Switzerland [MAP 2.7]

[DJENRE]

I created a new tournament recently based on european countries. And I was disappointed to see that most of those countries doesn't have their own map yet.

So I will try to fill that empty zone in Conquer Club.

First drop is SWITZERLAND

MAP 2.7
[bigimg]http://www.monsterup.com/upload/1301540595271.png[/bigimg]

New title
Passage throught Vals darker.

MAP 2.6
[bigimg]http://www.monsterup.com/upload/130125810089.png[/bigimg]

TERRITORIES

• 39 territories in total
• 1 starts neutral (Bern)
• 17 have a specific language (other are germanic)
• also 4 access to Bern (From Lower Valais, Freibourg, Obwald and Soleure).
• Passage from Val Meso to Val Bregaglia

BONUSES

• REGIONS = 8 regions in total (bonuses +2 to +4)
• LANGUAGES = 3 different languages (6 bonuses in total: +1 to +3)

STARTING POINTS
38 territories can be starting points (not Bern). But a player can hold maximum 14 territs after the drop. That avoid a big starting bonus in singles

• 2 = 14 territories
• 3 = 12 territories
• 4 = 9 territories
• 5 = 7 territories
• 6 = 6 territories
• 7 = 5 territories
• 8 = 4 territories

NOTE
B-J = Bernesse-Jura
Bâle C & V = Bâle-Campagne & Bâle-Ville
Obe. = Oberchalbstein

As request, this is a new draw without the army circles.

[spoiler=more comments]

Good. The swiss flag "shield" you have, though... it could use some gradient overlay on it. Ie. Make a white>black radial gradient in shape of the shield, set it on top of the shield with "soft light" layer mode, adjust opacity of gradient to around 50. It'll make it look more natural. The shield could also use a drop shadow.

About the shield, it appears that a bilinear overlay set in center instead gradient on top give better results. Also a clear grey instead black for the shadow.
And I finally found how to curve tet myself. [/spoiler]


MAP 2.5
[bigimg]http://www.monsterup.com/upload/1301243014691.png[/bigimg]
[spoiler=Natty_dread comments]

You need some contrast to the background. Right now all of your map kinda blends in together, with everything on the same level of focus, saturation and lightness...

First of all, that landscape image you have overlaid on the background (sure it's public domain? make sure) make it black and white (colors -> desaturate) and set the layer mode to multiply, with a low opacity.

Then, you could add a drop shadow to the land. Select all of the land area, create a layer below the land areas, move the selection down and right for about 3 pixels, feather selection (selection -> feather) by about 5 pixels and fill with black. Set the layer on soft light.

I would also recommend adding some borders to your territories. You have each different colour land area on it's own layer, right? (you should have.) Refer to my tutorial on how to add borders for them, except in this case, I would advise very thin borders.

Also, the cow and the bell images are really crappy quality, get rid of them...

1) I can't set it B&W, this is swiss flag so I need to keep a bit of colours! I change the colors and made it less saturated.
2) I made the land borders (shadows)
3) I added the texture
4) Some areas have been redrawn, some names, 88 or flags have been moved to fit the regions.
5) I dropped the two images[/spoiler]
MAP 2.4
[bigimg]http://www.monsterup.com/upload/1301224801666.png[/bigimg]

MAP 2.3
[bigimg]http://www.monsterup.com/upload/1301224762288.png[/bigimg]

[spoiler=BIN]It should be a complete version of the map with all bonuses and everything told on map already.
[/color][/size][/b]
[bigimg]http://www.monsterup.com/upload/1300268419373.jpg[/bigimg]

You can see there are different kind of bonus :

• Classic region bonuses
• Language zone bonuses
• Cheeses bonuses
• Chocolate Factories bonuses

Chocolate factories and cheeses are owned if you own the territory they belong to.

The unlabelled region (south of URI) is part of Graubunden.
Also, west of URI is a little part of Obwald so Obwald can attack URI
Nidwald can attack Schwyz and Lucerne because of the two little pieces.
Fribourg has also some little pieces but that doesn't change anything. Same for Soleure, genève, Schaffhouse, and Appenzell RI.

