Author Topic: Guides stratagem.  (Read 4908 times)

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Fon Tok Nak

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Re: Guides stratagem.
« Reply #15 on: August 24, 2019, 07:40:27 AM »
Omission and inference, these are features of language that everybody uses all the time. Language relies on common knowledge for omissions and inference to be understood. If everything needed to be stated all the time, communication would become excessively burdensome. Instead, most of the focus goes on to what needs to be said.

The last sentence of p. 19  is necessary for without it, combat on a road would be dictated by the road. If movement is also dictated by the terrain at a road's edges, this would also need to be said, so would also be in the sentence. The omission means movement is determined by the road. Everyone has a common knowledge of roads as something easy to move along, so in the context of the rules, roads must be good going.

Furthermore, it is not necessary to know what is under the road if an element is crossing the road. The going on the edges of the road is the same whether an element is astride or crossing the road, so if an element is caught crossing a road, the combat is as in the going of the road's edges because that is the rule.

If that is not enough, road fords (p. 20) are good going. Two points on this: first, if an element gets hit by a boat crossing a river, it is the river (not the road) that determines the going for the combat as just explained. And second, if moving through water on a road can be good going, I am sure a hard dry road is also good going, especially if it is paved.

Anthony

LawrenceG1

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Re: Guides stratagem.
« Reply #16 on: August 24, 2019, 08:54:54 AM »
Quote
Furthermore, it is not necessary to know what is under the road if an element is crossing the road. The going on the edges of the road is the same whether an element is astride or crossing the road, so if an element is caught crossing a road, the combat is as in the going of the road's edges because that is the rule.

That is true whether the road is good going for tactical movement or is ignored for tactical movement.

Orcoteuthis

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Re: Guides stratagem.
« Reply #17 on: August 24, 2019, 10:31:15 AM »
There are some very counterintuitive results from roads being good going, such as crossing a wood being sped up by a road perpendicular to the crossing, and it making a big difference if one of "approximately element width" is just over or just under 80 paces (when in actuality any actual ancient road would be very much narrower, the game width being a concession to modelling).

Unfortunately, basically the same clearly results from roads being turned into rough going by mud, so either Phil didn't consider the implications, or was happy to live with them.

So, regretfully, I'm finding myself convinced by your (Fon Tok Nak's) arguments. Regretfully, because unlike you I suspect it will lead to more rather than less counterintuitiveness on the table.
Andreas Johansson