Popularity of the Faerun Map?

[Edi]

All right, question time: Seems to me that there are a lot of games going on on the Faerun map I made a couple of months ago, but I'd like to know just how popular that map really is. So please give me some feedback on it.

Reason being that the map files do need some updating (a few beighbor issues, I think, as well as most of the special indie forts needing axing), but I've not had much interest in doing that.

One of the reasons that I haven't had much interest for that is that I personally found the map as published...disappointing. There were criticisms about the number of provinces, about some of the indie provinces and how they could upset gameplay by giving some nations overly powerful advantages, and how it was difficult to see where provinces were. Most of these criticisms were spot on, and in the end I was privately rather upset with the end result despite its apparent popularity. For the record, I haven't played a single game on it for these reasons.

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NEW FAERUN (small)

Another reason I'm not particularly enthusiastic about updating the old map file without significant demand is because I made a whole new map using the old Faerun.tga as a base, and I think it's much better than the first Version. It's got a round 100 provinces less (324) than the original, all nations on the map, and almost all of the other problems inherent with the old map solved. Province flag positions are marked wih a black starburst, neighbors have been better checked (not complete yet, this phase, but in just two or three test games I found several that needed removal).

Most of the specials on the new map are the same as on the old one, some are new and many are improved over the old Version. There is also a Nospec Version of the map, with just fixed start locales and only three specially garrisoned provinces (port cities), everything else is left blank. Some start locales have also been changed for improved map balance (Abysia was rather badly shafted Last time around, this is now fixed).

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So, how much interest for the new Version?

In any case, you people have enough time on your hands to post in this thread, as I'll be offline and out of touch from Thursday morning until Sunday.

Edi

[NTJedi]

Personally I always prefer the x-large maps. Also according to Gandalf the x-large maps are the most popular downloads from his website... no opinions just facts. The larger the maps the more time players have to develop their empire and the larger the battles can be.
The starting locations of some players did provide a large advantage... but it's still a great map for the overall content. The best way the map can be improved is if the developers add a method/command where independents can be placed on patrolling. Then an army can be on the outside and inside of a castle.

[JJ_Colorado]

a 324 province map sounds good to me, better than the current size which seems too large even though i generally like large maps.

I'm about to play a game on the Faerun map and am disappointed that there are problems w/ it but thanks for making it anyway.

John

[Mardagg]

I think a smaller Version of the current Faerun Map with more balanced starting position would be very good.
Personally,I think that around 300 provinces fit perfect for an epic Multiplayer battle as the upper maximum limit,whereas +400 are just one thing:too much.
For single player games,I actually do like the old Faerun map(just startetd an interesting game there) btw.

[PvK]

I think it's a great map. Beautiful and huge, but still with lots of detail everywhere. There is an appeal to the enormous number of provinces, even though it poses some insane time challenges for gameplay. Some people like enormous monster games, and this provides. There are of course also balance issues, and an advantage for people who know the map in advance versus those who are unfamiliar with it.

I haven't seen the new Version, so it's hard to know which I would prefer. They sound like they both offer different things, but the newer one is more refined and balanced. The larger one will probably still have its appeal thanks to sheer enormousness. Also I wonder how the black stars for flags will will look. Part of the appeal of the map is that it's very nice to look at, and clarity at the expense of black stars all over the place might be something I'd like to be able to turn off. If it's the same image and pixel size, though (is it??), players could just use the un-starred TGA.

PvK

[Cohen]

I'd like a lot Faerun map because it's huge.
I love huge games where is needed a long term planning of strategy.
I love too the Forgotten Realms world since I'm a D&D/AD&D player.

I love to know that in the map there're special locations with good magic sites or with a strategical importance, more than mere common provinces.

I'm sad to hear Faerun with less provinces.

However the current Faerun has some limits, while I like a lot starting position fixed in those sort of scenario map, some Nations start too close to them (like Marignon-Pythium) and other like Abysya (my preferred) started with 4 neighbouring land provinces, 3 of them with Indies set by map, very strong, and very hard to conquer, and 3 out of 4 were 1waste-2spawmps. And the waste was the free one.

I hope in better balance for sure, and I'd like to modify the current Faerun map if the map creator (Edi) allows me to do that.

[NTJedi]

I currently recommend playing the old Faerun map with starting locations disabled. Then all players are randomly placed onto the map.

Hopefully we will see new maps with 400 or more provinces in the future too! The bigger the maps the bigger the battles.

[ July 07, 2004, 16:36: Message edited by: NTJedi ]

[BouquetOfFlowers]

I am currently playing as C'Tis Desert Tombs on the Faerun map and am enjoying it quite a bit. It's the first time I will finish out the research tree while there is still significant opposition left on the map, so I get to try out lots of cool stuff, like Wish. The fact that there are neat special sites scattered around the map (some of them very tough) has made things interesting throughout. It took me many turns and three castle storming attempts to finally take over the City of Shadows right near the C'Tis starting position. When I finally killed Horus Ra with a lucky Disintegrate it was a very proud moment.
I would love to have an updated Version of the big map for the next time I want to try out an epic game. A smaller Version would be cool, too, but I am not as excited about that because, as has been said earlier, there are other well done small maps, but not really any other large maps with as much effort put into them.

[daesthai]

Bobum and I just started a game on the Faerun map (with a lot of AI nations). Too early yet to say much other than the fact that it's a beautiful map. I would be very curious though to see your updated Version. Is that one already available?

[Edi]

The new Version is not available Online yet, I'm just sounding out the general feelings about the large Faerun (the old one) and people's feelings about a smaller Version, which would naturally not have any impact on the availability of the old Version.

I was kind of expecting this two-fold response, that some would prefer a slightly smaller map and others would object to having the number of provinces cut.

It is my opinion that the smaller map is better suited for multislayer games because it won't take quite as much (that being relative, mind you) time to finish a game, it's better balanced and it still has huge scope. The old one gives me a constricted feeling whenever I try to start a game on it, there are too many too closely spaced provinces that hem you in and turn the map into a slow, slogging morass. Personal opinion, of course, I know some of you like the huge maps, especially for SP games.

PvK, the black stars I talked about are no bigger than the common city/village markers on the map, they just denote province location so you know where to look for places to go. One of the criticisms I remember was Zen or somebody else saying it was difficult to even locate provinces on the map, even with the neighbors filter on. Now there's a very small black star marked around the white pixel to show clearly, yet unobtrusively, where the provinces are. Much, much better than the old hide and seek game, I've noticed in test games.

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming and I'll get back to it next Monday, I need to log off in just a couple of minutes. But looks like there is quite enough demand for a revised map file for the old Faerun map. I'll probably reshuffle some start locations to reflect the newer Version, because it works better that way.

I'll also give you a nospec Version which cuts the specials out and it can be played just like any generic map. The update will take a while, though, because the map is so large.

Also in the works: A Dragonlance map, based on the downloadable poster map, but it still needs province assignment and is a long way from being complete. It's also going to be highly thematic, but you'll also get all three varieties (normal thematic, quickstart and nospec) to begin with when I'm done. Expect that to take a while, though. I want to have time to also play instead of just making maps.

Now, see you all on Monday.

Edi