Just my random musings about Heroscape...
The Balanced Terrain Master Set
Posted January 24th, 2011 at 01:15 PM by Elginb
As I’ve mentioned in my Lazy Laundry Tournament posts, I really believe that many (most?) HS units get screwed by the unequal representation of special terrain in tournament maps. So, I spent some time imagining what a Master Set would look like if it included all terrain types proportional to the overall distribution of terrain types in a collection that included one each of every Master and Terrain Set, with the idea that this could become a standard "Master" set. Here’s what I found (and I’m sure my math is only roughly correct, as I did a lot of rounding and what-not, and some terrain types overlap or are difficult to account for).
[And just to clarify some terminology I’ll be using—I’m going to use the term “hex-depth” to account for terrain that takes up some horizontal space. For terrain that takes up vertical space, but no horizontal space (such as ruins or ladders), I’m going to refer to them by their “edge-level”, which is the number of hex edges they abut multiplied by how much height is associated with them.]
Neutral Terrain – 66% of hex-depth. Functionally interchangeable. Total number of neutral tiles and corresponding hex-depth include:
Grass – 247
Swamp – 130
Rock - 122
Sand - 96
Concrete (including Warehouse Ruin Tile) - 45
Asphalt – 40
Total Hex-Depth = 680
Active Terrain – 34% of hex-depth. Each terrain type has direct or implicit impact on many units in the game, and are usually not interchangeable. Total number of active tiles and corresponding hex-depth include:
Shadow/Shadow Bases – 8+6=14
Swamp Water/Hive Base – 34+6=40
Water - 41
Molten Lava - 11
Lava Field - 43
Snow - 36
Ice - 21
Glaciers - 16
Road - 29
Wall Walks - 37
Rock Outcrops - 6
Hive – 6
Evergreens - 8
Palm Trees - 3
Underbrush - 6
Castle Walls/Doorway Arch – 21+3=24
Warehouse Ruin – 6
Total Hex-Depth = 347
Vertical-Only Terrain – I consider this terrain to be active, but it doesn’t take up hex-depth in the traditional sense. Total overall pieces and edge-levels:
Ruins – 13 edges X 6 levels = 78 edge-levels
Stone Walls – 8 edges X 3 levels = 96 edge-levels
Battlements – 50 edges X 3 levels = 150 edge-levels
Ladders – 22 edges X 2 levels = 44 edge-levels
Total Edge-Levels = 368
Now, the next step is translating this proportionately into a single Master Terrain Set. Since it was the best and had the most terrain, I figure the overall contents should correspond to what came with the original ROTV Master Set. ROTV had a hex-depth of 360 and 78 edge-levels, so I will divvy up the above listed terrain proportionally for that amount of terrain. So here are the proportionate hex-depths and edge-levels of the Balanced Terrain Master Set:
Grass – 86
Swamp – 45
Rock - 43
Sand - 33
Concrete - 17
Asphalt – 14
Shadow/Shadow Bases – 5
Swamp Water/Hive Base – 13
Water - 15
Molten Lava - 4
Lava Field - 15
Snow - 12
Ice - 7
Glaciers - 6
Road - 10
Wall Walks - 13
Rock Outcrops - 2
Hive – 2 (0 to 1 Hive)
Evergreens - 2
Palm Trees - 1
Underbrush - 2
Castle Walls/Doorway Arch – 9
Warehouse Ruin – 2 (0 to 1 Warehouse Ruins)
Ruins – 16 (0 to 1 Ruins)
Stone Walls – 20 (1 Stone Wall)
Battlements – 32 (10 or 11 battlements)
Ladders – 9 (4 or 5 Ladder rungs)
In my mind, certain terrain pieces are interchangeable-- neutral terrain in particular, but Stone Walls could be turned into Battlements without much issue; Snow and Ice could also be switched up, depending on how much height you want on your map. By determining this in terms of hex-depth, you also have the freedom to choose between what kind of tile you want—do you want eleven 3-hex tiles of sand? Or would you rather have two 7-hex tiles, two 3-hex tiles, four 2-hex tiles and five 1-hex tiles?
Whatever the case, in my pie in the sky, cotton candy, lollipop world, I’d love to see tournament maps built from this kind of master set and including all the terrain types. In a future post, I think I might discuss ways to use the terrain variety to balance under-used units with the super-stars.
[And just to clarify some terminology I’ll be using—I’m going to use the term “hex-depth” to account for terrain that takes up some horizontal space. For terrain that takes up vertical space, but no horizontal space (such as ruins or ladders), I’m going to refer to them by their “edge-level”, which is the number of hex edges they abut multiplied by how much height is associated with them.]
