Is that character a variant? (I just love getting asked that in channel.) - Charis

Create an account  

 
[No Players] PBEM9 Lurker and Map making Thread

I think I have a map ready to go but would like a second opinion. 

The requested map settings are Pangaea map with new world age and low sea plus 10 city states, everything else standard. I tried to place everybody off the coast with approximately equal settling space in all directions, i.e. equal back lines and forward lines. For city states, I place 1 in the back lines of everybody that would be no reason for them not to discover it first and then the rest are between players. 

The lay out is 2 northern players and 3 southern with everybody having access to at least 3 city states, with the middle player having access to 4. Everybody has similar starts with 2 marsh rice, horses, iron, sheep, and niter in the capital and everybody should have access to 2 copies of all strategic resources within there zone. Other than capitals, I left resources alone with the exception of adding a few luxuries around the map. The original map was missing a bunch of luxury types. I added Spice, Truffles, Silver, Tobacco, Salt, Ivory, Mercury, and Pearls. Every player should have access to some of those, plus whatever the map script generated. 

Anyways, here are the starts, starting in the southeast...




The player is the location in the middle with "2" by the city site. This is probably the most isolated location with the closest player just off screen in the upper left corner. City states are directly east and west and another one SW in the tundra. 

Next, in the northeast...




The player is the location in the middle with "5" by the city site. City state directly north, one southwest, one due south. You can see the western neighbor towards the left hand side.  

Now, in the middle southern spot....




Players spot is just west of the desert by the sheep. This spot actually has access to 4 city states but they are also in the middle. There is a city in the tundra, one east, one west, and one northeast. You can see player "5" in teh screenshot and another player is just out of teh shot directly north of the start.

Which is the northwest player...




This player probably has the most land to expand but a good portion is dry. I could move him a little to the west but wanted to give the southwestern player a little room to expand. You can see the Great Barrier Reef in a 3 tile lake in the lower left corner. I would have to say out the 50 or so maps I rolled looking for options about 25% or more had coastal wonders appear in small lakes. I don't know if I have every seen that in a SP game, but here it was a thing. One of the main reasons I had to roll 50 maps. This one was acceptable, so I went with it. For city states, one in the north, one southeast, and one southwest.

And lastly, the southwest player...




Spot is towards the left between sheep and horses. City States are south, northeast, and east. The middle player is just under the plot selector by "Terrain".

Bonus...




There is an island between the east and west coast. This was all there when I rolled the map and the more isolated players will be able to reach each other by coastal seas. 

So that is the map. Please let me know if you see anything game breaking or missing. I tried to make the starting city equal so nobody has a map advantage but didn't really change anything outside of that.
Reply

Also, is there a way to make this an "Important Thread" or does a Mod have to do that?
Reply

You accidentally duplicated your screenshot for start #5, it just shows the southeast player again. 

I'm not good at judging map balance, but it looks like there's a ton of space between the southwest and the northwest starts. Similarly, the southeast and the southwest players both have access to that island for potential expansion. The central player looks pretty cramped. I know that's gonna happen in a 5-player pangaea map, but is there any way to alleviate that at all? Perhaps some natural barriers or something to help the middle player defend? 

I glanced at bonus, strategic, and luxury resources, and there seemed to be a good balance. Most players should be able to get the early eurekas like irrigation, horseback riding, iron working, etc. Only geography looked uncertain to me.
I Think I'm Gwangju Like It Here

A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
Reply

(March 2nd, 2018, 16:55)Chevalier Mal Fet Wrote: You accidentally duplicated your screenshot for start #5, it just shows the southeast player again. 

I'm not good at judging map balance, but it looks like there's a ton of space between the southwest and the northwest starts. Similarly, the southeast and the southwest players both have access to that island for potential expansion. The central player looks pretty cramped. I know that's gonna happen in a 5-player pangaea map, but is there any way to alleviate that at all? Perhaps some natural barriers or something to help the middle player defend? 

I glanced at bonus, strategic, and luxury resources, and there seemed to be a good balance. Most players should be able to get the early eurekas like irrigation, horseback riding, iron working, etc. Only geography looked uncertain to me.

Screenshot should be fixed. 

The middle man does seem a little cramped but should be able to push east along the southern coast. There is a lot of space between the middle man and the southeast player. I could push the northwest player a little more west so he is not directly north, as there is a little more room up there. Might give the middle man a little more room.

Edit: And I could add a few mountains between middle man and the southwest player but unsure about this one.
Reply

[Image: Str%203.jpg]

This start seems pretty poor, I guess the tileyields themselves are good, but it needs Bronze Working to be able to improve all those jungle hills AND Irrigation to improve the bananas and luxes. That is a pretty large tech investment which'll make it hard to get Craftmanship boost. On top of that there is no farmable bonus resource to boost Irrigation. Two desert hills and two flat desert tiles in the first two rings is also a pretty tough sell. It's the kind of start I'd reroll in Single Player, though I could see someone argue that the abundance of 4 yield tiles makes up for the start's "tech difficulty" somewhat. It just doesn't seem like a "fun" start to me compared to the others.

My improvement to this start would be to turn one of the flat deserts to the Southeast into a wheat/rice tile. This significantly boosts up the aqcuisition of Irrigation while not making too much of a differnce to the growth curve.
Reply

@Japper, I think you are looking at the city state east of the desert (next to the tile selector). The player's start is near the left hand side, west of the desert, right next to the sheep, just south of the jungle line. That city state site would suck as a capital!

Edit: I would get a better shot of this site but for some reason the resource icons are showing up anymore in the world builder file (and no it is not that the check box is unchecked). The map still builds correctly but no icons in world builder.
Reply

Oh sorry, so I am! To be clear it is the double rice, cow, sheep one then right? That start is fine.
Reply

(March 2nd, 2018, 19:38)Japper007 Wrote: Oh sorry, so I am! To be clear it is the double rice, cow, sheep one then right? That start is fine.

Yep, that is the one!
Reply

Player #3 (monkey-in-the-middle) doesn't seem to have a source of Coal. Probably the least important strategic, given that it's only good for naval units, but still something to keep in mind. Other than that strategic distribution looks fine.
Reply

(March 3rd, 2018, 00:26)Quagma Blast Wrote: Player #3 (monkey-in-the-middle) doesn't seem to have a source of Coal. Probably the least important strategic, given that it's only good for naval units, but still something to keep in mind. Other than that strategic distribution looks fine.

Thanks! I think they have one down in the tundra but will add over by the desert area.
Reply



Forum Jump: