SteamWorks

[Victor Sullivan]

I personally like the England connection. It gives the map a nice sort of "what if" undertone, and the way I see it... "what if" scenarios are what Steampunk is all about! Sans the fantasy element, Steampunk as a genre speculates on a type of world where certain aspects of our technology developed faster than others... what if things like cars, robots or computers were invented but electricity or combustion engines weren't, etc.

So I think using England as a basis for the map is well justified thematically, plus it gives it a certain connection to reality that makes the theme even more interesting.

Well, as the only Englander to have commented on it, I still think it sucks

Such harsh words!

I think it works, though I do think I'd prefer the borders of the day, rather than today's.

-Sully

[zimmah]

very nice job!

as for the phrase, maybe something like:

"too much steam will blow the engine up, not only breaking the bonus, but also lose 1 troop."

maybe someone can rephrase it even better, but i think this is quite clear.

in fact, your original phrase is allready quite good, it's only not clear if it does or does not break the bonus from the engines (altho your explanation tells me it does, it's hard to know from just the map). since the rhyme tells about old england, it would in fact even make sense to use the old english regions instead.

but even so, i have seen much more complicated maps, that usually require you to actually play the map before you actually understand how it works, but that should be avoided as much as possible.


@sully posting above me, if you can tell the borders as they were back in the days (18th/19th century i guess?) to DiM, maybe he'll consider updating it. but like he sad a few pages ago, he doesn't know the layout of england back then.

[zimmah]

How about -
"Excess steam capacity damages your engines -1"
but what is the measure of the normal steam capacity...i don't see that story anywhere (or am i blind )

DiM, i can hadly read some of the text on this large map.
I had to zoom in to determine "all ports and balloons"...i though it was "fill"
the font and colour for the story simply doesn't work for me...remember, legibility above all

i basicly readed All from the first time but now you mention it, it does look like fill a little bit.

maybe the readability could be improved. (especially if a lot of persons have problems with readability)

nice work on the steam btw, it fits much better now with the rest.

[cairnswk]

...
@sully posting above me, if you can tell the borders as they were back in the days (18th/19th century i guess?) to DiM, maybe he'll consider updating it. but like he sad a few pages ago, he doesn't know the layout of england back then.

i found this very quickly from from 1824 (if it helps)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray1 ... dwales.jpg

[MrBenn]

These maps might make for some good inspiration... I'd prefer something that conveyed some sort of mad mechanical madman...
http://www.deviantart.com/download/1655 ... ey_Paw.png
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f120/ ... y_MySc.jpg
http://rlv.zcache.com/steampunk_poster- ... ta_400.jpg
http://www.wholesale-fabric-discount-st ... Fabric.jpg
http://fantasticmaps.files.wordpress.co ... =450&h=450

[natty dread]

How about:

"Each pair of steam + engine gives you 1 troop"
"Excess steam causes you to lose the engine bonus and reduces your troop bonus by 1 for each excess steam"

It's a bit convoluted but I don't know how to make it any simpler and still convey the full meaning...

[Victor Sullivan]

Well, I mean, if you have 3 engines and 4 steam, wouldn't that only blow one engine, since 2 would get 1 steam, and 1 would get 2 steam? Maybe work it like +2 for the 2 fully-powered pairs and -1 for the overloaded engine?

-Sully

[DiM]

How about:

"Each pair of steam + engine gives you 1 troop"
"Excess steam causes you to lose the engine bonus and reduces your troop bonus by 1 for each excess steam"

It's a bit convoluted but I don't know how to make it any simpler and still convey the full meaning...

i think this is as clear as possible. thanks.

[DiM]

DiM, i can hadly read some of the text on this large map.
I had to zoom in to determine "all ports and balloons"...i though it was "fill"
the font and colour for the story simply doesn't work for me...remember, legibility above all

i will increase the font a bit. space is tight though. hopefully the next update will be more visible. otherwise i'll have to change font.

[DiM]

These maps might make for some good inspiration... I'd prefer something that conveyed some sort of mad mechanical madman...
http://www.deviantart.com/download/1655 ... ey_Paw.png
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f120/ ... y_MySc.jpg
http://rlv.zcache.com/steampunk_poster- ... ta_400.jpg
http://www.wholesale-fabric-discount-st ... Fabric.jpg
http://fantasticmaps.files.wordpress.co ... =450&h=450

i see what you mean and i would love to make something like that. especially the first one looks great. but i'm afraid that's impossible because:
1. i don't have the skill to create something like that
2. too much artwork would not only clutter the map but would also leave very little room for terits and legend and stuff. i'm already having some problems with space and i'm above normal map limits.

[DiM]

...
@sully posting above me, if you can tell the borders as they were back in the days (18th/19th century i guess?) to DiM, maybe he'll consider updating it. but like he sad a few pages ago, he doesn't know the layout of england back then.

i found this very quickly from from 1824 (if it helps)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray1 ... dwales.jpg

thanks cairns. i'll take a look at it and see if it is ok. the number of terits is important to be the same. the borders can be redrawn, the names changed but i really want 39 terits like i have now because it fits the gameplay perfectly.

