Reasoning and problem behind 3p-rotationa-reflected symmetry

note: some of these ideas just happened to develop somewhere in my brain, some where stimulated by discussing map design with you, but most of these ideas came into my mind when discussing with NullCurrent. We both wanted to take the discussion a bit further and I guess this is why we collaborate on this project.


How does one come up with such an idea and why does the map lack one base?

I do not really remember, but i guess it was when we discussed shifted and twisted symmetry. I loved the idea of a twisted symmetry offering two different maps in one, but was not really satisfied with having 2 neutral main bases like in any 4p map and the difficulty to come up with an idea that used twisted symmetry and actually was better than a similar 4p or 2p.

therefore I took a look at 3p and my impression was that you can either make a reflected symmetry map or a rotational symmetry map, but then it could be rather simplistic or difficult to balance respectivly.

Taking the idea of a twisted symmetry as a starting point I started sketching and by taking one of the three 120°axis for a first reflection and a second for a reflection 'back' (like you would do for a 4p 45°-axial reflectional symmetry), I created something that was 'reflection-reflection-rotational-symmetry'.

no matter what i tried with my setup of main-nat-third-infrontThird (for a total of 12bases) i encountered a problem: when trying to analyze the relation of the starting ositions to see who gets which map i either had two third bases overlapping or I had one base too much in close reach in the "close distance reflection position".

here NullCurrent came up big with demonstrating me that you just have to leave one third out to get a quite balanced layout easily (in photoshop that is)

here are the three images showing the relation of the starting positions and possible expansion pattern.








I will try to explain a few more points and put together some of our skype discussions to keep you updated.
stay tuned for more images (out of the analyzer!) from NullCurrent and my project!

to be done