Questions about charging

from the rules
"If the character has moved in excess of 5 squares
prior to making an attack, that attack can be a
charge."
....
"The character also gains a +1 damage modifier for
each square they have moved prior to the attack
taking place"

Does the movement have to be in a straight line?

most systems that have charge rules insist on this, I might as a referee forgive a slight bit of course correction, but your charge should IMHO be in a straight line

Are we talking about the movement in the panel before the attack only?

My instinctive ruling on charging would give more benefit to the player with a greater rate of speed and thus would only allow the damage bonus from the panel of movement immediately before the attack, however the example given has has a person moving two 5 square panels before attacking and getting +10.. if a character went for a two hour straight jog over the salt flats of Utah before attacking would they have +1000? Of course, if only the last panel of movement counts and an opponent was 16 squares away and you have a move of 15 you could blow your attack bonus by moving 15 in one panel, moving 1 in the next panel and then attacking in the third panel.

Does the movement have to be in the same round?

If so doesn't this disadvantage the player that had their charge and attack split between rounds (more possible now because of variable round panel length) it is not actually of course the case that characters are standing still while the opponents are having their panels, that being just a game mechanism artifact.

So I am very puzzled about how to apply damage bonus for charging and this is important as I have a character with Increased Move.

Any ideas?

For a speedster I would allow the length of time they are in combat for so if combat starts and the Speedster says they are going to run around to build up speed and attack on round 5 if the combat last that long then I would allow the full movement bonus of +1 per square no matter the total
. But this goes for villains as well. However the build up needs to be in a straight line or a curve to gain full bonus.
Hope that makes sense