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13 Original Colonies[More like new world now] [Abandoned]

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:36 pm
by Evil Pope
Current update(1/30):
Image




Original version:
Image


Ok, so i've put a little work into this map of the 13 Original Colonies; however, I don't know whether or not i'm going to finish it, due to a few concerns.
First, I don't know if the fact that its only a fragment of the US is enough to warrent another US map. What do you think?.. I don't want to continue development on this map if its nobody is interested in it. So tell me now, before any further work on it.
Second, I'm concerned about how linear it is.. I'm considering adding sea and land routes[through dead territory] to make this less of a problem. Any suggestions of routes that would work well?
Third, I don't believe it has enough territories.. what do you think?.. Have any suggestions?..
Oh, and should I split the carolinas?.. It felt better to me to have them as one, but I could split them if it helped playability and accuracy..
And the names of areas are mostly not the actual areas borders, but areas around a fort or town during the colonial era, and the borders are, for the most part, influenced by the rivers and such that surround them.
And if anyone has better suggestions for names, that'd be a great help.
And ignore those fonts listed at the top.. I'm considering a different font.. which do you think would work best?
There are probably more problems, but I can't remember them right now..

I know graphically it needs alot of work.. But I feel that it will be easier to work on playability before I set out to improve its appearence.. so please, help me work on the playability before I go onto graphics.. it'll be alot easier for me in the end.

If I don't get alot of intrest in the map, or if I maybe alot of opposition to the map, I will probably abandon it.. But i've got hopes that I wont have to...

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:39 pm
by s.xkitten
font sucks, title is totally unreadable, colors are okay...playability is okay, would be better if you added ports so that you could attack more then just up and down...it needs work...lots of work

edit- oh, and the borders are really ugly

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:42 pm
by Evil Pope
s.xkitten wrote:font sucks, title is totally unreadable, colors are okay...playability is okay, would be better if you added ports so that you could attack more then just up and down...it needs work...lots of work

edit- oh, and the borders are really ugly


Yes, they were mostly addressed as concerns, initially.. except the title, but I plan to change that as well.. And the borders, I can try to fix.
Have a suggestion for a better font?.. Or any locations for these ports?

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:18 pm
by Guidocks
for a font just use Arial and make those borders thinner
also i think that u have too many territories 4 the size of the map
u can hardly c some of them

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:54 pm
by AndyDufresne
s.xkitten wrote:font sucks, title is totally unreadable, colors are okay...playability is okay....


Not quite sure where you get the 'playability is okay'...


--Andy

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:11 am
by s.xkitten
i said if you put ports in...so that its not bottlenecked

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:13 am
by s.xkitten
and for the ports...well, google the thirteen colonies, find where some major ports are, and add them within reason, without over doing it...then it might be better

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:48 am
by zarvinny
Biggest bonus should be 3... maybe 4.

Nobody ever gets or holds a bonus of 8, unless they've already won the game. Nobody lets them hold it. Make it a bonus of 3

PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:49 pm
by Evil Pope
Image
Ok, update.. It appears that in general, people are against this map.. I'm going to maybe try a few more updates, see if I can improve it.. if I can't, and people still don't want it[which is likely].. i'll let it go..

So, not much of an update.. I've made the borders smaller, because the other ones were ugly.. I think it looks alot cleaner now..

As for bonuses, I left them blank for now, i'm open to suggestions.

I've added a few different font, don't know which I should go with.. more likely Arial or the font on the middle colonies or on virginia.. the others blow.. but I guess the three best(In my oppinion) aren't that great either..

As for the unreadable title, I changed the font, hope that helps.. I can keep trying if this one doesn't satisfy..

I've also added ports.. or where the ports would likely be.. marked by a ** until I have a better way to represent them. This may sort of help the bottleneck problem.. but the real issue is maryland.. I blame it for the worst of the bottlenecking.. I think it could be spilt.. preferebly into baltimore(which would serve as another port as well) and another country(which I can't seem to find a name for).

PostPosted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:38 am
by Mjolnirs
s.xkitten wrote:and for the ports...well, google the thirteen colonies, find where some major ports are, and add them within reason, without over doing it...then it might be better

I would think that is fairly easy if you have taken a history class before. New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Charleston were the biggest ports and not in that order.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:01 am
by Fitz69
This map theme could be better if it included the other players of the era; Natives, as well as neighbouring French and spanish colonies.

Alternate attack routes between harbours (as noted before), Cumberland Gap and the hunting grounds beyond (natives?).

