13 Colonies Quenched!

[sailorc]

looks like a great map. can't wait to try it.

just a few questions though: what's the point of holding Indian Territory if there's no bonuses for it? it seems to me the only benefit would be to flank the enemy...

Also, but very minor: in rules, the abbreviations are shown for Del. (Delaware) and R.I. (Rhode Island), but not Conn. It's obviously Connecticut, and it's not very important. just mentioning

[captainwalrus]

Phillidelphia should boarder Delaware, not Vally forge bordering Delaware. Also, the region that is call Allegheny is where the Appilation mountains are, and the region called Appilatia is where the Allegheny river is. The names should be switched. The Georgia bonus is a little high, 2 would work better. The boarders in the New York region are hard to see, so I can't tell well what borders conn. and Bunker Hill.

[barterer2002]

Phillidelphia should boarder Delaware, not Vally forge bordering Delaware.

Valley Forge is fine bordering Delaware. Since its representing the western suburbs of Philadelphia all the way out to York and that would include Delaware County (which shares the border with Delaware). the Philadelphia region is drawn to represent all the northern parts of the state all the way up to Williamsport really. I wouldn't have an issue with Philadelphia bordering Delaware but Valley Forge doing so is OK as well.

[Industrial Helix]

Thanks for the continued thoughts and support.

Mr Benn... Personally I think i'd like to keep England out of the map as for the majority of the war, Britain had issues in Europe with France and Spain. Direct invasion from England didn't seem like a realistic possibility and a majority of the British fighting was on the part of the military units already there. I think jefjef has a good point in saying the superior military power is represented by the ships (wish i thought of it myself actually).

As for some of the other comments and questions, I think a rewriting of the rules and restatement should suffice. After so many updates the rules have seemed to get jumbled up. Expect a more formal update within the week with the new visual image.

As it stands at the moment, The Indian territories will start a neutral 2; showing their inactivity during the war while offering a potential alternative route between the colonies. They will also be killer neutrals.

The notion of having two groups of connected ships is a good one, I'll play around with it.

The next update should be within a few days. I think the idea of a ballot/declaration of independence is the best offered so far to give the colonies some identification. I'm thinking each colony has a capital, marked by a star troop circle. That star troop circle can attack the neutral declaration, say neutral 1. This will result in a bonus of 1 or 2, perhaps autodeploy 1 on the capital. Thoughts?

[jefjef]

The notion of having two groups of connected ships is a good one, I'll play around with it.
The next update should be within a few days. I think the idea of a ballot/declaration of independence is the best offered so far to give the colonies some identification. I'm thinking each colony has a capital, marked by a star troop circle. That star troop circle can attack the neutral declaration, say neutral 1. This will result in a bonus of 1 or 2, perhaps autodeploy 1 on the capital. Thoughts?[/quote]
I like the killer neutral 2..... And an addition of a french fleet ( how about 1 ship or 2 at most) worth 1 or 2.. It isnt like they really played a major part.. they arrived after the war was all but won. As for capitols...... Ya might be overloading a heavily bonused map as it is. The british weren't voted out... They where kicked out! But it would add another strategic aspect to the game.. Great work Helix................... Looking forward to it!

[Industrial Helix]

Click image to enlarge.

Ok, the new changes have been quite vexing and I'm still at a loss for ideas as to how I'm going to fix some stuff...

First up, the changes made:

Simplified the ship ships to match the style of the trees, still not happy, but its a step in the right direction.
Trenton to New Jersey
13 bonuses for 13 colonies.
Added a convoluted key with tentative bonuses.
Added in the rules that Indian terrs. revert to 2 after each round.

Problems and concerns
The key is.. wow... its a problem. Can I just place numbers in the terrs and leave the names out? I seriously need some ideas cause I'm out at the moment.

Bonuses. Ok, there's a lot of single man bonuses that a player can potentially land to get an unfair edge. I'm thinking about grouping the smaller states into bonus regions, say, Rhode Island and Conn. for a bonus of 1... but then it gets away from having 13 regions. Still unsure as what to do.

Anyway, I'll see what the mods say about the above concerns and then I will decide what to do.

[jefjef]

Sir I think you need to region the small states back together.. The southern half looks great.. 10 bonus areas would be more than enough for this map... But like this a great drop - 1st move & ok dice wins....

[jaytorade]

maybe you could do what the USA maps or some of the other maps do when holding capitols

for an example holding 3 New England states = +1 hold 4 =+2 or some scheme similar to that. SO you can still have them as separate territory, but modify the bonus so some one doesnt run away with it.

[Industrial Helix]

Hmm... now that's not a bad idea. Now I just have to figure out how to translate it graphically.

EDIT: I had a thought as I was supposed to be researching my dissertation... what if the entire bonus structure was based around hold x amount of colonies get so much bonus. I'd gravitate the conflict towards the north, but that's where most of the war took place anyway.

Make the bonus +1 for two colonies, +2 for 3 colonies, ect. Maybe start it off at +1 for holding 3 colonies, not sure... thoughts?

[whitestazn88]

the update is a really good improvement with the indians and all. i'm not sold on the current bonus structure, but i'm sure it will eventually get resolved. if you are gonna keep the bonuses as is, then the legend can be made with just the numbers and no names imo...

[Industrial Helix]

Click image to enlarge.

ok, The big change to this map is he bonus structure, which runs on how many colonies are held rather than space taken up in a region. Personally, I think this is the route that the map will be taking as its the only one that seems feasible given the unique set up of the 13 American Colonies. The numbers are all tentative at the moment and I'm very open to suggestion. The graphics regarding the bonus key are a little untouched at the moment, but I'll be jazzing it up as the map progresses; I just wanted to get another update out there.

One major question I have is will the XML be able to support the bonus regions as they are depicted here? As far as I understand it won't be a problem, but having never done XML before I could be wrong.

Thoughts?

[jefjef]

If ya go this way may I suggest that you divide some of those 1 tert states.. You do have map room in Maryland - jersey - bunker hill..Even Mass bay. Cuz A good drop & 1st move can still walk away with it. (A few more terts would be good anyway)

[Industrial Helix]

Hmm... good point.

I added Fort Lee to New Jersey, Delamarva to Maryland and Castine to Mass. Bay.

Delaware seems like its going to be very difficult to hold with its 5 borders. Rhode Island is relatively easy to hold with only 2 borders and Conn. also slightly difficult with 4. New Hampshire is pretty easy with 2. Even so, if you landed all 4 colonies, you'd only get a bonus of 3 men with a total of 9 possible attack routes for your enemies.

Click image to enlarge.

[jefjef]

NICE... I like it......... You still could have MASS split...... Ya got boston & bunker hill Already labeled in..... That would make R.I. bordered by 3 terts. (bostons the label for the ship but I spose you can work around that)........ I'm done..... Can't wait to play it.

[Industrial Helix]

You're killing me here Jefjef... I didn't want to do it cause Cape Cod looks a little smashed in there and then the words get confused with Boston and so on and so forth... but I did it. One of the benefits is that Rhode Island has another border to defend against.

Click image to enlarge.