Basically, the rules for secondary roads seem a bit ... unworkable, or at least unrealistic. They do not remove terrain features, so it still costs 3 MF to enter a mountain hex. BUT, you get each 3rd hex for free, which means after spending 6 MF to enter 2 mountain hexes, you would get to enter the 3rd mountain hex for free, yes? And if that third hex is just open terrain, you get 1 MF for free. If the first two hexes are open terrain, and the 3rd hex is a mountain hex, you get that third hex for free, saving you 3 MF. Doesn't seem right -- did I express this correctly?
Seems like, either you ditch the terrain effects for secondary roads, which I do not completely like, or you ditch the third hex free rule. Or do something else.
Perhaps major roads cost 1/2 like normal, regardless of where they are, but secondary roads simply could treat every hex as 1 MF, regardless of the type of terrain? This way, in open terrain a secondary road would give you no benefit (which seems appropriate to me), but in the mountains it would allow you to move as fast as if you were in open terrain. (A major road in mountains would still cost 1/2 MF per hex.)
Of course, I don't like that a major road through mountains lets you travel 6 mountain hexes if you have an MF of 3, doesn't seem right. (Of course, only dwarves in Glorantha could create a major road in mountains, but...) Maybe some sort of "subtraction" rule might apply instead -- that is, a major road would subtract -1 from the normal MF cost, with a minimum cost of 1/2; and a secondary road subtracts -1, with a minimum of 1? Or something like that?
I think option 1 above is simpler -- I guess if the dwarves make a major road through mountains, they ought to be able to move their troops really quickly.
Either way, I think certain types of terrain SHOULD affect road movement. My thought is that ridelines and river crossings should NOT have a set MF value. Rather, they should ALWAYS add to the cost. A ridgeline, or crossing a river, ought to always cost +1 MF, this cost being applied even if roads are around. Or maybe each adds +1/2 MF cost, and on a secondary road you always round UP to the nearest whole MF value? I'd want to play around with it to get something simple, but I don't like secondary roads ignoring ridelines; I don't even like primary roads ignoring them very much, as anyone who has driven the major road (aka FREEWAY) leading into Yosemite knows all too well -- if you have to do twenty switchbacks to get up a rideline, no major road is going to make it cost 1/2 MF. :)
Steve M.
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