4 Star Meats [17 March 2013] v29 pg40

[nolefan5311]

We will go ahead and sticky this for the stamp. It's pretty darn close.

[ManBungalow]

What does the small image look like?


And a really petty point - the T in Tongue for the special offer should be capitalised!

[anamainiacks]

Sorry if this has already been brought up - I didn't want to read through the earlier 26 pages.

Did you have to method of coming up with the bonus values for the various regions? Looking at them now, they don't seem very balanced... The most glaring one to me is, why is the Ox Tail only worth 1, while all the legs are with 2, when they all have the same number of territories to conquer (though LF only has 4), and to defend? Ignoring the tail tip, it has 1 territory to defend (Ox Tail Base) bordering 3 regions (Company Logo, Top Side, Minute Steak).

In comparison, all legs - ignoring their hooves - have 1 territory to defend, bordering less than 3 regions, except the R.Hind leg.

• L.F. Marrow Bone borders Outer Skirt (1)
• R.Fore Shank borders Plate and Outer Skirt (2)
• L.Hind Shank borders Bottom Flank (1)
• R.Hind Shank borders Round Tip, Tri-Tip, Top Flank (3).

So if anything, the Ox Tail would seem like one of the harder 'continents' to hold between the 5 of them. It should be given a 2-troop bonus as well, I think.

I also think Crown should be downgraded to a 2-troop bonus region. While it has 3 territories in total and 3 territories to defend, only 2 territories can attack the region, which is a far cry from the 5 territories that can attack Flank.

And I know we were only asked for gameplay input, but I found it a little hard to link the legend to the parts of the cow (yes, I don't know my parts of a cow very well!). I did notice there was a slide bolding of the territorial words that were the same as its bonus regions, so that could be made more obvious (:

In all, I was pleasantly surprised when I came to see what the front page was moo-ing about - love the concept, very unique (:

[dana1971]

Thanks for the feedback, I'm happy to make those changes anamainiacks.

Best Wishes,
Dana

[AndyDufresne]

And I know we were only asked for gameplay input, but I found it a little hard to link the legend to the parts of the cow (yes, I don't know my parts of a cow very well!). I did notice there was a slide bolding of the territorial words that were the same as its bonus regions, so that could be made more obvious (:

Yeah, this might help with finding each bonus zone. You could even underline the 'Main' region in each bonus zone, and that may simply be enough to attract a player's eye.


--Andy

[nolefan5311]

And I know we were only asked for gameplay input, but I found it a little hard to link the legend to the parts of the cow (yes, I don't know my parts of a cow very well!). I did notice there was a slide bolding of the territorial words that were the same as its bonus regions, so that could be made more obvious (:

Yeah, this might help with finding each bonus zone. You could even underline the 'Main' region in each bonus zone, and that may simply be enough to attract a player's eye.


--Andy

Great idea.

[nolefan5311]

Sorry if this has already been brought up - I didn't want to read through the earlier 26 pages.

Did you have to method of coming up with the bonus values for the various regions? Looking at them now, they don't seem very balanced... The most glaring one to me is, why is the Ox Tail only worth 1, while all the legs are with 2, when they all have the same number of territories to conquer (though LF only has 4), and to defend? Ignoring the tail tip, it has 1 territory to defend (Ox Tail Base) bordering 3 regions (Company Logo, Top Side, Minute Steak).

In comparison, all legs - ignoring their hooves - have 1 territory to defend, bordering less than 3 regions, except the R.Hind leg.

• L.F. Marrow Bone borders Outer Skirt (1)
• R.Fore Shank borders Plate and Outer Skirt (2)
• L.Hind Shank borders Bottom Flank (1)
• R.Hind Shank borders Round Tip, Tri-Tip, Top Flank (3).

So if anything, the Ox Tail would seem like one of the harder 'continents' to hold between the 5 of them. It should be given a 2-troop bonus as well, I think.

I also think Crown should be downgraded to a 2-troop bonus region. While it has 3 territories in total and 3 territories to defend, only 2 territories can attack the region, which is a far cry from the 5 territories that can attack Flank.

And I know we were only asked for gameplay input, but I found it a little hard to link the legend to the parts of the cow (yes, I don't know my parts of a cow very well!). I did notice there was a slide bolding of the territorial words that were the same as its bonus regions, so that could be made more obvious (:

In all, I was pleasantly surprised when I came to see what the front page was moo-ing about - love the concept, very unique (:

I agree with everything said here.

In addition, Sirloin needs to be reduced to a +4 bonus. Suggested bonus value puts it at 4.75, but that's with a neutral 3 right in the middle of it (Tenderloin) and another n3 as a border region. And Rump needs to be lowered a +4

So just to clarify:
Ox tail needs to be increased to a +2
Crown needs to be reduced to a +2
Sirloin needs to be reduced to a +4
Rump needs to be reduced to a +4

Also, Flank, Crown, and Brisket continents all need to have a region coded as neutral to start the game to prevent a bonus from being dropped. I would suggest Flank region, Brisket region, and Bridge region be the neutrals.

