PBEM25 Mapmaking and Lurking

[MJW (ya that one)]

remind me of the total civ ban list - I often forget things like Byzantium. Right now I have:

* Kupe (messes up map)
* Simon Bolivar (great general stacking and extra movement)
* Byzantium (both leaders)(Don't remember why)
* Wilfred (bad)
* Hammurabi (weird and game-breaking)
* Matthias Corvinas (can unstoppably eat players with city-states)

We've banned Gilgamesh in the past but I don't think people really fear War Chariot rushes anymore. Let me know who else I should take out or put back in to the mix.

Simon got unbanned due to him getting nerfed. When Byzantium got banned only one leader existed , so only Basil ever got banned. You forgot Scythia and Bull Moose teddy is so OP that he got banned in games were Scythia wasn't.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

remind me of the total civ ban list - I often forget things like Byzantium. Right now I have:

* Kupe (messes up map)
* Simon Bolivar (great general stacking and extra movement)
* Byzantium (both leaders)(Don't remember why)
* Wilfred (bad)
* Hammurabi (weird and game-breaking)
* Matthias Corvinas (can unstoppably eat players with city-states)

We've banned Gilgamesh in the past but I don't think people really fear War Chariot rushes anymore. Let me know who else I should take out or put back in to the mix.

Simon got unbanned due to him getting nerfed. When Byzantium got banned only one leader existed , so only Basil ever got banned. You forgot Scythia and Bull Moose teddy is so OP that he got banned in games were Scythia wasn't.

In that case, here are our five slates of three leaders:

Slate One:

Latoro
Victoria
Theodora

Slate Two:

Genghis Khan
Abraham Lincoln
Cleopatra

Slate Three:

Nader Shah
Pericles
Seondeok

Slate Four:

Suleiman
Gandhi
Pachacuti

Slate Five:

Mvemba a Nzinga
Gilgamesh
Eleanor

Randomly assigning each slate to a player gets us:

1. Yuris
   
2. Greenline
   
3. Woden
   
4. Pindicator
   
5. Archduke
   
   

I'd also propose we allow each player one re-roll, either of their entire draft or of just one civ in that draft. I can handle that if it comes up.

[MJW (ya that one)]

Looks good. You should ask players if they want the option to re-roll before you give them the civs. There's a bunch of very weak civs on that list so allowing a re-roll on a single civ would effectively just increase the draft from 3 to 4. So I don't think that option makes sense.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Preregistering alternate slates 1-5. If any player wants to re-roll I'll toss another dice 1-5 and assign them the appropriate slate. 

Alternate 1:

Hojo
Kublai Khan
Julius Caesar

Alternate 2:

Saladin
Qin Shi Huang
Dido

Alternate 3

Menelik
Pedro
Gorgo

Alternate 4

Amanitore
John Curtin
Wilhemina

Alternate 5

Wu Zetian
Sundieta Keta
Montezuma

[Krill]

Is Julius OK, some players may jot want to link the account to 2K?

[MJW (ya that one)]

Ban Caesar salad!

It wasn't talked about in the thread, so CMF would have to just ask.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Okay, drafts are out, players are debating between picking and re-rolling, so I can let that simmer for a day or two.

In the meantime, let's be as transparent with this mapmaking process as possible. I'll still get bitched at, but I'll do my best to give everyone a fair shake. We'll start with choosing an overall map shape, then balance starts for yields as best we can, then the immediate neighborhood for resources & expansion, and finally try to make sure everyone has equal prospects through the middle game, at least. 

We'll start with choosing an overall shape that gives everyone a good starting area, while creating interesting gameplay possibilities.

Spoilered for length:

Option 1:

Note this sheltered mountain valley - a large area with only a single tile entrance a long way away.

Option 2:

Option 3:

A workable Bermuda Triangle is the most amusing part of this map. 


Civ VI's map generator is asinine in that it doesn't show mountains on the overview map. But you see here that the large areas are sectioned off by long mountain ranges.[/screenshot]

Option 4:

I liked the fjord at the top of this narrow sea.

Option 5:

Worth noting that every map has isthmuses like this, where a mountain range narrows passage to just 1 or two tiles. Players will need to be amphibious.

Option 6:

Option 7:

Option 8:

Option 9:

Option 10:

Again pointing out mountain ranges sectioning off the large continents.


A useless Fuji, which I found funny.

Give me a day or so to chew on these and pick a good candidate for further balancing. Meantime see if I can work out how to set player spawns & city states in World Builder.

[Krill]

Chev were these all seven seasons maps? Cos they look awful.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Yep. Do we drop Seven Seas and just roll a boring ol' Pangaea? None of these maps are great

[RefSteel]

Chev were these all seven seasons maps? Cos they look awful.

From that ten-map sample, it seems pretty clear that "unbroken horizontal stripe at a random latitude with everything sticking out from there" is a feature of the script.  Of those posted, if the landforms remain as-is, I think I like the shape of 1 the most.  If minor editing to add and/or remove a small number of land bridges is allowed (say, removing <10 tiles and adding a ~similar number) I might go with 4, 6, or 10, break up the horizontal stripe at its narrowest point(s) and bridge straits to create a passage at another latitude.  Dunno if that's within the scope though.