Tamriel map of the Elder scrolls [Done]

[AndyDufresne]

Opening the border would help alleviate the problem. Though perhaps looking into reversing the arrow so that Velothi Mts. can attack one of the various other countries in Cyrodiil might also be another option, giving the advantage to the smaller continent rather than the large. Doing that would knock Morrowind down to 7 Countries, 2 Borders; 3 Attack routes. But doing that might make too many little continents for the map.

I'm torn, but I think I'm currently leaning to an open border for each, but I thought I would throw out the other idea for options.

And erasing the border underneath the various portions of land could work, though it might make the legend look shotty depending on how the visuals impact the final. Maybe shrinking the legend would help the problem.

--Andy

[Jota]

Would it work to separate the map title from the continent bonuses? Say, a black box in the upper left corner with "Tamriel" in it, and the other black box where it is now with the continents in it. Or would that just look silly?

[AndyDufresne]

Hm, that could work, though I usually favor keeping the title and the legend rather connected. Also depending on where he placed visuals and graphics, doing what Jota suggested might be near impossible.

--Andy

[HighBorn]

i love the over all feel or the map.... keep up the good work..

[Banana Stomper]

Here's where i'm at right now. I'm not sure how to change the rivers and the water. I'll take a look at doing that later on. But here's where i'm at with the llegend. I'm liking how its looking. I think i did most of whats been suggested. I'm going to go through it again tomorrow probably. Just wanted to give you guys something to talk about. Keep up the comments.

Don't mind the flags. If you care to see what they're all about check out the embassies thread in this forum. Its a fun little thing i'm considering. Not necessarily going to be implemented.

Also, those bonus values are still arbitrary.

[Hoff]

you should draw in a little shadow for the flags to make it appear they are standing up.

[Marvaddin]

Very very good...

About bonuses, I think you could change the following:
Skyrim - 4
Hammerfell - 5
Elsweyr - 4

About the flags... if you will mantain them, I can think about better locations. Arent Fang Lair and Sancre Tor connected, are they?

[Banana Stomper]

Right now, they aren't connected. I'd write more, but i'm late for a drug test.

[Hoff]

stomper you drugie. Whos pee did you get this time? lol

[Banana Stomper]

Hammerfell could be worth 5, but i don't know how i feel about it being worth more than Skyrim.

I think skyrim would be a very difficult continent to hold. Although it only has 6 countries, 4 of them border another, touching three different continents, and Hammerfell has 8 regions but only three boarder countries. Also, its very mountainous and thus limiting.

Elsweyr could be 4, i'm fine with that. Its butt to butt with cyrodiil, which isn't fun.

How does the legend look now with going under the land. i just did some erasing, nothing fancy. Also, note that morrowind's border opening up with cyrodiil. I like it better that way, the arrow was kind of an eyesore.

About the Flags. The main reason i put it in Fang Lair was because of the size of the country, but since i took out the one region above wayrest, i could always just make that a little bigger and put it back up there. It is kind of close to Elsweyr.

[AndyDufresne]

Lets see...


---The legend actually looks and feels like a legend. Many steps above the black background. I personally like the papyrus feel of it, and the font is perfect. The interesting coin visual also helps accentuate the map I think. Perhaps even adding one more thing in the bottom right hand corner to counter balance the visuals might be something to look into.

---Once you attempt to do some sort of gradient, I think the map will shine even more.

---Elsweyr's country names are a little hurtful to the eyes. Perhaps a different color, or shade of blue (either darker or lighter) so it isn't such a bright on bright. Perhaps even a darker shade of red for Black Marsh's country names.

---And as for Skyrim, Hammerfell, and Elsweyr, I think boosting Elsweyr to 4 is justified due to the borders and number of countries compared to the other continents. As for Hammerfell, I feel it shouldn't be more than Skyrim. As it is on the map I like it, though perhaps an argument for them to be the same. But then that runs the risk of putting 3 similarly bonused continents (and mid-high to that) nearly in a line. This gives me something interesting to investigate...I'll be back later...


--Andy

[Banana Stomper]

I did a couple things that were suggested here, i don't know how i feel about it, but tell me what you think.

I added a little different textue to the water, hopefully to give it a watery feel, and also added a gradient. I'm not sure how i feel about the looks of this.

To the bottom right i added the other side of the coin at the top left. I made it small so it would fit, but i don't know, i think its starting to feel a little crowded

I changed some colors of the names of countries so that they may be a little easier on the eyes. I think i'm happy with this, heh.

I also added a new color and texture to distinguish the rivers from the ocean. I don't know how i feel about this feature in particular. The different blues meeting at the ocean around the map is awkward.

I don't know how i feel about it, so i immagine that you guys won't like it so much, being the picky group that you are. Give me some suggestions to improve it, and tell me whether or not i should take the second side of the coin out, i think it might be a bit much. Just had a thought...I should put a compass rose there....

