Monsters! - Battle for the Powerstones

[dolomite13]

Monsters!
BATTLE FOR THE POWERSTONES

show: STAMPS

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Name: Monsters! Battle for the Powerstones.
Cartographer: Dolomite 13

As a honored wizard you have volunteered to explore the Caverns of Power and retrieve the legendary
Powerstones. This won’t be easy as vicious monsters guard the stones and each kingdom is sending their
own wizard. As if that wasn’t enough something in the cavern seems to have weakened all of your powers.
Lucky for you that some of the monsters are vulnerable to your Mind Control.

Territories: 88
- 40 Basic Monsters
- 8 Runebound Monsters
- 8 Powerstones
- 16 Spells
- 8 Wizards
- 8 Shields

Connections
- Wizards can assault runebound monsters with the same rune as their own.
- Runebound monsters can assault the shield of the wizards with the same rune as their own.
- Wizards can only be assaulted from their shield.
- Spells can only be assaulted from their powerstone.
- Spell "Mind Blast" can assault any runebound monster.
- Spell "Lightning Bolt" can bombard any powerstone or shield.

Starting Forces
- Powerstones start with 6 neutral.
- Shields start with 8 neutral.
- All monsters start with 2-3 neutral (see starting forces map).
- Runebound monsters start with 5 neutral.
- Wizards start with 1.
- Spell "Mind Blast" starts with 3 neutral.
- Spell "Lightning Bolt" starts with 3 neutral.

Bonus Forces
+2 for each runebound monster/wizard pair.
+3 for each powerstone if you hold at least 1 wizard.
Standard territory bonus is applied only to monsters - Minimum +3
0-11 = +3
12=14 = +4
15-17 = +5
18-20 = +6
21-23 = +7
24-26 = +8
27-29 = +9
30-32 = +10
33-35 = +11
36-38 = +12
39-41 = +13
42-44 = +14
45-47 = +15
48 = +16

Deployment
- Wizards autodeploy 1.
- Shields reset to 8 neutral when controlled.
- Mind Blast reset to 3 neutral when controlled.
- Lightening Bolt looses 2 every turn.

Spells - Each powerstone has 2 "spell" locations detailed below.
- "Mind Blast" can assault any runebound monster.
- "Lightning Bolt" can bombard any powerstone or shield.

Victory Conditions
- Defeat all opponents or control all 8 powerstones for one round.

CURRENT MAP:

SMALL (v0_13_21)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/464 ... 590a_o.png



LARGE (v0_13_21)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/464 ... d9aa_o.png

Click image to enlarge.

88/888 Applied (v0_13_17)

LARGE 88 - http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2696/436 ... fb1f_o.png
LARGE 888 - http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/436 ... 7197_o.png
SMALL 88 - http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/436 ... 0b16_o.png
SMALL 888 - http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/436 ... 7aaa_o.png

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PLAYER MAP GUIDE

I will try and compile things that people seem to be needing guidance on with the map and post it here as a payers guide for the map.

Assault vs Bombardment: As described in the CC rules. Assault is the basic attack of CC. You may attack and conquer a territory via assault, this is the type of attack the the "Mind Blast" spell has. Bombardment allows you to attack a territory but not move armies to conquer it, this is the type of attack that the "Lightening Bolt" spell has.

Spells: The spells may be attacked from their corresponding powerstone. This is a one way assault from the powerstone to the spell. "Mind Blast" allows you to assault any runebound monster on the map and conquer it. "Lightening Bolt" allows you to bombard any powerstone or shield on the map. Mind Blast resets to 3 neutral on your turn so any armies left there are lost. Lightening Bolt looses 2 armies per turn.

Runebound Monster/Wizard Pair: To get the +2 bonus for a runebound monster/wizard pair you need to hold both the wizard and monster that share the same rune.

Powerstones: To get the +3 bonus for a powerstone you need to hold at least 1 wizard. This can be any wizard.

