No, because that would be retarded. The concept of difficulty level in an MP environment is alien in the context of a balanced game where everyone has a fairly similar chance to win. All the "Difficulty level" does in MP is to vary the types of strategies that are effective, and at the extremes of Settler and Deity, limits strategic choice which is counterproductive in an MP strategy game.
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
Quote:(Wow, our thread even has more views than th lurker thread... should we conclude there are people watching us than there are lurkers? )
Logically yes...assuming lurkers follow each thread, then you have lurkers+players viewing your thread, while lurker thread has only lurkers.
And that's not even considering amount of posts/length of posts.
Not to mention controversy of topics...
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.
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