Option for a "Round" Map

ArtillaryGoat · Post by **ArtillaryGoat** » December 1st, 2004, 4:12 am

OK, I will have two approaches to try to explain this.

1: In the Civilization games, you had the option of creating a "round" map or a "flat" map. in the "round" maps, east and west never "ended". For people who never played the Civilization games...

2: If a theoretical unit reaches the end of one of the Wesnoth maps, it can proceed no further. It reaches the "edge of it's puny world".
What I propose is to have an option that allows a unit to (I will put this simply), step off the edge of the map, and land on the other side. And preferabbly, when you scrolled your view across the screen, you would never see the edge of the map, instead, you would see the east and west "borders" of the map "pasted" together. Ditto with the minimap.

I propose this idea, because I often see random generated maps where someone is either stuck right in the middle, or is simpy seperated from his/her teamate(s). With the option of having a "round" map that never "ends" (except that the south and north ends), will for the most part, eliminate the problem of having someone completely surrounded and other players get a nice corner.

Now, I just realized I was writing this wrong, it's not that someone won't be surrounded, it's that everyone will be surrounded.

And please, I would hate this idea if it was forced. I would only love it if it were an "option".

Please don't attack me if this is hard to code. I am not a programmer, and I greatly respect those who are.

joshbosh321 · Post by **joshbosh321** » December 1st, 2004, 4:18 am

I suspect that this would be hard to code, although interesting, feature. If any dev has any idea how to make wrap-arounds supported, this might interest them.

Also, don't worry about this being made default. That would almost certainly never happen.

OT: go OSX

Post by **Jetrel** » December 1st, 2004, 7:57 am

joshbosh321 wrote:OT: go OSX

Aye. I'm on it.

Doros · Post by **Doros** » December 1st, 2004, 8:39 pm

Couldn't a map maker just code teleports on either side?

MadMax · Post by **MadMax** » December 1st, 2004, 8:57 pm

Jetryl wrote:
joshbosh321 wrote:OT: go OSX
Aye. I'm on it.

Agreed!

Doros wrote:Couldn't a map maker just code teleports on either side

I'm afraid not. Teleport could produce the wraparound effect, but the AI wouldn't be able to use it and units would not be able to wrap around with one command. And the auto pathfinder wouldn't use it either.

Post by **turin** » December 1st, 2004, 11:16 pm

i understand the point of this, and also that WINR. but isn't a map the size of the battlefield a bit small to be an entire planet? it makes sense for Civ, but in wesnoth the idea is you are fighting a small skirmish.

i could certainly understand this as a mod of wesnoth, however i think it doesn't really fit with the rest of the wesnoth world...

it would be fun to play though.

Kamahawk · Post by **Kamahawk** » December 2nd, 2004, 12:17 am

turin wrote:it would be fun to play though.

I think thats the point, and that it would help balance random maps.

joshbosh321 · Post by **joshbosh321** » December 2nd, 2004, 1:29 am

turin wrote:i understand the point of this, and also that WINR. but isn't a map the size of the battlefield a bit small to be an entire planet? it makes sense for Civ, but in wesnoth the idea is you are fighting a small skirmish.

i could certainly understand this as a mod of wesnoth, however i think it doesn't really fit with the rest of the wesnoth world...

it would be fun to play though.

I think that this is mainly meant for multiplayer

GolFleme · Post by **GolFleme** » January 24th, 2005, 11:51 am

I've just found this thread.

IMO a wrapping map option would be very nice in MP, especialy on random map.
The wrap might be partial (cylindrical world) or complete ( spheric/toric world).
Also a teleporting tile may be good too.

Cheapy · Post by **Cheapy** » January 26th, 2005, 4:53 am

I haven't put much thought to this, and I'm sure it's harder to implement than to say it, so here goes my idea on how this would be done:

Create an integer that holds the width of the map. (That is if there is, very unlikely, not already an int that holds this.)

Create an extra "shadow" hex on the outside of the map. When a unit moves on this, it places the unit at either the edge (off the shadow) of the other side if there are enough move points left and at the same height.

Proceed to shoot holes through this, it's too late for me to think coherently.

Post by **quartex** » January 26th, 2005, 5:01 am

Graphically you would have to change the way we show the map. If you're moving units from the right "edge" to the left "edge" of the map, you don't want to have to scroll back and forth between edges to see where enemies are. Basically we'd have to allow the player to scroll infinitely in either direction, so he can see any part of the map (since now there are no edges)

And I think for the edges to lineup you would want the width and height to be an even numbers of hexes. Otherwise it would work.

ollobrains · Post by **ollobrains** » January 26th, 2005, 11:26 am

this wrap around option would also reduce the tactic of putting forces on the side that cant be attacked from off the edge of the map - it would alter gameplay quite a bit - making it more even and spread out instead of up and down the middle or focused on the edges of the gamemap.

You could have a floating movement but you would also need some sort of freefloat grid mark system - how about a co-ordinate system -based upon the width of the map.

Dunno to much about coding but im sure there is a workaround but then you would have gameplay changes and tactical considerations (though that could even come up with some new creative code, terrain and unit types)

Invisible Philosopher · January 26th, 2005, 1:20 pm

The AI would also probably have trouble with it. (maybe it would be okay, though, if the pathfinding could go around the world)

Naeddyr · Post by **Naeddyr** » January 30th, 2005, 1:40 pm

The wraparound sounds fun to play, though it isn't completely logical with smaller skirmishing battles - because they're not done on cylinders of round objects. A more fitting way to eliminate the sides-are-impenetrable thingie is for the maps to be larger, with obstacles - mountains, seas, stuff like that, instead of empty nothingness. Or, like in some other games, the gaming area is infinite, and generated randomly beyond its borders - and you could come up with some sort of Area-of-Command rule that means that you can't send people too far away from the command centre or other units, eliminating immunity-to-loss by players who send a bat or something somewhere in the surrounding wilderness.

Post by **Dave** » January 30th, 2005, 3:36 pm

Naeddyr wrote:A more fitting way to eliminate the sides-are-impenetrable thingie is for the maps to be larger, with obstacles - mountains, seas, stuff like that, instead of empty nothingness.

In the generate random map settings, select 'Island' as the land form and your map will be like this.

I really don't think the borders thing is a 'problem' though.

David