The Earth is round!!!!!! (maybe...)

[Gabriel dCF]

There's too much fuss about switching the traditional square grid to hexes, yet, it seems like nobody realized that it could be a hint to a much more awesome change to the gameplay: using hexes, it's possible that we'll play Civ V on a globe, rather than on a flat map

Well, actually not with hexes only... We can't make a sphere purely of hexes. According to Euler's theorem, we need exactely 12 pentagons in a grid to bend the surface into a fullerene, a geometric shape that resembles a sphere. Like a soccer ball:



A soccer ball is a fullerene with 60 sides (12 pentagons and 48 hexagons). Take a look at that Wikipedia entry on Euler's Theorem I've showed, as the article is a little bit big, press Ctrl+F to make a search and type "12 pentagons". You'll find out that although the number of pentagons is limited to 12, the number of hexagons is unconstrained!

That might be the reason why we can't see any pentagon in the screenshots, as any playable game would require thousands of hexes. And, of course, if Firaxis is really thinking about using a round map, they could be keeping it as a surprise, so, of course they'd not show us any pentagon.

Indeed, there is a FOSS remake of Civilization for Linux called FreeCiv and it s community of developpers is already working on a fullerene map for future versions of it! Take a look at that screenshot:



Friggin hexagons! Put a few thousands more and from a close up you won't even notice they're on a sphere (as I hope that's the case with those screenshots, I'll be very disapointed if Civ V is played on a regular totally not-awesome flat map.)

 

[DocBuchanan]

Holy crap, you're right.

 

[Windsor]

My LCD-screen is flat...

I fail to see why a round map drawn on a flat screen is so great.

 

[Sian]

because you can cross the poles without the brainschew todorial is

 

[r_rolo1]

The only issue is where to hide the pentagons They can't be stacked up in the polar regions

Well, i assume that Civ V will work like Civ IV : flat, pseudo-spherical ( in civ IV it is actually a cilinder, but who cares ) and toroidal.

 

[Gabriel dCF]

There's no need to hide them in game, they could be tiles like any other. Or they could fill them with oceans or impassable terrains.

Also, that kind of map could affect gameplay by reducing distances within temperate regions and expanding them within tropical distances (as in the equator, the circumpherence of the planet is bigger). That would make it possible to draw more accurate representations of Earth too.

It would be possible to give a special bonus for whoever reached South Pole and North Pole first, like the bonus given to the first player to circumnavigate the Earth in Civ IV.

 

[deanej]

I don't see what the point of using hexes would be if you didn't have a spherical map. I hope flat maps are still supported for scenarios, but I don't see how you can have a flat map on hexes due to the edge situation. And how would the minimap work?

 

[Wodan]

I don't see what the point of using hexes would be if you didn't have a spherical map.

It solves the problem of distance on rectangular maps. Diagonal move is further in distance than rectilinear move.

I hope flat maps are still supported for scenarios, but I don't see how you can have a flat map on hexes due to the edge situation. And how would the minimap work?

There's no reason the edge can't be jagged.

 

[deanej]

I've never cared about the movement irregularity. Does that make me unusual?

IMO I don't like a jagged edge. It just seems wrong.

 

[jeffr23]

I don't see what the point of using hexes would be if you didn't have a spherical map. I hope flat maps are still supported for scenarios, but I don't see how you can have a flat map on hexes due to the edge situation. And how would the minimap work?

If they do go with a spherical map, they could go to town with the minimap: have it vary by tech level. Something wildly inaccurate and only vaugely resembling the reality in the ancient period, a projection that gets latitude correct but is deeply distorted east-west in the classical, a mercator projection in the medieval, an accurate globe in the renaissance with whatever tech is concurrent with clockwork good enough for longitude, and a completely game-accurate geodesic projection in the modern...

 

[Luckystrike77]

Interesting indeed!

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I honestly prefer the standard (no wrap) flat map.

 

[Gabriel dCF]

I've been thinking, if they make a spherical map, the 12 pentagon tiles would be disadvantageous places to build a city, since you'd have one tile less around it. Either the game developpers will not mind and let players take the poor decision of building there on their own, or they'd fill those spots with impassable / water terrains.

 

[Silv Something]

I want a round map!

 

[JammerUno]

If you expand the number of hexagons while keeping 12 pentagons you'd end up with a cigar-shaped world. It would be better to just use hexagons with curved sides and get rid of the pentagons altogether. You would end up with irregular hexagons, but if you have enough of them, that won't be noticable.

 

[f35acepilot]

Yeah, I don't think that Firaxis would want pentagons on the map. That would be kind of strange in the game. Imagine: "Aw crap, I started on a pentagon tile! My city can't work as many tiles now!" or "Awesome! I have a pentagon on my border! Lets build a fort there, where they can only attack from two sides!"

It just doesn't seem like something that would fit in with civ, as this advantage/disadvantage doesn't have any actual relation to history, it's just an arbitrary tile on the map.

 

[DaveMcW]

I want globe view on toroidal maps!

Mmm donuts

 

[r_rolo1]

How can you get a globe view of a donut ?

 

[deanej]

You just... do.

Or something like that.

 

[_random_]

Yeah, I don't think that Firaxis would want pentagons on the map. That would be kind of strange in the game. Imagine: "Aw crap, I started on a pentagon tile! My city can't work as many tiles now!" or "Awesome! I have a pentagon on my border! Lets build a fort there, where they can only attack from two sides!"

It just doesn't seem like something that would fit in with civ, as this advantage/disadvantage doesn't have any actual relation to history, it's just an arbitrary tile on the map.

Seeing as they would likely be put at the poles, I doubt we're talking about prime location for settling or fighting. I could see some bonuses for being the first civ to reach either one, but that's about it.