[SPOILERS] PBEM 11 Lurker Thread

[Emperor K]

Just creating the thread. Will post some map shots over the weekend.

[Japper007]

I'm really curious about Krills obsession with France (that he has infected pindicator with now as well), in a continental 3 person brawl the person with the late game civ (even Chateaux and the spy arrive very late into the mid-game or early in the endgame depending on how you split it) is at a distinct disadvantage. Sure France picks up late game but even then it is still behind say, Brazil, England, or even Japan once it builds up the megalopolis. His posts seem to suggest cherry tapping, and maybe with a crack team like theirs they'll get something going.

[Emperor K]

So i went ahead and rolled a map and then made almost a completely new one. Will post the initial shots tonight.

[Emperor K]

[EDIT: Clarified the post a bit. Will post more detail a bit later on today after I make some changes, and finish the map for final evaluation.]

Ok I worked really late tonight, and the old ball in chain wants me to go to bed so I have to make this quick, I'll fill ya all in with questions and details tommarrow

Up first is the continent of Pangaea Ultima. Rho (Rome) starts at the northern part of the landmass. A little tweaking of some strategic resources are needed, iron and oil are a bit far away.

The bottom part of Pangaea Ultima. The eastern part is where Cornflakes (Brazil) will start. Niter and coal are a bit far away, but well with in his back fill line.
TheArchduke starts towards the bottom of the continent. I made the wonder tiles low in value, so hopefully it does not give him to much of an edge.

The continent of Ur hosts Rowain (Greece) in the north. The natural wonder in the tundra should provide a minor benefit. 

[\SPOILER]

The bottom half of Ur, in the west Banzailizard of Germany. In the east Pindicator and the Aztecs.

[SPOILER]

All 3 players are equal distanct 15 or so tiles from the other two players. I had to edit the map heavily (almost everything got changed) to make this possible. Nobody is "in the middle" and I think I have given each player 4 avenues of expansion.

1-route to the player clockwise from them.
2-route to the player counter clockwise from them.
3-route to the middle of continent where three city states lie
4-route to the ocean where the wealth of other continents lie.

While each player should have easy access to the strategic resources, All uranium is to be found off of the two main continents. Also each of the other landmasses hold a few luxuries only available to them.

Here is the north island.

finaly the top and bot of the last island

Sorry for the rush, and i still need to finish the map. THe southern island needs finished, and the plan was to place two more CS on each of those big islands, with some smaller islands scattered about. so there is still some polishing that needs to go on.

I was unable to roll a random map that fit the parameters even close, someone always had the upper hand in my opinion so the map ended being almost entirely redone. SOrry for spelling im getting yelled at lol. 

There are no free CS so to speak in the back lands also no one will be able to get inspiration for finding a second continent with out ocean sailing, so they wont get it.

Please post comments!

[Emperor K]

EDIT: ADDED SPOILERS

Here is a look at what the players would see

Aztecs

Brazil

Russia

Greece

Rome

Germany

[Emperor K]

Some questions thought that would help me balance the map.

-How many luxuries should each player continent have? I believe as of right now I have 6 down. Maybe take that down to 4?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Just now looking through the map. Let me go dig up what Cornflakes wrote on the PBEM10 map and I'll get back to you.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Okay, quick glance through:

1)I could only spot the 2 natural wonders. Are there any more? This does mean that Archduke and Rowain respectively will have a much easier time founding religions. Not sure if that's too big a deal, Archduke's Russia is a lock anyway. 

2)Strategics - 

Rho: Okay that he doesn't have nearby iron for the Classical age, he has Legions. Will make it rough in the Medieval era with no knights, though.
 But he has nearby horses and everything else he needs is in his backlines to the west, so I think he's okay. 

Cornflakes: Seems to have everything nearby, even oil! 

With the 2 continents, unless someone quickly conquers all of theirs and forces a concession, this game might actually see coal and oil be relevant!

Archduke: He has horses at his capital, but iron may be tough for him. Iron as a whole looks sparse on this continent. Maybe sprinkle one more near each player? 

Rowain: Has iron and horses, but nitre is quite a hike. Should be okay, he should expand that way for the natural wonder anyway.

Banzai: I think he has everything nearby. Looks good.

Pin: I can't find any nitre at all near pin. That seems problematic. He does have access to 4 nearby luxuries, so that should make him happy. 

3)Fresh water - looks okay. Fresh water all over the place on this map.

4)City states - all in the middle, no clear edge here, looks good.

[Emperor K]

This is what was posted regarding map settings

Some further guidelines the map maker:

-Minimum 12 tiles between starting positions - this is in effect, also all 3 players are this distance so no one is in the middle.

-Minimum guaranteed 1 of each type of strategic resource within easy access (within e.g. 5 tiles of capital, not within CS borders). 2nd copy OK within CS borders or more difficult to access
still needs some fine tuning i think.

-Number of City States = two times number players as starting guideline. +/- 1 at map-maker's discretion based on spacing/etc. - i like the idea of 3 in the center with the other 6 out in the seas

-All CS placed either coastal or dry, not fresh water to avoid capturing size 10 CS early game. Adding a mountain or 1-tile lake within range for aqueduct is suggested especially for dry CS locations. - i did follow this, although the ones on different continents may have fresh water as they will not be met until mid / late game

-When locating CS, try to leave as many settling options as possible available for the players (e.g. don't invalidate all freshwater sites in a particular direction from a player) - each player has some backfill, and 2 routes to settle towards the other players.

-Don't try to re-roll specific CS when setting up the starting save. Ok to look at the generic type distribution and re-roll at map maker's discretion. (just to re-iterate it is not possible to select the specific CS) - i am not at this point yet, though we can cross that bridge a bit later.

-Sprinkle in some mountains into regions which are devoid of rivers/lakes in order to give players the option to build aqueducts later on - i think this distribution is very close to being done, if not already.

I am toying with the idea of giving each player a starting screenshot with a 'tip' on which direction to search first so that everyone gets there 1 cs. Let me know what you guys think.

I see in many previous games that scouting is not a priority. One slinger or scout to start and then that is it. The plan was to have lots of land to punish those who do not scout as well as have area for barbs to spawn. I like the idea of the 3 cs in the middle as any attempt to conquer puts that player closer to the other two players on the continent.

[Japper007]

Giving a tip on a scouting direction seems like it is the opposite of what you want to achieve here. If you want players to scout more you shouldn't tell them how to run their Warrior to find a CS! You could do something to the map to "encourage" a player to go in a certain direction of course, maybe add some obstructive mountain chains or desert