YARG - Yet Another RAND Game [Isokron's Midgard wins!]

[ano]

Here it is. I must say I like the result. Hope you will like it too.
The changes include:
- starting locations for 19 players of which most are at least 3 provinces away from each other (there seems to be only one exclusion that I couldn't handle)
- "dead regions" made not so dead. Also, starts there are placed so that wastelands/swamps should not cripple a player.
- "rich regions" made a bit less rich but not much. Central "rich" region is nearly untouched but noone will start there and at least 4 nations will be able to fight for it.
- some more terrain/movement changes based on my experience.

The biggest problem with this map is, IMO, that you can't really 100% rely on graphics to know what terrain is there. Graphics will be correct in most cases but not always.
The second problem is that it is impossible to distinguish border mountains (passable) from regular mountains (impassable) but that's the problem of original map. To know for sure which mountain is there you should open the map in map editor.

Starting locations are:
146, 184, 260, 47, 126, 252, 197, 181, 214, 101, 127, 38, 27, 21, 138, 200, 88, 68, 248.
I also attached the screenshot where starting locations are well seen (Eyes of Debug cast). Please note that they will be randomly assigned between nations. The nations positions you see on screenshot are by no means determined.

[llamabeast]

To check whether mountains are mountains or border mountains, you can just hover over the mountain symbol in-game.

[ano]

Thanks a lot, llamabeast. I never knew that

[StrictlyRockers]

Originally Posted by ano

StrictlyRockers
I nearly finished the map and will post it here soon with comments.
Regarding balance and such things I may tell you that during Qwerty game (which I mentioned somewhere above) I decided not to create games with random locations anymore and the next game I hosted I spent some time to dive into the mapmaking process. The result was really cool in Stasis game - people were absolutely satisfied with the balanced starts.
That's why now I prefer to play with predefined starts in every game I participate. As Executor correctly said above, it is impossible to eliminate the luck element in this game and it should not be done, but maps and start locations can and should be balanced to make the game more interesting and competitive and more dependent on player skill than on blind luck.

You make good points here that are hard to dispute. I'm all for creating a level playing field with a semi-equal chance for anyone to attain victory. The modified map you made looks good, and thank you for doing it. The starting locations seem well-placed.

[rdonj]

I have been informed that two of the pretenders are using the same email address. I would rather not specify which nations due to the secretive nature of rand-type games. I would like an explanation from the player(s) involved, hopefully you know who you are.

[WingedDog]

rdonj
Ask Zeldor to PM you a list of the players with nations assigned.

[rdonj]

Hmm, yes, I should have done that in the first place. When I hear back from Zeldor I'll pm them and figure out what's going on.

[rdonj]

Nations identified and PMs sent. I will report with my findings when they are made available to me, unless the players do so first.

[WingedDog]

rdonj
Thanks for the efforts. By the way don't forget to change the map to the one with Ano's design.

[rdonj]

Done as well.