Monster Connections Map

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2451/363 ... a9fec1.jpg

Starting Forces

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/466 ... 767901.jpg



8 wizards (red circles on the above map)
16 monsters (blue circles on the above map)

In a 2 player game
- both players would have 4 wizards each. (8/2)
- both players would have 5 monsters each with 6 remainder set to 3 neutral. (16/3)

In a 3 player game
- all players would have 3 wizards each with 2 remainder set to 1 neutral. (8/3)
- all players would have 5 monsters each with 1 remainder set to 3 neutral. (16/3)

In a 4 player game
- all players would have 2 wizards each. (8/4)
- all players would have 4 monsters each. (16/4)

In a 5 player game
- all players would have 1 wizard each with 3 remainder set to 1 neutral. (8/5)
- all players would have 3 monsters each with 1 remainder set to 3 neutral. (16/5)

In a 6 player game
- all players would have 1 wizard each with 2 remainder set to 1 neutral. (8/6)
- all players would have 2 monsters each with 4 remainder set to 3 neutral. (16/6)

In a 7 player game
- all players would have 1 wizard each with 1 remainder set to 1 neutral. (8/7)
- all players would have 2 monsters each with 2 remainder set to 3 neutral. (16/7)

In a 8 player game
- all players would have 1 wizards each. (8/8)
- all players would have 2 monsters each. (16/8)

Wizard Connections Map

show: Wizard Connections Map

Powerstone & Spell Connections Map

show: Connections Map

COLORBLIND FLITERS (v0_13_17)

Deuteranope - http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/437 ... e758_o.jpg
Protanope - http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/437 ... b495_o.jpg
Tritanope - http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2716/437 ... a425_o.jpg

show: Previous Versions

The Copyright Agreement

The author retains copyright on their work, and gives Conquer Club permission to use the imagery free of charge, for as long as Conquer Club sees fit on the Conquer Club website. Conquer Club cannot sell, lease, or lend the right to use the images to anyone else. The author swears that their map is their own work, or a legal derivative work and by submitting it, do hereby claim all responsibility for that being true.




.

[drake_259]

2 for holding the little fellows thats not right, its a too easy of a bonus as well as keeping hold of them it should be one

[dolomite13]

2 for holding the little fellows thats not right, its a too easy of a bonus as well as keeping hold of them it should be one

Agreed..

I didn't have a good idea what to price them at just yet, I have been doing some research on other maps to try and figure this out.

This is the kind of feedback I really appreciate.

Thanx

Dolomite13

[9mm]

Maybe just get the little guys to hold hands around the map edge or keep your current links... but you have to hold the 4 little guys to get one bonus.

[dolomite13]

Maybe just get the little guys to hold hands around the map edge or keep your current links... but you have to hold the 4 little guys to get one bonus.

Sounds good, I like the 4 little guys give a bonus. Maybee the can carry a gem or something each.

Dolomite13

[dolomite13]

I am thinking of revising this to include the wizards that are controlling the monsters. I was leaning towards having you get X amount of reinforcements per turn at your wizard and letting wizards attack out to only one monster like the tiny ones (i would add more) or possibly making all monsters adjacent to the wizard. I also through of using a large neutral armoy between the monsters and the wizard as a shield hat you would have to break through to defeat the wizard. I am going to give the idea some thought this afternoon and post a revised connecton map based on that idea.

Dolomite13

[NightWolf]

I see a red guy that has no army circle on him. Is he not part of the map, just an intersection, or was that someone you missed? Also, I want to say that the spread of the hammers and their bonus is good to me, the spread of the torches is very good, and I would make a bonus no higher than 4, and the spread of the treasure chests is somewhat okay, though I don't know if making a switcharoo is really needed. I would also like to comment that you could perhaps add a little specks of treasure sticking out of one treasure chest, to indicate it with has special value(they are valuable after all, right?), and that chest has a bonus of 1, which that bonus is dropped when holding all 3 chests(so you have a total bonus of 3, not 4). I think naming won't be too difficult, depending on the decision on the convention (based on color, size, etc.). Lastly, and I know this is not a prime interest right now, but the size of the connection lines is slightly larger than I would like to see. They are a little hard on my eyes, especially being white (there is no other practical color to use however, so color should be unchanged.). In the end, this is a very nice map, and I do show interest in it (I'm sure you can tell by the length of this post). I would say keep working on this map, and I'm sure it will continue getting attention.

[dolomite13]

Thanks I plan to post a revised map in a few days, I have been so darn busy at work that I cant even work on it durring my lunch break and at home of course I have a girlfriend that I really enjoy spending time with so that takes precedence. But I do promise to post something in a day or two.

