Baltic States [3/10] V33 P34 Beta!!

[Bruceswar]

New Version: Version 14

Click image to enlarge.

New Changes:

Added the extra neutrals in.
Fixed a few small placements.
New Sea Color



Should this be game play stamp ready??

[isaiah40]

The neutrals should be at 2 or 3 at the most, not at 1. You want it at least a little hard for someone to get the bonus. I think for now this can be stickied.

[Bruceswar]

The neutrals should be at 2 or 3 at the most, not at 1. You want it at least a little hard for someone to get the bonus. I think for now this can be stickied.

Actually I want those to be a non factor in those regions. If it was totally up to me I would not have those neutrals, but in an effort to even things out some drop wise, I went ahead and put the suggested neutrals. If someone wants to try for that bonus then by all means by my guest. I do not want to log jam that area with neutrals that make this map hard to play from the south.

[natty dread]

But 1:s are bad in escalating/flat rate games, because they give very easy cards to the players who happen to drop next to them. 2:s would be a good compromise I think.

[Bruceswar]

With 4 1's I think every player will be next to at least one of them. 13 regions border them all so even with 8 players chances are very high you would be next to one.

[thenobodies80]

I'm also in favour of 2 neutrals instead of just 1

[Bruceswar]

This is one item I am going to hold firm on.If and when this is in beta and it is a major problem I will look into it then. Until then I am holding firm with 1 neutrals.

[isaiah40]

Just remember that in 1v1 players could drop both territories beside the neutral 1, thereby giving them an easy bonus to grab. Whilst, having a neutral 2 would be just a tad harder, and would make a player think twice about grabbing it if he/she has bad dice trying from the first territory.

[Bruceswar]

Just remember that in 1v1 players could drop both territories beside the neutral 1, thereby giving them an easy bonus to grab. Whilst, having a neutral 2 would be just a tad harder, and would make a player think twice about grabbing it if he/she has bad dice trying from the first territory.

Yep that could happen, but chances are very high player 2 has a chance to break before player 1 goes again.

[DoomYoshi]

I think the 1s make sense.

With 8 players, there is a 15% chance that at least 1 player starts without an adjacent (to a 1) territory. At 7 players, it drops to less than 10% and keeps getting smaller as the number of players drops. (my Maths are prob Wrong since I am tired, but they can't be too far off.

[Bruceswar]

anybody else??

[isaiah40]

Okay, I'm going to stamp this with the caveat that the neutral values may need to be changed during the Beta process.

[Bruceswar]

Sweet! Thanks! Now on to graphics! Any ideas? as far as fixes and or changes?

[Bruceswar]

Also shall we talk about region names? or shall we leave those as is?

[Victor Sullivan]

Hm, well I'm not so sure I agree with the map being stamped. West Estonia should be +3, due to its 3 borders and only one extra region. And with easy expansion into Islands Estonia and its position on the map, it hardly seems worth the +4. I wonder if this value stuck from when the impassables weren't there before? I think, too, Central Latvia is undervalued at +5 compared to the +5 of East Latvia. With 6 borders and its central location, I think +6 is fair here.

As far as graphics go, I think the legend would be best organized North-South (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). In addition, I think the mountains could use some blending into the 'canvas, and I think I'd like to see the texture more prevalent in West Central Latvia, East Latvia, and Islands Estonia (compare them to, say, North Lithuania, where the texture is very much present). And the trees I'm not totally sold on, as they seem to conflict with the parchment look you have going.

-Sully

[Bruceswar]

I will fix West Estonia as that was an oversight. As far as the texture it is the same level in all regions, just some colors show more than others. I will look into the legend and test some things out on that. On a final note I will be open to other trees if someone has some suggestions.

[thenobodies80]

West Estonia should be +3, due to its 3 borders and only one extra region.

For what I can see west estonia has 4 borders, in fact I can see a clear connection between Rapla and Paide

Central Latvia is undervalued at +5 compared to the +5 of East Latvia. With 6 borders and its central location, I think +6 is fair here.

I'm fine with +5, but I have nothing against +6 even if it I don't see +5 as an unfair value. Both zones are in a central position and both will end as a no man land in mostly all games due Cesis-Madona bottleneck.

Graphically speaking I don't like the title, is really bold and too black/dark compared with the rest of the map. Also the signatures are a eyesore.
The map is a bit unbalanced, it appears really full on the left side and totally empty on the right side (neutral space above the legend).

Why there's a lighter part on the right side of the map, like a lighter rectangule that starts in the upper part between the a and the n of "Comander9" and that ends in the lower part a bit on the left of "South lithuania" in the legend. But maybe it's just me.

[Bruceswar]

Sooo I am going to fix the typo... and work on some small graphical fixes. What else?

[RedBaron0]

Click image to enlarge.

Graphically speaking I don't like the title, is really bold and too black/dark compared with the rest of the map. Also the signatures are a eyesore.
The map is a bit unbalanced, it appears really full on the left side and totally empty on the right side (neutral space above the legend).

Definitely with tnb80 on these rearranging the legend items to use all the space is a solution, as well as perhaps going to a minimap. Also can try narrowing the map to eliminate the negative spaces. Or of course trying various combinations of some or all of these.

Less bold on the title, blend it into the map itself. Could also look into a similar looking font if that is the issue with it being so bold. There are usually ways around it though.

I agree about the trees, ask your consultants about area specific trees, considering the area, I'd guess that a type of conifer would be much more in line with the region, rather then the mushroom shaped trees currently there.

The grid isn't good. It's on TOP of the map when it should be a part of the map. It's like looking through a tan fence at the map. :/ It probably just needs to be dropped down in the layer list, or set on a different blending option.

I've circled some areas of concern above:

Red: most of these are just areas of colors bleeding under borders, there are a couple that are specific with borders though.
The river's border is a lil pixely and has some bleed of the river's color onto the land. I circled the river in yellow to in the legend cuz there is 2 oddly parallel erasures in the river's border which is also present in the river circled in red.. Not that it necessarily matters, I really think you're going to have to redraw the river border anyways.
The 3 red circles in E Latvia and SE Latvia have issues with the borders that are a little different. Between Ogre and Aizkrakukle there is a stretch where its lighter than the rest of the border. In Madona there is an odd dot there on the border. And between Ludza and Rezekne the border is darker and pixelly.

Green: These borders are incomplete. there is also a spot of border under the mountains in Rezekne that should be erased. Also here the mountains should be nudged over or another mountain added to prevent confusion that Rezekne and Bavli could be connected. The circle in the nonplayable area the border looks oddly doubled with a gap there too.

Yellow: Legend goofs, I already mentioned the river, but the other circle there has an odd spot there l=that looks like it's a part of the layer that the mountains are on.

[Bruceswar]

I will be working on this over the weekend. I will try to fix everything mentioned. Stay tuned.

[Gillipig]

I've got to say I don't like the colour scheme. It doesn't mesh well. I suggest no pink and purple colours. Try to get a lot of green colours into the map. I think most people symbolize the Baltic States with a lot of forests. Changing bonus colours is pretty easy and fun anyway .

[RedBaron0]

:kick: Bruce, how goes?

[RedBaron0]

Seems the progress on this map has stalled. Please contact any CA to return this map to the Main Foundry when an update is made. Please be aware that gameplay standards may be further reviewed upon return to the Main Foundry and may be required to once again pass through gp scrutiny. Should the map be found to be deficient in any way the GP stamp may be removed.

[Moved]

[Bruceswar]

I will pick this back up soon, once work and such slows down.

[thenobodies80]

Bruce, the deadline for the vacation period is behind the corner. If you want to continue this project , this is the right moment for an update!