CHANGES TO MAKE ON NEXT MAP (after feedbacks):
Make languages lines on territories less thin.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=ALL EUROPE]This is a list of european countries which have not their own map yet (in red):
NORTHERN EUROPE
Nordic countries = Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden
Iceland
British Isles = England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales
WESTERN EUROPE
France
Germany
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Switzerland(into forge)
Austria
Belgium
Liechtenstein
Monaco


SOUTHERN EUROPE
Cyprus
Italy
Portugal
San Marino
Spain (Iberia?)
Andorra (into forge)
Gibraltar (UK)
Vatican City

EASTERN EUROPE
Macedonia
Russia (Soviet Union)
Albania
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Georgia
Greece
Hungary
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Latvia
Lithuania
Moldova
Montenegro
Poland
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Turkey
Ukraine[/spoiler]

[Industrial Helix]

... you're making a cheeses of Switzerland map?

Wouldn't a standard gameplay map of the regions of switzerland do just nicely?

[DJENRE]

Yes I thought to add some little bonuses with cheeses and chocolate....lol but gameplay remain the same (likely)

Don't you like it?

[League]

I'm no expert but I feel like a lot of those little lakes can probably go. They don't even look like they are a part of the game like an impassible or something.

[AndyDufresne]

... you're making a cheeses of Switzerland map?

This is probably one of my most favorite Foundry posts of recent time.


--Andy

[mr. CD]

I think some people from Switzerland may disagree on Switzerland being just Cheese and chocolate. Do like the bonuses though.

[natty dread]

Where are the cuckoo clocks?

[ender516]

A very interesting idea, but I think you have gone overboard on the bonuses. There are so many, it will be difficult to know what to take first. Also, trying to balance this map (so that initially everyone has a fairly even starting position) will take a lot of study. Finally, it is difficult to see which territories belong to which language group, because the crosshatch lines are very thin, and the colours in the mini-map do not correspond to the colours on the main map, so it is hard to see at a glance whether, for example, Zoug is part of the +5 or the +2. By the way, is the unlabelled region between Uri, Surselva, and Ticino another territory or a miscoloured lake?
How many territories are there in total? A text listing all the territories, and the bonuses that they are part of, would be very helpful.

[grifftron]

Don't the swiss make sweet watches? you could add that to the cheese and choco bonuses

[Industrial Helix]

No, I don't like it.

I would take a standard gameplay map of switzerland with plenty of mountain impassables before I ever desired a map of switzerland's culinary expertise.

[Riskismy]

I think it's quite funny and not least different. We have plenty of impassable mountains around, after all.

I like it!

[DJENRE]

I'm no expert but I feel like a lot of those little lakes can probably go. They don't even look like they are a part of the game like an impassible or something.

Those lakes are actually on their REAL places. But we can see that they do a proper work on map. North on NIDWALD, we think that the lake is an impassable to reach Lucerne or Schwyz but it's not because Nidwald has also the two little pieces near those territs.

I think some people from Switzerland may disagree on Switzerland being just Cheese and chocolate. Do like the bonuses though.

I presume switz are intelligent enough to know that is not a joke. They should be proud of that.
I'm french, and I'll be happy to see that kind of map for FRANCE if it's done properly with right names!!!

Don't the swiss make sweet watches? you could add that to the cheese and choco bonuses

Yes and I could add also banks and ski towns but I think it's enough for now.

A very interesting idea, but I think you have gone overboard on the bonuses. There are so many, it will be difficult to know what to take first. Also, trying to balance this map (so that initially everyone has a fairly even starting position) will take a lot of study. Finally, it is difficult to see which territories belong to which language group, because the crosshatch lines are very thin, and the colours in the mini-map do not correspond to the colours on the main map, so it is hard to see at a glance whether, for example, Zoug is part of the +5 or the +2. By the way, is the unlabelled region between Uri, Surselva, and Ticino another territory or a miscoloured lake?
How many territories are there in total? A text listing all the territories, and the bonuses that they are part of, would be very helpful.

