[Abandoned] - New Zealand

[foregone]

I reckon you should cut the islands out of it and just have ports going from auckland-wellington-christchurch or something.
The islands make it look ugly, if u want to keep them, atleast could u make them a bit smaller please?the boxes are massive!
Other then that, keep it up i want to play this map already haha

Tried that, didn't work.

If i make the islands too much smaller its not going to work either.

just noticed i need to fix up the Auckland Island ocean.

I'm still very much in favour of keeping the islands. But I do think you could do something with the border of the island boxes...perhaps also the border of the whole map. But thats just for prettiness' sake.

I definitely think this is ready to get a draft/idea stamp.

[reggie_mac]

F@#king horrible orange border removed, The new border is so thick for a reason, to be reveled at a later date.

There will be something happening there but i need to wait till near the end to do it as its not going to handle the re-sizing well.

On another note, i ran the map over colour blindness simulators as there is some discussion going on in the Foundry at the moment over here. The results aren't to nice. I've noticed the blue is blue on the Long-Lat lines, so maybe i may need to look into the over all ocean colour. I'll see how the discussion pans out first.

Click image to enlarge.

[gho]

Quench, its great, better than some maps that are final forge at the moment.
the only thing you need to change is make the connection between the aukland and chatham islands in line with the connection between the Sunday and Chatham islands.

I prefer the old title, but this one works also. After fixing the bonuses this is done

[milner94]

I still don't like the islands, but if it gets quenched like this I'll still play it. Don't know who awards these stamps, but this needs most of them I think! A bit of time spent on the XML and this should be done.

[MrBenn]

In order for a map to be stamped as having completed the "Draft" stage and moved on to the Main Foundry it must meet the following conditions:

• Relevant details should be summarised in the first post, including the name(s) of the individual(s) responsible for the creation of the map; and any information relevant to how this map will play, including (but not limited to) proposed starting neutral locations and values, victory conditions, unique play features, etc.
• Have a playable image (either large or small map) that fits within the size restrictions; It doesn't have to be perfect, but if the map were quenched today people should be able to play on it. The draft should include:
  
  1. territory names
  2. a working legend
  3. speculative bonuses
  4. tentative border divisions
  5. proposed impassable barriers

I am satisfied that this map meets the above criteria...



Welcome to the Foundry Proper... onwards and upwards

Mr B

[oaktown]

Out of the frying pan, into my fire.

Tough region to make a map out of, but this seems like a nice start. This is a map that could suffer from being too linear, but you've given it some good flow with the islands.

My first concern is ease of reading elements of the map. The mini-map could be better set apart from the rest of the image (I know people will figure it out, but it looks like an island off the coast!). The straight-line attack routes to, and the boxes around, the outlying islands are, for lack of a better word, clunky; they detract from an otherwise pleasant look.

Keep on trucking!

[reggie_mac]

Woo Hoo

Ok, so after 15 previous concepts here it is

VERSION 1

Click image to enlarge.

Auckland Islands Water fixed
Bonuses have been run through the calculator and then i've given them a -1 modifier because the map is smaller than standard (which has 42 terr)

[reggie_mac]

Ok, so some may have noticed that i had changed the colour of the water. After looking at it for a bit longer i decided i didn't like it any more, so i went back to the original. While doing it i got some comments that some people liked one, and some people like the other, so because i've got 2 possibilities for the water i decided to make a mid-tone set that was in between both the other two.

I'd like to put to a vote which colour is preferred as it will impact how the rest of the map goes.

Vote 1, 2, 3 (left to right)

Please note this will be a short vote so i can continue on with the map quickly.

Click image to enlarge.

I like number 2 personally.

[foregone]

1 and 2 look pretty much identical to me...and I think I prefer them over 3.

[gho]

Agree with foregone, i voted 2 but think 1 looks the same. The only other change that you might think about making (not really necessary) is change the connection between chantham island and cantebury to chantham island and south cantebury it would make the red area worth going for (give an interesting competition with blue). I also really like the 1 bonus for northland, doesnt make it too powerful.

[cairnswk]

i voted 3.
I find the colour of the 1 & 2 is too vibrant for the map and the other varigated tones of 3 provide good eye contact and variation on completing all the ocean.

not sure about the purple in fiordland though.

[milner94]

I vote 2. !'s too bright, and 3 makes it look like it's raining (BOO).

I still don't believe in the islands, but there's too much support for them. How about you produce a version with the suggestions I made a little while back, and then but the two side by side and have a vote on them?

