Hacker News Reader

For games that simulate a particular conflict, irregular polygons are a better option than hexes or squares. They still have the benefits of discrete movement, but allow for baking terrain related factors directly into the map, instead of having a separate table.

Great example of this is Napoleon's Triumph: http://www.simmonsgames.com/products/Austerlitz/Map.html

View on HN

The computer games Europa Universalis IV, Crusader Kings 2, Imperator: Rome, and others by Paradox Development use something like this by splitting up the map into irregularly-shaped provinces that can have a variable number of connections with other provinces (including tactical considerations such as penalties from river crossings) and have different travel speeds for armies based on the sizes of particular provinces.

A simple visual example of somebody looking at the diplomacy view of their country in EU4: https://i.imgur.com/hfI8NnM.jpg

Stellaris applies the same to star systems and their hyperspace interconnections. I miss the other forms of FTL travel possible in that game (warp drives were nice for their simplicity, and wormhole generators were a great challenge), but the hyperlanes do make it feel more like "EU4 in Space™".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com