World Cities Contest: Istanbul

by **Industrial Helix** on Sun Apr 03, 2011 10:16 am

Here's my entry... maybe it'll kick start a few more

Click image to enlarge.

Map details:

Territories: 45
Players Territories Neutrals
8 5 5
7 6 3
6 7 3
5 9 0
4 11 1
3 15 0
2 15 0

Note: Only on 7 player games will a player be in the position where the starting player has an advantage.

by **natty dread** on Sun Apr 03, 2011 10:26 am

Hm. I think this wouldn't work too well on 2 player games. There would be a significant first-player advantage, I think.

See, 15 territories = +7 bonus, right? And the first player goes first, takes 2 territories from the other guy, and the other guy gets to start with only 13 territories and +6, while the first player now has 17 territories, so if the 2nd player doesn't manage to take back both territories, he's out of luck...

Is the +1/2 in addition to or instead of the regular territory bonus?

by **Industrial Helix** on Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:39 pm

no +3 bonus, I'd be doing the +2 for each in its place. Another possibility would be for all territories to start at 2, thus making the opening numbers lower and with less a chance of greater success.

Although, really, a player in a two player game has a 50% chance of starting... they could just play more than one game and overall things would balance out.

by **natty dread** on Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:47 pm

Industrial Helix wrote:Although, really, a player in a two player game has a 50% chance of starting... they could just play more than one game and overall things would balance out.

Well, all maps certainly aren't balanced for 2 player games anyway, and not all maps need to be...

However I'd suggest having the usual +3 minimum for the territory bonus... This way the start would be less dice dependent for larger games, and someone who's really down and out would still have a chance to get back up.

by **Industrial Helix** on Sun Apr 03, 2011 2:41 pm

Yeah.... but then everyone in an 8 player would be starting with 5 men... you can do a lot with 5 men. That's more of a first strike advantage than anything.

I'd probably be more ok with just doing +1 for 3 over 9 and leaving it all the same. We need some more no bonus maps.

by **iancanton** on Fri Apr 15, 2011 4:37 pm

although the first player has an advantage that is on a par with bigger classic-gameplay maps, the simple bonus structure seems to work surprisingly well nonetheless. my only additional comment is that a minimum deployment of 3 troops is sensible, so that it's possible to come back from having only or two regions.

ian.