[yeti_c]

Right down the middle of the Southern Island are the Southern Alps... should they be made an impassable?

C.

[reggie_mac]

I thought about that, and someone else mentioned it too, the problem is there are like 5 passes over them 3 main one and 2 others, so i didn't really think it was that viable. Something to look into in the future though. However if i do put them in im a little worried about how the south island might play, however with the islands in it may work out.

[foregone]

I thought about that, and someone else mentioned it too, the problem is there are like 5 passes over them 3 main one and 2 others, so i didn't really think it was that viable. Something to look into in the future though. However if i do put them in im a little worried about how the south island might play, however with the islands in it may work out.

I'm rather fond of the gameplay as it is, as long as the islands are included.

[reggie_mac]

I've had a thought, and i'd like some feed back please.

Idea: Bringing back the Tasman to Taranaki link, and also in and extra territory in the Dark blue area in the South Island. The new Area would be called the Lakes District and is made up of the eastern part of Otago and the north eastern part of north Otago.

Benefit: Doing this would make the red area bonus worth 5 points.

Reason: This would help to even out the game play in the event there was a heavily weighted North Island/South Island drop. And generally open the game play from being overly linear.

[reggie_mac]

update coming next week, currently moving house and office so a lot going on in RL. Some comment on the above idea would be good .. yes this is almost a shameless bump.

[gho]

i like it the way it is...

[mibi]

I somehow wish the names overlaps their territories more. It seems odd that some are but most arn't. Maybe a small underline and connecting line to the territory. I dunno.

[reggie_mac]

I somehow wish the names overlaps their territories more. It seems odd that some are but most arn't. Maybe a small underline and connecting line to the territory. I dunno.

I had something similar to this in an earlier version, but i had no comments about removing them, i'll throw them back in for the next one to give an idea on the different look it would give.

[reggie_mac]

Version 2

Click image to enlarge.

Please Note- This is Only a resize from the working document, text sizes and fonts will be adjusted one gameplay. is sorted

Ocean colours changed after vote
Attack lines/links to islands changed from straight to wave.
Added an extra territory in the blue area called Lakes District.
Added in the tasman to taranaki link.

[MrBenn]

I somehow wish the names overlaps their territories more. It seems odd that some are but most aren't. Maybe a small underline and connecting line to the territory. I dunno.

I haven't looked at the map for a while, and the names being 'disconnected' from the territories is the thing that bugs me the most... It makes it slightly difficult to see at a glance which territory is which.

The other thing I'll mention is that I think the dots on the ocean routes are way too large.... they're a bit overpowering!

[reggie_mac]

Graphical issues, not gameplay related.
They will be addressed at a later date. For now I'm trying to get the gameplay done, once thats sorted then i can work on the actual size map, not the large version. Also i've already noted the 'disjointedness' of the names, and it will be addressed, but again, once the gameplay is sorted and the map is shurnk i'll be able to see what will sit where.As for the dots .. yeah... get to them later too.

[MrBenn]

Visibility of territory names will impede on any gameplay considerations, and is not therefore a purely graphical issue

[oaktown]

Visibility of territory names will impede on any gameplay considerations, and is not therefore a purely graphical issue

I actually think that the names being off the territories is alright, as it has been done in many other maps. Reggie, I think that you're going to be fine with this as long as you carefully consider:

1. Army circle placement. Army circles could actually help matters of clarity, in that if you position the army circles on the land in such a way that they are clearly associated with the territory title it will remove some potential for confusion in some, though not all, instances.

2. Possible pointers? In the areas that aren't entirely clear, you may want to draw a line from the title to the army circle. Wanganui's title, for instance, is really hanging out there, and Wellington is awfully close to looking like it could go with the land to the south, leading to the occasional mis-deployment.

3. Is every title that can fit on the land? It might be worth fudging the borders of Wanganui a bit to fit the title on the land - I promise I won't tell.

Little things...
• Region titles I guess aren't entirely necessary, but we're used to knowing them before we take the region.
• Colors of North Island "north" and North Island "central" are very close - my bad eyes didn't notice the difference until I saw the two bonuses on the small map.
• I still don't love the representation of the outlying islands. Are they really in a cluster as shown on the small map, and if so can you show them in one box on the main map? As they are I have no sense of what/where they are, if they are to scale, etc. You have some atlas-style info on the map, why not make it look like a proper atlas page, with scale of miles and lat/long lines on the inset island maps as well? Just a thought.