thestick Wrote:Anyone else think that AT's dotmap is a bit cramped? Or is that how it works in AW?
No, I think it's fine, but not because of AW. Because of how lush the map is, and also how small it is. Generally the nicer the terrain is, the more you want to pack in cities tightly, especially in the early game when each city can only work a handful of tiles anyway. I see hardly any tiles that aren't worth working, but to work them all early he needs to pack the cities in tight.
It being small means that by the time the early game is over, the land grab pretty much will be too. And it also means that distance maintenance will be a killer, so each tile closer to his capital is worth a lot of gpt.
Granted that AW also pushes a little toward close packing, so that it's easier to do zone defense. But I think the lush and the small are stronger reasons.
Mardoc Wrote:Granted that AW also pushes a little toward close packing, so that it's easier to do zone defense.
It means that against AIs. But against humans in Always War, doesn't close packing make zone _attacking_ easier? That means forking. Back in PBEM 4 vets, Sullla was critical of some of Kylearan's city positioning that allowed forking by enemy mounted units, which was a real concern.
Dang, scooter is not putting two and two together regarding Pindicator and AT's warriors. Not that it matters, but pretty funny to me.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
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.
How awesome would it be if both Commodore and scooter end up going fo cultural victories?
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
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.
