Hardware architecture and geometry

Three different identities

Geometry describes the board's hexes, edges, and intersections. Sensor ownership assigns a physical sensing position to one electronic hex. Global board IDs name positions for software regardless of which hex reads them.

For example, Hex 4 / Road Sensor 2 → Global Road 37 illustrates a mapping, not an assigned production ID. Similarly, Hex 4 / Building Sensor 1 → Intersection 22 is illustrative. The board model owns this translation.

Full-board coverage

The target geometry contains 19 land hex positions, 72 road positions, and 54 building intersections: 126 player-piece positions. Number tokens are electronic, so they require no identity sensors.

A road or intersection may touch multiple tiles but must be sensed by exactly one owner. Adjacent hexes must not independently report the same piece as two positions.

The current local target is three road and three building sensors per hex, plus land and robber sensing. This does not yet cover the full board: 19 × 3 = 57 road channels, leaving 15 of the 72 roads uncovered. The 57 building channels exceed 54 intersections numerically, but a valid geometric assignment still needs proof. Spare building channels cannot be assumed to solve the road deficit.

Boundary coverage, channel allocation, and the final ownership map remain unresolved. The seven-hex prototype should explicitly map only positions its hardware can sense; an unsensed position is not an empty position.

Connections

The prototype shares power and I²C lines. A directed CHAIN signal establishes order. These connections describe electrical topology, not a general-purpose discovery of neighbouring faces. See wiring.