[Abandoned] Research & Conquer

[t-o-m]

One way to get people researching could be to add a moderate decay on the land, like a -5 per turn, so people would get researching to get more armies to make it out...maybe?

[Androidz]

Oh yeah forgot to say, i really liked your idea about doubleing the continent bonus and such. But with a map without continent that might be a bit hard so you've dropped it?

[OliverFA]

One way to get people researching could be to add a moderate decay on the land, like a -5 per turn, so people would get researching to get more armies to make it out...maybe?

In my opinion the tech effects are enough motivation by themselves. "Oh! If I research it I will have many more armies each turn to kill my opponents!" or "If I research this I can bombard them!" and so on.

Plus you know, there are too many maps out there that have this decay thing, so it's not very original nowadays

[OliverFA]

Oh yeah forgot to say, i really liked your idea about doubleing the continent bonus and such. But with a map without continent that might be a bit hard so you've dropped it?

The continents are there. We just need to define them

And by the way, probably we also need to decide some additional obstacles (not much, just a few), to make the map not so open.

[Androidz]

Oh yeah forgot to say, i really liked your idea about doubleing the continent bonus and such. But with a map without continent that might be a bit hard so you've dropped it?

The continents are there. We just need to define them

And by the way, probably we also need to decide some additional obstacles (not much, just a few), to make the map not so open.

k:P

do not quite follow you:P my english is bad:P

[yeti_c]

The tech tree is that one:

Code: Select all

Lab ----> Research Boost --------> Winning Tech
      |
      +-> Basic Reinforcements --> Advanced Reinforcements
      |
      +-> Basic Continents ------> Advanced Continents
      |
      +-> Basic Territories -----> Advanced Territories

I think you're going to struggle to get this explanation into the map.

Unless you redesign either a) the tree, or b) the table.

Consider Something a bit like this maybe?

Code: Select all

[             labatory A           ] [             labatory B           ]
[ basic ][ basic ][ basic ][ boost ] [ basic ][ basic ][ basic ][ boost ]
[  adv  ][  adv  ][  adv  ][  win  ] [  adv  ][  adv  ][  adv  ][  win  ]

[  adv  ][  adv  ][  adv  ][  win  ] [  adv  ][  adv  ][  adv  ][  win  ]
[ basic ][ basic ][ basic ][ boost ] [ basic ][ basic ][ basic ][ boost ]
[             labatory C           ] [             labatory D           ]

C.

[t-o-m]

Can the lab attack all of its techs?
If so couldnt it say "Your lab can attack any of its techs."
A down side to this would just be that you can get basic reinf. I before basic reinf. II - UNLESS you made i an over ride and made it that you can only get the basic reinf II bonus if you hold basic reinf I...if you follow...

[OliverFA]

Can the lab attack all of its techs?
If so couldnt it say "Your lab can attack any of its techs."
A down side to this would just be that you can get basic reinf. I before basic reinf. II - UNLESS you made i an over ride and made it that you can only get the basic reinf II bonus if you hold basic reinf I...if you follow...

I would like to try to fit the explanation in the map somehow (for example, in the way that Yeti suggested). BUT if the result is difficult to understand then I suppose that allowing to attack all techs is the lesser evil.

A possible solution would be to say in the explanation something like that:
1 continent tech: +50% bonus
2 continent techs: +100%bonus

The effect would be the same, but we would aovid having to place the tech tree in the map.

[t-o-m]

Any comments on neutral values?

[yeti_c]

They look pretty good - not sure about all those 1's in the top right.

C.

[t-o-m]

They look pretty good - not sure about all those 1's in the top right.

C.

I agree - but a 2 wouldnt be worth it would it?
Because there is no reason to get it apart from the territ bonus.

How about the gapping between cities and the values on there?
Would that encourage enough research and would someone be able to eliminate someone on round 1?

[yeti_c]

They look pretty good - not sure about all those 1's in the top right.

C.

I agree - but a 2 wouldnt be worth it would it?
Because there is no reason to get it apart from the territ bonus.

How about the gapping between cities and the values on there?
Would that encourage enough research and would someone be able to eliminate someone on round 1?

A very good question - I would be inclined to double them by 2 at least - but am also unsure...

With regards to the 1's - some of them lead from top right to the middle guy.

Also - we need to remember that people in the middle are gonna get seriously boned if they're not careful - as they've got nowhere to go except for research - as they will always run into someone.

Personally - I would like Bottom right or Bottom left or Top Right... they have the ability to protect their whole "kingdom" with 3 squares - and can quite happily build/research in "peace".

C.

[max is gr8]

I agree maybe make it practically useless to attack a player until later in the game, or remove the middle man

[RjBeals]

Indeed a nice first draft - but I see trouble in the near future for you. Good you started with the small map. But think of this - each one of those territories must be big enough to hold the "88" armies that are currently in cyan. I think when you would see this in reality, it would be a sea of numbers, and extremely confusing what borders what. The map sizes change from large to small, but the army numbers don't. Also - look at your first post and the huge description you had to write in order for us to get the concept, all the tech structures and bonuses. I think you're going to need a lot more room for explanations and bonus amounts. If this is a made-up land, then you should rework it to utilize as much space as possible. Take back some lakes/oceans for more land room. And as mentioned above, you will need a way to identify each territory. A grid will not work since the regions are not grid shaped. But a small A1, A2, A3, B1, B2 could work. But you need room for that in the small space as well.

