AOS: Orient Express 1883 [quench'd]

[natty dread]

Thanks isaiah.

ps. mods, I think the poll has served its purpose... can someone take it down?

[cairnswk]

Mmmm. There is still room for vast improvement.

[natty dread]

Mmmm. There is still room for vast improvement.

No doubt. Can you elaborate?

[Industrial Helix]

The poll...

Which name for the map pack:
Age of Steam... 64%
Age of Tycoons... 6%
Epic Railways... 18%
no common name, just name each map independently... 9%
Other, specify?... 3%

[Raskholnikov]

2. But what is happening with the bottom of Greece, the bit under Thessalonica, shouldn't that be orange also.

Greece (ie peninsular Greece, former Morea) became independent in 1829. Northern Greece and Macedonia remained under the Ottomans until 1914. Therefore, Natty's map is correct and there is no problem with Greece not being orange for reasons just stated.

[natty dread]

2. But what is happening with the bottom of Greece, the bit under Thessalonica, shouldn't that be orange also.

Greece (ie peninsular Greece, former Morea) became independent in 1829. Northern Greece and Macedonia remained under the Ottomans until 1914. Therefore, Natty's map is correct and there is no problem with Greece not being orange for reasons just stated.

Thanks for the confirmation Rask.

[natty dread]

Mmmm. There is still room for vast improvement.

No doubt. Can you elaborate?

Cairns (or anyone), can you elaborate on that? How is this vast improvement to be achieved?

[The Bison King]

Don't ask me, I think it's looking great.

[The Bison King]

BUUUUUT, if you really need something to do I think I noticed some strange vertical lines in the Adriatic sea. I'm not sure if they are supposed to be there or not but they look a little funny to me.

[natty dread]

BUUUUUT, if you really need something to do I think I noticed some strange vertical lines in the Adriatic sea. I'm not sure if they are supposed to be there or not but they look a little funny to me.

Ah yes. That's one of the background images, I must have forgot it there. It's a drawing of a steam engine btw...

Also the large map upper legend says "Monte-Negro" with a hyphen when everywhere else it's simply Monte Negro. I've been meaning to remove the hyphen but I forget it every time...

I'll fix both for the next version.

[cairnswk]

Mmmm. There is still room for vast improvement.

No doubt. Can you elaborate?

Cairns (or anyone), can you elaborate on that? How is this vast improvement to be achieved?

I accept Rash's take on Greece.
The top right legend still doesn't sit correctly.
You've got plenty of room to move that whole legend around and centre the title and sub-wording better; also the whole legend could use the full outline of the border (same as the bottom legend)
I still don't like the monolpoly train...i'd remove it altogether. It looks like this is meant to be a monopoly board and not the Orient Express.
I think you can take the graphics to a whole new level by using elements of that page 1 poster that will give the map the feeling of the orient express.
While some might be happy with the current graphics, i can see beyond that to make this a great expression of the period train. The borders around the legend don't entirely express the period eloquently.
In other words I'm looking for something that will scream Orient Express to me.

[natty dread]

I accept Rash's take on Greece.
The top right legend still doesn't sit correctly.
You've got plenty of room to move that whole legend around and centre the title and sub-wording better; also the whole legend could use the full outline of the border (same as the bottom legend)

I'll look into it, but...

I still don't like the monolpoly train...i'd remove it altogether. It looks like this is meant to be a monopoly board and not the Orient Express.

...Are we even looking at the same map? The monopoly train is gone already!

I think you can take the graphics to a whole new level by using elements of that page 1 poster that will give the map the feeling of the orient express.

Well, I do have one idea for that... stay tuned...

The borders around the legend don't entirely express the period eloquently.

What kind of borders should there be?

[cairnswk]

I accept Rash's take on Greece.
The top right legend still doesn't sit correctly.
You've got plenty of room to move that whole legend around and centre the title and sub-wording better; also the whole legend could use the full outline of the border (same as the bottom legend)

I'll look into it, but...

I still don't like the monolpoly train...i'd remove it altogether. It looks like this is meant to be a monopoly board and not the Orient Express.

...Are we even looking at the same map? The monopoly train is gone already!

Nup, it's still there on V18.png previous page

I think you can take the graphics to a whole new level by using elements of that page 1 poster that will give the map the feeling of the orient express.

Well, I do have one idea for that... stay tuned...

Good

The borders around the legend don't entirely express the period eloquently.

What kind of borders should there be?

Perhaps something in this vain..
http://www.fivestarhotelsandspas.com/im ... press1.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ef_M4U2nwus/S ... XPRESS.jpg
Perhaps Use something from the building architecture style:
http://www.fotografgalerisi.net/GaleriS ... ciGari.jpg
Be creative but not over the top.

[natty dread]

Nup, it's still there on V18.png previous page

That's a different train. I thought your complaint was with the train that looked like a monopoly train. This one is similar to the locomotive used on the orient express at the time (I couldn't find a good picture of the exact model but this is very similar.)

Or are you saying you don't want any train in the legend?

Perhaps something in this vain..
http://www.fivestarhotelsandspas.com/im ... press1.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ef_M4U2nwus/S ... XPRESS.jpg
Perhaps Use something from the building architecture style:
http://www.fotografgalerisi.net/GaleriS ... ciGari.jpg
Be creative but not over the top.

Thanks, I'll see what I can do.

[cairnswk]

Nup, it's still there on V18.png previous page

That's a different train. I thought your complaint was with the train that looked like a monopoly train. This one is similar to the locomotive used on the orient express at the time (I couldn't find a good picture of the exact model but this is very similar.)

Or are you saying you don't want any train in the legend?

I know what you're trying to express there with it, but it simply looks out of place with the whole theme.
I think the train in isometric is sufficient to hold the entire design.

[porkenbeans]

The rivers are much improved with the gradient, but maybe you could tone it down, so that it is not as noticeable.

[natty dread]

Yeah... now that I look at the map on my new monitor I notice the colour saturation is way higher than I intended. (curse you laptop monitors for misleading me so. )

[natty dread]

One more thing: I was thinking of renaming "train monopoly" to "rail monopoly". After all the bonus is given for controlling railway stations, and by association the railways between them... therefore "rail monopoly" would make more sense I think.

Plus it sounds better (it rrrolls off the tongue!)

[ender516]

Yes, "rail monopoly" is better.

[natty dread]

Yes, "rail monopoly" is better.

Unfortunately, this will have to wait until I can get my fonts moved from the old computer.

[natty dread]

damn, I forgot the train -> rail change. oh well, next update then...

Click image to enlarge.

[ender516]

I like the flags: a nice splash of colour.

[natty dread]

v19

Click image to enlarge.

[carlpgoodrich]

Cool, I like the borders and the "Rail" does work better. What do you think of having a very thin border go all the way round the map? I think that might connect the legend with the map a bit better.

[natty dread]

What do you think of having a very thin border go all the way round the map? I think that might connect the legend with the map a bit better.

Hm, I'm not sure if it would really suit the style of this map... I'm afraid it would make it look too cramped...