Rail Africa [Quenched]

[cairnswk]

Nice map so far - would have preferred an ancient river niger civilisation map though - maybe a project somebody might take up another time.

Mmmm. i think that belongs in the other Africa thread in suggestions. I was always going to do this map, and Asia and South America will come eventually also. Thanks anyway, DJ Teflon.

[cairnswk]

while I like the thinner rail lines, I think you misconstrued what I was getting at. The slats themselves (the colored portions) are too thick compared to the black portions. There should be a few more of them and they should be thinner.

http://lh5.google.com/pjczech/Rvf0Wg2z1 ... aucus1.jpg

http://www.panoramio.com/photos/original/9629.jpg

Sultan, i can only view one of these images to understand what you are getting at. The last one comes up Forbidden 403

An Indian railway stations has no relevance for this map, but i will keep it in mind for the Aisa rail map when i do that later.

now that I think about it they may also look better if they stuck out a tiny bit past the black sections. And maybe you could go whole hog and add little metal rails to either side (the actual "rail" part of the railroad)

Not sure what you're getting at here either.

and if i may ask, why did you choose Rabak as one of the main hubs? it's not a very large or influential city. cairo or nairboi would make more sense.

This is not an Africa of present day map. A lot of these lines don't even exist today. If i did a map of existing lines, you wouldn't be able to play CC on it, because a lot of them don't connect across the continent.
It is future Rail Africa. On this map Cairo is not a major hub because it only has three station/line, where as Rabak has been allocated 5 and makes a sensible crossroad. Nairobi would not make a good 5 stations hub as i could only justify two/three stations there and those would involve creating more stations south of NYL.
The other consideration that must be made when designing something like thus is real estate, Where can one fit a large hub and create the graphics that allow a large 5 stations terminal. It was a huge consideration on this map.

[SultanOfSurreal]

while I like the thinner rail lines, I think you misconstrued what I was getting at. The slats themselves (the colored portions) are too thick compared to the black portions. There should be a few more of them and they should be thinner.

http://lh5.google.com/pjczech/Rvf0Wg2z1 ... aucus1.jpg

http://www.panoramio.com/photos/original/9629.jpg

Sultan, i can only view one of these images to understand what you are getting at. The last one comes up Forbidden 403

An Indian railway stations has no relevance for this map, but i will keep it in mind for the Aisa rail map when i do that later.

That's how railroads across the world look. They have thin slats of wood very close together, and two rails on top. The slats of wood jut past the rails.



if you're trying to make the connections look like rail lines then you should make the colored portions (which I assume represent the wooden portion of the railroad) thinner and closer together.

[cairnswk]

if you're trying to make the connections look like rail lines then you should make the colored portions (which I assume represent the wooden portion of the railroad) thinner and closer together.

Oh that's what you're talking about.
I wanted to give this map a different flavour for the rail connections, but we'll see what the rest of the community thinks.

[cairnswk]

Version 4.

Click image to enlarge.

[Night Strike]

I kind of like the feel of the rails how they are right now. I probably wouldn't oppose changing them much, but I also wouldn't encourage it.

I think the KNG and MYA I line should connect to the green box rather than the blue. That one stands out the most as looking slightly out of place, but maybe the others could be adjusted too.

H and J have similar colors. I am able to tell them apart without much difficulty, but some may have issues.

It seems like the two circles at the TUN station should switch since E is an inland rail but B is outer.

In the Station Names legend at the top left, I think the colors need to be rotated because the light red and dark red are next to each other and look similar. I'd put the green in the center if you want to keep the same colors.

The little g in the top right legend is cut off.

Are you going to add more symbols around the map? Right now the elephant and butterfly look crowded compared to the open background around the map.

[cairnswk]

I kind of like the feel of the rails how they are right now. ...

Me too!

I think the KNG and MYA I line should connect to the green box rather than the blue. That one stands out the most as looking slightly out of place, but maybe the others could be adjusted too.

Can do!

H and J have similar colors. I am able to tell them apart without much difficulty, but some may have issues.

OK we''ll see.

It seems like the two circles at the TUN station should switch since E is an inland rail but B is outer.

I don't think it makes any difference really, especially since LYN is also configured the same way as TUN.

In the Station Names legend at the top left, I think the colors need to be rotated because the light red and dark red are next to each other and look similar. I'd put the green in the center if you want to keep the same colors.

Done.

The little g in the top right legend is cut off.

No, that is simply how that font is, if you look on the right it is also the same over there.

Are you going to add more symbols around the map? Right now the elephant and butterfly look crowded compared to the open background around the map.

Well, i wanted to see about that, i kinda like the black simple silhouettes and yes it is lob-sided at present but that can change.
Nice comments.

[SultanOfSurreal]

May I also suggest replacing Tangier (or possibly Laâyoune) with Casablanca? The latter is a much more influential city.

[cairnswk]

May I also suggest replacing Tangier (or possibly Laâyoune) with Casablanca? The latter is a much more influential city.

I used Tangier because it has the ferry link with Spain.
However, examination of the current ONCF rail tells me you are correct, so i will change this next version.
Thanks, Sultan

[onbekende]

and once again you make train map

stop getting me addicted more to this game

[cairnswk]

and once again you make train map

stop getting me addicted more to this game

Hehe! oh how i love my work
EDIT: the process of creation

[WidowMakers]

Hey cairns.
This maps seems to be coming along quite well.

1) I love the two BIG station armies circles for RBK and PRA. They look very ornate and cool. Really a nice touch.
2) The rail lines (as many others have already said) look cool too. The are different enough from you other maps to help separate them but easy enough to tell what they are.

Here are some questions and suggestions I have:

1) The small train and elephant seem a bit to dark and jump to at me. Maybe lower the opacity or something
2) Are you going to add texture to the landmass? I think it needs a bit of variation and contrast.
3) In the upper left legend it lists the FULL CITY name, in each XML station name. Why is that. There is no place on the map that the station is names (I think). I just thought it was a bit confusing. Why not just have the CAI A, B or C as the XML name?
4) I assume the bracketed letters in the legend are to help people understand the starting and ending stations in each line? Most likely to help with colorblind issues since there are so many colors right? I was going to suggest getting rid of them to make the legend smaller but that would just make colors harder to do and cause other issues. I just wish there was more room to make the background train image stand out better.

I was not really excited about this when it was started but the map has come a long way already. I will be expecting a Rail MOON map once we colonize that in the next couple years

WM

P.S. Oh and the Equatorial Line still has thicker rail lines too.

[cairnswk]

Version 5

Click image to enlarge.

[captainwalrus]

Madagascar seems a little mis-shapen for some reason. It should be thinner.
The L line - Desert Express, Is that a real line? I sort of always thought that that region was much more foresty than deserty.

[Night Strike]

The hubs look even better than before. Do you want the PRA running into the legend border?

Probably a good idea with the Madagascar rail, although you forgot the letter.

I think the N bonus should drop to 2 (instead of 3) because you only need two points to hold the bonus of only 4 territories.