Neutral Terrain – 66% of hex-depth. Functionally interchangeable. Total number of neutral tiles and corresponding hex-depth include:
Grass – 247
Swamp – 130
Rock - 122
Sand - 96
Concrete (including Warehouse Ruin Tile) - 45
Asphalt – 40
Total Hex-Depth = 680
Active Terrain – 34% of hex-depth. Each terrain type has direct or implicit impact on many units in the game, and are usually not interchangeable. Total number of active tiles and corresponding hex-depth include:
Shadow/Shadow Bases – 8+6=14
Swamp Water/Hive Base – 34+6=40
Water - 41
Molten Lava - 11
Lava Field - 43
Snow - 36
Ice - 21
Glaciers - 16
Road - 29
Wall Walks - 37
Rock Outcrops - 6
Hive – 6
Evergreens - 8
Palm Trees - 3
Underbrush - 6
Castle Walls/Doorway Arch – 21+3=24
Warehouse Ruin – 6
Total Hex-Depth = 347
Vertical-Only Terrain – I consider this terrain to be active, but it doesn’t take up hex-depth in the traditional sense. Total overall pieces and edge-levels:
Ruins – 13 edges X 6 levels = 78 edge-levels
Stone Walls – 8 edges X 3 levels = 96 edge-levels
Battlements – 50 edges X 3 levels = 150 edge-levels
Ladders – 22 edges X 2 levels = 44 edge-levels
Total Edge-Levels = 368
***
Now, the next step is translating this proportionately into a single Master Terrain Set. Since it was the best and had the most terrain, I figure the overall contents should correspond to what came with the original ROTV Master Set. ROTV had a hex-depth of 360 and 78 edge-levels, so I will divvy up the above listed terrain proportionally for that amount of terrain. So here are the proportionate hex-depths and edge-levels of the Balanced Terrain Master Set:
Grass – 86
Swamp – 45
Rock - 43
Sand - 33
Concrete - 17
Asphalt – 14
Shadow/Shadow Bases – 5
Swamp Water/Hive Base – 13
Water - 15
Molten Lava - 4
Lava Field - 15
Snow - 12
Ice - 7
Glaciers - 6
Road - 10
Wall Walks - 13
Rock Outcrops - 2
Hive – 2 (0 to 1 Hive)
Evergreens - 2
Palm Trees - 1
Underbrush - 2
Castle Walls/Doorway Arch – 9
Warehouse Ruin – 2 (0 to 1 Warehouse Ruins)
Ruins – 16 (0 to 1 Ruins)
Stone Walls – 20 (1 Stone Wall)
Battlements – 32 (10 or 11 battlements)
Ladders – 9 (4 or 5 Ladder rungs)
In my mind, certain terrain pieces are interchangeable-- neutral terrain in particular, but Stone Walls could be turned into Battlements without much issue; Snow and Ice could also be switched up, depending on how much height you want on your map. By determining this in terms of hex-depth, you also have the freedom to choose between what kind of tile you want—do you want eleven 3-hex tiles of sand? Or would you rather have two 7-hex tiles, two 3-hex tiles, four 2-hex tiles and five 1-hex tiles?
Whatever the case, in my pie in the sky, cotton candy, lollipop world, I’d love to see tournament maps built from this kind of master set and including all the terrain types. In a future post, I think I might discuss ways to use the terrain variety to balance under-used units with the super-stars.
Comments 3
Total Comments 3
Comments
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This is very interesting work you've done! (Now who can we get to produce it?) As someone who has all the terrain he needs, I could replicate your formulas for my own boards; I don't know how many others could. I'll be interested to see what other comments you get here about this...
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Posted January 25th, 2011 at 06:55 AM by chas
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I know that a lot of folks simply don't have all the terrain sets, but a lot of folks have one of each, and I think you could have essentially 2 or 3 Balanced Terrain Master Sets if you divvied them up this way. I've been building my battlefields with these contents lately, and I think they've worked pretty well. It changes the game a little bit, but the tough units are still tough, there are just a few other units that work a little better. I don't think you have to have a flatter map for melee to work well, either, if you use all the terrain types in conjunction.
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Posted January 25th, 2011 at 12:33 PM by Elginb
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I think people strictly following the rules would be able to have a great time with this list (assuming they have all types of terrain - I'm missing the VW stuff myself).
However for those house rules loving people who just can't stop themselves from using asphalt as tar pits and concrete as excess road tiles it may not work as well. Either way I'm into trying new heroscape ideas so I'll probably try a version of this on the weekend. |
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Posted January 25th, 2011 at 12:43 PM by AMIS
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Recent Blog Entries by Elginb
- Selling My Collection (July 25th, 2012)
- Elgin's Custom Unit Ideas (February 19th, 2012)
- Unit Anatomy: Major Q9, Part 1 (February 4th, 2012)
- Elgin's 1/28/12 Event Battle Report (January 29th, 2012)
- Tournament Armies Used & Unit Frequency (October 18th, 2011)
