🚀 go-pugleaf

ccastej@prism.gatech.EDU (Eric Jensen) writes:

>I am writing a tactical wargame in C++, and I was wondering 
>what people's experiences with hex-maps vs. square-based maps 
>have been.  If you've written a game using a tiled map system,
>and you have thought long about this choice, I would really
>appriciate it if you sent me mail or posted here, telling me
>what your experiences with this have been.  I just need some 
>pros and cons to help me decide.  
>   From what I can tell, the hex-maps are better for true 
>distance movements, etc.  While the square based system should
>be much easier to deal with.  (Square array and all.)
>All constructive replies are quite welcome.
>    Eric Jensen

>-- 
>Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
>uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!ccastej
>Internet: ccastej@prism.gatech.edu
>Correction: There is no deck 'Helllllllpppp.......'  Please select anoth
r.

Yes!  At last someone who has agonized about this as well!  I'm doing much
tthe same (tile-based wargame), and finally decided on the square format
with a twist or two.  Each piece on a square has it's in-square position,
so the game acts as if it's on a much finer grid than the map of tiles. 
Distance becomes a little easier, since it's absolute, pythagoras-style
distance.

However this does make conversion from hex format dicey at best.  If
you're converting a popular hex-based wargame, maybe hexes would be
better.  However, they're harder to draw.  One quick and easy way to fix
this is just to have a grid (square) of map squares and offset each
vertical or horizontal row by 1/2 the width of the squares.  This gives
you sxquare "hexes", each touching six other square "hexes-- ie the hex
pattern iwthout the hexagonal tiels.

-->vputz@nyx.cs.du.edu

(sorry about the typos... netlag makes corrections prohibitive)