Pittsburgh Map [Abandoned]

[kwolff]

Well what do you think......I never have tried to do any of this before. This map would not work well in no cards and probably flate rate....I would compare this to a battle royal. The high continent value is based on the fact you would be lucky to hold onto one. I prefer the begining colors over the textured ones , but like the background and border on the more fnished one.........i used different colors for names to see what looked best and i know the ledgend needs work......I wasnt sure anyone would like a map with no hiding places such as s america and australia .........its kinda like indochina, but not quite as personal lol ..... It has 48 countries and i think is pretty well balanced as far as continents.....well let me know what you think .........its pretty ruff right now but let me know ......

[Telvannia]

cant see which continent is which

[kwolff]

If you look at bottom map:


orange-5
yellow-6
turquoise-6
hotpink-7
pink-8
green-9
purple-10


Like i said its ruff.....but with some work , if people were interested , it would be nice , something alittle different i think

[Machiavelli]

I like the big continent bonuses, but these are a little to big.


Subtract 1 or 2 from every bonus and it would be better

[Evil Pope]

I agree with Machiavelli.. Orange doesn't need more than a 2 or 3 for its bonus.. Its looks pretty easy to hold..

[reverend_kyle]

Cut some of turquoises borders...

[Telvannia]

no i meant which name refered to which continent

[Telvannia]

no forget that i think i get it now

[sully800]

purple is a +10 bonus? For a country with 4 borders and 5 countries? Europe on the classic map is harder to hold than that and only gives you +5. I think its alright if you want all the bonuses to be higher than normal, but purple seems to be one of the easier continents in my opinion....not the hardest.

[kwolff]

Thanks for the imput guys i will do some work and show you some progress...........I will adjust the continent bonuses accordingly and we will go from there......as far as purple being easier than eruope to hold , i find this the hardest to hold, oakland (which is the far left) , has six countries that can attack it for a border country this is alot , although the back side is a lot better defended .............turquoise has seven boarders, however if you were fighting in a downtown area , i would expect that . so i am going to do some work with the great imput from you guys and i will get back with some progress.......

[Marvaddin]

I like the idea of have a map for no cards, but it isnt the ideal, because with a bonus of 6 / turn you usually can prevent any other players of hold other continents... with a bonus of 10, then...

I believe we should estimulate the spread, not hold a continent and game over, without chances to no one... Maybe lack should make an option where you can gain armies at 1/2 of your countries, not 1/3. I cant agree with bonuses crazyness.

But the map seems to be a good one, maybe with some less borders.

[kwolff]

This is a map that you wouldnt want to play with no cards lol, whick is wierd because i play alot of them ................I wanted to build a map more for doubles and triples games , like i said even though i rarely play them .......The point being more open than many maps that we already have .....yea this is definitely not for no cards unless you wanted to play for a long time .................... I shouldve made this point before , but was busy......................I kinda liked the openess with lots of attacking points, i can rarely see someone holding a continent (except orange) for a long period of time........

it is definitely more for team games and escalating card games lol

[Marvaddin]

So, you are wrong, because in a team game is much easier to hold a continent, and with 6 armies (or 9 in a triples) more a crazy bonus like these, no opponent will hold continents later.

See:
Team 1 holds a continent. Team 2 couldnt break it, so in the next turn, team 1 will have stronger defenses. Team 2 cant break it again. If they hold a continent, team 1 will use the bonus to break it.

So, I think, when someone holds a continent, the game is over, specially in team games. Its because of this we dont have continents giving bonuses of 50 armies, ok? One continent cant make the victory so easy, understood?

[kwolff]

Are you saying that it would not be good to have a open map for team games , i am going to work out continent bonuses ...............right now i am trying to figure out if i should put some barriers in to make it easier to hold one , or take out some bridges to cut down number of ways to attack and reinforce.......like i said i was going to try to something alitlle different .....i could use imput from team players , because i do not play them regulary so please keep giving me some info thanks

[gavin_sidhu]

I like the idea of no hiding places, but orange/brown is a hiding place. Mayb make more bridges to it.

