currently the wall model is a square and this makes curves difficult to do with them causing more naturally shaped defenses to require overlapping walls. since uber is trying to implement drawing on the map to build, the ability of hexagons to tessellate in six directions endlessly would make holes in the walls be a thing of the past. and allow you to create more flowing defensive lines. it would also be more visually appealing.
How do Hexagons work with square building area thought? ;p This would additionally require a modification to teh build system to work with Hexagons as well when it comes to snapping and such. Mike
It's an interesting idea, but I think you are right here. They'd have to completely redesign the whole foundation of the building engine to make it work correctly.
I don't think it's have to be a full on re-design, maybe just the adding of a new "method" for placement alongside the standard squares. hopefully it's something that will happen down the road as it can really open up new possibilities for both PA and Mods. Mike
why would it be so hard though? there's no grid on the planet. the way it works is it just stems from one end.
I wasn't referring to the a planet based grid. I was referring to the idea of snapping and what not. Like I said I don't think it'd require a full on rework of the entire system but it is work for what ultimately amounts to a small usage at this stage and I figure Uber would rather focus elsewhere at this stage. Mike
I like this idea. There should also be selectable options to create circles, boxes, lines and maybe a free-hand click and drag for quick queuing of walls. Anything to make building passive base protection easy, quick, and effective.
I like the idea of Hex walls personally. You can still very easily make straight walls but hex will allow you to make a more seamless curve. Besides when speaking of robots everyone knows they use hex style structures Look at any good sci-fi movie/book
I'd say octagonal walls would be a better solution here. Hex walls would have a lot of sharp edges when built side-by-side that square walls don't have, and they would stick out further horizontally because of this. Building walls at 90 degrees of eachother also becomes problematic, as they will either not line up at all, or one wall will be much more spaced out with sharp edges lined up against other sharp edges, possibly messing with path-finding (since we aren't dealing with a perfect grid here). Octagonal walls would keep the face of a wall relatively flat while allowing for even more directional freedom, and they would match the current theme of units and buildings better than hexagons (there are hexes in the game, but they are generally alone, and there are far more 135 degree angles and 270 degree angles such as on power generators and beveled edges). They would be functional in-game without alteration to anything but the hitbox, and adding a proper 45 degree snap-to angle & distance would be all that is necessary to make them work seamlessly. Then again, you would need to make an octagonal hitbox for them, and a square hitbox is presumably a lot cheaper to make calculations with for something so spammable, so it may not be practical to bother with.
I personally would say that hecatontagonal walls would be better, because of the higher customization ability. lol all jokes a side I actually see where your coming from, I dont see how it could hurt however to be perfectly honest I dont think square walls are too bad at the moment either, I mean they have accomplished whatever I have thrown at the them so... However I do see why people would want hexagon/octagon walls, it could really make bases look "pretty" aswell as make diagonals easier
+1 Hex walls and "free flow" (not straight lines) wall drawing for easy curves and squiggles where all the wall bits join up nicely please so I don't have to click 100 times and have a wall that looks like it was built by a fabricator that has given up on life and is thinking about asking its friend to just reclaim him but even then he probably won't agree to it so what's the point anymore.
I stand correct, yeah I was thinking octagonal when I said hex. I think the 8 sides would work best for this game this game and all the different ways people want to use walls.
