Tutorial

Line of Sight

Ranged units are able to attack enemy units at a longer distance, but this ability is limited by two factors. The first one is their range, which is a number determining how far their missiles can fly. The number is measured in hexes (a hex is a hexagonal tile on a map). So range 4 hexes means the unit can attack an enemy 4 hexes away.

The other factor is Line of Sight, or LOS in its abbreviated form. This factor determines if an attacker has a clear view of an enemy. This is crucial because the unit is not able to attack an enemy it is not able to see.

Checking the Line of Sight

To determine if your unit is able to see the enemy, you draw an imaginary line from the center of your unit's hex to the center of the enemy hex. If this line crosses no obstacles (other units and blocking terrain) the LOS is clear. If the line goes along an edge (or a corner) of a blocking hex, then the view is clear if one side of it is not blocking. See the image below for an example.

In the example above:

• Archer 1 has clear LOS on Pikeman because it is not blocked by anything.
• Archer 2 can see and attack Swordman even if he is on a Hill terrain (which is one of the blocking terrains) because LOS calculation ignores the terrain of starting and target hexes. LOS is clear.
• Archer 3 is unable to see Axeman because there is a wood (another one of blocking terrains) between them. So LOS is blocked.
• Archer 3 is also unable to see and attack Maceman. Because while it visually looks like there is no obstacle between them, LOS calculation treats the whole hex 0201 to contain woods and the whole hex0302 to be a hill. LOS is therefore blocked. You should always consider the actual graphics only as an aesthetics and treat hexes to be fully occupied by its main terrain feature.
• Archer 4 has clear LOS on Light Cav. When the LOS line runs along the edge (or a corner) of a hex, you must consider both sides of it. You can imagine it like drawing two other lines, one slightly to the right of the original one and another slightly to the left. If at least one of them crosses no blocking hex, then the LOS is clear. In this example, while hex 0302 is blocking, the 0303 is not. Therefore the LOS is considered clear.
• However, Archer 4 is unable to clearly see Mdm Cav. While there is no blocking terrain between them, there is another unit on hex 0402 (Light Cav) and since other units are also blocking the view, the LOS is considered blocked.
• Finally, Archer 5 has no LOS on Knight. The line runs along the edges, but on both sides of them are some obstacles blocking the view.

List of Blocking Terrains

Some terrains block LOS and some do not. You can see a list of all blocking terrain types in the table below.

Interactive Example

In the interactive example below you can experiment and observe how the LOS and unit's field of view (dimmed hexes) changes when there is a blocking terrain or units in the way.

Above the map, you can see four "buttons" which allow you to modify the situation. Each button will allow you to change the situation in a different way:

• Wood hex button: you can place or remove wood hexes on the map. Just click on the map to place a wood there (or remove one already in the position)
• Hill hex button: Allows you to do the same but with hills.
• Orange Swordman button: Similar to hex buttons, this one will allow you to place or remove enemy units on the map.
• Blue Archer button: this one works a little differently, it allows you to move the archer to a different position

For every enemy unit present on the map we draw a line between this unit and the archer and the color of this line represents the LOS state.

• The red line means the archer is unable to see the unit
• The yellow line means the archer is able to see the unit, but it is out of its range. So the unit can not be attacked.
• The green line represents both the clear LOS and that the target is in Archer's range.

Play with the example and try different situations.