Just trying to be realistic. Size has been many a map-makers downfall.

(edit)
Not trying to plug my map, but have a look at my Iron Curtain map. It's 99 territories of straight-forward gameplay. Look how cramped my large map is. I went for naming each region - but i'm still gonna have a helluva time creating that small map.

[Androidz]

Alot of unecearry terretories no one will go trough. Which only will leave space if you dont move capitals to end.

[t-o-m]

Alot of unecearry terretories no one will go trough. Which only will leave space if you dont move capitals to end.

For gameplay reasons there should be a lot of territories beacuse you need to separate the cities a lot.

Maybe some more obsticals(sp) would be good?

[OliverFA]

Hey guys, thanks so much for the comments. I am on holiday, but I will answer all of you when I come back. I really appreciate the feedback!

Just two things:

- Seems that the general feeling is that neutrals should be incremented, both to make difficult for players to storm the map in the first turns and to make cities more "far" from each other.

- Also seems that everybody agrees that the map is quite small to place all the 88 and the explanations. Do you think that this map would justify using the large design even if that implies using scroll bars? It could be made in a way that the labs and the instructions are on the top of the map, and the geographic bar on the bottom. So the scroll bar would be used to switch from the geographic map to the labs, but the geographic map would still fit in one screen.

Once again, thanks you all for your comments!

[MrBenn]

I think this map will need to utilise as much available space as possible... and that will mean using more height

[RjBeals]

anxiously awaiting what you come up with O.

[OliverFA]

Hello guys! Thanks for your comments while I was away. I really appreciate them. I am back at home and will retake this project again. I'll try to answer your comments during the day.

[OliverFA]

Hello again!

Just updated the main post with the updated information. And now, I will pass to comment a few subjects:

Territories quantity:
The original draft (not published in this thread) had 74 territories (I am talking only about the geographic area, not the research area) but it was considered that, due to map gameplay, they would be too few territories. There should be enough territories for research to take place. Otherwise, the map would be over before any effective research has been completed.

The current draft has... 176 territories! That's a lot more than 74, and a lot more than the initial draft. But honestly the initial draft was too small for this kind of gameplay. I don't know... maybe 176 is too much, and something around 120 would also work. But I would like to give the 176 territories version a chance. What the actual draft needs for sure is

• Obstacles (to make it less opened)
• Define continents

I'll work in them and present you the proposal.

Neutrals:
I think all of you are right when you say that the number should be a bit higher. But I suppose it does not make much sense to talk about this subject before having the final territories shape.

Image Size:
If I understand correctly, looks like this map has permission to use a bigger image. If that's the case, I will surely use it

Tech Tree:
To avoid having to fit the tech tree somewhere, I will change the approach a little bit. Instead of having "basic" and "advanced" technologies, we will have just "1" and "2" technologies. They can be researched in any order. Having one of them (any of them) gives basic effects. Having both gives advanced effects. The legend will say something like:

1 Continents Tech: +50% Continent Bonus
2 Continents Tech: +100% Continent Bonus
1 Territories Tech: 1 army per each 2 territories
2 Territories Tech: 1 army per each territory

One tech will have "basic" cost and the other "advanced" cost, and this will be the equivalent to having a tech tree, as players will always research the cheaper one in the pair.

Name:
The provisional name for this map is Research & Conquer. If we can find a better name for it, we will use that better name. Otherwise, this will remain as the final name.

Thanks again to everybody for your support and interest.

[OliverFA]

Just trying to be realistic. Size has been many a map-makers downfall.

(edit)
Not trying to plug my map, but have a look at my Iron Curtain map. It's 99 territories of straight-forward gameplay. Look how cramped my large map is. I went for naming each region - but i'm still gonna have a helluva time creating that small map.

Thanks for your comment RjBeals. Looking at your map is very useful, and gives some clues about how this map could be done to fit all territories.

I agree that map size could be a problem. For the moment, I would like to try to develop this "big" version. But if that proves impossible, then I will develop a smaller version instead.

[OliverFA]

I think this map will need to utilise as much available space as possible... and that will mean using more height

Hey MrBenn. Just a small question. I have already asked at the begining of the thread. But just in order to have everything clear, ¿which size am I allowed to use for my map? Can I use the bigger dimensions? And do I have to make small and big versions, or can I just make the big version?

Thanks in advance for your answers

[Emperor_Metalman]

I like having 176 territories better. I'd recommend removing some of the ocean in the north.

And for naming the territories, you could do something like in Feudual War so that you'd only need to put a number in the territory, and have a legend to describe where the continents are.

[OliverFA]

I like having 176 territories better. I'd recommend removing some of the ocean in the north.

And for naming the territories, you could do something like in Feudual War so that you'd only need to put a number in the territory, and have a legend to describe where the continents are.

Thanks for your comments, Emperor Metalman.

I tend to agree with you. This kind of map is better played with many territories. Then, we can try to use the sea, as having all those pixels unused is a luxury this map cannot afford.