Please help with hex map scales...
ubai
Newcomer
Hello,
I am trying to make a series of hex maps that start at world scale and another map at regional scale and then down to a local map (and then possibly down one more to a local map). I did some research online and many people seem to think that a six mile hex is a good size to work with since it scales well. Unfortunately, I am terrible at math and I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around the grid set up.
Assuming my world map is 24192 miles wide and 12096 tall, how would I get a reasonable number of hexes that also scale down well to the other sizes? Also, how do I know how big the hex is? Do I measure edge to edge? Top to bottom? I'm afraid it's been to many decades since high school geometry, so any help would be greatly appreciated!
Comments
CC3 provides a way to automate hex grid creation.
In the Draw menu find the "Hex or Square Overlay" option and click it.
This will show you a dialog like this one below, where you can specify which way up you want your hexes and how big you want them in map units. If your map is an imperial overland map this would give you hexes that are 6 mile hexes. In a metric map the same settings would give you hexes that are 6km hexes. In a city or dungeon map, 6 map units would be 6 feet in imperial templates and 6m in metric templates.
If the grid you create is wrong just delete it and try a different scale.
I hope that helps.
Thanks! I did make it that far, but the problem I am having is the scales for each map. If I tried to use six mile hexes on the world map it would be way too small. From what I have read, I need to choose a size that tiles well, and that is where I am having issues. I have been reading about ideal vs. semi-prefect tiling and I'm afraid it has all gone over my head.
For example: say I use 6 mile hexes for my local area, and then 24 mile hexes for my regional area. What would I use for a continent or a whole planet? By the same token, how would I scale down from 6 miles to say half or quarter mile tiles and still have nice tiling?
Also, how do I know how big the hex is? Do I measure edge to edge? Top to bottom?
In CC3+, the size of the hex is measured edge to edge. (For a horizontal hex grid, that would be the same as top to bottom, since edges are at the top and bottom). [This means that the corner to corner size will be 1,15 times larger than the specified hex size]
The scale really depends on how detailed you want your world. Hex mapping, by it's nature, do make the detail level a bit simpler for a map. Hexes are also a bit problematic when you want different sizes, because you can't easily line up hexes inside a hex like you can with squares. But the best number is if you use a difference in scale that is a multiple of 3. (As such, your example of using 6 miles, then 24 miles doesn't work too well, because 24 is 4 times 6, and 4 is not a multiple of 3). As long as you use a multiple of 3, you should be able to have a tiling that only includes full and half hexes, as per my diagram below, and corners will line up with each other. (so 6 and 36 would be appropriate values for the two scales in your example)
As for the whole world scale, just continue multiplying by numbers that are a multiple of 3 and establish a size that feels comfortable for you. Generally, I would be very of any size that leaves more than a 100 hexes in any direction, but if you use 36 for regional areas, you could consider 216 for continents and 648 for world size. Those sizes would line up nicely with each other.
But, then there is the big question, do you even need them to line up properly like this? If you map each map individually, then you might not ever have the larger hexes of the regional map be a factor at all when making local maps. Sometimes, the value of having hexes of nice round sizes can be much more beneficial for the current map. Hexes for the main map could be 250 or 500 miles, continents could be 100 miles, regional ares 25 miles, etc. Unless the maps are going to be directly overlaid each other, you probably aren't actually going to need hexes that lines up with bigger scale maps. But of course, this is up to your own needs and desires.
Thanks very much, that helps a lot! :)
Personally, I think hex maps work better for smaller regional areas. At a continental or world scale, they start to look really clumsy to my eye, especially those that use one terrain symbol per hex. The six miles per hex isn't a hard and fast rule. Quite a few folks go with 5 mile hexes, as that's easier to work with distances in your head (or counting on fingers)!