I just randomically checked 4 starts: Kuro, Brick, Azza and Teleh. I think the quality difference between Kuro's great start (irrigated corn, grass forest dear, fish + clam) and Azza's less great start (plains cow, plains wheat, 3x clams two tiles away) struck me. However, because I haven't followed the organization thread, I'm not sure if this game is supposed to be balanced or roughly balanced or something else.
(May 8th, 2013, 15:59)Fintourist Wrote: How did BrickXenuBoldly-team end up playing here? I think they have combined quite a lot of MP experience and if they are putting effort into this and are not just strolling casually they should belong to favorites. Although, I do believe that at least someone of the totally new players will play very well.
However, I think the game will be much decided by the "worst player". I guess that at least one or two players are going to play very badly and that won't really benefit other players equally. Someone might get extra 50 % expansion room and later an easy target completely for free while others are competing for land.
Of course, I'm giving my assessment here with the experience of 0 finished MP games..
EDIT: It seems that Lewwyn already asked team xenu the same question in their thread, and yeah, as a green I would not mind playing against more experienced players. However, teleh wished to play with complete newbs... so I can't make up my mind..
Brick is definitely green enough for this game on his own. not really sure about the twins, though. the problem is Teleh defined greens differently than we define them. He originally rejected Azza and Jowy - who would almost certainly be classified as greens on this board (no offense to either of them). I guess he wanted "no experience at all" which is hard to get for a pb - he should have gone with a pbem if that was intention.
Please don't go. The drones need you. They look up to you.
There is no way that I'm going to bet on this game. The only thing that I'm sure about is that there will be surprises.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
![[Image: walking-cat_zpsdcff65ef.jpg]](http://s1121.photobucket.com/user/Lewwyn/media/walking-cat_zpsdcff65ef.jpg.html)