Backyard Battle - updated

[Ethitts]

Hi all, I'm putting Ant Wars on vacation because I lost motivation to work on it. Instead I'm creating Backyard Battle. A similar idea but different setting.

PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST:
Yes I know that:
1. The map is quite open (not many impassible's etc).
2. Other than the ant and spider bonuses, there are no other bonuses on the map.

All other comments/suggestions are welcome

Ver 2:

Click image to enlarge.

Ver 1:
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/6638 ... er1ma3.jpg

Version 2:
1. Made the legend text brighter and a different font so it's easier to read (hopefully).
2. Re-worded the legend so it's easier to understand (once again, hopefully ).
3. Added 2 crossings across the river.

[mibi]

please use a legible legend text.

[Ethitts]

please use a legible legend text.

Hmm, I don't have any trouble reading it, but ok I'll give it a change.

[rsacheli]

First off, you say you know there is no crossing the river... will there be??

What is the objective on this map, if you cant cross the river then any known game type that is currently used would be impossible to win...

Great graphics! thats a great place to start!

i somewhat understand the legend... what I dont understand is... why can you only own one ant or spider w/o recieving a MASSIVE negative? sure it will keep ppl from pursuing multiple, but i think the negative should be much less severe so that it would not be benificial but not so much that it is crippling...

and the legend text is hard to read... its too dark for the dark background...

i dont quite understand your starting thing... from how i understand it this map will have a completely new game engine... you get to pick where you start? you pick either ant or spider? i really dont understand how that will be implemented with the current setup for how games run...

[Juan_Bottom]

I can't read it...

[Ethitts]

Ok, so this isn't so easy to understand. Lucky I didn't explain it in the original post, I'll make it clearer for my next update.

[Ethitts]

Version 2:
1. Made the legend text brighter and a different font so it's easier to read (hopefully).
2. Re-worded the legend so it's easier to understand (once again, hopefully ).
3. Added 2 crossings across the river.

[RjBeals]

What about all those 4 way intersecting borders - thats a no-no. But the map is kinda cool.

[Ethitts]

What about all those 4 way intersecting borders - thats a no-no. But the map is kinda cool.

Yea I think the territory layout needs a lot of work (if that's what your referring to). But that will be changed in time, once I put it more borders (logs, plants etc).

[Juan_Bottom]

The RED TEXT is still very difficult to read... and the green is fuzzy..... Is this map set to mimic AOR on a bug level?
= (

[Ethitts]

The RED TEXT is still very difficult to read... and the green is fuzzy..... Is this map set to mimic AOR on a bug level?
= (

Similar I suppose. But on AOR you don't get to select a bonus type. Still don't get why your having trouble reading it, but I'll try make it better.

[Juan_Bottom]

Oh! I was frowning the text, and not being able to participate. Not the AOR idea.
I'm tryin' to be a good helper, for really....

[Ethitts]

Oh! I was frowning the text, and not being able to participate. Not the AOR idea.
I'm tryin' to be a good helper, for really....

I know. I'm just finding it weird that you can't read the text that well because it's fine for me, might be something to do with different computer screens or something. Something technical anyway. I will try make it much clearer though.

[foregone]

Text seems okay to me.

Really like the game idea, and the graphics are nice. I'm looking forward to seeing the layout of the territories change with some immovables, etc (like you said, logs etc).

[rsacheli]

the ants bonus seems to massively outweigh the spider bonus... think about it... if someone has the ant, and has 6 territs they get +3 whereever they want it... the spider... +3 on one place only... sure thats a great defensive strategy... but fortifications would be the only way for this player to really go anywhere to be able to win...
idk... i think the spiders bonus is not equally matched... just because they get a SET amount whereas the ants get a variable amount... no one would ever play the spider for that reason alone...

