Question about Laying Webs

Nerroth · Post by **Nerroth** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:38 pm

Speaking of webs:

*Is Mike Grafton's "Pentagram of Lloth" web layout from page 96 of Captain's Log #29 valid in Federation Commander?

*Does the web caster limit in (4Q1e) also apply in scenarios set in the M81 Galaxy, or just for ones involving the Milky Way Tholians?

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 5:57 am

mjwest wrote:For the three hex degenerate case, I take the precident given in (5M2d-1) (which is, admittedly, for linear hexes), and the overall prohibition of triangular hexes, to say it can't be done, either.

Fair enough, then. How, though, would you get an 'oblong' globular web? If you can't have 'sharp' corners..... perhaps you'd have to do the sides that go 'across' the hex grain as zigzags with sideslips?

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 3:22 pm

Nerroth wrote:*Is Mike Grafton's "Pentagram of Lloth" web layout from page 96 of Captain's Log #29 valid in Federation Commander?

I don't know as I don't have access to my CL29 until the weekend.

In general, however, if you can make a shape in SFB, you should be able to make that shape in FC.

*Does the web caster limit in (4Q1e) also apply in scenarios set in the M81 Galaxy, or just for ones involving the Milky Way Tholians?

No. There is no web caster limit in the Tholian Home Galaxy. The limit is there to maintain the proper rarity of the web caster in the Milky Way.

Kang wrote:How, though, would you get an 'oblong' globular web? If you can't have 'sharp' corners..... perhaps you'd have to do the sides that go 'across' the hex grain as zigzags with sideslips?

You can have ovals by simply not having all six sides being the same length. You cannot have sideslips or zigzags, however, because of the requirement to have "all right turns".

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 3:56 pm

The question was about oblongs, not ovals!

The rules say you can have an oblong, just wondering how it would work.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:41 pm

Kang wrote:The question was about oblongs, not ovals! The rules say you can have an oblong, just wondering how it would work.

OK, define "oblong", because to me, an "oval" is just an "oblong circle".

(Could be one of those English/English translation things ... )

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:58 pm

Heh. Fair enough! An oblong is a four-sided shape; really it's like a square but with two pairs of equal-length sides, not identical-length. On a hex grid, it will come out as a parallelogram - which is illegal because it would have 'triangle' corners.

The only other way would be to do the edges with zigzags. Otherwise all globular webs would have to be hexagonal.

pmiller13 · Post by **pmiller13** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 7:49 pm

sswwwwwwss
swssssssssws
wssssssssssw
swssssssssws
sswwwwwwss

The 's' are empty space and the 'w' are web hexes.

Sorry for the how crud that drawing is but there you have an oblong web.

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:05 pm

The drawing is a masterpiece of innovation!

But it's still a hexagon, albeit an irregular one.

My idea of the oblong would be [copied and pasted from yours, pmiller13]

sswwwwwwss
swssssssssws
sswsssssswss
swssssssssws
sswwwwwwss

... but note the middle row difference. But at least we've shown that it works. Thanks!

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:09 pm

Tony: Actually uses would be illeagal as there is a "left" turn required on both of the vertical sections...

From horizontal row 3 to row four on the right edge, and again from row 3 to row 2 on the left edge.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:17 pm

Kang,

Your's won't work, as 'dad points out, because of the zigzag.

However, you could do this:
sssswwwwwss
ssswsssssssws
sswssssssswss
swssssssswsss
sswwwwwssss

That would give you a more irregular shape.

The key thing is to always follow clockwise around making right-hand turns.

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:02 am

Heh, we're really getting the hang of these drawings, ain't we?

Yes, I take all these points on board. My web would not work. Mike, your web is probably the nearest you can get to an 'oblong' - meaning a rectangle as I should have said more simply above

Anyway our game involving webs worked out [Ares is down, in Tholian Attack] - the Tholian player laid a web above the planet to prevent the Feds from getting to the target.

And it's Web Casters next. Questions will no doubt follow.

Wolverin61 · Post by **Wolverin61** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:30 am

This thread reminds me why I don't run Tholians

pinecone · Post by **pinecone** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:06 am

Idea for the drawings: color the Web letters.

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 6:02 am

Wolverin61 wrote:This thread reminds me why I don't run Tholians

Andy it's not as bad as is looks

Once the rules are embedded on your mental hard drive, the actual mechanics are simple. The problem comes - as in all games - when someone tries something that is borderline to what you thought possible, then some clarification is required.

That's when I thank these guys for their excellent product support. You really can't beat it

Wolverin61 · Post by **Wolverin61** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:28 pm

Kang wrote:
Wolverin61 wrote:This thread reminds me why I don't run Tholians
Andy it's not as bad as is looks Once the rules are embedded on your mental hard drive, the actual mechanics are simple. The problem comes - as in all games - when someone tries something that is borderline to what you thought possible, then some clarification is required.

This assumes that I actually have a mental hard drive

Kang wrote:That's when I thank these guys for their excellent product support. You really can't beat it

You're right about that: Right answers, right away, can't beat it!