Battle for the Spice Islands

[sannemanrobinson]

If making the Spice Islands stand out more for gameplay clarity then accuracy of the map is not so important. You may increase the size of the spice islands on the main map. Also try to match the shape of the islands so that they are recognisable.

Can you mention what is an Armada just like you explain a monopoly?

[vaughn03]

Yeah - the shape is different which is because the Spice Islands are a small part of that larger island chain - the Maluku Islands - which makes the map really confusing, I admit.

OK - I will redesign that - I guess I have to. Maybe I'll go back to my territories and pull the tectonics plates some...

Maybe some combination - please keep suggestions coming - it will take me a few days before I tackle this.

Thanks.

[nolefan5311]

Is an update on the horizon vaughn?

[vaughn03]

Yeah boss. Maybe today - tomorrow. I worked on it a lot yesterday. I try something, throw it away, try something, throw it away... That's what takes the time - if I knew what to do would be much faster...

[nolefan5311]

Yeah boss. Maybe today - tomorrow. I worked on it a lot yesterday. I try something, throw it away, try something, throw it away... That's what takes the time - if I knew what to do would be much faster...

Well, for now I think just work on making the Spice Island inset a little more noticeable on the main map. I will try to post something tonight about the bonuses, attack routes, etc.

[Arama86n]

Really looking forward to playing this one

[vaughn03]

I can post what I have - I don't have attack routes put back but I've changed it quite a bit...

[vaughn03]

Click image to enlarge.

I've moved the islands apart to help make the map easier to read for gameplay. Revised Spice Island inset to - hopefully - make easier to understand while maintaining some semblance or historical/geographic accuracy.

Have not put in attack lines - suggestions welcome - will try to keep as simple as possible. Always open to suggestions for interesting game play - playing 'Age of Merchants' and 'Das Shloss'(?) looking for ideas...

Posted on first page with old drafts - hope I'm not mucking your forum all up...

[nolefan5311]

Damn, this is a gorgeous map vaughn. I will post some suggestions tonight.

[vaughn03]

Thanks - I tried to do things to make the Spice Islands stand out on the upper map but it all just felt tacked on and made it more cluttered. Now the shapes match so I think it's easier to make the leap. Keeping lines to a minimum will help - looking forward to suggestions.

[nolefan5311]

Thanks - I tried to do things to make the Spice Islands stand out on the upper map but it all just felt tacked on and made it more cluttered. Now the shapes match so I think it's easier to make the leap. Keeping lines to a minimum will help - looking forward to suggestions.

It is less cluttered without the attack lines, but it's pretty unclear what attacks what now. I didn't particularly dislike the attack lines, so I wouldn't be opposed to you putting them back in.

But if you really don't like them, what do you think about having the fleet of each country only able to attack a foreign powers colony, and instead of listing the bonus zones as Southwest, Central, etc., you can label them based on the European Colonies? Or you could just use the Ports to identify the different colonies? You could award the Spice Islands bonus as multipliers for holding a certain amount of fleet ships or colonies or whatever.

[vaughn03]

I just posted it without them so I wouldn't F*** with it for hours... But I did stare at it for awhile and think maybe there is a way to say what attacks what without all the lines... Maybe I can just give 'rules'..? I was thinking along the lines of you can attack the nearest - fleet/port/sea passage - any examples of that? Could work?

[nolefan5311]

I still think it could be a little ambiguous. Have you seen Age of Realms 2, and how ports can only attack other ports connected by open water. Maybe something like that?

[vaughn03]

Haven't played that one. I'll look.

[TaCktiX]

Extremely tiny nitpick, but saying "Four spices for monopoly" somewhat implies that there are more than four spices when as best I can tell there are only four. Perhaps "All spices" or "All four spices" to clear up the verbiage? You have space to make that two lines if needed.

[vaughn03]

@TaCktiX

No that's really valid - I need all that stuff.

Thanks.

[vaughn03]

Can I use 'Line of Sight' as a why to designate attack lines?

[cairnswk]

Can I use 'Line of Sight' as a why to designate attack lines?

not really vaughn03...i wanted to use that on Trafalgar, and was disuaded because everyone has differing interpretations of "Line of Sight"
if you understand that, but if you feel strongly about it, then try it out with others and see what they say.

[vaughn03]

How about 'Range of Attack' is there a way to do that? When I'm playing around with this map in Photoshop I can draw a nice round circle of varying sizes and move it around my map on a layer giving an 'effective range of attack' for whatever I put it over. (It's kind of cool in a geeky sort of way...) But if I draw that many circles all over my map that are there permanently I'm afraid it will start to resemble a 'spirograph' drawing, if you're old enough to remember those... I like the concept because I feel like it's sort of realistic that these fleets can only go so far. If there is a good way to deal with something like this please let me know.

Failing that - I think I will play around with moving my 'fleets' and 'sea-passages' around and see if I can convince people what 'Line-of-sight' would be...

Thanks
vaughn03

[AndyDufresne]

I'd like to see the Effective Range spirography idea, it might work.


--Andy

[vaughn03]

Spirograph is pretty easy - at least to just rough it out - there's a more I could do... I put circles around the 'Fleets' to give you an idea. Each circle is centered on a fleet - I knocked out land and type to keep it readable. As is only solves 'Fleets' - if I put in circles for 'Sea-Passages' and 'Ports' I'm going to get pretty cluttered, I think.

Also faded Longitude and Latitude lines 50% which is probably good idea no matter what I do and changed to "Monopoly = all 4 Spices".

Think I still like 'Line of Sight' idea better but have not explored it yet.

*Because this is minor 'experiment revision' I did not post on first page - hope that's good...

Click image to enlarge.

[Gillipig]

I actually really like this map! Here you go :

[Gillipig]

Makes me want to take up playing games again. It's an area and a theme not quite done before. Excellent idea for a map!

[vaughn03]

Here's what the 'Line-of-SIte' attacks would be in my mind. If this is viable I would adjust 'Fleets/Sea-Passage and Island' position to better accommodate and then DELETE the arrows. I think once I adjust the position the 'Line-of-Site' will be pretty clear - IMHO.

Also need to do something about 'Ports' in 'Spice Island' inset - it is NOT my intention that they qualify as the held 'Major Port' for Victory Conditions - but I think I want their auto-deploy to be +2

Also have not really addressed the Drop but think all of "Spice Islands' would always start neutral with varying number of troops per region/Port.

So ADMINISTRATORS - Is this viable? Type has been temporarily removed to make concept more clear. When I get 'go ahead' I'll revise and Post on Page 1 as well.

Click image to enlarge.

Thanks All
Vaughn03

[nolefan5311]

I don't really like the line of sight. The "spirograph" looks good, but honestly, that might be too vague for people. I think you need some clearly defined attack routes, even if that is only doable with the lines you previously had.