6 or 12 points don't differ that much - they both put pressure against the points of the nut in the direction of rotation. In an evenly matched pair of 6 and 12 point sockets the 12 point has half the contact area with the points of the nut, so twice the rounding force/pressure/torque on each point. To completely avoid that force on the points many sockets & spanners these days are wall drive (also called flank drive). Here's a diagram showing the difference. Notice that unlike the normal hex the wall drive doesn't contact the points of the nut at all. If you look at the Halfords professional sockets you'll see a similar in a 12 'point' design, albeit that the contact will be closer to the point than the 6 'point' wall drive.
I bought the original Metrinch brand which were one of the first to produce wall drive sockets - from Argos! I've still got it after more than 30 years. Uniquely for sockets these fit and work well on both metric and imperial nuts and bolts - in the one set. The downside is trying to leave a socket tight on the bolt or upside down it won't stay on - needs holding in as there's always slop on the fit (which doesn't matter because they don't round nuts off). Other versions are deliberately biased towards either. metric or imperial sizes: where these metrinch set were deliberately sized to fit both equally. They work well on quite badly worn nuts as well as long as you find the tightest fitting socket in the box for the given nut. e.g. a 10mm on a rounded 11mm nut.