Colonization Wars: Earth 1/30/13 pg. 1 GP discussion...

[Industrial Helix]

Map Name: Colonization Wars: Earth
Mapmaker(s): Industrial Helix
Number of Territories: 36 land territories, (4 human sanctuaries) 4 mothership territories (starting points) 16 total special alien weapons territories (4 per mothership)
Special Features:auto deploy and decay on various territories, collection bonuses, bombardment territories.
What Makes This Map Worthy of Being Made: this map is unique in that it approaches alien invasion of Earth like no other map currently available on CC. Players will enjoy taking the role of Imperial alien races and using their weapons to conquer the earth. Additionally, it is part one of a proposed series of maps revolving around the fictional Colonization Wars.

Click image to enlarge.

So I've got an idea for a map involving four alien empires turn up on earth and claim it as a colony. As it is right now, it'd have to be a 4 player only map. unless i make some serious changes to the gameplay. The aliens are the only playable empires, So your job is to capture your quadrant of Earth and take out the rival empire's attempts to colonize their quadrant of earth.

There are human concentration camps, where people are farmed as slaves for their alien masters. An empire can send a clone sabateur into an enemy's camp (meaning can assault and take over) and then once in the camp, the clones can attack the motherships.

Right now all I've got is a very plain and crappy draft, which I'll post later today. Right now I'm just looking to see if there is any support for more alien invasion maps.

Ultimately I see this map as the first in a series I'm currently titling Colonization Wars, this map would be Colonization Wars: Earth I'm imagining a sequal would be set on an alien Salve Ship, when a Slave human breaks free and revolts, ultimately taking over the ship, like Das Schloss but on a space ship. The third Colonization war would be how the colonies on Earth revolt and ultimately take down the alien homeworld government. I want the whole series to be completeky open. So if another map maker has an idea for a part of the colonization wars story, he cango right ahead and make something crazy like "colonization wars: USA." So... support? Is there any for a map like this?

[betiko]

why not, there is only one after all..
Isn't it possible to have 2 starting points per empire so eventually it could be played for 8 players?

[AndyDufresne]

IH, could you resurrect the Mars map that Gimil and Oaktown tried years ago? I always liked it, and I want more space based maps, and something similar to it would be nice.

show

--Andy

[greenoaks]

tbh, that doesn't really interest me. perhaps because it is so far away that i can't get excited about it, but probably not.

[Industrial Helix]

hmm... that Mars map isn't too bad. It looks pretty close to done in my opinion... once XML was written, it could likely go into Beta quickly.

[Industrial Helix]

OK, here's a draft of what I'm thinking.




It's going to have to be supersize as the world map alone covers the max on normal map sizes, the instructions and story required more space.

At this point its a pretty rough draft, I'll make it sexy once it seems there's support for the iea and onbce gameplay starts to take its final shape.

[koontz1973]

IH, I like it and would like to see you get this one of the ground and into play. Nice to see you using a good old fashioned look for the earth. Would you like this in the drafting room?

[Industrial Helix]

Yeah Drafting Room would be great.

[koontz1973]

Here you are, you mentioned you needed to go larger than normal. Can you send a PM to isaiah and ask for it.

Just so you know, conditional borders is not the only new thing we have to play with. The new xml guide has it all and some fun thngs to play with are all there.

[Industrial Helix]

Merci Koontz, I'll PM Isaiah today.


All in all I think I'm not going to need to many XML tricks.

So, everyone, what shall we do to improve gameplay?

[Vlasov]

I like this map and concept, Mr. Helix!

Could you add Antarctica -- perhaps as 2 territories bordering the southern quadrants? You'd have to rename "Northern Territories" as "Polar Territories" since they would obviously be COLD. (Also, I don't see why Patagonia is classed as a Desert region.)

Regarding the alien Motherships -- how exactly do they work? Can the four kinds of assets within a mothership attack each other?

And what exactly is a "local region" for the use of Nuclear Weapons?

I like the images of the Motherships and the names of the four alien races. A complex idea would be for each alien Empire to have advantages in certain kinds of terrain, and (perhaps) even add ocean territories/terrain to the map, so that one or more aliens could be semi-aquatic. Of course that would require a larger map and a lot more work.

Finally, it's really too bad the Humans can't fight back somehow, except as slaves and clone-saboteurs.

[Industrial Helix]

Thank you for the feedback. I feel like Antarctica would be just take up space and not really contribute anything to the game. Pluas I've got instructions there.

