Tribal War - Florida v14.2 [31 Jan 2012] pg27

[Seamus76]

UPDATE INFO-2011-05-01:
Added text descriptions for the Timucua War Zone, as well as territory labels and abbreviations to the legend. I know it looks like a lot, and maybe flipping some of the icons around would make it a little less congested, but we think it looks pretty good, and actually there are more complicated maps that we have seen.

[natty dread]

Looks pretty good.

I'm a bit concerned though, that the war zone might be a bit too tight for the small map... not sure if all the army numbers will be able to fit in the small version.

You are using space a bit wastefully, though. Hence I have a suggestion, which you might not entirely like... since it will be extra work for you. But anyway...

What I suggest is "zooming in" to the land area a bit more. Currently, you are not using the maximum dimensions... so it's easy to zoom in, and that small group of tiny islands in the south tip can be left out, since it serves no gameplay purpose... This will enable you to zoom in more to the land, by cropping the image so that the playable land area reaches to the edges of the image.

[OliverFA]

Hello Seamus and V.J.

That draft is starting to look nice. Good word! However, from the gameplay point of view I am a bit concerned with the war zone. If I have not mistaken my calculations, aproximately 40% of the territories form part of the war zone. So we have basically 40% of the map where everybody can attack everybody with no choke points and no structure at all. In my humble opinion that's maybe too much.

The idea of a free for all zone it's interesting, but I would reduce it's size.

In fact, the rest of the map it's also very open, with almost no impassables. In my opinion a bit more geography needs to be added so players can use the land shape as a point in their strategies.

[Seamus76]

We could look at taking away one warrior per tribe, which would cut it down by 9. As for impassables, we could maybe add a swamp or two, like Okefenokee, or something along those lines. Maybe an impassable alligator area. Not sure though, we like the chaos factor being very high in that area.

[OliverFA]

Yes, the chaos factor is an interesting thing. But like everything, it has to be in it's right amount. Not too much, not too few.

I think that cuting the free-for-all zone down by 9 it's a very good choice. The result would be a zone that still would be quite big, but not too big in comparison with the rest of the map, so it would be like the right balance

A couple of swamps could be interesting, or maybe a river or a mountain chain (don't know Florida's geography, so I am not sure if there exists a river or a mountain that can be represented in the map as impassable).

[Seamus76]

Fair comment. Thanks for taking the time.

[grifftron]

Wow, what an awesome idea... taking a state and making it into a unique map. No comments atm but I will be following up.

-griff

[natty dread]

For the record, I support what Oliver is saying, he makes a good point on the warzone - it will function better with fewer territories, and you probably won't have to resize the map if you do that.

[Seamus76]

Thanks natty. Working on the revisions now.

[OliverFA]

Thanks natty. Working on the revisions now.

Will be waiting for them

[Funkyterrance]

I just want to start that I love the idea of a tribal war for a map, would really add enjoyment for me personally. I am wondering how the whole war zone thing will work for a state map though, especially if you are going to have territory bonuses. Do you think the tribal thing, especially the war zone, would work better with a more free form layout, sort of like Supermax? Oliver, I don't think there are many mountains in Florida .

[OliverFA]

To be honest, I am completely ignorant about Florida geography I only know the political shape of the state, and that's all. Well, I also know which part is the coast

Impassables couls also be a forest. At the time of the tribal war, Florida was supposed to be almost virgin, so forests could be anywhere.

I suppose that this map is Florida because the tribes were supposed to live in that area. Well... sort of.

[AndyDufresne]

Impassables couls also be a forest. At the time of the tribal war, Florida was supposed to be almost virgin, so forests could be anywhere.
.

Making forests impassable, at least in regard to the Theme of this map, doesn't seem logical. However, making Forests/Rivers/Swamps/etc, regions in their own-right, so that you have to 'spend time' traveling through or over these areas, could make more sense in terms of theme.


--Andy

[natty dread]

Forest territories with 5-6 neutrals on them, serving as "impassables". That could work.

[wiztow]

Great idea for a map guys it's looking really good and can't wait to have a battle in the War Zone it will be proper mental!

[DoomYoshi]

I find the symbols difficult to make out.

[thenobodies80]

Onward and Upward!

[Seamus76]

UPDATE INFO-2011-05-10:
Based on the feedback provided, we removed 1 warrior from each tribe, 9 total were taken away. This opened the War Zone up a bit, and once we get more into the graphics workshop we will certainly adjust the spacing of those territories to make it all fit right. We added the 3 canoes as actual territories which will start neutral, rather than just being pass throughs. Instead of making impassables we added 2 "Swaps", which start neutral, and lose one warrior per turn until there is only 1 left. They add two small adjustments to players strategies for getting through a region, or for getting from one end to another. They are also needed for a player to receive that regions bonus. The "Additional Bonuses" were adjusted from 5 warriors to 4 warriors needed for the +3 bonus. And the number of starting territories were adjusted to fit more with the new number of territories. In order to meet the golden number of starting positions, one territory within the Timucua War Zone will be coded neutral.

[natty dread]

Because we needed to get to a magic number of overall territories we added the 3 canoes as actual territories,

The magic number is not about overall territories, it's the number of starting territories that counts - ie. any territories that start neutral do not count.

[Seamus76]

Thanks natty. All of the information has been adjusted to reflect the update. There are now 44 available starting territories. The 3 canoes will start neutral, and one territory, AP-3, will be coded neutral. Let me know if you have any other thoughts.

[OliverFA]

I think it looks better now with the changes

One concern I just realized now. You should start thinking where you are going to place the army numbes. There is no place for army numbers in many territories, such as JE-4, CA-2, CA-1, TN-2 ... Why don't you try to place some fake numbers and see how it looks?

[iancanton]

there are too many four-way borders: these are places where four regions meet at a point, for example AP2, AI4, CRC and CR4, so that it's unclear whether the regions on opposite side can assault each other. adjust these so that only three regions border at any intersection.

if the eight bonus zones are meant to represent the eight tribes, then why does each chief not live in his home area instead of elsewhere? the chiefs ought to start neutral (2 neutrals each) because of their importance to bonuses.

try making a bow-and-arrrow different from a tomahawk, for example the bow-and-arrow bonus might be +2 for each chief held.

in the legend, instead of tribe/region, call the bonus zones tribal domains or something similar that matches the theme.

ian.

[Seamus76]

UPDATE INFO-2011-05-17:
We adjusted the entire map size, which opened it up a bit more. We also redid all of the territory boarders and removed all of the four-way boarders, as well as included preliminary army numbers to give a better visual. I will comment more on the the territory placement, etc. shortly, but wanted to get v3.0 up for commenting.

[The Bison King]

This is an interesting map. I really like the war zone, I think having a free range area is a pretty cool idea. I don't think you need to mention that only the conquistador can attack the Spanish fort, I think that's pretty clear. I almost wish there was a 2nd Spanish fort some where. Just having the one seems kind of lonely. The +3 is a pretty nice perk but it's tucked away in a corner that's pretty useless.

Also do "warriors" refer to territories with a tribal symbol? that's a little unclear in the legend. If that's what that means maybe where it says "tribal symbol" in the legend should say "warrior symbol"

[The Bison King]

No wait, it doesn't does it? ok I'm a little confused as to the purpose of territories marked with a tribal symbol.