Hexes May Be Miles Across--But How Many?

[Andrettin]

According to the following thread, an average Ancient or Medieval army could march 15-18 miles in 7 hours.

http://historum.com/war-military-histor ... e-day.html

Using that as a basis, we can calculate the size of a Wesnoth hex. One 24-hour day lasts 6 turns. Each turn, therefore, is 4 hours. If an average Ancient or Medieval army could march 15-18 miles in 7 hours, then it could march 8.57-10.2857 miles in 4 hours. The average Wesnoth infantry unit can move 5 flat hexes per turn, which works out to 1.7-2.057 miles per hex.

In other words, a Wesnoth hex is approximately 2 miles across.

In think you are taking it too concretely. Hexes and units are abstract; hexes can represent small parcels of land or large swathes of it, depending on what the map wants to represent. Some maps represent small dungeons, while others may span big parts of continents. Likewise, units can represent a large number of soldiers in scenarios depicting important battles, or individual people if the scenario is about an assassination mission.

[Sudipta]

According to the following thread, an average Ancient or Medieval army could march 15-18 miles in 7 hours.

http://historum.com/war-military-histor ... e-day.html

Using that as a basis, we can calculate the size of a Wesnoth hex. One 24-hour day lasts 6 turns. Each turn, therefore, is 4 hours. If an average Ancient or Medieval army could march 15-18 miles in 7 hours, then it could march 8.57-10.2857 miles in 4 hours. The average Wesnoth infantry unit can move 5 flat hexes per turn, which works out to 1.7-2.057 miles per hex.

In other words, a Wesnoth hex is approximately 2 miles across.

In think you are taking it too concretely. Hexes and units are abstract; hexes can represent small parcels of land or large swathes of it, depending on what the map wants to represent. Some maps represent small dungeons, while others may span big parts of continents. Likewise, units can represent a large number of soldiers in scenarios depicting important battles, or individual people if the scenario is about an assassination mission.

This is exactly how i picture the situation when i play BfW. I consider the hero units to be single units and the rest is abstract thought. Sometimes an elvish archer is just 1 archer, other times i imagine that for that 1 archer that i control on the map, there are 10 more that are unseen but exist all the same.( not the same as the battalion idea though. It's more like i am fighting a miniature version of the actual battle.

I know it seems strange when seen from a logical point of view, but as others have noted before, there are limitations of a game - it cannot fully simulate reality, and you have let your "mind "or "imagination" or whatever u call it fill in the gaps.
For example, when Kaleh was fleeing his destroyed village at the start of UtBS, though there were only around 15 - 20 player units on the maps, in actuality he was leading thousands of his people in the desert exodus. Or, in NR's infested caves, though there were around 20 - 40 units on each side, in reality there were hundreds of humans, skeletons, trolls and dwarves in the cave.

As for my previous post about 2 mile long arms.... i was just joking

[Samonella]

Of course you two are right. It's impossible to find a concrete rule for these kinds of things, and I'd be quite upset if BfW actually tried to come up with a canon answer. But I enjoy these theory discussions anyway. And of course we're not talking about small dungeon scenarios, just the usual landscape kind that you would likely encounter in multiplayer.

[Temuchin Khan]

Of course you two are right. It's impossible to find a concrete rule for these kinds of things, and I'd be quite upset if BfW actually tried to come up with a canon answer. But I enjoy these theory discussions anyway. And of course we're not talking about small dungeon scenarios, just the usual landscape kind that you would likely encounter in multiplayer.

Exactly how I see it. Impossible to truly find a concrete rule, but the discussion is still fun. Besides, there are certain things you can logically deduce from how Wesnoth is structured.

[doofus-01]

I guess this has run its course, but I will still throw in my two cents because the internet needs me to: Giant Rat Battalion Commander has nice ring to it.

[vultraz]

didn't you notice that when attacking in melee, the unit moves towards the second unit's hex?

So you're saying they run 2 miles forward and back for each attack? No wonder they can do this only once per turn!

[Aethaeryn]

In think you are taking it too concretely. Hexes and units are abstract; hexes can represent small parcels of land or large swathes of it, depending on what the map wants to represent. Some maps represent small dungeons, while others may span big parts of continents.

It's more abstract than that. The scale of the maps can change within the maps themselves. There is no constant scale. A map can have a wilderness where one village represents one village, a city where one village represents one or several buildings, and a dungeon or cave where the area is roughly the size that it appears visually. And it can be all on the same map, not just the same campaign.

Understanding this is one of the secrets to making a good Wesnoth map.

[Andrettin]

It's more abstract than that. The scale of the maps can change within the maps themselves. There is no constant scale. A map can have a wilderness where one village represents one village, a city where one village represents one or several buildings, and a dungeon or cave where the area is roughly the size that it appears visually. And it can be all on the same map, not just the same campaign.

Understanding this is one of the secrets to making a good Wesnoth map.

Aye, well said.