The motherships will autodeploy and the ships can attack their various weapons, one the weapons are held they auto-deploy based on their power (meaning nukes AD more than infantry does) and then the weapons can be used to attack or bombard within the mothership's quadrant. I should use quadrant instead of region to be clear.

So for example the Narigotti can only nuke territories in Asia and a little bit of Africa. Does it seem like +25 is a bit low for a nuclear weapon? Since it can only bombard, I think +50 would be much more realistic or possibly +40.

I like the idea of each alien race having unique traits, but I'm concerned with how I can fit in all that extra info on the maps without making it more crowded than it is.

Yeah it does suck for the humans on this map, they're pretty much beat. I imagine the situation being a lot like the Indians in Massachusetts, al of a sudden these Brits show up with cannon and rifles an they really have no chance of fighting back. But then take that colonization feeling and combine it with 20th century techniques of rounding up populations into camps. The reality is that if aliens ever show up on Earth, we don't have much of a chance of doing anything other than what the aliens want us to do. BUT this map is only the first in a series of maps detailing how humans enter the wars in the stars. I'm thinking how the next map will describe a revolt on an alien slave ship and how the humans take over the ship. Which ultimately leads to the humans hijacking alien tech and forming a base somewhere in space and acting as pirates to all the races that show up near Earth. Eventually, the humans reclaim Earth from the colonial aliens and from there they begin their own Human Empire. So the map series is kind of a saga for humanity, I'm planning on 3 or 4 maps made by me then relinquishing any hold over the series that I have so if anyone who has a good space based idea can take the reins of the story and write a little chapter of the Colonization Wars... for example if a new mapmaker wants to do a map on an alien invasion of NY that is part of the Colonization Wars story, then it's all his. So if you like space wars and have ideas for maps, feel free to jump in.

Also I'm a Miss, thank-you

[koontz1973]

IH, I like the concept and the idea, but what will it look look for 8 player games? With the 4 alien races only, how will the humans have a chance of winning. You admit that the humans are pretty much buggered now. As someone that has been accused of having human like traits, I find this disturbing.

Here is an idea for you. Instead of going larger, why not go smaller. Make this a 1v1 map and only have two aliens fighting it out for dominance over the earth? Give each race a different type of ability in each zone (one can survive more in cold so the cold zones do not affect them). Nuclear, while it is recognisable, it does not seem right for aliens that can travel billions of light years to invade us. Same goes for air support. Flying saucers would be air support so to have a separate region for this seems pointless. I like the clones, that keeps with the map in a nice way.

[Industrial Helix]

Well I figure humans in this situation stand about as much a chance of survival as the Native Americans or Africans of the early colonial period. Sorry if it makes you humans feel bad, but the fact is, aliens turn up, you don't stand much a chance. So the humans are done for... if I have my way they'll get their revenge in later maps.

I'm trying to think of a good way to integrate 8 players. Adding the humans would be one solution, but I don't like it and don't think there's room for it. I'll continue to ponder the idea.

As for the Nukes... I hate to say it but I like them. The notion of laying waste to earth with super-bombs just appeals to me. I like that they're readily available to just go ahead and conquer freely with, no Cold War stand-off or any crap like that.

Honestly this idea came to me while playing World 2.1 and wishing I had more than troops at my disposal I got angry with a player and wished I could just nuke him off the map or that my guys had some kind of air support. So I like the nukes but I could go for a Death ray laser thingy that works the same way. Not Death Star level power, think like Independence Day lasers. So I'll work that in there.

As for going smaller, I could do that, I'd rather have 4 players I think it'd be a more fun game. But if you carto-folks can't do 4 players, I can either shrink or enlarge the map to accommodate 2 or 8 players. I think if I went World 2.1 size I could work in a few more aliens or a couple human resistance groups (with the objective of securing the human sanctuaries, Remnant United States, The Chinese Communist Party and the African People's resistance and some kind of equivalent in South America, then I get to keep my nukes. yeah, 8 players is sounding nicer now, if only I can get the supersize approval.

[koontz1973]

IH, will wait for the next version before commentating on GP as it is not set in pudding, let alone stone right now. You probably know better than I do the hoops ian and nolefan will get you to jump through if the game is not balanced for 8 players. As for supersize, while you are waiting, try to get the drafts into regular size. This is something that I do not really want to hold you up and you may find it can come at a lot later down the road.