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<blockquote data-quote="IceFractal" data-source="post: 4044061" data-attributes="member: 27704">It's not even the realism, or lack thereof, that's going to be noticable in play.&nbsp; It's the fact that a 1-1 rule has a visible, obvious effect on tactics, that doesn't mesh with normal spatial perception.&nbsp; What I'm talking about if defense.&nbsp; Specifically, trying to block people from charging your casters.&nbsp; Whether done with &quot;Wall of X&quot;, or a line of spear-wielding warriors, aligning your defenses diagonally makes them literally twice as effective as aligning them orthagonally to the grid.What does this mean in gameplay?&nbsp; It means that the first thing a group with people to defend will do in combat is move into a diagonal position, relative to their foes.&nbsp; Likewise, the first thing an all-melee group will do is move into an orthagonal position.&nbsp; This is going to be a very visible and very strange beginning to combat, and it's going to happen more often that not.In fact, if the groups are in a large open area like a desert or field, and catch sight of each-other from a distance, they could end up jockeying sideways for quite a distance as they moved toward each other.&nbsp; This is again, a highly visible effect, and saying that &quot;NPC on NPC combat doesn't use these rules&quot; just makes things worse - it's going to be pretty noticable if everyone starts moving differently as soon as a PC enters a battle.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="IceFractal, post: 4044061, member: 27704"] It's not even the realism, or lack thereof, that's going to be noticable in play. It's the fact that a 1-1 rule has a visible, obvious effect on tactics, that doesn't mesh with normal spatial perception. What I'm talking about if defense. Specifically, trying to block people from charging your casters. Whether done with "Wall of X", or a line of spear-wielding warriors, aligning your defenses diagonally makes them literally [U]twice as effective[/U] as aligning them orthagonally to the grid. What does this mean in gameplay? It means that the first thing a group with people to defend will do in combat is move into a diagonal position, relative to their foes. Likewise, the first thing an all-melee group will do is move into an orthagonal position. This is going to be a very visible and very strange beginning to combat, and it's going to happen more often that not. In fact, if the groups are in a large open area like a desert or field, and catch sight of each-other from a distance, they could end up jockeying sideways for quite a distance as they moved toward each other. This is again, a highly visible effect, and saying that "NPC on NPC combat doesn't use these rules" just makes things worse - it's going to be pretty noticable if everyone starts moving differently as soon as a PC enters a battle. [/QUOTE]

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