Dark Continent (Colonial Africa) [Quenched]

[natty dread]

One graphical thing I'd like you to pay some attention to:

The borders, particularly the ones between bonus areas. They look a bit blurry and thick. With the general style of the map, I think it would be more fitting if they were a bit thinner and sharper.

[ender516]

I like the look of the flag masked into the landing territory.

Here is the updated XML, with Gold Coast removed and the Great Britain/Spain/Portugal border change.

Colonial_Africa_1.19.xml

Does anyone know why I can attach files to the Baltic Crusades topic, but not this one?

For the most part the XML looks great except for 1 big problem. Currently the Landing territories can attack back to any European power. They should only be able able to attack their country of Origin.

European power -----> Can attack any landing point

Landing point-----> Can only attack the the European power it represents

Not sure how you got that idea. Both the Map Maker tool and the Map XML Wizard have a Map Inspect feature (like BOB), and they show the proper one-way attacks. You can read the XML directly as well. The borders of a landing point which leads back to the corresponding European power have the XML comment:

Code: Select all

<!-- European power -->

while a block of code defining the borders from a European power to the landing territories is repeated verbatim in each case, always starting with the XML comment

Code: Select all

<!-- Borders from European power to Landing territories -->

The map inspect tool is how I got that idea. When I checked it in there the BoB function showed connections to all the European powers from any landing territory.

I think you should look again. When I hover over Zululand, the text below reads:

Borders [ South Africa Great Britain [1] ]
Attacked By [ Belgium [1] France [1] Germany [1] Italy [1] Ottoman [1] Portugal [1] Spain [1] ]

I would post a screenshot but I can't log into fileden from here at work.

[isaiah40]

I would post a screenshot but I can't log into fileden from here at work.

Go to Gyazo.com free sign up. It works just like you are cropping an image. When you highlight the image it will upload the image and give you the url to use, and viola, you can post the screenshot. Hope it works from work for you.

[ender516]

Here is the screen shot:

Click image to enlarge.

[The Bison King]

Here is the screen shot:

Click image to enlarge.

Oh, I didn't notice that there was a different symbol for 1 way attacks my bad.

[ender516]

Live and learn, eh?

[The Bison King]

Indeed.

By the way, just with the way my life has been going I think what I'm going to do is continue with a lot of small updates for a while, where I go through and change everything piece by piece, leading up to a full draft. Since I haven't had a lot of time to work on this all at once, rather I can add a few things here and there when I get a chance.

[natty dread]

Tbk, you might have missed this...

One graphical thing I'd like you to pay some attention to:

The borders, particularly the ones between bonus areas. They look a bit blurry and thick. With the general style of the map, I think it would be more fitting if they were a bit thinner and sharper.

[The Bison King]

Tbk, you might have missed this...

One graphical thing I'd like you to pay some attention to:

The borders, particularly the ones between bonus areas. They look a bit blurry and thick. With the general style of the map, I think it would be more fitting if they were a bit thinner and sharper.

No, I didn't miss it I'm just undecided on what I want to do about it. That etchy effect around the borders is created with a filter n the program. I like the effect but I don't have as much control over it as I would like, and I can't really undo it. There are a few areas where I agree about the borders being to thick, but if I'm to keep the effect it means I'l have to go in and fix those area's by hand.

[natty dread]

The etchy effect is ok, it looks cool. I mean the general fuzzines of the border lines themselves.

[iancanton]

this isn't exactly like new world, so we must be a little bit careful when playing!

it's unclear that guinea bissau is part of the portugal bonus. i believe it was called portuguese guinea at the time.

orientale and kivu can usefully be merged with one of its neighbours to form stanleyville, to make belgian congo easier to hold, so that the belgian player doesn't have such a difficult time. there's also no need to split madagascar into north and south.

call the africa region bonus the africa colony bonus instead (colony bonus with european power), since this is colonial africa.

some names are anachronistic: somalia was somaliland, tanzania was tanganyika and namibia was german south west africa.

no map of colonial africa is complete without the two boer republics (orange free state and south african republic). what u have as south africa was cape colony (british), natal (british - u've called it zululand), orange free state (boer) and south african republic (boer). because of the boer legacy of apartheid, which dominated almost any western discussion of african politics in the 20th century, it will be a great pity to miss the chance to include these countries on a cc map for only the second time (on industrial helix's south africa map, the colonial context isn't so obvious).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War

ian.

[ender516]

We did discuss some of the anachronisms back in May, but I guess they got lost somehow.

I like the "colony bonus" terminology. It avoids confusion with the CC term "region" which is the copyright-free term for "territory".

Whether or not we should be reducing the number of territories in the Congo and increasing the number in South Africa is beyond my sleep-deprived brain just now.

[The Bison King]

Click image to enlarge.

Well here's a another small update. Mostly I added Spain's colors and more of the Landing zones. I tightened up the borders and changed some of those Anachronisms (I kept Namibia because "German South West Africa" is just too long to fit).

it's unclear that guinea bissau is part of the portugal bonus. i believe it was called portuguese guinea at the time.

