Re: potential problem
I really do hate to gripe about the map (which looks nice by the way), or my start position (which is lame), but I think this layout may potentially produce a very unbalanced game.
Has anyone else noticed that there is a vast ocean in the south? By my count 20 contiguous water provinces, plus an island (5 provs), that are all presumably off limits to everyone except R'lyeh. I am playing Atlantis, but I am no where near this vast ocean (I would probably have to carve through 2 other empires to get there). In addition to these 25 contiguous uncontested provinces, R'lyeh can easily expand into the southwest corner in order to pick up an additional 3 water provinces by simply crossing a 1 province land bridge. In other words, R'lyeh should be able to easily put together a 30 + province empire without having to confront anything but low level independents. LA R'lyeh is not a major powerhouse, but this is an incredible starting advantage.
I really feel guilty posting this - seems like bad etiquette.
But if this is map is designed to have 15 provs/player, and 1 player has nearly uncontested access to 30+ provs, then the other players have 13.5 provs/player. Not only that but it is very difficult to expand efficiently into your allotted 13.5 provs without coming into conflict with your neighbors. Wars are likely to break out before any other player locks up more than 7 or 8 provs.
Seems like it would be easier to restart at turn 1 on a different random map, than to embark on a clearly unbalanced scenario, no?
|