Hexagon

:see also: megahex
The Hexagon (usually abbreviated to Hex) refers to the 6-sided polygon which Tactical Combat is based on. It creates six relative directions where a character can be Facing or attacked from.
==Distance==
For most battle maps a hex is 1 yard across from one side to the other through the center (2 x apothem). This makes corner to corner through the center (long diagonal) 1.1547 yards and each of the sides 0.5774 yards. To avoid having to deal with that 1.1547 yards one can use a "stagger" measurement. Sure it makes the distance longer than it needs to be but distances don't need to be that precise for most combat. So the hero below moves 8 yds rather than the actual 6.9284 (4*0.5774 + 4*1.1547) yds.
==Directions==
Three of them are designated as front hexes, two of them are designated as side hexes and one of them is designated as back or rear.
One entire half, centered on the direction the character is facing, is considered "front" hexes. The "left" is the back-left and the "right" is the back-right.
== View==
Restricted View disadvantages such as Tunnel Vision and some helmets can improve this, while Peripheral Vision or 360° Vision can improve this.
This is somewhat dishonest to the semantic origins of these words. Front/Back/Left/Right just like North/East/South/West is FOUR directions.
It would be more accurate to consider a hex to have no "true" left or right, and rather designated the 4 hexes which are not front/back as portmanteaus like LONT/RONT (left-front and right-wrong) and LACK/RACK (left-back and right-back).
Not lumping the 3 front hexes together would make sense even for normal people. Especially since One Eye crippling for normal 2-eye beings like humans would change people's degree of peripheral view (limiting it on one side) compared to natural one-eyed creatures like Cyclops who have it centered.
We know because of helmets that current rules reflect that Field of View is based only on eye-movements. While it would be possible for the attachment of a helmet to shoulder/chest armor to impede neck movements, this is not an inherent aspect of helmets which can be worn on their own.
Rules like being able to defend against Runaround Attacks might assume the contribution of spinal rotation (lumbar = abdomen, thoracic = chest, cervical = neck) in addition to lateral eye-darting for tracking an enemy who moves around to the "side" (BIDE for back-side, more like, as opposed to FIDE for front-side) and then rear hexes.
The problem with this is while an entire facing change is certainly slower than merely spinal rotation (which in turn in faster than eye-darting) these should still have costs in terms of time and effort, if broken down into an appopriately distinct micro-scale.
==Turning==
There's absolutely no difference rules-wise for example, between turning 120 degrees to defend against a circler and turning 240 degrees to defend against a circler. All that matters is the final hex they ended up in, even if they passed THROUGH the back hex and you are assumed to have been twisting to keep track of them!
At a certain point you can only twist so far and then must do a 180 to keep moving in that direction as you track a circler, so there is a moment where you MUST turn your back on them.
Even though a person is able to keep their feet planted forward and through combination of spinal rotation and eye movement, look directly behind them, this rotation will cause the back of their head to be pointed to the side, altering where their blindspot is. If someone able to move into that, it would not be possible to view them.
There is a difference between knowing that someone is behind you and that they might attack you (which can be accomplished via a hearing roll, or if an ally see them and warns you) and actually keeping eyes trained on an attacker so you can watch the attack coming.
Instead of a 0 (front) to -2 (BIDE) an interim gradiant of -1 (FIDE) would be sensible here. Even though peripheral vision of normal people (even without the avantage of that name, which ought to be called Extra Peripheral Vision) does cover all the front hexes, only the place your eyes are trained would be in FOCUS because both eyes are looking at it. This by default would only be the front hex. Out-of-focus areas getting a -1 to defend against makes perfect sense!
Where the eyes are trained is important in case, especially when being attacked by 2 opponents circling to either sides. Even though eye movements are very fast and low-energy to, having to dart your eyes back and forth will keep both enemies out of focus momentarily (alternating) which is very different than merely having an opponent attacking from one side.
If a Facing Change (perhaps called a Pivot) takes a Step or Movement Point, a Glance (a term which could effect training the eyes left or right or back to center, possibly with or without neck movements or have a separate term for them) would cost less than this.
With 1 FP = 5 AP breaking down MP into 5 or 10 smaller units could also cover this. Instead of paying 5 points for 1 point of move, someone they could pay 1 point for Move (-80%) for Eyes-Only or Head-Only movement points. Or just charge 0.1 or 0.2 to do it. Just so long as there are a finite amount of times someone can change where they are focusing their gaze when swamped by a massive amount of attackers or a whirling speedster.
==Subjectivity==
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/faq/FAQ4-4.html#SS4.2.2
"a 3-hex Force Dome radiates 2 hexes out from the center hex, and is 5 yards (15') in diameter"
This actually creates a diameter of 5 hexes, suggesting a radius that is functionally 2.5, not 3.
*Hexagon Calculator
Category:Rules