I think it should be more clear now that it has the flag.

orientale and kivu can usefully be merged with one of its neighbours to form stanleyville, to make belgian congo easier to hold, so that the belgian player doesn't have such a difficult time. there's also no need to split madagascar into north and south.

hmm, hmm, this could be done, however I would need to lower the bonus appropriately. It would be pretty hard to hold as is. I will ponder this, and would appreciate it if anyone else else who had an opinion on the matter could chime in.

call the africa region bonus the africa colony bonus instead (colony bonus with european power), since this is colonial africa.

ok, I went ahead and did that.

some names are anachronistic: somalia was somaliland, tanzania was tanganyika and namibia was german south west africa.

All except South West German Africa fixed (for the above mentioned reason)

no map of colonial africa is complete without the two boer republics (orange free state and south african republic). what u have as south africa was cape colony (british), natal (british - u've called it zululand), orange free state (boer) and south african republic (boer). because of the boer legacy of apartheid, which dominated almost any western discussion of african politics in the 20th century, it will be a great pity to miss the chance to include these countries on a cc map for only the second time (on industrial helix's south africa map, the colonial context isn't so obvious).

I admit that I don't really know much about this. From what I looked at online it predates the period of time in which this map is to depict. Granted that it is a general period of time and I have fibbed a few historical accuracies already but I don't know how those 2 countries would fit into the current gameplay structure?

[Minister X]

Nice map! I think I'm going to end up being the foundry critic who's always harping about simplicity and readability. I'm an old curmudgeon who doesn't want to squint at my screen and get headaches, and who thinks Risk is a simple game and if you want paragraphs of rules you should go play something complex. (Aw, I don't begrudge y'all your complex games - just include a few new simple ones for everyone like me.)

This game is readable and seems to me to strike a decent balance between novelty and complexity - it's new and fresh without being overly-complex. Simplicity leads to the potential for attractive graphics, and the opportunity has been seized here. Bravo.

[ender516]

You couldn't fit "German SW Africa" in? Too bad. Also "Angola" is too modern, it was "Portuguese West Africa".

EDIT: P.S. The term "Namib Desert" is, I believe, old enough to work well, even if the term "Namibia" was coined more recently.

[The Bison King]

You couldn't fit "German SW Africa" in? Too bad. Also "Angola" is too modern, it was "Portuguese West Africa".

EDIT: P.S. The term "Namib Desert" is, I believe, old enough to work well, even if the term "Namibia" was coined more recently.

I don't like using abbreviations in the legend however a potential unrelated decision might free up enough room. weighing Minister X's comments I'm wondering if the disputed regions are really necessary for his map. Really the core of this map is the relationship between the African and European holdings. Do the Disputed regions really add anything or do they just confuse the gameplay and take up space in the legend?

[Nola_Lifer]

I've wanted to make a post on this map for a while but I just could never formulate what I wanted to say. This map has some good potential but, I mean no offense, but it seems to be done sloppily. One is what is the time period(s) that you got the colonies for the bonus. Why do you have some European but left out others? Why do some European countries get autodeploy? Is there a better way to explain how the bonus structure works? You have a lot of room on the map for more regions. Why not have a few more regions in Europe and make capitals that can get the autodeploy? There are some other things but I get to those later. I do like the idea! It just needs some ironing.

[The Bison King]

Thanks for the post Nola, the short answer to all your concerns is, Gameplay. Heres the long answer:

One is what is the time period(s) that you got the colonies for the bonus.

Circa 1914, however there have been a few strategic modifications (mostly to the Ottoman Empire) to the historical accuracy to support the gameplay. Primarily the addition of Ottoman Somalia, and the removal of Gold Coast.

Why do you have some European but left out others?

Because I'm only focusing on European countries that had a hand in the colonization of Africa.

Why do some European countries get autodeploy?

So that they don't have to waste all their troop's due on defending their European claims.

Is there a better way to explain how the bonus structure works?

Maybe, I think it just needs to be bigger.

Why not have a few more regions in Europe and make capitals that can get the autodeploy?

Because that shifts the focus onto Europe. Yes Europe is in the map but its about Africa.

[iancanton]

Persia was never ruled by a foreign power.

this needs to be addressed, perhaps simply by deleting persia from the map. also, all of the european countries can attack each other except for the ottoman empire, which gives some advantage to that player. if u make greece smaller, then ottoman can connect to austria-hungary, to bring it closer to the rest of europe.

ian.

[ender516]

Another approach might be to devalue the Ottoman Empire bonus, which would have some historical correspondence to the designation "sick man of Europe".

[gimil]

[Moved]

It would appear that development of this map has stalled. If the mapmaker wants to continue with the map, then one of the Foundry Moderators will be able to help put the thread back into the Foundry system, after an update has been made.

[The Bison King]

ACK!!!!!! I knew this was coming!!!!!

I admit it, I'm lazy. I never meant to stop production completely I just... you know... life, man. I'll try and get some new posts up soon. I hate being in the recycling box! This sickens me!

[MarshalNey]

I have a feeling that this map is about 2 smidgens away from a gameplay stamp, so don't despair

As for being in the bin, welcome to the club

[The Bison King]

Click image to enlarge.

THERE!!!! an update!!! I have CPR'd this map. Obviously I still have miles to go graphically but at least for the most part everything's filled in. The most notable gameplay changes are that I removed Persia, and I removed the disputed territory feature.

[Victor Sullivan]

Nice to see an update I'd like to see Egypt go to the Ottoman Empire, as they don't really have any country in Africa, and it would justify the +3/+4 bonus a bit more IMO.

-Sully