United States of Apocalypse [Quenched]

[lilwdlnddude]

such a good idea

[Mr. K]

What if the bonus you got from contaminated countries was always multiplied by -1. So if you own 1 contanimated country, your bonus is 1*-1, which is -1. So you lose 1 troop.. If you own 2, its (1+1)*-1*-1, which is 2. So you gain 2 troops. If you own 3, its (1+1+1)*-1*-1*-1, which is -3. You lose three troops.

For the math-impared, you just want to make sure you own an even number of contaminated territories, because if you do you get a bonus of however many contaminated territories you have.
If you have an odd number, you get one guy taken off for each contaminated territory you own.

So if you own, you get a bonus of
1 ....................... -1
2 ....................... 2
3 ....................... -3
4 ....................... 4
5 ....................... -5
6 ....................... 6

This adds a new element, because now the risky players will be trying to hold an even amount to get their bonus, and the offensive-minded defensive players will be trying to knock out one of the contaminated to turn their potential bonus into a painful blow.
The only problem now is the unfortunate soul that starts out with 3 contaminated countries. They're pretty much dead from the start because they'll gain no new troops every time, and everyone else will know this and not attack their territories until they're dead.
I suggest perhaps making the contaminated territories neutral from the start. I think it would make for some interesting gameplay.

By the way, its looking pretty good. I like the binary, its a nice touch.
I'm only confused with the sequence, (assuming you did this on purpose), I'm seeing 0,1,2,4,5,6,15. I dont see a particular pattern, perhaps give it a fun pattern for anyone who spends the time to read the numbers?

[Banana Stomper]

I don't know how that negative thing would go. Someone just reported a bug in which a guy was somehow deploying negative armies and it got all goofy and would give him like 13923095 troops. I guess you'd have to talk to lack about that.

[Mr. K]

who/where did this happen?

[Banana Stomper]

its in the bug reports forum, i believe

[AndyDufresne]

Well lets see...


---I'm always pushing to for people to create new ideas and features for maps. It helps make them unique, and not 'just another map'. That said, I think the radioactive area could be quite amusing in game play. Obviously first one would have to check to see if it is actually possible to have such a thing for a map. And if it is, the values would have to be reworked into something that necessarily wouldn't cripple the players or give them an extreme bonus. Also perhaps adding a black border around the radiation symbol, just to distinguish it from blending into yellow and some of the other lighter continents.

---Perhaps darker and foreboding colors should be looked into. Right now this map doesn't feel like the apocalypse. It feels kind of like the day before it. Bright, sunny, little care what so ever running through the mind's of the people.

---As someone else suggested, look for more play with area names. I've been hoping for some more 'futuristic' or 'Final Blackout' kind of maps. I think manipulating them could be quite hilarious and add a new element to the map. Two quick problems I see right away. Some areas in 'Old Newland' and Corn Country have names that are hard to read. Thrown in California and 'Silicon Overmind' also. Readability is tough issue right now. And focusing specifically on 'Silicon Overmind', I think the numbers in front of the names could hamper people who don't read so closely in the attack and fortification drop down menus. Perhaps if you put the numbers behind the 'word', you could still keep a general uniqueness but not have to worry about people complaining that they didn't want to deploy on 0001 but rather on 0000 or something similar.

---Obviously the water will be worked on and touched up, and you mentioned the legends also. To perhaps go with your theme, I suggest a dark legend, something perhaps ominous Maybe a border outline similar to the barb wire, or something that could help improve the visuals.

---Also I think you could do something more interesting in the 4 corner's region, instead of simply adding a manmade lake. What to add to that area, I am not sure. Maybe a garbage dump? Or an ammunition depot? Who knows. But I think something unique could be used in that area.


Hopefully I'll be back around to look closer at the countries, borders, and bonuses at another time.



--Andy

[Jota]

The progression for the penalties and bonuses is a direct consequence of how the XML works. The formula looks something like this:

Code: Select all

B*choose(N, S) - P*N

B is the bonus for holding a set, N is how many affected countries you own, S is how many you need for a set, and P is the penalty per country. "Choose" is the combinatoric function "N choose S". I can change the parameters (B, S, and P) but have no real control over the formula (or over who starts out with each country, neutral or otherwise). I checked with Lack before developing this, and he says that it shouldn't break anything as long as I'm careful.

Based on the comments that people have made, I think I'm going to go with B=2, P=2, S=2. That should be fairer than the first version, since starting with either one or two of them will give you the same deployment modifier, which means most players should be on the same initial footing.

As for darkness, I'm going for more of a black-humor feel than a genuinely dark feel -- sort of a post-apocalyptic "return to normalcy" kind of thing. Except with robots, mutants, zombies, and (of course) war on a massive scale. I'm working on adding some artwork that should help a lot with the feel; we'll see if that helps when I put up a new version.

[Jota]

Here's the latest version of the map-in-progress:

[url=http://grunk.org/risk/usa7-large.jpg]
(Click to enlarge.)[/url]

I've increased the ratio of joke-to-real state names, added backgrounds to a few continents, and made some other cosmetic adjustments. I also changed the penalties/bonuses for radiation like I described above, so the progression should go -2/-2/0/4/10/18. (I also upped all the continent bonuses appropriately.) As for fonts, Silicon Overmind, Aquaria (nee California) and Corn Country have been revised slightly.

[agarvin]

I don't know how that negative thing would go. Someone just reported a bug in which a guy was somehow deploying negative armies and it got all goofy and would give him like 13923095 troops. I guess you'd have to talk to lack about that.

Overflows are fun! Though I didn't know php supported unsigned ints.

But perhaps there should be a floor on the number of troops deployed, never less than three?

[qeee1]

Yeah, I am still slightly worried about the whole only being able to deploy 1 man thing... not a lot you can do with 1 man.

[kingwaffles]

I'm definetly liking the new changes. Although....

I think it might be better to be able to see the individual countries within the silicon overmind to make it a little easier reading, although I like how they look overall.

Voodoo Bayou is a little too hard to find the borders especially in the Arkansas/Graceland area, maybe lighten the border or background color?

[rocksolid]

Hey Jota, I like the new names...especially Pennsylvania. Where'd you come up with that one?

Maybe change SoCal to LowCal?

I can't see the borders between the robot states at all - I liked the steel panelling look better. Though I can read them now when I enlarge.

Also, my usual whine about it being too dark...

I can't tell what that thing at 4 corners is supposed to be.

[kingwaffles]

Personally I like the black look for the Overmind, it just needs some more visible borders.

[Marvaddin]

Yeah, I am still slightly worried about the whole only being able to deploy 1 man thing... not a lot you can do with 1 man.

Totally agreed. On the other hand, if a guy starts with 2 already, he will get 5? I cant agree. I believe the penalty should be 1, no bonus for 2, little bonus for 3, or the game can be decided by the initial spread (I know, sometimes it happens already, but it will be more frequent here).

Another thing: if a player have 3 contamined countries, he in fact will have 3 doubles of countries, so it will give him a great bonus. With 4 countries, he will have 4 triples and 6 doubles... How will you control that? Are you thinking about this?

[thegrimsleeper]

The Silicon Overmind's fonts look much better on the darker background, but the borders will be hard to distinguish... Maybe you could drop a transparancy of a motherboard or something over it.

LowCal... lol.

What is the transparency on Corn Country? An evil corn? I think he's got the evil eye!