Hexagon Grids

[hgthechinese]

urgh....perfection, u wanna start your own thread?

 

[Minoan]

Perfection, in a rhombitrihexagonal grid system, would GDRs fit only in the larger dodecagons?

Anyway, if there's going to be any change, I would perfer a gridless system. Or maybe something similar to the TW games.

 

[Tyrael]

Easy answer: Option to let the player choose squares or hexes. Let's all argue for that instead of trying to shove our ideals down everyone else's throats. Deal? Deal.

 

[Perfection]

I guess that having tiles with different size makes handling of resources, ect. a bit complicated and counterintuitive.

Not at all. Why would it?

urgh....perfection, u wanna start your own thread?

Nope! My tiling has hexagons so it's legit in this thread

Perfection, in a rhombitrihexagonal grid system, would GDRs fit only in the larger dodecagons?

That's a civ 4 thing.

Easy answer: Option to let the player choose squares or hexes. Let's all argue for that instead of trying to shove our ideals down everyone else's throats. Deal? Deal.

No deal, that would waste valuable programmer time for inferior grids.

 

[The Flame]

Well since we can't agree, let's go with circles.

That would probably be the strangest grid system.

 

[Wimsey]

Circles would would work as squares or hexagons or whatever, depending on how you arranged them. If you place circles naturally, ie as tightly packed as possible, you end up with each circle touching six others and essentially a hexagonal grid. Simple argument that hexagons is the most natural grid-system, which I strongly support. All the best board games IMO uses hexes instead of grid (could never stand chess ).
Actually the easier blockade is one of the most important points for me, right now it is almost impossible to totally surround something and make coherent battlelines. Trench warfare in the industrial age anyone?
And better mountain ranges since you can't pass them everywhere they happen to go diagonally..

 

[hgthechinese]

Wimsey is totally right. Hex is good not because...urgh....6 is a good number or something, but because it is "organic" or "natural".

 

[occam]

6 is a good number or something, but because it is "organic" or "natural".

6 is perfect.

 

[darkedone02]

Maybe there could be a mod that allows you to have hexagonal squares for civilization 4, however I don't know who will make it... If they can't seem to change it cause it disturb the engine, I wonder if there is a way to override it to make sure it change it..

 

[Perfection]

Wimsey is totally right. Hex is good not because...urgh....6 is a good number or something, but because it is "organic" or "natural".

Great rhombitrihexagonal tiling is varied yet regimented, therefore the most natural.

 

[Alsn]

People complaining about the change? Tell them it was like that in Civ I. Anyone who played Civ I will welcome the change (I hated the switch to verticle and horizonal grids!) and anyone who didn't willveneer the desicsion as a fundamental need and holy requirement.

No offense, but Civ 1 used a simple square grid for its tiles just like civ IV does(although in IV you have the option to rotate the camera since its 3d )

I believe you are thinking about civ II which i personally hated because of the 45 degree rotation of the tiles and refused to play

 

[hgthechinese]

Great rhombitrihexagonal tiling is varied yet regimented, therefore the most natural.

how about let's be more specific...hex is the most natural, same-sized grid system.

 

[Traitorfish]

I believe you are thinking about civ II which i personally hated because of the 45 degree rotation of the tiles and refused to play

But Civ3 had a 45 degree rotation as well. Did you just avoid Civ altogether for ten years, or what?

 

[Perfection]

how about let's be more specific...hex is the most natural, same-sized grid system.

Why limit to same size?

 

[Traitorfish]

Why limit to same size?

Because variations in tile size will only serve to complicate game mechanics and alienate casual players and many long-time fans. Whatever slim tactical depth varied tile sizes may add, they are not worth the costs.

 

[Emp. Killyouall]

Well, can someone else develop a Civ game that I can play using offset squares? I doubt it's possible to do with the CIV engine right now though...

 

[Perfection]

Because variations in tile size will only serve to complicate game mechanics and alienate casual players and many long-time fans. Whatever slim tactical depth varied tile sizes may add, they are not worth the costs.

Not if you do it right.

 

[hgthechinese]

Not if you do it right.

there is no doing it right. just telling someone the game is based on grids of various size is enough to make them go then then and maybe somewhere along the way. nexthing you know, they are like and the game suffers .

 

[Emp. Killyouall]

I think if they would implement it would be offset squares to make it seem simpler. It works exactly the same as hexagons...

 

[Traitorfish]

On another note, am I the only one who is annoyed at the globe being a cylindar rather than a sphere (it is just as wide at the equator as it is at the poles)? A hexagonal system would allow the flat map to 'tapper off' at the poles, becoming narrower. This would not work on a square grid system as the squares are dirrectly on top of each other and not slightly to the side, which would enable it to become progressivly narrower.

Here is an example of what a world map could look like with hexagons. Left-right wrapping would work as normal.
[*image snipped*]

Interesting idea, but you'd need to make sure that the world was always presented as a globe (although that probably wouldn't be obvious unless you zoomed fairly far out)- currently, it's flat until you zoom out to a certain level, at which point it goes "bing" and turns into a sphere.
That would have the additional bonus of allowing the inclusion of the Poles on a map, rather than simply having an unbreakable wall of ice sealing them off. Added to the ability to cross ice- probably through promotions and special Artic units such as ski-troops or ice-breakers. Maybe a "First to the North Pole" (with a Southern version, obviously) could give some sort of bonus, similar to the Circumnavigation bonus.

I think if they would implement it would be offset squares to make it seem simpler. It works exactly the same as hexagons...

Maybe, but if they're going to building the hex-system from the ground up, both ways would be more or less equally easy to implement. Off-set squares would only be significantly more straightforward when modding the existing CIv4 engine, so Firaxis would probably go for the more common appearance.