude, It would take a month for my computer to load that map!

 

[Kark]

As for realism, the real world is a globe, not a rectangle. So the map should be a few hexes wide at the top and bottom (with impassable ice caps) and lots and lots of hexes along the equator.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

I wonder if a 2,000 x 2,000 Earth map could be done with Civ4 graphic quality.

Quality?

Certainly, with, stuff, like, this, perhaps...

-- CPU_32-Cores, clouded, Registry call Dispatching, Instantaneous speed.
-- 512_Gigs_RAM, One single bar, 2500$/each, 1024 bits wide, Heat baby.
-- GPU_??, matched for speed & memory.
-- TeraBytes in a concurrent swap file.
-- Tower with JetEngine propelled fans to cool off the whole gimmick.
-- Luck.

And about six months worth of a loooooooooong hiatus from Life itself just to reach Medieval era in your first game.

NEXT TURN, PLEASE WAIT

 

[Hormagaunt]

As for realism, the real world is a globe, not a rectangle. So the map should be a few hexes wide at the top and bottom (with impassable ice caps) and lots and lots of hexes along the equator.

Point, so 2,000 x 1,260 (same ratio as the 128 x 80 current Earth map). That'd be 2.5 million hexes. Still a good game size.

 

[Karstedt]

Oi, 4,000,000 hexes. What a huge game it would be; probably it would take months to reach a decisive point.

1UPT would not be so bad here as well. The time scale may also need reducing, maybe by a factor of 10?

I would absolutely love to play this new game that has:

-4,000,000 hexes
-1UPT
-Strong Multiplayer capacities (possibly 48-144 players)
-Such dynamic and different resources like the ones in Civ4
-Competent AI (this would take a while to develop, I would prefer huge multiplayer games)
-Great/Less expensive buildings like the ones in Civ4
-More specific units for specific eras
-The ability to conglomerate a formation of units into a front, which can be controlled/moved/rotated in any direction with just a few clicks (NOT 1000s of clicks)
-Time at 4000 BC starting at rates of 4 years - in the Modern Era, turns pass by weekly
-It doesn't need the great graphics; nice 128 x 128 2D sprites and health bars and such are fine with me (anti-aliasing doesn't matter that much either to me)
-Ranged units, that actually seem more realistic.
-Multi-level mountains, for example hills, high hills, crossable mountains, and impassable mountains
-A nice built in voice chat system such as ventrilo or skype (this would keep everyone on for hours)
-More permanent diplomatic events (no more 10-turn peace treaties, each negotiation counts for quite a while)
-A 1-3 turn period of time to make decisions before actually voting on a resolution/gifting a tech/accepting a peace treaty
-Game speed could be increased by dividing the map into several 1000 areas around 1000-2000 tiles in size; this could render the area YOU are looking at much faster, and it would not impose nearly as much processing power on the other 1000s of areas (kind of like how a computer doesn't use RAM to store a 10 GB program, for example)

I am kinda sorry I just rambled on a bit, these ideas just kept popping in my head and I felt like posting them. The point is that I would love 20km hexes.

 

[atteSmythe]

I spent a lot of time thinking about this about...well, let's just say a long time ago

At that time, I really liked the idea of a 1024x640 or so (768? Can't remember) map. It worked out to be about 20mi across a hex, which was pretty convenient for a number of things. It was long enough to allow modern bombardment units to work from outside the hex, but small enough to allow you to reserve that mechanic until late in the game (dealing with the complexity of such a huge map, one theme of the game was that both the UI and game mechanics start very simple, and increase in complexity as the game progresses).

One way to help deal with 'city spam' complexity is allowing multi-hex areas of certain complexity to merge into metropolitan areas, and perhaps even allow adjacent metropolitan areas to merge into metroplexes (thinking DC-Baltimore here, or SF-Oakland)

I'd still love to work on that project again someday, even if only in the old 2d tile format. Would be fun if I ever won the lottery, or otherwise ended up not having to work for a living.

 

[kounoupi]

Perhaps Akkon's suggestion goes a bit too far as far as modern processing power is concerned, it still makes for a game to wish for the future...

Going back to the original question of "how big should the hexes be", I'd look at it from a gameplay perspective. As things are now, two or three units can block entire continent crossings. A large army in Civ5 has immense problems maneuvering and quite often you have many troops ready but unable to come to the (incredibly clogged) battlefield.

I feel that allowing for 3-4 times as many hexes on the same map sizes (with appropriate rebalancing of every related game variable like tile yields, costs, movement points etc) would alleviate many of the problems of Civ5. Armies could move easier, get to fight instead of waiting their turn and circling around, blocking continents would require planning and could not be done in a rush with 2 units, and we could even have meaningful conflicts in places like the british isles, the iberian peninsula or the Koreas...

 

[gilmore606]

The game you describe should be done as an ASCII roguelike, playable from a telnet window. No issue with making the game as huge and epic as you want.