1) yes, I added cheeses and chocolate but I can forget about it and just do a geographical map if needed. But I think many maps are full of bonuses and we like to play it anyway. (Waterloo, Middle ages...)
2) about languages, I'll make it less thin on next map.
3) I know about colors in minimap but on main map, colors are differents for a same region so I had to change colours in minimap
4)Zoug is part of +5 and if you see forms of bonuses, u can easily know
5)The unlabelled region is part of Graubunden. also, west of URI is a little part of Obwald so Obwald can attack URI Nidwald can attack Schwyz and Lucerne because of the two little pieces. Fribourg has also some little pieces but that doesn't change anything. Same for Soleure, genève, Schaffhouse, and Appenzell RI.
6) Look, on my other maps in drafting room, I did it that way and people told me to include bonuses directly on map.

I think it's quite funny and not least different. We have plenty of impassable mountains around, after all.
I like it!

I'll think about mountains to make some more impassable maybe.

[CJ Lues]

Isn’t it true that Switzerland never had a war in its history???

[DJENRE]

Isn’t it true that Switzerland never had a war in its history???

wrong!

During the middle age.

ANd also later but it was civil war

[CJ Lues]

Isn’t it true that Switzerland never had a war in its history???

wrong!

During the middle age.

ANd also later but it was civil war

OH, OK...!

You learn something new everyday...

[ender516]

A very interesting idea, but I think you have gone overboard on the bonuses. There are so many, it will be difficult to know what to take first. Also, trying to balance this map (so that initially everyone has a fairly even starting position) will take a lot of study. Finally, it is difficult to see which territories belong to which language group, because the crosshatch lines are very thin, and the colours in the mini-map do not correspond to the colours on the main map, so it is hard to see at a glance whether, for example, Zoug is part of the +5 or the +2. By the way, is the unlabelled region between Uri, Surselva, and Ticino another territory or a miscoloured lake?
How many territories are there in total? A text listing all the territories, and the bonuses that they are part of, would be very helpful.

1) yes, I added cheeses and chocolate but I can forget about it and just do a geographical map if needed. But I think many maps are full of bonuses and we like to play it anyway. (Waterloo, Middle ages...)
2) about languages, I'll make it less thin on next map.
3) I know about colors in minimap but on main map, colors are differents for a same region so I had to change colours in minimap

My suggestion then is to use the same colour (or at least several shades of one colour) for a whole zone (bonus region) on the main map, or use all the same colours and all the borders from the main map on the mini-map, making the borders around zones thicker and the ones inside zones thinner.

4)Zoug is part of +5 and if you see forms of bonuses, u can easily know

If I study the shapes carefully, I can work it out, but I wouldn't call it easy, and your colour schemes are making it more difficult by being inconsistent. For example, your +4 in the east (yellow on the mini-map) uses variations of one colour, as does the +1 (blue on the mini-map), as does the +2 (pink), but each of the rest of the zones uses a mix of colours on the main map, with several places where two bordering territories use the same colour but are in different bonus zones (for example, Bern and Uri, or Bâle-Campagne and Argovie).

5)The unlabelled region is part of Graubunden. also, west of URI is a little part of Obwald so Obwald can attack URI Nidwald can attack Schwyz and Lucerne because of the two little pieces. Fribourg has also some little pieces but that doesn't change anything. Same for Soleure, genève, Schaffhouse, and Appenzell RI.

Unlabelled exclaves can be a problem, especially if the colour schemes are not clear.

6) Look, on my other maps in drafting room, I did it that way and people told me to include bonuses directly on map.

Of course the bonuses need to be on the map, but I thought it might be quicker for you to add some extra text in a post for immediate discussion rather than to redraw the map.

[DJENRE]

Thank you for that, I will include it in my next map.

