[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#8632) Easy way to set map size with auto ratios (seteables if desired)

["Gregory Berkolaiko" <Gregory.Berkolaiko@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<URL: http://rt.freeciv.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=8632 >

On Thu, 3 Jun 2004, Jason Short wrote:

>   X X X X
>    X X X X
>   X X X X
>    X X X X

This is a very good example.  Normally you'd expect h-size to be the
number of times you have to press "right" button to get from the left edge
to the right edge.  Similarly the v-size.  And in the example above it's
4x2, but as Jason points out the example has 16 tiles!

So we do have a problem.  And ratios is not a bad way to go about it.

However, I would go for a single variable size, letting the server figure
out the actual parameters depending on the topology and the aestetics of
the coder.  Five predefined sizes would be enough, can have names/aliases
like tiny, small, compact, midsize, big and huge ;)

If someone has nothing better to do and _really_ wants to set the sizes by
hand they can edit the source.

G.

> This map is 8x4 if measured in "natural" coordinates (4x2 is also a
> reasonable description).  But there are 16 tiles on this map.  So you
> can't have it both ways.  Either size or aspect must be wrong if you use
> integer values.



>
> The above map is 4x4 in native coordinates.  This is the method
> currently used.  It is like the 8x4 natural system but compressed 2x in
> the X direction.
>
> -----
>
> It would be possible to have "scaled natural coordinates" that are like
> natural coordinates but scaled to have the correct size.  The problem
> with these is that they're irrational, so you have to round off and you
> end up with small rounding errors.  In these terms the above map would
> be a (4S, 2S) map where S = sqrt(2).  So the user would set the map up
> as (5,3) (aiming for 15 tiles) but (after one value is multiplied by S
> and the other is divided, and both are rounded) would end up with a map
> whose native dimensions are 4x4 (16 tiles, 2:1 ratio).
>
> Another example is the 80x50 map.  This is translated to a 57x71
> "native" map which has about an 8.03:5 ratio and 4047 total tiles.
>
> Is this method better?
>
> -----
>
> Note that every other civilization game (AFAIK) uses a one-dimensional
> size value rather than providing xsize, ysize values.  I don't remember
> anyone ever complaining about this being too simplistic.
>
> jason