Chinese checkerboard

Python 2, 152

n=input();x=N=2*n
while~N<x:s='';y=n*3;exec"a=x+y;q=[0,a>N,x-y>N,-x>n,-a>N,y-x>N,x>n,1];s+=' BYROPG.'[q.index(sum(q)<~a%2*3)];y-=1;"*(y-~y);print s;x-=1

This is, in retrospect, the wrong approach for Python, but I'm posting it here in case someone can make use of it. Rather than explaining this mess of code, I'll try to say the idea behind it.

The idea is to use triangular coordinates, in which the triangular lattice corresponds to integer triples (a,b,c) with a+b+c=0.

(Here, the lattice points are drawn as hexagons.)

We can convert Cartesian coordinates to triangular ones as

a = (x+y)/2
b = (x-y)/2
c = -x

noting that x and y must have the same parity, or otherwise it's off-checkerboard and we should print a space.

In triangular coordinates, the bounding lines of the six-sided star have equations: a==n, b==n, c==n, a==-n, b==-n, c==-n.

So, we can determine what region we're in by which of [a,b,c,-a,-b,-c] are greater than n.

• If none are, we're in the center and print a dot.
• If exactly one is, we're in one of the six outer triangles, and print the letter corresponding to the index.
• If two or more are, we're outside the board, and print a space.

The bounding rectangle requires that we do this for x in the closed interval [-2*n,2*n] and y in the closed interval [-3*n,3*n].

Python 2, 140 bytes

n=input()
for k in range(4*n+1):x=abs(k-2*n);y=2*n-x;p,q,r=" BP G..R YO "[(k-~k)/(n-~n)::4];print(" "*y+" ".join(p*x+q*-~y+r*x)+" "*y)[n:-n]

Not great, but here's my initial bid.

The whitespace rules added a lot of bytes. For comparison, here's a 120 byte Python 3 program which is only correct visually, and doesn't follow the whitespace rules:

def f(n):
 for k in range(4*n+1):x=abs(k-2*n);y=2*n-x;p,q,r=" BP G..R YO "[(k-~k)//(n-~n)::4];print(" "*y,*p*x+q*-~y+r*x)

And here's my slightly longer recursive 149 byte Python 3 attempt:

def f(n,k=0):x=2*n-k;s=" ".join(["B"*x+"."*-~k+"Y"*x,"G"*-~k][k<n]).center(6*n+1);print(s);k<n*2and[f(n,k+1),print(s.translate({71:82,66:80,89:79}))]

Retina, 234 bytes

.
P
.+
iP$0$0x$0j$0x$0Px$0kqw
P(?=P*xP*j)
s
P(?=P*j)
R
P(?=P*xP*k)
c
P(?=P*k)
O
x

+`i(s+R+)R
is$1#$1R
+`(s*)P(P*c*)(O*)O(?=k)
$0#s$1$2c$3
j|k
#
s

+`([^#]+#)q(.*)
q$1$2$1
R(?=.*w)
G
P(?=.*w)
B
O(?=.*w)
Y
w[^#]*#|q|i

\w
$0 
c
.
 #
#

Takes input in unary.

Each line should go to its own file and # should be changed to newline in the file. This is impractical but you can run the code as is as one file with the -s flag, keeping the # markers and maybe changing them to newlines in the output for readability if you wish.

The code has minimal regex-complexity. The main steps in the generation are the followings:

• Create the last G line and the first B.Y line (delimited by markers ijk and actual used letetrs are RPO).
• Duplicate the topmost G line with a plus space, minus a G until there is only one G.
• Duplicate the bottom B.Y line with a plus space and dot, minus a B and Y until there are no B and Y left.
• Copy all the lines in reverse order after the current string (with the help of the marker q). We keep a marker (w) in the middle.
• We change the letters RPO to GBY if they are before the marker.
• Add the missing in-between spaces.

The results after each of the above points (delimited by ='s) for the input 1111 (unary 4):

1111
==============================
isssssssssRRRRjPPPPcccccOOOOkqw
==============================
issssssssssssR
sssssssssssRR
ssssssssssRRR
sssssssssRRRRjPPPPcccccOOOOkqw
==============================
issssssssssssR
sssssssssssRR
ssssssssssRRR
sssssssssRRRRjPPPPcccccOOOO
sPPPccccccOOO
ssPPcccccccOO
sssPccccccccO
ssssccccccccckqw
==============================
qi            R
           RR
          RRR
         RRRR
PPPPcccccOOOO
 PPPccccccOOO
  PPcccccccOO
   PccccccccO
    ccccccccc
w    ccccccccc
   PccccccccO
  PPcccccccOO
 PPPccccccOOO
PPPPcccccOOOO
         RRRR
          RRR
           RR
i            R
==============================
qi            G
           GG
          GGG
         GGGG
BBBBcccccYYYY
 BBBccccccYYY
  BBcccccccYY
   BccccccccY
    ccccccccc
w    ccccccccc
   PccccccccO
  PPcccccccOO
 PPPccccccOOO
PPPPcccccOOOO
         RRRR
          RRR
           RR
i            R
==============================
            G
           G G
          G G G
         G G G G
B B B B . . . . . Y Y Y Y
 B B B . . . . . . Y Y Y
  B B . . . . . . . Y Y
   B . . . . . . . . Y
    . . . . . . . . .
   P . . . . . . . . O
  P P . . . . . . . O O
 P P P . . . . . . O O O
P P P P . . . . . O O O O
         R R R R
          R R R
           R R
            R