Oh, one more thing. I bumped summerset isle and black marsh up to three bonuses. here is my reasoning, flawed as it may be. Andy made a good point about the top of the map having 5 fairly high valued continents in a row, and i realized that a player starting in the south would probably have a big disadvantage in the game, with little opportunity to score some points...So i bumped Black Marsh up to three. And then comparing the two continents, i can not in good conscience make black marsh worth more than summerset isle, they are so similar. So that got bumped up too.

[Derwiddle]

The overall feel of the map is great, I'd definately play it. The gradient water I think looks kinda nice, it's not just flat and one color, I like that.

As for the coin you added, you're right - it does crowd the map too much. I'd drop that to free up some space. If you add a compass rose, then I'd make sure that at least some water is visible behind it, just to keep the open/airy feeling.

And the making the rivers a different texture does clash too much me thinks. They'd look better with the same texture as the oceans in my opinion.

Aside from a few little things, I love it! You've done a great job with it.

[Jota]

I preferred the rivers as extensions of the oceans as well. In fact, I think the ocean looked fine before (although I think it still looks fine now, except for the river clashing). The coins might look better if they were each a little bit smaller: the head being the size the tail is now, perhaps, and the tail scaled down proportionately. Might not be as crowded that way.

The continent bonuses all seem to be on the high side to me, but they're consistently high, so I guess that's OK: owning continents will just be that much more important on this map. Although Morrowind looks a bit higher than the rest, even: calling it a four might be more in line with everything else, since it does only have three border countries (compare to Black Marsh, with two border countries, touching the same number of foreign continents, for a bonus of three).

Also, if you're keeping the embassies/outposts/whatever you'll call them (which I hope you do), don't forget to mention how they work someplace on the map.

[Hoff]

I'm not really a fan of the gradient ocean. Makes it look purplish. Maybe a different gradient and different colors would work better. But I prefer no gradient at all. The rivers look wierd and should be the same as the ocean. Maybe you should just get rid of the coins all toget to make room for the explanation on the embassies. And with any room left over stick in a compass rose. But besids that i like.

[Banana Stomper]

Small Map

Ok, I think this should be about done. Sorry hoff, i want to keep the coin big, i like it.

I put in an explanation for how the embassies work. I could take stuff out and use that space for an explanation, but i feel like what i have in there suffices, my roommate gets it, and he's a dumbass. (thats a total lie, he's a genius, but thats beside the point)

If someone out there who isn't familiar with the discussion of the embassies could take a look at that and tell me if it makes sense to them, that would be great.

I decided to keep the backround as the rivers, i like it better that way too.

Jota, good call on Morrowind. I'm happy making that worth a little less. It balances the map out some more.

I went with two for the bonus, because i can not in good conscience make holding one country worth the same amount as holding another whole continent.

Compass at the bottom right, its there because it doesn't have to be very big, not much else fits there.

I made the gradient a little more subtle. I like it this way.

Its done in my mind, if you guys see any glaring errors or something like confusing borders, point that out. and if you feel so inclined, complain about the graphics, we'll see if i listen to you

[Hoff]

Fine keep the coin big and in a wierd spot. But atleast make it so it fits in the screen. Make it a tad bit smaller so the glowing outside rings dont go off the map. And I still dont like gradient oceans... lol

[HighBorn]

i still love it

[Shadow Dragon]

I think it looks really good right now.

Being a Elder Scrolls fan and all I'm sort of annoyed by the fact that Valenwood and High Rock don't exist on it but thats just me and I guess it doesn't really matter to much and it probably would be sort of hard to impliment them into it.

But yeah It looks great and I can't wait to play it.

[Banana Stomper]

Yea, sorry about the omissions, I guess some sacrifices had to be made. They are there in spirit though.

HighBorn, i think you loved this when it was still that shitty bubble wrap looking map, haha.

[Hoff]

It dont think it makes sense for an ocean to have a gradient. but thats just me

[areyouincahoots]

The names on the orange continent are hard to read....

[Hoff]

light purpley water skeeves me out...

[Shadow Dragon]

I have two suggestions that I just though of.

1.I suggest changing the name of Wayrest to High Rock.

2.I suggest changing the embassy in Elsweyr to Valenwood.

[Banana Stomper]

Ok people. I finished my physics exam today, and may have sacrificed an A in that class for this map. But coming up friday is my math final. I think i'm going to have to take a bit of a break in order to learn me some surface integrals....cause honestly, this stuff is about the hardest thing i've ever had to do in school. If i keep posting a lot, yell at me! But keep posting stuff, cause its nice to take a littel study break and see what you guys have to say about the map. (Who am i kidding, i'm addicted)