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Are you, in fact, a pregnant lady who lives in the apartment next door to Superdeath's parents? - Commodore |
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[LURKER THREAD - NO PLAYERS] it ain't easy being green
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Wow, those starts are juiced.
Apparently, there is a tool around on RB which calculates some kind of land quality/land size score for each players start. But I don't know where it is. Tarkeel would know I suspect.
Only looked here now. Feels a bit unfortunate for one player to have three land borders when the rest have two.
This is novice's map tool: https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/show...p?tid=4199
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.
Did some more work yesterday on the map, after enjoying a very nice 4th of July gathering.
I didn't like the straight line distance between starts D and E, the more I looked at it. So here is what I came up with:  There's now a line of peaks blocking the direct way forward. The way around the peaks is filled with jungle. I also increased the gap between the capital facing islands so that there is a line of ocean tiles, requiring 2rd ring borders for ancient age boats to cross. I hope this will be a workable compromise to Qqqqqq's point - early on, it will be 4 players with two land borders and one with one, and then it will be one player with three land borders around the time that people settle the islands and the water borders become relevant and even things out.  Another view of the chokepoint with resources turned on. No one will want to settle here before iron working + calendar, hopefully. I also went and got a new round of starting screenshots, which have the full capital BFC revealed, along with the resource bubbles on. The starts were adjusted slightly - I sunk a bit of land and added more plains so most capital locations should have about the same number of tiles and tile quality. I also added iron to one start that was missing previously Start A:  Start B:  Start C:  Start D:  Start E:  Besides that, I also did a pass on late game strategics, making sure that everyone should have a copy of each available. I also did another check on balancing - adjusted the locations of gems / silver / gold a bit, and double checked that each player has a (distant) source of stone and marble available. I also made sure each player has at least one city site available nearby that can share the capital food while picking up a new food resource. I also did one more comb for huts, taking out a couple. Is there a way of checking within the map file itself to see if any are still left? Anyway, I will be around most of today for any adjustments, but I will be very busy tomorrow and then not available for another week. So now is the time to speak up if you spot any glaring issues. Updated WBsave: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/lc325ugll...fx90i&dl=0
No time but just two quick things:
- The WBSave file is a text file; use a text editor to find IMPROVEMENT and that'll get to a good hut if one is present assuming you haven't peppered other improvements around the map. Then you can search/replace-with-nothing the full goody hut line to clear the map of them. - Start D is the only one not on a river (and no freshwater at all).
Good catch on the freshwater.
Updated two starts. Added a tiny river to start D to give freshwater access.  Sunk a couple of tiles on start C to make it more equal to the other starts in terms of available land tiles to work.  I also removed all the remaining huts from the map, and tweaked a couple of the starting islands slightly. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fi4uz5bnb...sc6ci&dl=0 
semi-deranged take: if i were playing this map, i'd at least sim out whether settling on the banana/sugar is better than SIP. not sure if it is or not, but it brings up a balance issue, since i'm noticing that start C alone can make this move without giving up any of its food resources. probably better to either allow this for all starts or not allow it for any..... your call as to which (though maybe for a greens game it's best to make SIP inarguably the correct choice...?)
edit: i'm also noticing a fair bit of variation in cottageable tiles here... not all land tiles are created equal in the early game, and compared to the others i think D has a bit of a rough draw with only one riverside grass and no extra forests or anything to make up for it either
I don't think there's any scenario where settling on the banana is the better move - you only gain in the medium long term of having a capital with more land, but you also lose the +2 food from having the banana be improved, and the map has plenty of close locations to settle to maximize commerce besides the capital anyway. But I do think it's best not to encourage the greens to have to sim it as an alternative, so I removed the option to settle on the banana for start C without orphaning the cow.
 (July 5th, 2024, 16:45)Iljubljana Wrote: semi-deranged take: if i were playing this map, i'd at least sim out whether settling on the banana/sugar is better than SIP. not sure if it is or not, but it brings up a balance issue, since i'm noticing that start C alone can make this move without giving up any of its food resources. probably better to either allow this for all starts or not allow it for any..... your call as to which (though maybe for a greens game it's best to make SIP inarguably the correct choice...?) I noticed the disparity in tiles around the capitals too. Would be nice if greenline could even it out. Settling on the banana/sugar is not useful. You build both worker an workboat slower after moving. |
