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Piece Movement options

4 replies [Last post]
Anonymous

Here is the problem, I would like to have a way that pieces can move in any direction but not use a ruler.

I don't want a ruler because the piece's maximum distance it can move should not be obvious to the other players. Meaning if I want to move my piece (which could in fact be a peasant that moves up to 2 "measurements", or an assasin that can move up to 5 measurements but will cloak its identity by only moving 2) I don't want the other players to to see me pull out the ruler and measure because it would tip them off; or conversly it would force me to measure each one of the possible measurements out in order to mask the piece's true identity.

Or is this not a problem if I get a special ruler with the say 4 different maximum distance values marked off, and then have the players sweep a diameter around the piece to see just how far they can choose to move it? Or drop a physical ring(s) of the distance it can go with the piece in the center?

My first thought was to have lots of points on the board, and then from each point have different colored circles that correspond to the different distances be on the board. But this made the board have a lot of overlapping circles of different colors, which is confusing.

What I'm looking for is a way for a player to see how far their unit can move "at a glance", hopefully without measuring.

Normally I'd just have the piece be able to move X spaces max (and therefore if one wanted to move the lesser number to help hide the true identity of the piece they could), but I haven't found a configuration of laying out spaces on a board that gives the flexibility of moving in any direction, and not feeling penalized or rewarded for being on certain axises. (such as squares, if you go diagonally you travel a farther distance then on the flat sides, or a hex map where if you want to travel in the direction of the point and not the flat side it takes more movements)

Any kind of suggestions? I hope I'm explaining what I'm after properly.

Anonymous
Piece Movement options

One suggestion is to use a web of nodes. The board has spaces that can be occupied, but they don't necessarily line up on a grid of any kind. Spaces are joined by lines, indicating one "measurement" of possible movement. This allows you to give your board a setting and provide obstacles such as mountains or lakes and choices for movement. The lines of movement can be weighted, also. One line could require 3 "measurements" rather than the default one, or could require special mobility attributes, such as flight, mining or a boat.

Depending on your target audience, you may want to limit the complexity involved. Having rulers, rings or other measuring devices will automatically limit you to wargamers or similar players who are interested in the freedom of movement, but aren't turned off by the tedium of measuring.

On the other side, a simple measuring device, such as a string with colored segments can easily be used without giving away the measurement (the opponent doesn't know whether I'm looking at the blue line or the red line).

Just some ideas.

sedjtroll
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Re: Piece Movement options

jjacy1 wrote:

Normally I'd just have the piece be able to move X spaces max (and therefore if one wanted to move the lesser number to help hide the true identity of the piece they could), but I haven't found a configuration of laying out spaces on a board that gives the flexibility of moving in any direction, and not feeling penalized or rewarded for being on certain axises. (such as squares, if you go diagonally you travel a farther distance then on the flat sides, or a hex map where if you want to travel in the direction of the point and not the flat side it takes more movements)

I think a Hex map is the best you're going to do. I suppose you could do Octagons or something... or have the spaces be on vertices of lines, with paths going in 8 directions.

In your hex example you said it takes more moves to go in the direction of a point of the hex... but you also move farther, so what's the problem?

Finally, you could have organically shaped spaces which you can move from one to the next... which could simulate terrain in a way (if one space connects to more other spaces that 'normal' then perhaps it's easier to traverse, so you get 'more movement' for your money using it).

Anonymous
well...

Well I don't want to use hexes because it's sort of a standard in wargaming, and personally I want the game to feel a lot more "organic" and not rigid. Plus the problem with hexes is that if I have a soldier on open ground (no plans for rivers or mts. or anything like that so far, but maybe if I have road segments to speed movement along those it would make sense... I'll have to think on that) I would expect it to be able to move in just about any direction up to a certain distance. If I put the limit of "up to four hexes" then some directions of movement are artificially penalized over others.

Since I think that pulling out a ruler to check every possible move is too tedius, I'm wondering if there is a way to have the measurement on the board.

The Node idea sounds interesting, I'll think on that.

Thanks for the suggestions, any more I'd like to hear them.

Anonymous
Piece Movement options

I wouldn't worry about using the ruler. Have several segments marked off and stipulate that a character can move up to a certain number of units. All players would use the same ruler, but only the active player would know what their maximum move would be. If an assassin could move up to 5 segments, they can use the ruler to see what their maximum distance would be, but then only move 2 units to cloak their identity.

I think the real problem with rulers is the potential to disrupt the active player's piece or other players' pieces. If that's not a problem, then I don't see why it wouldn't work.

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