MP: Standards - MA Game (running)

[Calahan]

AoE / All

I've been running a few test games on the map provided, and some of the start locations seem a bit un-balanced to me.

Good start locations include-

Land (120) - 5xMountains 1xWaste = Will have insanely good capital resources.
Land (128) - 3xNormal 2xMountains 1xForest 1xFarmland = Good all round, as 7 is a lot of bordering provinces for a start location.
Land (171) - 5xMountains = Will have insanely good capital resources.
Land (31) - 2xFarmland 2xNormal 2xMountain 1xSwamp 1xWaste = Good all round, and 8 is a crazy number of bordering provinces for a start location.
Land (148) - 3xFarmland 3xNormal = Should mean a huge amount on income very quickly.
Land (64) - 4xNormal 4xMountain = Good all round, and 8 is a crazy number of bordering provinces for a start location.
Land (100) - 5xNormal 1xFarmland 1xForest = Good all round, as 7 is a lot of bordering provinces for a start location.


Bad start locations-

Land (103) - 2xWater 1xFarmland 1xSwamp 1xNormal = Will have awful capital resources, and 3 bordering provinces is bare minimum for start location.
Land (72) - 2xNormal 1xFarmland 1xWater = Will have bad capital resources, and 3 bordering provinces is bare minimum for start location.
Land (45) - 3xNormal 2xWater = Will have bad capital resources, and 3 bordering provinces is bare minimum for start location.
Land (18) - 2xForest 1xSwamp 1xWater = Will have poor capital resources, and very poor income. Plus 3 bordering provinces is bare minimum for start location, and made worse by one being a swamp.
Land (176) - 2xMountain 1xFarmland = Any land start location that only has 3 bordering provinces is mostly always bad.


I'm not against Good or Bad starting locations in principal, but I think it will be too unbalancing if one nation starts in a really great location, while another nation starts in a really bad one. (18) and (103) being particularly bad in my opinion. These are also just a few examples which I seen, there way well be more of both.

Not sure if this is all just part of the map, and WaD, or if the fixed start locations aren't working or something (I have no experience with map making/editing).

What do others think? If this is a problem then best get it sorted before the game starts rather than having to go through several re-starts trying to make everyone happy.

[46852]

Having tested a few games with the map, I agree with Calahan (no, he's not pointing a .44 at my head and forcing me to write this).

Some of the starting locations I received seemed really advantageous, while some were below average and presented some strategic difficulties at the same time.

I don't mind random maps, but fixed (at least on some level) starting locations are a must on them when playing MP.


PS. Looking at the start I just created, fixed locations would fix the possibility of crowded corners of the map etc. In this start, there's like 7 nations out of 12 packed in the southwest quarter of the map, and I have 3 nations' capitals 3 provinces away from my capital