[rocksolid]

I feel that the classic map has a major flaw for escalating games - continents become irrelevant. Except for Australia, once you get to round 7 or 8 in an escalating singles game, continents are just not worth the effort and are a distraction from what's really the main feature in a game that's gone on that long - can you trade in and can you take someone out and do they have the cards to make it worth it to take them out...while this map is pretty crazy because of the bonuses, it would actually make the continents worth fighting over...

As usual, I'm thinking along lines of singles (standard) games. Not really experienced in triples or doubles, so if people say it would suck, I believe them. But I do think this could fill a hole in the gamut of standard maps...

[kwolff]

As far as the graphics and the rest , its nothing fancy but it doesnt hurt the eyes.......I took two bridges out, and thats about the only changes ...............So give me some input guys so i can figure out the bonuses and finish the ledger up.



I really think the sevens should be eights because it would make the game more aggressive but seven will do lol


Thanks

[Jota]

Since you're going for a map with higher-than-usual bonuses, I think you'll want South Hills to be at least an eight, maybe even a nine (but probably an eight). Seven is what I'd personally have made it on a standard map with normal bonuses. On the other hand, Parkway East doesn't really need to be more than a six, I don't think.

I notice that with some of the countries, it's not as immediately obvious as it could be which name goes with which location. It'd be nice (for the sake of smoothness of play) if, e.g., Knoxville and Crafton were more clearly connected to their territory (and only their territory).

Also, some of the legend is a little hard to read. Like "Parkwayeast". The busy legend background and the rough font seem to be working against each other in this case.

Oh, and I'm not sure that the compass really works that well... partly because of the clash of backgrounds (which is also the case between the green and the pink border, to a lesser degree) and partly because it looks like it's cut off on three sides.

[rocksolid]

You got a real unique look here, which is good. A lot of the maps on the site are starting to look the same...but maybe that's because one person makes half of them (no names being named).

Vote from me in favour of sticking with high bonuses...

[AndyDufresne]

I haven't looked over the map too much, the extremely high bonuses sounds rather interesting. We'll have to see how it all comes along. Another style map we could possibly add to our repertoire.


--Andy

[kwolff]

Im going to work alitlle more on it in altille bit ..........I'm sticking with the K.I.S.S. method, because what takes me an hour to do some of you guys could do in 10 minutes lol ...........I like the clean look without all the junk to get you distracted on the map, but yet it not too dull , I also made the countries names altille bigger so you dont have to lean up to screen to see them , but i will try alittle smaller Knoxville and crafton........You can see just about every border on the map where it is important(which is good)......I will post sometime a thing I made up to get the bonuses as soon as i can figure how to put it on here (every time I try it pushes everything to the left messing it all up).......But thanks for the posivtive vibe

[Jota]

As I look at the map again, I notice that there's a black line separating the green backdrop from the pink border. I think that a similar line around the compass box would really help the clashing issue I mentioned before (although the fact that the N, W, and S sides are cut so much closer than the E side is a separate issue). In fact, a matching line around the legend might be nice for consistency, as well.

[Edit] Also, I don't know that the names need to be made smaller, necessarily. I think that just nudging them around a bit might be enough. (E.g., if you nudge Mt. Washington's label a little SE, that gives you room to move West End's label a bit too, giving you some space to slide Crafton's a bit closer to the middle of its country.)

[kwolff]

Hows this

[kwolff]

Have to make The Bridges Brighter......amazing what you can do, once you start getting the tricks of the program down (I have about 3% of it learned)lol

[AndyDufresne]

Well lets see...

For now I will only comment on the aesthetics


---First, the border idea is fine and nice, but I'm not sure you need half an inch of it.

---The legend is simple, and I assume that it will be worked on later. I would look into giving it some Pittsburgh specific feel. Also perhaps look into various fonts

---And as for the names on the boards...you've two problems as I see it.

The black with yellow outlining doesn't mesh very well with the color scheme on the map.
And the names may be perhaps too large. It's better to try to keep them, for the most part, in the country they are naming. Also be careful of overlapping country names on various countries.

---Right now it doesn't feel like a map to me. It has no depth...and is just a drawing on paper. I think once you experiment with colors, textures, etc that will alleviate that problem.

---And lastly, perhaps look into a background of something other than a gray slate. Maybe something Pittsburgh-esque. Be creative, and make it beautiful.


It's coming along, and hopefully I'll have more time to look at the details of the map (Bonuses, borders, etc).


--Andy