You are not logged in. Please login or register.
Play nice. (This means you.)
Logins from the previous forum have been carried over; if you have difficulty logging in, please try resetting your password before contacting us. Attachments did not survive the migration--many apologies, but we're lucky we kept what we could!
mj12games.com/forum → Starmada → How Big is a Hex?
Hi Folks
First post on this board, please be nice.
As the topic says, how big is a hex? Flat to Flat. I don't mean the tabletop hexes, I know they can be any size. I mean the 'Ground Scale' of the game. I think this could have a bearing on the ongoing range discussion, especially if people have greatly differing ideas on this size.
Ken
I don't believe this has ever really been defined...on purpose. 
Seconded.
The scale is a determined by an external variable that may not be entirely coherent with the primary programme. In other words, its determined by the person or people who play who may or may not be the designers of the game.
If I wanted to do an Honorverse battle, the hexes might range up to the size of the largest ship wedge or even larger. If I wanted to do the classic cinematic ST battle, a hex might be only a couple of hundred metres wide...at that. And if you're crazy and decide to make it into a fighter game (where the ships are the actual fighters and fighters/seekers are just ordnance) then it might be a few metres across.
And if you're crazy and decide to make it into a fighter game (where the ships are the actual fighters and fighters/seekers are just ordnance) then it might be a few metres across.
Have you been reading my mind again?!?
-Bren
PS. Hexes don't have an actual distance to allow players more freedom.
Starmada has firmly resisted any 'scale' since its inception.
For this reason, a hex can represent any distance desired -- or no specific distance at all.
A "space unit" might have a mass of 1 mt for some players, or 1000 mt for others.
In other words, Starmada is very firmly planted on the "game" side of the game/simulation continuum. The only thing that matters is game effects. If you like that, then Starmada is perfect for you -- if not, it isn't too difficult to put a scale to the game. Just don't expect other players to agree.
You can put some boundary effects on possible scales.
First, scale is hex size, turn length, and thrust level for thrust 1. It's not one number, it's three.
We know the turn length isn't likely to be longer than 10 minutes - much longer than that, and facing changes are free.
We know the turn length is long enough that multi-turn arming isn't a good part of the game.
We know that hexes are small enough that an explosion blocks line of sight, and that the turn length is short enough that this blockage has a duration.
Does this make for a consistent game scale? Nope.
Should you care? Nope.
(If having a defined game scale is important to you, AV:T has one that underpins everything.)
(If having a defined game scale is important to you, AV:T has one that underpins everything.)
And AV:T can keep it.
Seriously... early on (I think it was sophomore year in college) I tried to look at specific scales for Starmada.
Somewhere in the morass of G-forces and kilowatts, I realized I just didn't care. All that really mattered (to me) was the relative effectiveness of a ship that can shoot 12 hexes as opposed to one that could shoot 6 hexes. Likewise, I didn't need to know how much power it would take to create a level-5 shield -- just what a level-5 shield meant to the game.
That particular decision, more than any other, was responsible for Starmada's current form.
We know that hexes are small enough that an explosion blocks line of sight, and that the turn length is short enough that this blockage has a duration.
This was true in previous editions, but not in SAE; explosions are now instantaneous.
Ken_Burnside wrote:That particular decision, more than any other, was responsible for Starmada's current form.
Giving it a specific scale would take away Starmada's place as a universal starship combat game wouldn't it?
Don't get me wrong I like thinking about scale in a particular setting.
Cheers all
murtalianconfederacy wrote:And if you're crazy and decide to make it into a fighter game (where the ships are the actual fighters and fighters/seekers are just ordnance) then it might be a few metres across.
Have you been reading my mind again?!?
-Bren
PS. Hexes don't have an actual distance to allow players more freedom.
Yes. And you really shouldn't be thinking that...:D
Yes. And you really shouldn't be thinking that...:D
Not thinking about you reading my mind or the fighter game!
-Bren
Both...:)
That particular decision, more than any other, was responsible for Starmada's current form.
And for that, I thank you.
so...
"Thank you"
mj12games.com/forum → Starmada → How Big is a Hex?
Powered by PunBB, supported by Informer Technologies, Inc.