Arduria map + a new one in the works

[Jasper]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
I have that problem on my maps all the time. Im hoping for a command that will assign troops to patrol, or allow defence points for independents.

This is a very good idea. It's very annoying that you essentially can't put castles in the wealthy independent provinces that presumably would have them.

Some sort of #patrols perhaps, to make a particular leader and his troops as outside a province? Ideally independents with castles would always have additional patrollers.

[Taqwus]

Patrolling would make sense, so long as independents are excepted from the "patrollers removing unrest kill pop" because otherwise there'll be problems once somebody's dominion reaches them.

[PhilD]

Originally posted by Crandaeolon:

Here's a map that I banged together during the Easter holidays. It's not all that artistic, but it'll have to do for the moment.

The really cool thing is, my Easter holidays are just coming

The less cool thing is that I've got a lot to do the next week

[Zeikko]

The map looked very cool, but when I tested it and saw many problems there. Many neighbohor provinces weren't connected, and some starting places were many times better than others.

I started on the grey place at south, and all provinces had income 2-10 so I had almost 20 useless coastal provinces and I lost immiadately when atlantis attacked because my income was only 200, and 100 came from the capital.

[Crandaeolon]

Many neighbohor provinces weren't connected

That's odd. I didn't expect more than one or two connection "bugs". Could you list the provinces involved?

In many cases where provinces share a short border with a terrain feature on it, they're not supposed to be considered "connected". Same thing with lakes that are too small to have a water-dwelling population (the larger "lakes" are actually inner seas.)

some starting places were many times better than others.

This is by design, since the map is based on a pseudo-realistic world. This means that not everyone's lot is equal. I have a strong personal dislike for symmetrical maps where everyone has equal resources in the vicinity and are equidistant from each other...

That "many times better" sounds a bit worrisome, though. Did you consider just the starting income and not, for example, the availability of magic sites which can translate into income via alchemy? The mountain regions should have much more magic sites than the richer farmlands.

I started on the grey place at south, and all provinces had income 2-10 so I had almost 20 useless coastal provinces and I lost immiadately when atlantis attacked because my income was only 200, and 100 came from the capital.

Hm. The poor area around province #16 (your starting location, I believe) is fairly low-income, but should be rich in magic sites. Some fairly rich provinces are pretty near in the west. In one of my test games, I started from the same location and expanded west- and northwards. I also began systematic magic site searching early and alchemized gems to gold whenever I needed money in a pinch. Won the game, but it was by far the hardest. Perhaps I could add some mines into the mountain regions to make 'em more worthwhile.

The sea nations can be a balance problem, since there are so many sea provinces. I'll look into it some more.

[Crandaeolon]

I checked the map thoroughly for neighbour connection problems, but couldn't find any that were not intended. Although originally they weren't supposed to be linked, #27 and #39 will probably be linked in the next update, since the obstacle doesn't really serve any useful purpose.

I'll consider adding some mines to the poorer areas. That should make money differences a bit less pronounced while still feeling thematic. If my understanding is correct, using

#setland X
#knownfeature "Y"

without the #killfeatures switch will add a feature Y to the province X if the 4 magic site slots were not filled by the random assigning of sites. Is it so?

I'd be most interested in opinions on the sea nations. Are they too strong on a map like this?

[PvK]

A very nice looking map! I'm looking forward to playing on it!

The number of sea provinces looks fine to me. Perhaps the balance of acquatic nations could be tweaked by adjusting the values of those provinces. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if they need to be tweaked, but I don't think simply the number of them is necessarily a problem by itself.

PvK

[ April 17, 2004, 21:28: Message edited by: PvK ]