AOS: Transsib 1914 <v16>

[Industrial Helix]

This map is ready for further discussion in the Gameplay Workshop!

[The Bison King]

whoo whoooooooo

[natty dread]

[Victor Sullivan]

Break it down now!

[natty dread]

Ok, then for some gameplay development...

So, since there are less of the side stations and side lines on this map, this requires a bit different gameplay than OE.

As some of you remember, I was going to do this "+1 auto on each station" on the OE map, but then the gameplay kinda drifted in another direction. So on this map I'm giving it another shot...

Additionally I have bonuses for holding certain pieces of the rail on this map, instead of country-based bonuses.

So the stations are really powerful on this map. There are 5 rail bonuses, and with autodeploys they give:

St.P.-Kirov-Yekater. - 3 territories - 2+1 = 3 troops
Moscow-Novosibirsk - 4 territories - 1+5 = 6 troops
Novosibirsk-Chita - 4 territories - 1+4 = 5 troops
Chita-Vladivostok (via Tynda/Bir.) - 4 territories - 0+5 = 5 troops
Chita-Vladivostok (via Harbin) - 3 territories 2+3 = 5 troops
Beijing, Harbin & Seoul - 3 territories - 2+0 = 2 troops

So, does anyone think this makes the stations too powerful, like in such a scale that they might imbalance the game? Or could this be feasible?

This also raises the question of neutral counts for the stations: what is a good amount, that makes them hard to take, but not too hard so that players will just ignore them?

[The Bison King]

It's definitely complex but I don't think too powerfull. I think some of it needs to be re-arranged. For example holding from Moscow to Novosbirisk seems like it should be +2 to me.

[The Bison King]

...well, on second thought maybe the stations are too powerful... I'll look at this with greater thought tomorrow.

[natty dread]

Any more opinions on this?

[Victor Sullivan]

I got nothing. Just graphics suggestions.

[The Bison King]

I kind of think if the victory condition is hold the stations, and if each station is a +1 auto deploy it will inevitably lead to players ignoring the regular territories and stacking on the stations.

[natty dread]

I could increase the objective to hold all the transsib stations...

You know, I'm starting to think I should wait and see how OE does in beta to see how that objective works in practice, so I'll know what to do with this map...

[Evil DIMwit]

I could increase the objective to hold all the transsib stations...

You know, I'm starting to think I should wait and see how OE does in beta to see how that objective works in practice, so I'll know what to do with this map...

That would make it easier on you.

[natty dread]

Hm. I guess I could put this thing on hold until OE has been in beta for a while...

No need to bin this though, I hope it won't be that long

[natty dread]

I think, with some experience on OE now, I'm going to keep the objective low... I might even lower it - I may even have to lower OE:s objective (amount of stations to hold) so I think there's no point increasing it here...

As for the station bonus... I think the autodeploys could work for this map. Not sure but maybe?

[natty dread]

Anyone have any input on this?

I don't really have any idea what to do with this now.

[The Bison King]

What's going to be the neutrals situation on the stations?

[natty dread]

Probably 3 for transsib and 2 for others. Industrial centers will have 3 as well.

[natty dread]

Click image to enlarge.

[theBastard]

?

I very like look of Orient Express map and the last version of Transib posted in the first post has similar look. I think that both maps of this pack (Railways) could have similar look.

[Evil DIMwit]

Cohesion's generally good but this new version is much prettier than the old one.

[natty dread]

Thanks for opinions.

I'm currently moving into using GIMP, and am still practicing to use it effectively. I posted the unfinished image to give some update on my progress.

For those who are wondering why am I now using GIMP when I've been a big supporter of Paint.net in the past... there are two reasons: Paint.net lacks support for pen tablets and pressure sensitivity, and also, Paint.net is eventually going to drop support for windows XP. Even though almost 50% of the user base still uses XP. Well, maybe it makes sense to the Paint.net developer, but I'd rather use software which is developed on the terms of the users.

So what this means on terms of my maps, is that my graphical style will keep evolving, and I will be looking forward instead of backward. It also means that this map will not look the same as OE. Who says maps in a map pack need to look the same anyway?

I might be posting more images of my progress. Since I'm new to GIMP, any tips and feedback are most welcome. Also, I will be keeping the old version in the 1st page until I have a full GIMP version ready. If you want to comment on the gameplay (also most welcome), please refer to the old version on the 1st page.

[theBastard]

[quote="natty_dread"Who says maps in a map pack need to look the same anyway?[/quote]

there is no "need" mentioned.it´s just my opinion

good luck with GIMP. I work with it now. have you Script_Fu installed?

[natty dread]

Yep, it comes with the package. I also have python installed which apparently can be used to write scripts for gimp. I haven't really looked into it yet, still learning the basics...

Anyway, what about the gameplay?

[Evil DIMwit]

Does everything in the first post stand as it is? No updates in light of how Orient Express turned out?

[natty dread]

Does everything in the first post stand as it is? No updates in light of how Orient Express turned out?

I think I'll reduce the objective to both termini + 5 transsib stations. Other than that, I personally think it's pretty much fine, but am of course open to suggestions.