I was starting to build the 3D environment while thinking on how to store the map features when I started again thinking about the hexes vs squares thing. Then I remembered my old games of warhammer. Moving a hundred lead units with the 8cm ruler. I think I'm going to try to go tile-less. The player could pick up and release units by distance, not number of steps. The combat range (the area where a unit will fight if an opponent's army enters) could be a simple circle instead of a number of squares or hexes. I'm sure this has been thought many times and that I'm not seeing some problems, so I ask for your help. What problems do you think I could find?

Problems with gameplay, you mean? Well, did you have any problems playing Warhammer with regard to this?

I think the main advantage of tile-based games is quick-and-easy collision detection. If this isnt a major issue then the fluidity of a tile-less game is probably a more attractive option.

Quote:Original post by Benjamin Heath
Problems with gameplay, you mean? Well, did you have any problems playing Warhammer with regard to this?

I meant problems in the implementation part. For example as it also has simultaneous turns I'm having problems thinking a "support ally army" feature.

Joining two armies when both expend all their allowed movement and end up less than half an army's width, is the first serious problem I've found, for example.

I'd start by scrutinizing the need for simultaneous turns. Maybe I'm not picturing things correctly, but if you're going to do something like that in a TBG, why not just make it real-time?

Quote:Original post by Benjamin Heath
I'd start by scrutinizing the need for simultaneous turns. Maybe I'm not picturing things correctly, but if you're going to do something like that in a TBG, why not just make it real-time?

Turns are 1 day long, and are simultaneous because the effects happen between turns. the idea is:

You open you app, login and see a list of the games you're playing.
Then, you open one and see the map as it's left after the result of battles you planned the day before.

You read the diplomatic messages from each player, answer them, send new messages, offer treaties, trades, etc...

You order your building instructions for the current turn, move the units created the last turn and set the orders for the rest of the units. For example "attack any army that enters in range" or "support in defense that allied army if it enters combat".

You might cast some spells (from the magic guild or similar), send heroes to run some errands. I don't know, whatever I think of.

Then the day ends and every move is played, every declared alliance starts having it's effect, every combat is calculated and full turn spells have their effect.


So, having this structure. I thought my options where tiled or by regions (Risk). However now I'm thinking "why not eliminate tiles and give every army the chance of travelling in any direction?"

Zanshibumi, that is completely not what I imagined. :P Thank you for clarifying.

I've never played anything like Warhammer, but the "joining armies" problem is also present in Lords of the Realm 2. It's not something I'm not used to. When you combine two armies, they lose some time to move, and so the army's mobility is reduced for the rest of the turn. Maybe I'm wrong, but that sounds reasonable enough to me.

I don't know, but let me know when you have something playable up. Should my schedule allow it, I might want to try it.

The current problem with joining armies created by non-discrete movement:
(using m as generic meaningless metric unit)


(armyA 2m radius) <--10m--> (armyB 2m radius)


So the center of A is 12m away from the center of B and the border of A is 10m away from the border of B.

What if the player wants to move A 11m and that's A's movement limit? They could join, but then, the units in A would have moved 1 more m than allowed.

Any suggestion?


(Or any heads up on other problems you see)