[Abandoned] - Castle Battle

[Kaplowitz]

I think it should look more like a castle

[Ethitts]

Just looked at this map for the first time and I have to say it looks awesome. I would really love to play this, the graphics are amazing. Keep it up.

[mibi]

I think it should look more like a castle

I kinda agree. It currently looks like a 3D version of Siege! I mean you have the whole double wall with gates and bridged moat thing.

[Telvannia]

[adv. idea]

Cheers.

One thing that bugs me about the present attack routes: some are straight, some are curved. I can understand straight paths when there's this perfectly obvious dirt trail, but I would suggest meandering pathways for anywhere else. The attack paths as they are seem to encourage the automaton view of your soldiers, since they only move in straight lines a la The Robot.

I see what you mean, but surely an attack line is easier to follow when it is straight? Although i can see what you are coming from especially when it comes to attack lines too and from the armies.

I think it should look more like a castle

I kinda agree. It currently looks like a 3D version of Siege! I mean you have the whole double wall with gates and bridged moat thing.

Well this was completely based off the original map marv gave me, i can make it seem more like a castle, but i really dont want to change the gameplay till marv gets back, and if i dont change the gameplay then the extra castle bits will just clutter up the map. I will have a play around and see if i can build a few more models of castle components, then when i heard from marv i can add them in or not.
Also currently im only really working on the attackers, so comment on them are probably more useful, especially about the new way of showing the army circles.

[danfrank]

... I view maps and ideas all the time and just now have i begun to post.. But this is the BEST map i have seen to date.. The graphics are awesome and the 3-D ism puts you right in the middle of the action.. Great Job and i hope to be KICKIN SOME ASS on this in the near future..

[gimil]

Ive also noticed tel that the inside of the castle is very boring. Outside you got a full on siege while there seems to be no one defending the inner castle.

[max is gr8]

Add farms or something, the people still need to eat and the way things are going the defenders have the advantage, sort it out by giving the people on the outside houses or camps, and a trade blockade, or something like that.

[rocky mountain]

i can't see the image on the first page. i used to be able to but now i can't... i can see the ones on page 3 though. so here are my thoughts:
the graphics are awesome.
adjust the attack routes line in the legend. its not dotted anymore
why are there 2 different attacker standards? are there 2 armies working together to attack the castle?
i agree with gimil about the emptiness inside the walls.
the oil barrel in the legend is hard to see. its also not proportioned to the real map
does the seige tower get any bonus? if not, why?
on the legend, the white building is too far away from the +3 each. with kind of a confusing legend it should be closer.
where are the attack routes to the catapults? there is a bonus for them in the legend, but no apparent way to get to them...
great map though Marvaddin and Telvannia! looking forward to it.

p.s.- idea passed?

[Telvannia]

Ive also noticed tel that the inside of the castle is very boring. Outside you got a full on siege while there seems to be no one defending the inner castle.

I know about that, i was working on the attack to begin with because that is where most people had problems to begin with. I will work on the defender/castle next, then the legend, because a lot is probably going to change when gameplay discussion starts.

Add farms or something, the people still need to eat and the way things are going the defenders have the advantage, sort it out by giving the people on the outside houses or camps, and a trade blockade, or something like that.

Does anyone know if you can get a conditional decay? for example all your legions loose 1 army ago if you dont hold a food supply? Because i think that would be quite realistic, though this is more a matter for Marvaddin, with it being more gameplay than graphics.

i can't see the image on the first page. i used to be able to but now i can't... i can see the ones on page 3

The one on page 1 is a old one, but i can update the map in the first post till Marvaddin returnd.

adjust the attack routes line in the legend. its not dotted anymore

on the legend, the white building is too far away from the +3 each. with kind of a confusing legend it should be closer.

See response to gimil.

why are there 2 different attacker standards? are there 2 armies working together to attack the castle?

The laurel one was an old one, the other one was an attempt at a new attacking standard to remove the link to the romans also it gives a better colour for the army numbers to lie on so i dont have to have armies circles.

the oil barrel in the legend is hard to see. its also not proportioned to the real map

The legend will be dealt with later, as for proportional, if im right it should be smaller, but i think as with the walls i think a bit of a lack of proportion is needed to improve the usability of the map.

does the seige tower get any bonus? if not, why?

We will have to wait for Marvaddin to explain that, though i think it is because it can attack straight into the castle so that is the bonus of it, not extra armies.

where are the attack routes to the catapults? there is a bonus for them in the legend, but no apparent way to get to them...

They need to be added back in, i was trying to think of a good way to show one way with my new attack routes, but so far i have not come up with anything.

