Zenbitz:Time and Distance Scale Thoughts

I really like the idea of using a different distance scale for indoors vs. out, and even other varied terrain.

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One of the things that bugged me about Fallout was the extreme foreshortening of outdoor spaces. A trained rifleman WITHOUT a scope can pick off a hapless victim at 100m if he has time to prepare. This corresponds to 100 hexes in fallout, or "way over into that other map". With a scope? I dunno. 500-1000m, depending. Maybe the problem is just that the cities and towns in FO were just too "compressed".

What I am thinking is that the game scale might change (1 space/hex = 1m vs. 5m or more) depending on the "openness" of the terrain. Inside "Bubba's Tavern and Flophouse" should fight differently than on a frozen lake. We could define a game map as being one of:

-Extremely close (indoors, some very compact outdoor) -Very Close (sand dunes(or "high snow banks" I guess), dense forest, rubbled city) -Close (light forest, town, ruined suburb) -Partial Cover (Scrub and bushes, "winter" forest) -Open (open fields) -Billiard Table (Frozen lake)

This would both set the distance (and possibly time) scale and give a benchmark for "cover" (i.e, things to hide behind) - benchmark could be used specifically by level designers or as a randomizer for computer generated terrain (say in wilderness encounter).

Along these linesm if some beast or man is engaging you "mano y mano" you should NOT be able to calmly reach into your giant 200 lb. backpack, pull out the sniper rifle, reload it, take a braced firing stance,  aim right between the eyes, and blow him away.