[DiM]

Well, I mean, if you have 3 engines and 4 steam, wouldn't that only blow one engine, since 2 would get 1 steam, and 1 would get 2 steam? Maybe work it like +2 for the 2 fully-powered pairs and -1 for the overloaded engine?

-Sully

nope. that would be harder to explain and it would also make the negative bonuses not work like i intend them to. it would also greatly reduce the power of oxford. because it would not penalize that much the person that loses the engines.

[DiM]

...
@sully posting above me, if you can tell the borders as they were back in the days (18th/19th century i guess?) to DiM, maybe he'll consider updating it. but like he sad a few pages ago, he doesn't know the layout of england back then.

i found this very quickly from from 1824 (if it helps)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray1 ... dwales.jpg

as i previously said i had no idea how england was in the 19th century but after looking at this map from 1824 i realise my map fits perfectly
aside from a few name changes (Notts > Nottingham, Gloucs>Glocester, Surrey>Surry etc) everything is the same. so i'll make these changes but the borders will stay the same.

[DiM]

V10.1
*changed the poem back to black colour
*increase the font size for the legend and the poem. hopefully it should be perfectly visible now.
*changed the terit names to fit those from 19th century.

Click image to enlarge.

[zimmah]

perfect, i think it can be quenched like this

[isaiah40]

Bottom right of the legend overlaps the edge of the map. I don't know if it is intentional, but it doesn't look like it.

[DiM]

Bottom right of the legend overlaps the edge of the map. I don't know if it is intentional, but it doesn't look like it.

thanks for pointing this out. i've fixed it. however i will not post another image just for this. it will be visible on the next update

[natty dread]

This might be better left for graphics, but now that I look at the gears patterns, they seem a bit pixelated... the same with the minimap with the bonus values.

[DiM]

This might be better left for graphics, but now that I look at the gears patterns, they seem a bit pixelated... the same with the minimap with the bonus values.

since gameplay seems rather done i don't see any problem with your comment. saves me time when i get to the graphics subforum if i already have all the details fixed.

so, i've corrected both problems. the minimap wasn't pixelated. it's just that it's a directly reduced version of the bigger map and if you look at the big image you'll see most of the borders are wobbly. reducing the size made the wobble look like pixelization. i did however add a new layer bellow and tweaked some settings to make it less "pixelated"

[natty dread]

he minimap wasn't pixelated. it's just that it's a directly reduced version of the bigger map and if you look at the big image you'll see most of the borders are wobbly. reducing the size made the wobble look like pixelization.

Yes, I figured that was the case. Also, the minimap layer settings seem different from the actual map - the colours are more faded on the actual map, probably due to lower opacity?

[DiM]

he minimap wasn't pixelated. it's just that it's a directly reduced version of the bigger map and if you look at the big image you'll see most of the borders are wobbly. reducing the size made the wobble look like pixelization.

Yes, I figured that was the case. Also, the minimap layer settings seem different from the actual map - the colours are more faded on the actual map, probably due to lower opacity?

yes, you're right. i think i posted about this a few pages back. i intentionally left the minimap with a higher opacity to make sure it's very visible. however i can perhaps lower it a bit. not as much as the big continents but just enough to make the minimap less bright.

will edit here in a few minutes.

[DiM]

V11 - includes v10.1 plus a few more changes:

*changed the poem back to black colour
*increase the font size for the legend and the poem. hopefully it should be perfectly visible now.
*changed the terit names to fit those from 19th century.
*fixed legend border overlap
*fixed legend border pixelization
*made the minimap less bright and less pixelated.

Click image to enlarge.

[natty dread]

Ok, that looks great.

I'm a bit concerned about every bonus area having the same amount of borders, though. Seems like they're all equally easy to defend, yet there's high variation between the bonus values - between 2 and 5... They all have roughly the same amount of territories, too.

Maybe the bonuses could be evened out somewhat? Or you could add some routes connecting some of the areas directly, to give them some extra to defend - which would justify the higher bonus more.

[DiM]

Ok, that looks great

thanks

I'm a bit concerned about every bonus area having the same amount of borders, though. Seems like they're all equally easy to defend, yet there's high variation between the bonus values - between 2 and 5... They all have roughly the same amount of territories, too.

Maybe the bonuses could be evened out somewhat? Or you could add some routes connecting some of the areas directly, to give them some extra to defend - which would justify the higher bonus more.

well the bonus spreadsheet is completely useless on this one. for example it says northwest should get 5.75 troops. and on the map it has just 2

so i'm thinking this:

ports added in east sussex, dorset and essex. plus a balloon in east riding.
and the bonuses change as follows:
northwest 2
northeast 3
east midlands 2
west midlands 2
east 3
southwest 3
southeast 4

V11.1

Click image to enlarge.

[zimmah]

please keep in mind that you can actually succesfully defend Northwest continents engine and steam bonus by only defedning lancashire (since even capturing the Cheshire balloon will still not grant access to the rest of the continent). It will however break the continent bonus. I think this is a good thing tho, otherwise the map would be too much equal.