[dolomite13]

OK... I finally got around to making a better mockup map.

In this version monsters that touch each other or touch a treasure chest are adjacent.

- Each monster with a torch or hammer is worth +1
- Each treasure chest is +1 (haven't decided on a bonus for having all of a set chest, torch etc)
- Wizards are adjacent to every monster for bombard/reinforcement purposes.
- Wizards get 5 armies to bombard/reinforce with every turn.
- Wizards cannot be attacked directly all attacks must come from energy shield space.
- The energy shield around each wizard is adjacent to all monsters and is neutral 99 armies.
- Once an energy shield is down the wizard can be attacked from the energy shield space.

That is what I have so far I am still open to suggestions.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3214/292 ... a5a8_o.png

[NightWolf]

My one comment about a neutral 99 armies for the energy shield is that in a normal game no-one is probably going to have a territory with a troop number comparable to 99, and with multiple energy shields, the time it would take to break them would be almost exponential. I would imagine people would be more focused on attacking other players and spend like time investing troops to attack the shields. My suggestion to addressing the problem? I'm would consider either lowering the energy shield to a range between 45 and 60 or raising the minimum troop deployment in this map by perhaps a couple battalions, or even do a mixture of both. As to the Background of your map? Well, it isn't much, and I can bet people made like to see one. I was pretty sure of the type of Background I would have liked, until I saw the wizards, and then I was like I dunno. Right now I have a cave-like background in mind. I don't know if you have time to work on one, but it could potentially work, but if you were to implement one, there would be a problem sticking the monsters in to fit in (light colors and dark ones don't mix well). Well, it's just a thought, oh, and your map is going ahead smoothly. I don't see much need to explicitly mark down borders, as they appear rather obvious. The only borders that don't seem obvious, are the ones with the wizards, unless, that is, they can bombard any monster.

[dolomite13]

Thanx nightwolf, yes I agree the shield value needs to be adjusted to make sense. I want it high enough so that it would be hard to kill a wizard in the early game but could be done with some determination.

The wizards can bombard any monster but not the treasure chests.

I have played around with a few backgrounds and I think I can put one in there eventually. I also want to clean up the white edge on the monsters a bit and maybe tweak monster colors as well. I was mostly concerned with getting something put together so I can chat about the concept and get ideas for what people would like. I am glad you took the time to comment. I should have another take on this soon.

D

[dolomite13]

Here is the map with a background texture added. That is all I can do today.

I am looking forward to any feedback anyone else has to offer.

D

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3020/292 ... 4c58_o.png

[dolomite13]

I have to go to work and sit here waiting to see if anyone needs my help tomorrow ... so while I sit here and twiddle my thumbs for 6 hours I am going to play around with the map. If anyone has any suggestions now would be a great time to toss em at me.

[edbeard]

oops. if your map was in the drafts subforum, it might've gotten some comments. just PM oaktown, gimil, and/or mr. benn (they're the cartography assistants) depending on who you see online (or all if non one is) and they'll move you to the right spot

use the bigimg tags for images (same way as img just bigimg and /bigimg)



I like this map a lot. it's simple yet the monsters look really cool. the lettering for distinguishing each monster is smart (and is actually how I'm going to do my land and water map) because of the lack of space. they might become unreadable when you do the small map though so keep that in mind.


I would like to see this map with a couple different monster designs though. I really like the current one but it might be better to have like the red and orange monsters be a different type of monster. I wouldn't want each colour to be its own monster but a couple other designs might be nice.

the weapons are cool but maybe the legend should say hold all [symbol] +1. oh each one is worth +1? I don't really like that. maybe others do. I kinda like them being another continent.

except in rare cases, a good rule of thumb regarding bonuses is that it shouldn't exceed the number of territories in the continent. so, here's my bonus recommendations

purple - 2
orange - 3
blue - 3
red - 4
green - 7
mmm maaa murky green - 3
yellow - 3
trashy puke - 1
silver - 1



I'm not sure the wizards add anything to the map. they only make holding every continent harder and they're already all pretty hard to hold. some people might say there's too much movement possibility on this map. I might agree but I guess you've got a lot of small territory continents so you might as well make them hard to hold so dropping with a bonus or grabbing a bonus isn't a dominating thing.

one way you could convince me that each weaponized monster is worth a +1 would be if you start these guys out as neutral. whether you want to autodeploy it or not is a question of style you want. I would say that if you do it, you might want to lower the bonus by one of each area where a weaponized monster resides. if you had one weaponized monster per continent (except maybe the tiny 2 territory silver and trashy puke ones) then people wouldn't start out with bonuses.


if you keep the wizards then move the top of the legend to just below where the bottom character lies because you'll need the space to explain it. if you don't use the wizards, then fill in the space with more cool looking monsters! I wouldn't totally fill it in though. use the ground as a separating space as you've done already in a couple places.

