Tile Mapping: Square Grid vs. Offset Row Square Grid

First, note that I haven't had enough time to fully come to grips with T2D so maybe I've missed something, but:

As I alluded to in a different thread... I was researching collision detection and ran across one of the .plans for T2D. As the engine, even the early adopter, is far more powerful than what I was planning I immediately purchased it. I like T2D and because it is so quick to come up with something I've got an idea that I'm pursuing with it to get my feet wet. For the original project...

T2D is powerful, but there are different approaches. I've played in and run various paper and pencil roleplaying games for 25+ years. I've been designing them (in house only) for most of that. I love systems so I was always coming up with new ones. I decided to "fully complete" a game design and this has been my baby since 1998. What does this have to do with T2D? I'm working on doing an (as full as possible) implementation of it as a computer game.

Most computer "roleplaying" games are really action or adventure games. I'm aiming for an actual roleplaying game. So what does this mean? First and foremost it is a refereed multi-player game. It needs to have a way for conversations. I've written up the basic code for this using the SDL. T2D itself doesn't seem to have any text handling at all, but integrating the C/C++ code shouldn't (?) be that hard. I don't know because I've only skimmed the source for T2D.

A second point is that I'm trying to adapt the paper and pencil system to a computer. This means some things can be done that aren't reasonable with paper and pencil (some of the math, for example, or integers vs. floating point). The map class I wrote uses staggered rows of square tiles as an approximation for hexes.

Why do I care? Because hexes are central to a lot of the rules dealing with location, movement and area. For instance, a spell may be able to affect 12 contiguous hexes. An item, object, creature, etc. is affected if it is in one of those hexes. Without a rigorous definition of hex I don't see how that can be done. Although offset rows of square tiles are not a perfect match for hexes they are IMO a close enough approximation.

This is what I meant in the other thread about basic design: T2D uses normal square grids. Using offset rows requires a change in math, a change in representation. Its not a big deal but it *is* basic.

Would I like to use T2D for this? You bet I would. Although not necessary for what I set forth to do, having particle effects, for example, allows visualization of so much more. I doubt I'd have messed with animated sprites, either. Its a matter of focus and when you're writing the whole thing yourself you focus on what needs to be done to achieve the objective. OTOH with T2D I *can* do all of that because I'm not having to code the basics.

Maybe I've missed something in T2D, its very possible. I haven't had it long and other tasks intrude. Fundamentally all game writing I do is hobby.

I figure by writing a much less ambitious game using T2D I don't lose much dev time and I gain some knowledge and understanding of it to see if I *can* adapt it to my needs. I'm happy to get any feedback on any of this.