[Abandoned] War of Wizards

[natty dread]

Just bumping this up - I think more discussion is needed...

Click image to enlarge.

[J_Indr]

Natty, could you distinguish light and dark towers more than by their flags? Light towers could use a lighter shading, for example.
Hopefully I will have time for a proper look later.

[natty dread]

That's a bit problematic since there's a bonus that requires an icon for either tower.

[J_Indr]

Surely you could (if it is unclear) then put the both symbols to the legend? If really needed.

Also, the light/dark bonuses - can you get them only if you have the particular wizard, or are they opened to all?

[natty dread]

No I couldn't, that would imply that you would need one of both towers.

Light/dark bonuses are for light/dark wizards.

[isaiah40]

Heirn Tower/Wizard has a very big advantage over Tamar wizard/tower. Heirn can get the shrine and village long before Tamar can get the unicorn/gold bonus. Heirn has to go through 12 neutrals to receive the shrine village bonus. Heirn now has approxiamately 7 men per turn plus the +2 auto on the village while Tamar is getting the minimum of 5. In a couple of more turns Heirn now has Spirit guard and receiving 10 men per turn while Tamar is fighting to get 5. I suggest swapping Mana5 and S06 around. In this way it will give Tamar an opportunity to at least have a fighting chance.

[J_Indr]

No I couldn't, that would imply that you would need one of both towers.

Light/dark bonuses are for light/dark wizards.

I think you need to write it there; it's not absolutely obvious. And, in light of your previous stuff, does it mean that dark wizard gets bonus for an ownership of a light tower + a graveyard?

[natty dread]

Heirn Tower/Wizard has a very big advantage over Tamar wizard/tower. Heirn can get the shrine and village long before Tamar can get the unicorn/gold bonus. Heirn has to go through 12 neutrals to receive the shrine village bonus. Heirn now has approxiamately 7 men per turn plus the +2 auto on the village while Tamar is getting the minimum of 5. In a couple of more turns Heirn now has Spirit guard and receiving 10 men per turn while Tamar is fighting to get 5. I suggest swapping Mana5 and S06 around. In this way it will give Tamar an opportunity to at least have a fighting chance.

Swapping Mana5 away from Tamar is not a really good idea, the Mana fountain after all gives an instant bonus so depriving Tamar of it would do more harm to him than good I think...

What if I move the unicorn from Ta08 to Ta09 so Tamar has fewer neutrals to get to the gold and shrine?

[natty dread]

No I couldn't, that would imply that you would need one of both towers.

Light/dark bonuses are for light/dark wizards.

I think you need to write it there; it's not absolutely obvious. And, in light of your previous stuff, does it mean that dark wizard gets bonus for an ownership of a light tower + a graveyard?

Yes, it does mean that. How is "light bonuses / dark bonuses" not obvious? The name clearly implies they only apply to light/dark wizards... otherwise, there'd be no reason to divide them in light/dark groups and they'd be called just "bonuses".

[J_Indr]

No I couldn't, that would imply that you would need one of both towers.

Light/dark bonuses are for light/dark wizards.

I think you need to write it there; it's not absolutely obvious. And, in light of your previous stuff, does it mean that dark wizard gets bonus for an ownership of a light tower + a graveyard?

Yes, it does mean that. How is "light bonuses / dark bonuses" not obvious? The name clearly implies they only apply to light/dark wizards... otherwise, there'd be no reason to divide them in light/dark groups and they'd be called just "bonuses".

Maybe because they could as well mean that it's enough to hold a tower of that colour?
Or maybe because it's just storyline thing?

[natty dread]

Sorry, but I'm going to wait to hear some more opinions about this. So far no one else has had problems understanding what the Light/dark bonuses refer to, to my knowledge. If people generally agree that it is necessary to clarify this part of the map more then I will make the according changes.

So in other words, your opinion has been noted, but I will wait to hear more feedback on this.

As for the towers, they will likely be redrawn at some point. In fact I believe a lot of the graphics of this map will be changed/improved somewhat after the gameplay is fixed in place.

[J_Indr]

As for the towers, they will likely be redrawn at some point. In fact I believe a lot of the graphics of this map will be changed/improved somewhat after the gameplay is fixed in place.

Then, just as an addition to what I said above, here is how I think towers could be changed:

Since there are different sorts of magic surrounding white and dark tower, I quickly need to see which are which. Unless you'd be willing to make slightly different, i.e. just faintly visible, shading of the territories in a relevant distance around the tower, this needs to be done by the shading of the tower.

You could have a silhouette of a tower or a neutral coloured tower in the legend (even now it seems more brownish than those on the map itself!) and then have lighter and darker shaded towers on the game plan. Or you can show both lighter and darker towers in the legend, separating them with "/" or "OR". Since you use "+" for showing that you need to have both, it should be quite clear that you don't need to have both dark and light tower to trigger the bonus.

Feel free to wait for further opinion. This is what I personally think would improve the map.

[natty dread]

Heirn Tower/Wizard has a very big advantage over Tamar wizard/tower. Heirn can get the shrine and village long before Tamar can get the unicorn/gold bonus. Heirn has to go through 12 neutrals to receive the shrine village bonus. Heirn now has approxiamately 7 men per turn plus the +2 auto on the village while Tamar is getting the minimum of 5. In a couple of more turns Heirn now has Spirit guard and receiving 10 men per turn while Tamar is fighting to get 5. I suggest swapping Mana5 and S06 around. In this way it will give Tamar an opportunity to at least have a fighting chance.

Swapping Mana5 away from Tamar is not a really good idea, the Mana fountain after all gives an instant bonus so depriving Tamar of it would do more harm to him than good I think...

What if I move the unicorn from Ta08 to Ta09 so Tamar has fewer neutrals to get to the gold and shrine?

Isaiah, got any input on this?

[isaiah40]

Um, yea, sorry forgot about this. Anyways, looking at this again, how about moving the shrine at S06 to TA5? Yes Tamar tower will have to go through 2 more neutrals to get the bonus. Not exactly the same as Heirm Tower, but at least Tamar will have a chance. You can then leave the unicorn where it is to help block Heirm a little from getting the second shrine.

[natty dread]

Um, yea, sorry forgot about this. Anyways, looking at this again, how about moving the shrine at S06 to TA5? Yes Tamar tower will have to go through 2 more neutrals to get the bonus. Not exactly the same as Heirm Tower, but at least Tamar will have a chance. You can then leave the unicorn where it is to help block Heirm a little from getting the second shrine.

But the idea sort of is that the wizards have to compete over the same shrine, or go over to the dark side lands for other shrines... that's how it is on the Northern side too, and if I give both wizards their own shrine on the south side, then they have a clear advantage over the northern guys... ugh, this is giving me a headache now.

How about I just rearrange some of the Tamar & Heim regions so that both wizards have equal neutrals to the Gold & Shrine?