[thenobodies80]

Has Pamoa seen this map ?
Seriously I think you should get rid of that cheese / chocolate thing.
Certainly I like the idea of a Swiss map but in my mind is something really different from this...

[rdsrds2120]

I would really like to see a Switzerland map...but one of classic geographical gameplay first
It just seems like you're trying too hard to add more onto it than what should be.

-rd

[natty dread]

Where are the cuckoo clocks?

Seriously... I kinda wonder why there has to be cheeses and chocolates on the map. Like... what do cheeses and chocolates have to do with war? Why would players want to conquer cheeses and chocolates? Why does owning cheese and chocolate factories give you more armies?

Sure, it's original. But you know, just because something is original, doesn't make it good automatically.

I think there are better ways to divide up Switzerland. The last attempt, which was pretty good, had different language areas. Now those kind of divisions can actually make sense for a war game... people of different linguistical backgrounds fighting each other, seems much more natural than people fighting each other over cheese and chocolate. You know?

It's good that you have lots of ideas. It's good that you throw your ideas out there boldly. However when multiple people point out to you that a certain idea is not necessarily the best one, you should maybe consider that they may be on to something.

Also, I think you would benefit a lot from the tutorial I wrote:

viewtopic.php?f=466&t=140723

[RjBeals]

Has Pamoa seen this map ?

That was a sweet map of pamoa's.

[bigimg]http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/11/3/2172106/CH%20v05.png[/bigimg]

viewtopic.php?f=242&t=92250

viewtopic.php?f=242&t=48194

[DJENRE]

Seriously I think you should get rid of that cheese / chocolate thing.
Certainly I like the idea of a Swiss map but in my mind is something really different from this...

I would really like to see a Switzerland map...but one of classic geographical gameplay first
It just seems like you're trying too hard to add more onto it than what should be.
-rd

It's good that you have lots of ideas. It's good that you throw your ideas out there boldly. However when multiple people point out to you that a certain idea is not necessarily the best one, you should maybe consider that they may be on to something.

I know natty_dread, that 's why we put in on public thread. And I clearly see that cheese and chocolate are not well appreciated...
So I changed my mind to provide you the map without cheeses and chocolate factories.
Just note that until the last few posts, there were only one post telling it wasn't a good idea and some others to tell they liked it

Where are the cuckoo clocks?

Seriously... I kinda wonder why there has to be cheeses and chocolates on the map. Like... what do cheeses and chocolates have to do with war? Why would players want to conquer cheeses and chocolates? Why does owning cheese and chocolate factories give you more armies?

I would say : " why does owning pineapple and coconuts in Age of Merchant give you more armies? What do they have to do with war?" but we play that map anyway



And about the Paoma map, why it never became an official map?

[natty dread]

Because the mapmaker never finished it.

Now, about your map...

You have lots of very small territories, where it will be hard/impossible to fit army numbers. The territory labels overlapping with the borders are a problem, as well.

You also have lots of wasted space here.

I would suggest starting over and redesigning the layout of the map. Go look at my mapmaking tutorial, it gives you an easy method of creating nice looking geographical maps.

Also, save your map images as PNG:s. The JPEG looks fuzzy.

[Danyael]

neat map kinda neat game play get cheese get certain race cash in win hmmm

kinda neutral on the graphics

[DJENRE]

Because the mapmaker never finished it.

Now, about your map...

You have lots of very small territories, where it will be hard/impossible to fit army numbers. The territory labels overlapping with the borders are a problem, as well.

You also have lots of wasted space here.

I would suggest starting over and redesigning the layout of the map. Go look at my mapmaking tutorial, it gives you an easy method of creating nice looking geographical maps.

Also, save your map images as PNG:s. The JPEG looks fuzzy.

1) small territories = because I used the real map of switzerland. Do you think I should make territories with different real regions? I'm tired of maps who are far away from reality. I wanted to make some new maps in europe but close to their actual regions.
2) wasted space = because I just showed you the map without cheeses and chocolates. Of course I will occupy those spaces too
3) Ok for PNG, I'll do.