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Still on Hide'n'seek and discreteness

From: Mikko Kurki-Suonio <maxxon@s...>
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 11:00:58 +0300 (EEST)
Subject: Still on Hide'n'seek and discreteness

Hi,

 First, what does non-discrete movement mean? It means that whatever the
exact position of your miniature is deemed to represent, it counts. Any
measurements you do are based off the base edge, centerpoint or in some
other agreed fashion. If you move the miniature, even very slightly, all
these measurements change -- perhaps not enough to have a game effect,
but they *do* change.

 Discrete movement, OTOH, is like Monopoly. Your token's placement is
defined as being in a particular area. E.g. your plastic tophat either
is
in the Mayfair, or it isn't. There is no gray ground. There is no
in-between. It doesn't matter wether you are at the dead center of
Mayfair, or at the very edge -- you're still in Mayfair and you still
pay
rent. You can also move your token freely within the Mayfair space
without
affecting the game in any way.

Rule of thumb: Games that have a rule how to correctly place your token
on
the playing surface have discrete movement.

Ok, onto hide'n'seek:

Hidden placement is nice. Especially one-sided hidden placement can work
very well, even without an umpire. Never said it couldn't.

But that's not "true" hide'n'seek in my book. In true hide'n'seek

 - BOTH sides' ALL units can be hidden from view
 - very likely, ALL units are hidden at start of scenario
 - units can move, using regular movement rules, WHILE hidden
 - discovered units are *automatically* HIDDEN AGAIN when LOS is lost
   (i.e. said unit does not have to perform a "hide" action)

In my opinion, it is practically impossible to achieve this without
computerizing the entire game (thus losing the minis), or changing to
discrete playing ground (i.e. hexes).

Paraphrasing Thomas: Why do we bother spending so much time painting the
miniatures, if the game format is such that they're rarely if ever seen?

E.g. WWII carrier game again.

"Here's my nicely painted USS Enterprise in precise May'42 configuration
and plane load" <plonk mini down on table>
"Except that you don't know if that's the configuration I'm using."
<swipe away miniscule planes from deck>
"Except that you don't know if I'm at this spot either."
<place cardboard screen in front of miniature>
"In fact, you don't even know if I'm in the Pacific at all!"
<put mini back in storage tray>
<Beep beep from computer>
"Looks like my strike found you." 
<roll,roll> 
"You're sunk. Gotta go..."
"Oh, btw, did you ever finish assembling that Akagi I just torpedoed?"
'No, my dog ate it last week.'

-- 
maxxon@swob.dna.fi (Mikko Kurki-Suonio) 	  | A pig who doesn't
fly
GSM +358 50 5596411 Tel +358 9 809268		  | is just an ordinary
pig
Länsimetsä 3B1 02300 ESPOO FINLAND   Hate me? Try |	      - Porco
Rosso
http://www.swob.dna.fi/~maxxon/      hateme.html  |

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