[oaktown]

too funny! moving to drafts...

[samuelc812]

What are the witches worth??

[dolomite13]

The witches (actually wizards) are not currently worth anything but they are your starting location. I was envisioning the monsters or a portion of the monsters being neutral to start and each player starting on a wizard. I supose taking out an enemy wizard should be worth something. Maybe +10?

[dolomite13]

I have the art currently in a crappy old program called Microsoft Image Composer ... I am transfering it to Photoshop this week because it will be easier to work with if someone wants to help out and have me pass them the art file.

[dolomite13]

I have it moved to photoshop and I am removing all of the dropshadow layers and edges on the monsters so I can clean it up a bit.

[dolomite13]

I have some ideas to run by the forums this coming week for the map and game play. I want to keep this map simple as it my first attempt. But I would also like to create an "Advanced Monsters" map if this one goes well.

[edbeard]

I have some ideas to run by the forums this coming week for the map and game play. I want to keep this map simple as it my first attempt. But I would also like to create an "Advanced Monsters" map if this one goes well.

then I hope you go with my suggestion and remove the wizards.

[dolomite13]

I like the wizards but there might be an easier way to implement them for the simple version. For instance they could just be images on the map and not have units on them That way the wizards would be represented but not part of what needs to be conquered to win the game. You would just need to take out every monster to be declared the best wizard.

I am just thinking out loud here but ... I like the idea of having a wizard that would require some effort to defeat and that could fight back right up till his demise.

There are a few maps that have functionality that I would like to utilize.

"New World" has the reinforcement concept in that the homelands get 5 armies every turn and can bombard or attack to a specific landing point and reinforce. If I could use something like this with the wizard it would be ideal. I was thinking that the wizards could have set monsters that they favor as sort of a location that they must first conquer to start enthralling other monsters. Perhaps I could add an aura to a monster that matched a specific wizard or give certain monsters a different colored eye to designate they are they are prone to follow certain wizards.

"Arms Race" has missiles and a warhead that resets to 15 every turn that you need to conquer every turn to use to bombard with. If the wizards neutral energy shield reset to 15 or 20 every turn it would protect the wizard from less than sincere attacks and let you get through and attack the wizard if you were serious enough. "Arms Race" also lets you bombard and turn territories neutral again. I like this and think that it would be a great way to defeat your opponents. I had toyed with the idea of separating the map into two halves so that you would have to maintain a presence on both sides or use bombardment to cleanse the other side of your enemies. I am not certain yet how I want to do this.

I also want to remove the torches and weapons and instead add a horn or claws to the monsters. There are several maps that do a really good job of giving you negative armies unless you hold an opposite territory such as the "Supermax: Prison Riot!" Warden & Gas Chamber. I would love to have certain monsters that you need the combination of in order to score the bonus otherwise you get a small negative. I also like the resource pairs in the "New World" map, which are just a simple way of giving bonuses for combos.

I am going to spend some time at lunch today playing around with the graphics and getting them as clean as possible so that I can look at the connections on the map as well as the mechanics I would really like to implement.

Thank you so much for your help and I welcome any comments =)

[dolomite13]

Just updating that I added a new map and some gameplay ideas to the thread for consideration. See the first post.

[dolomite13]

Well the lack of responses tells me that I need a poll to ascertain what people think.

[dolomite13]

CURRENT VERSION:

v6: 10/23/2008

I added "Mind Link" gems to create three monsters that are adjacent across the map so that the center of the map isn't a complete bottleneck.

I also added "Horns" to 8 of the monsters. I am thinking they will make the monster worth +1 and will be the first 8 locations that players are assigned when deciding starting monsters for each wizard.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3135/296 ... 5620_o.png


MAP FEATURES: