Rivers thru middle of hexes? What's the thinking there?

[Xenomorph]

I played TOAW 3 for a little bit and I liked many aspects of it but I absolutely hated the fact that rivers run through the middle of hexes and not along the borders. It was aggravating enough to me that I stopped playing it. I thought certainly it'd be changed in v4 but obviously not.

I gathered that if you were on a river hex, you were more or less assumed to be in the process of crossing the river but well, this just didn't make sense to me. If that were the case, it seems the entire hex should just be water. I had several occasions where an enemy moved down 2 or 3 river hexes in order to attack me and that when he did so, it usually seemed the odds were as though he was attacking me from the same side of the river I was on. Thus it seemed to be simulating a unit that entered the river, floated down a couple hexes, then jumped out of their boats in order to hit me without any benefit to me of defending behind a river. Not too likely. It also seemed that when I tried the same thing - and I did experiment with it - I didn't seem to get to the same benefit.

Anyway, TOAW is so well supported by its community that I want to like it. So I'm wondering if the river thing is just not that big a deal to you or how you came to overlook it. Thanks!

[Lobster]

There are only about 100 threads about in hex rivers and the logic problems with them. [;)]

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: Xenomorph
Anyway, TOAW is so well supported by its community that I want to like it. So I'm wondering if the river thing is just not that big a deal to you or how you came to overlook it. Thanks!

Many people, including me, agree with you. Some are indifferent.

Some, apparently and unfortunately including people leading the development effort, insist that in-hex rivers being the only way to proceed, despite this being AFAIK the only digital wargame in decades to use this approach.

[BeirutDude]

Back in the days when I was creating scenarios for the earlier versions of the game I almost always shied away from the larger hex scales. Unless I was doing something in large desert areas like Iraq/Saudi Arabia, I always tried to keep things in the 2.4 to 5 km range because of the rivers. Beyond those scales it just never made sense to me. One thing they are good for at larger scales is for compact island chains where the river is more like a small strait, Like between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Just my thoughts from the distant past...

[Xenomorph]

Thx for the replies! At least I'm not alone. I thought maybe there was some obvious reason I couldn't grasp.

And BeirutDude thanks for your service!

[76mm]

There is at least one massive thread here somewhere on the topic, you can check it out if you want to see the arguments for both sides.

[Curtis Lemay]

ORIGINAL: 76mm

There is at least one massive thread here somewhere on the topic, you can check it out if you want to see the arguments for both sides.

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