[seamusk]

Add farms or something, the people still need to eat and the way things are going the defenders have the advantage, sort it out by giving the people on the outside houses or camps, and a trade blockade, or something like that.

Does anyone know if you can get a conditional decay? for example all your legions loose 1 army ago if you dont hold a food supply? Because i think that would be quite realistic, though this is more a matter for Marvaddin, with it being more gameplay than graphics.

Not per se. But if you are creative you can do something. For example, if you make every legion an auto-bonus of -1 that is automatically offset with a bonus for holding x legions + x food supply (you'd effectively be creating "continents" for each level of legion). Or you could build it entirely into the regular deployments through creative (and careful) use of continents.

[max is gr8]

Unless we could get a new code set up, see that thread in discussion and you can set that up

[seamusk]

Unless we could get a new code set up, see that thread in discussion and you can set that up

what thread are you talking about? You mean that you want to get a new code added to the xml for this map?

[bryguy]

Add farms or something, the people still need to eat and the way things are going the defenders have the advantage, sort it out by giving the people on the outside houses or camps, and a trade blockade, or something like that.

Does anyone know if you can get a conditional decay? for example all your legions loose 1 army ago if you dont hold a food supply? Because i think that would be quite realistic, though this is more a matter for Marvaddin, with it being more gameplay than graphics.

Not per se. But if you are creative you can do something. For example, if you make every legion an auto-bonus of -1 that is automatically offset with a bonus for holding x legions + x food supply (you'd effectively be creating "continents" for each level of legion). Or you could build it entirely into the regular deployments through creative (and careful) use of continents.

i had this same problem with my original idea for empire builder. Best thing you can do currently is set it up in the xml with each legion as a single territ continent, with a bonus of -1. Then you could set the over ride to be the food source, which would also have to be a continent. I would suggest doing that, with the bonus for the food source being +1 or 0

[bryguy]

Unless we could get a new code set up, see that thread in discussion and you can set that up

what thread are you talking about? You mean that you want to get a new code added to the xml for this map?

theres an xml thread where you can suggest stuff in the foundry discussion. Its stickied and is easy to find.

[seamusk]

yeah, i overlooked the override code. That would do the job.

[Telvannia]

Guys, before you get to into the idea we need to hear from Marvaddin

Anyway, just a small update i did not have much time today, well i say small, only a small part of it shows.

Click image to enlarge.

Points to discuss

• New bird standard, does it look good and does it work well at replacing army circles?
• Any major concern about the attackers graphics, if not i will move more on to working on the defenders.
• Do the defenders standards work for army circles?
• Anything you think needs to go in the castle graphically while im working on it?
• Who likes my dead defending archer?

[snapdoodle]

Yes. You need to find a good location to place the standard onto the castle.

[InkL0sed]

Hmm. It seems there are some issues with scale. Those walls look much too small for the size of soldier you have.

It does look really impressive though.

[mibi]

Hmm. It seems there are some issues with scale. Those walls look much too small for the size of soldier you have.

It does look really impressive though.

they look about 8-10 ft tall.

[Telvannia]

Hmm. It seems there are some issues with scale. Those walls look much too small for the size of soldier you have.

It does look really impressive though.

they look about 8-10 ft tall.

I know they are out of scale, but if they were in scale i would have less than half the area in the side the castles for territories. Personally i think it's worth sacrificing the proportionality in favour for better gamplay.

What do other people think?

[snapdoodle]

you can also shrink the people. Would be another option and would also allow for even more guys on map.

[seamusk]

I think that if you can shrink them a bit and maintain their appearance cool. But I don't think they need to be in scale. The important thing is that folks be able to interpret the map and that the map be clean. If that requires things to be out of scale, I'm entirely ok with that. I don't think this map can be perfectly to scale without getting confusing so I recognize compromises will be required. They always are.

[Telvannia]

Ok a few size choices, i have added a range of sizes of people, and i want people opinions on which is the best size. And would prefer reasoning, like:

i dont like A1 because it is too small, but A2 is small enough to be in scale but not nearly invisible.

I would put up a poll but cant edit the first post, if any kind moderator reads thins then pm me and i will tell you what i would like in the poll.

Click image to enlarge.

Slightly off topic, can anyone explain to me why putting a bevel on text makes it look a lot nicer?

[seamusk]

a3 and d3 look best to me. I don't think you really want this to scale as much as you want it to capture folks imaginations.

[snapdoodle]

I agree with Seamusk. It needs to be large enough for the details to come through. A3 and D3 for my vote.