[NO PLAYERS] Squaring the Circle of Sevens (For Nine) - Map and Lurker Thread

[Cornflakes]

Thanks for the map RefSteel! I really enjoyed it very much. The tight map, early conflict, and much border tension is exactly what I was expecting! It was great to have meaningful interactions with the neighbors without 100 turns of micromanagement, and play medieval turns without managing a massive empire every turn. I didn't reveal much over the map until right near then end so I can't say much about the overall balance. I felt very squeezed in the early game with 4th ring borders touching 2 neighbors and only 2 realistic uncontested mainland cities besides the capital, and not even an island to myself. But the prospect of later reclaiming the jungle into profitable riverside grassland paradise was quite nice.

Congrats again for Fintoruist and Co. for a well played game and consistently keeping up the pressure and moving decisively at key moments!

[scooter]

This game was top-notch entertainment, so thanks everyone.

[Fintourist]

Ye thanks for the map RefSteel! I haven't had the time to read the threads and look closer to starts, but to me it seems that this game succeeded quite well with the impossible wish of "asymmetrical, but balanced". And at the very least it succeeded in providing an entertaining game.

I think people had different win conditions. E.g I think we and Commodore had pretty similar looking starts where you get your 5 (max 6) cities and have decent early game potential, but have to conquer someone's land to be relevant in the long term. Meanwhile people at equator (at least Elkad and Miguelito) had slower starts, but better long-term potential --> I.e. the winning means getting your 5-6 cities and holding them.

[DaveV]

This game was fun to follow for me in large part because the reporting was so good. I had a good idea of what was going on everywhere throughout the game, and there was plenty of combat and lamentation.

[RefSteel]

Congrats, Fintourist!

There are definitely things I would do differently about the map if I had it to do over, especially in the east, but I hope it was as much fun for the players while you were playing on it as it was to lurk! (It can be hard to enjoy a losing game sometimes, but as only one player can win, my hope is that there was always at least something to be excited about - not only for the lurkers - and something that seemed worth doing or trying, even for players who fell out of the running, until the end, whether that was a consequence of the map or not!)

[Old Harry]

In case anyone hasn't seen I'm interested to know what you like or don't like about RtR to try and finalise a version the community approves. See this thread for more detail and an exciting poll:

https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/show...?tid=10063