Guys, don't be too specific about the map k? Everybody else in round two will be using it as well and we don't want to give away the secrets.
It was created using balance mod 2.0.
I had Fyron create it for me since I am still playing in the tourney and didn't want to have a veiw of the starting positions.
My only request was that there be some space between starting positions, but not neccesarily in opposite corners. It sounds like he accomplished that.
I have come to the realization over many koth and tournament games that starting on opposite sides of the quadrant may not be the ideal starting position for a two player game. First of all, if you know the map has manual placement and you are in one corner, you know pretty reliably that your opponent is in the opposite corner. Secondly, people expand at different rates so typically the faster expander can trap his opponent into one third to one quarter of the map and choke them off. And finally it can just take forever to meet you opponent sometimes, which is a little boring in two-player games.
My thought currently is that the positions should be about halfway from the center to the edge of the quadrant map. This still gives you half a quadrants distance between you, but allows you to have a little space "behind" you to colonize once the borders are established. This also allows you to be a little more flexible on exactly where you place the players so it's not so easy to predict where they are. You could be both in the same hemisphere when viewing the map from one perpsective, but still half a quadrant away. That can make a significant difference in the direction to your opponents homeworld.