Also, in the first post please post the map image with the starting neutrals. I count 75 total territories, with 7 starting neutrals (4 Star Meats logo, Special Offer, Tri Tip, Tenderloin, Flank, Brisket, and Bridge), leaving 68 to be distributed at the drop, which is a good number. Is this correct?

2 player games - 22 regions per player (24 neutrals)
3 players - 22 (2 extra neutrals)
4 players - 17 (0 extra neutrals)
5 players - 13 (3 extra neutrals)
6 players - 11 (2 extra neutrals)
7 players - 9 (5 extra neutrals
8 players - 8 (4 extra neutrals)

Once you make these changes, I believe we can stamp it.

[iancanton]

In addition, Sirloin needs to be reduced to a +4 bonus. Suggested bonus value puts it at 4.75, but that's with a neutral 3 right in the middle of it (Tenderloin) and another n3 as a border region.

nolefan, this is the one part of the comprehensive analyses by anamainiacks and u (thanks, both!) where i differ because, not only do the neutrals fail to protect completely any regions, but the sirloin bonus zone is non-contiguous, which makes forting a more difficult job; is +5 a good compromise?

how about swapping the colour of crown with that of rib? the difference in brightness between the crown and neck colours is almost imperceptible if viewing in black-and-white.

otherwise, it's virtually all good news on the gameplay front.

ian.

[nolefan5311]

In addition, Sirloin needs to be reduced to a +4 bonus. Suggested bonus value puts it at 4.75, but that's with a neutral 3 right in the middle of it (Tenderloin) and another n3 as a border region.

nolefan, this is the one part of the comprehensive analyses by anamainiacks and u (thanks, both!) where i differ because, not only do the neutrals fail to protect completely any regions, but the sirloin bonus zone is non-contiguous, which makes forting a more difficult job; is +5 a good compromise?

That works for me. I tend to want to undervalue bonus regions but you make a good point.

[dana1971]

No problem, I can do that. Should I be checking the map in black in white?
I tried underlining the region names this weekend and found the lines competed with the boarder lines and made the map a bit confusing. I did however make the region names bolder so hopefully that will be enough. I'm almost ready for a new post.
Best wishes,
Dana

[dana1971]

Hi all,

I've cleaned up the graphics and decided to remove the hanging meat because I did a version where the meat looked real but it was a bit odd and didn't fit in, then I did a version with the meat rendered in a more illustrative fashion but it didn't fit with the realistic chalk board and frame. So I decided it best to just drop it.

I took off the black boarder on the stars because I thought they may make the numbers hard to read, but now I'm thinking I may need to make them bigger so you can see them more clearly.

I took on board changes to bonuses and neutrals, and tried to make the continent names more clear.

Here is the latest.

Click image to enlarge.

The following regions will start with neutrals.

Tenderloin: 2
Tri-Tip: 2
Special Offer: killer 3
4 Star Meats Logo: 3

Let us know what I need to do next. Tackle the XML code, or is it to early for that?

Best Wishes,
Dana

[ironmanbravo]

Great Work Dana...17 versions is a lot but it will be worth it in the end.

[nolefan5311]

Hi all,

I've cleaned up the graphics and decided to remove the hanging meat because I did a version where the meat looked real but it was a bit odd and didn't fit in, then I did a version with the meat rendered in a more illustrative fashion but it didn't fit with the realistic chalk board and frame. So I decided it best to just drop it.

I took off the black boarder on the stars because I thought they may make the numbers hard to read, but now I'm thinking I may need to make them bigger so you can see them more clearly.

I took on board changes to bonuses and neutrals, and tried to make the continent names more clear.

Here is the latest.

Click image to enlarge.

The following regions will start with neutrals.

Tenderloin: 2
Tri-Tip: 2
Special Offer: killer 3
4 Star Meats Logo: 3

Let us know what I need to do next. Tackle the XML code, or is it to early for that?

Best Wishes,
Dana

I like the changes, but you need to code a starting neutral in the Flank, Crown, and Brisket bonus zones to prevent, as much as possible, a bonus being dropped. Once you do that I can stamp it and send it up to the graphics guys. And I do agree that it is a little tough to locate the stars now.

[dana1971]

Thanks,

Here are some additional regions that will start as neutrals:

Eye - neutral 3
Top Brisket - neutral 3
Flank - neutral 3
Left fore shine - neutral 3

Does that about cover it Nolefan?

[nolefan5311]

Thanks,

Here are some additional regions that will start as neutrals:

Eye - neutral 3
Top Brisket - neutral 3
Flank - neutral 3
Left fore shine - neutral 3

Does that about cover it Nolefan?

It does. I would recommend changing the neutral from Top Brisket to Brisket, since Top Brisket borders a lot of regions, and when Brisket gets distributed, those troops will be trapped. But that's your decision , and certainly not enough to keep this one from being stamped.