All of this things worth considering to make it a more playable map.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:34 pm
by Evil Pope
Fitz69 wrote:This map theme could be better if it included the other players of the era; Natives, as well as neighbouring French and spanish colonies.

Alternate attack routes between harbours (as noted before), Cumberland Gap and the hunting grounds beyond (natives?).

All of this things worth considering to make it a more playable map.


Originally, this was my intention[mostly because of the bottleneck problem].. The map expanded to the mississippi.. But I had trouble when it came to dividing the lands in canada.. So I decided I might try to use only the 13 colonies.. If you think that it would be best, I could go back and attempt to make it work.. It may solve the bottleneck problem[or help sort of, if not solve]. I'll see what I can do..

PostPosted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:03 pm
by Guiscard
I think before we discuss playability / ther graphical issues it needs to be lightened up a whole lot. The map is very dark.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:19 pm
by santon836
The map is worth a try.
But first make it clear, so I can see something
Now I can only have a global overlook. (at this view it seems a good map)

PostPosted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:23 pm
by Evil Pope
Aww, but I like the darkness :( ..

Oh well.. I'm working on expanding the map right now.. which means completely redoing the map--aside from some of the borders.. So I can try to lighten it up a bit.

I'm thinking separating the colonies into the new england, middle, and southern colonies.. possibly a separate bonus for holding the entire 13..
And i'm probably including florida, possibly parts of louisiana, the province of quebec, and the lands reserved for the indians west of the proclaimation line.. Hopefully this version will be more appealing.. however, it'll probably be much larger.. Which will make things difficult to fit.. My old version was probably too large..

PostPosted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:26 pm
by KEYOGI
Fitz69 wrote:This map theme could be better if it included the other players of the era; Natives, as well as neighbouring French and spanish colonies.


I think this is a better idea, a map of the New World.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:47 pm
by Evil Pope
Image

Ok, so here's the latest update.. I have not added names or anything yet.. Just to give an idea of the changes..
The map no longer focuses on the 13 colonies, but most of the US, west of the mississippi..

It still needs alot of work, and now that I think about it there may still be a problem with bottlenecking..

The size is also a problem.. this is obviously not the small version.. I need to make it smaller, yet not too confusing.. I may need to merge countries..

If I can name some of the areas in lousiana, I'll add that as another continent. I think that would fix the problem of the bottleneck completely.. and i'll probably need some sort of crossings over the ohio river.. that would help too.. but I don't want to end up with too many borders on the indain reserve(purple)

And, should I name the map "the new world"?.. Or something else?..

PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:08 am
by Lone.prophet
i think u need 2 merge some countries

PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:48 am
by Bad Speler
I agree, with loneprophet, you definately need to merge countries, some are very small. Also I think you should change the colour of new england, it looks a bit to much like the unplayable territories

PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:22 pm
by Evil Pope
Bad Speler wrote:I agree, with loneprophet, you definately need to merge countries, some are very small. Also I think you should change the colour of new england, it looks a bit to much like the unplayable territories


Will do.. I started to merge some of the smaller countries last night after I posted the update.. For the most part, the merges are in the 13 colonies, because they were the smallest countries..

PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:20 pm
by piggypnk14
i like, hope it becomes a map

PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 7:14 pm
by adam3b58
bridge the river from purple to orange

PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 7:52 pm
by cowshrptrn
I think you should finish Florida, i sat around for a few minutes waiting for the rest of the picture to load b4 i realized Florida was slightly cut off

PostPosted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:38 pm
by Smoy
i luv this thing! deff keep it up!

PostPosted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:04 pm
by Evil Pope
So i've put very little work into the map as of late. But i've begun to add names, as well as merge territories.. still trying to somehow incorperate louisiana, but finding it difficult.. I know I need to merge more territories too, but i'll get to that as I progress.. here is my progress as of now..


Image
The map seems to get screwed up when I upload it.. which would explain some ugly problemish areas(like the new england colonies)..


i think u need 2 merge some countries

I've merged a few countries, and more are likely to be merged.. most likely in florida where there's a size problem..

I think you should finish Florida, i sat around for a few minutes waiting for the rest of the picture to load b4 i realized Florida was slightly cut off

I can try.. I forgot to in this update, but I may in the next.. however, I think that it may make the map too tall.. because right now i'm going for as small as possible.. but i'll see what I can do..

bridge the river from purple to orange

I've added a single bridge.. however, i'll probably replace it with other bridges that are better placed according to playability..