TA: Wish for diagonal facing and movement

[slayernz]

What I would give to be able to have my knights face in the diagonal rather than just in the four cardinal points. It would make the game play that much more dynamic. Benefits would include
* Better use of covering fire (diagonal weapons fire would be awesome because you could position your knight in a room corner for suppressing fire)
* More logical movement options (move one up and one over at the same time)

Obviously diagonal movement would need to cost more AP - my thoughts are that it would be the same as reversing (2AP per square).

I'm not sure how you'd do the AP cost for diagonal facing though. It could be that to move from N to NE would cost 0.5AP (so N to E would be 1AP). Also, for most times, you don't want to have to move 4 times to turn 180 degrees (N to NE, NE to E, E to SE, SE to S). Does this mean we'd need a button toggle that you could select for diagonal transitions? Having the button means you could enable the diagonal positions if/when you need it, but leave it out when you don't.

[fallen]

I've added #TA-1824 to look at this one. It is possible to add diagonal movement, but diagonal facing is out of the scope of what the Java version of the game engine will be able to do. Under the Heroes of Steel engine, we'd have some more options ...

[Lt. Hathaway]

You'd only need a second, 45 degree twist icon, which you could then mirror, right? You're already finding targets by searching now, I believe.

If the AI was slicker, the controls would be easy, as it could move to a targeted spot with a 'final direction' arrow along the most efficient path.

[Cory Trese]

Heroes of Steel enables movement, combat and line of sight along all of these axis.

Heroes of Steel!

[fallen]

@lt hathaway - we hear you, but there are limits to the home-brewed game engine that we built in Java -- there just are. Moving to the Heroes engine is a major step up as we have embraced an open source, powerful game engine based on Open GL and C++. The doors just got knocked off the barn, folks.

[Lt. Hathaway]

Oh, not huge on my request list anyway, it had just occurred to me that the hard part of it, you've already done.

Now, adding a "Plasma Grenade Satchel" 5 shot burst 2 range 3 off-hand weapon? Trivial, and so rewarding!

[Deleted]

I'm super impressed with the attention you all have given the game even as you develop and release new games. But it sounds like the OP is talking about a hex based system rather than grid- like Megamek. Given the tunnel running nature of the game, I think its fine the way it is. Especially since you can take slicing shots around corners now.

[fallen]

dayan - thanks for sharing! I can see why people want diagonal movement, but in my head, it clashes with the size and cumbersome nature of the Templar armor. It's on our list to look at, but we will see how it fairs in the priority listing. Lots to do!