[edbeard]

the ants bonus seems to massively outweigh the spider bonus... think about it... if someone has the ant, and has 6 territs they get +3 whereever they want it... the spider... +3 on one place only... sure thats a great defensive strategy... but fortifications would be the only way for this player to really go anywhere to be able to win...
idk... i think the spiders bonus is not equally matched... just because they get a SET amount whereas the ants get a variable amount... no one would ever play the spider for that reason alone...

well something needs to be cleared up first. You always get 3 armies for having territories amounting 1-11. How's that going to work here? I'm assuming it'll be +3 for 1-3, +4 for 4-6? If that's the case then the ant gets +3 for having 6 and the spider would have +2 for having 6 (not to mention the +3 autodeploy).

The spider benefits from having many armies early on in the game. The ant benefits from having lots of territories.

15 territories each = +5 for spider (and +3 autodeploy) with a +7 for the ant.

If anything, the spider has a big advantage early in the game so that the ant probably can't catch up. So, if my assumption on how territory counts and troops is correct, something needs to change because 15 territories is quite a lot. The spider is actually way stronger than the ant except in cases where you have loads of territories. I'm not quite sure how it should change. Smaller autodeploy or maybe a +1 autodeploy for the ant. Maybe I'm wrong about this though.



A question I have is are the starting points going to be made so that no matter what the game size (8 players, 4 players, 2 players), you'll only ever get 1 starting point? Is this possible with the XML (I forget how starting points XML code works).

[Ethitts]

the ants bonus seems to massively outweigh the spider bonus... think about it... if someone has the ant, and has 6 territs they get +3 whereever they want it... the spider... +3 on one place only... sure thats a great defensive strategy... but fortifications would be the only way for this player to really go anywhere to be able to win...
idk... i think the spiders bonus is not equally matched... just because they get a SET amount whereas the ants get a variable amount... no one would ever play the spider for that reason alone...

Bonuses would change with time, but you didn't calculate it correctly. If you owned 6 territories as ant you would get +3, that's it. The spider however would get the standard +3 and +3 for 6 territories. So really it's the spider who has the advantage. The ant doesn't start gaining strength until 8 territories and above. That's kind of the strategy, 1 is strong early game and 1 is strong late game.

Basically the bonuses don't concern me to much right now, just the game play idea. I haven't even added normal continent bonuses yet. I am open to suggestions though! The more the better because I really want this style of game play to start being implemented on maps. It gives more variability/strategy/replayability.

[Ethitts]

well something needs to be cleared up first. You always get 3 armies for having territories amounting 1-11. How's that going to work here? I'm assuming it'll be +3 for 1-3, +4 for 4-6? If that's the case then the ant gets +3 for having 6 and the spider would have +2 for having 6 (not to mention the +3 autodeploy).

The spider benefits from having many armies early on in the game. The ant benefits from having lots of territories.

15 territories each = +5 for spider (and +3 autodeploy) with a +7 for the ant.

If anything, the spider has a big advantage early in the game so that the ant probably can't catch up. So, if my assumption on how territory counts and troops is correct, something needs to change because 15 territories is quite a lot. The spider is actually way stronger than the ant except in cases where you have loads of territories. I'm not quite sure how it should change. Smaller autodeploy or maybe a +1 autodeploy for the ant. Maybe I'm wrong about this though.



A question I have is are the starting points going to be made so that no matter what the game size (8 players, 4 players, 2 players), you'll only ever get 1 starting point? Is this possible with the XML (I forget how starting points XML code works).

Well I'm not too sure with how XML works either to be honest. But if it was the case that you'd start with 2 selectors, then it would just provide a backup.

You made your calculations correct apart from the early game. With 6 territories the spider would get 3(standard) + 3(auto-deploy) = 6 and the ant would get just 3 (1 for each 2 territories). The spider may have to have adjusting, but bonuses would be balanced out in time. They don't even have to work like this, these were just preliminary ideas.

[rsacheli]

one reason ppl might have had trouble reading the legend... red and green... lots of ppl are R/G Colorblind...

[MrBenn]

This map has been moved into retirement.

It would appear that development of this map has stalled, as there have not been any updates for some time.

If the mapmaker wants to continue with the map, then one of the CAs will be able to help put the thread back into the Foundry system

Mr B