Chicago [Quenched]

[lanyards]

My circles are currently 22x22. What's the smallest they can be ?

http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21353

That thread may help you out. 22x22 is probably the perfect size, but I'd say the lowest you should go is 20x20.

[thenobodies80]

A wonderful map, good work!

I am pleased to issue this map the draft stamp on behalf of the foundry community



Have a nice day

thenobodies80

[lanyards]

Congrats. The red text in the bottom left legend is hard to see by the way.

[Scott-Land]

A wonderful map, good work!

I am pleased to issue this map the draft stamp on behalf of the foundry community



Have a nice day

thenobodies80

Woah--- almost as nice as getting the red balloon. Cheers !

Congrats. The red text in the bottom left legend is hard to see by the way.

Yep Tisha said the same thing. I'll work on it in the next update.

[lostatlimbo]

wow - this one just keeps getting better. very nice visuals.

i agree that there is a need for clarity about the helipads-airports. players won't be privvy to your thought process when playing their first game on this map and the way you've presented these attack points creates uncertainty - something you don't want to find out the hard way during the game.

i do agree with you that the bridges need not be in the legend. they are self-exclamatory. however, i used stylistically similar bridges in my Portland map (in the Foundry) and they were not well-received. maybe they suit your map better, but just a heads-up.

is the "L train" all three colors? if so, your legend should say "L trains". if not, which color is the L train?

my only other complaint is that I can't tell where The Loop connects. does it connect to River North? to all 3 of the trains? or just the orange one?

great work Scott-Land

[Peter Gibbons]

This map looks spectacular.

Only suggestion I have right now is very small. For the Jefferson Park territory, I'd move the text up slightly so "Jefferson" can fit across without being hyphenated (even with the "Norwood Park" text). If you do that, I think it would leave enough room for the troop circle to be brought down more toward the center of the territory. You might also have to move the rail line down slightly, too.

As it stands now the circle is at an extreme point at an already oddly shaped region--I could see people overlooking it and mistakenly think that the rail territory is actually the Jefferson Park territory, too.

[WidowMakers]

Scott-land...what can i say, very nice indeed.
The only small issue i have is will the map still have the same legibility and clarity for territory names etc, when it is in it's small version size?
I'm in favour of moving it to the foundry.

I certainly can't complain about my experience here in the foundry. So nice to see all the veteran map makers [and everyone] in here giving solid advice and being so helpful. Thx Cairns.

I'm wondering if there's another way to resize the image without getting it distorted. I haven't done much with the small version. Actually I haven't done anything at all but resize it to get a perspective. I do lose ALL my lines and borders (well no I get them in triplicate )- is there another way to resize outside of Image Size in PS without sacrificing legibility ? I'm afraid the answer's gonna be to basically redo the whole thing. ?!

Basically for my maps I take my large psd file and save a version without the territory text, army circles and sometimes the legend and legend text (depending on the amount of wording and detail). I then resize the small to about 80% of the large and import the image to resize. I then bring the large sized layers over from the large psd file. That way teh circles are not smaller and the text is the same. Even though you will still need to tweak teh text (try 90% smaller to start) it will not shrink the same rate as the rest of the map.

Hope this helps.
WM

P.S. Since your borders are 1 pixel thick, you will need to redo them in teh small version since they will not scale properly.

[Scott-Land]

Scott-land...what can i say, very nice indeed.
The only small issue i have is will the map still have the same legibility and clarity for territory names etc, when it is in it's small version size?
I'm in favour of moving it to the foundry.

I certainly can't complain about my experience here in the foundry. So nice to see all the veteran map makers [and everyone] in here giving solid advice and being so helpful. Thx Cairns.

I'm wondering if there's another way to resize the image without getting it distorted. I haven't done much with the small version. Actually I haven't done anything at all but resize it to get a perspective. I do lose ALL my lines and borders (well no I get them in triplicate )- is there another way to resize outside of Image Size in PS without sacrificing legibility ? I'm afraid the answer's gonna be to basically redo the whole thing. ?!

Basically for my maps I take my large psd file and save a version without the territory text, army circles and sometimes the legend and legend text (depending on the amount of wording and detail). I then resize the small to about 80% of the large and import the image to resize. I then bring the large sized layers over from the large psd file. That way teh circles are not smaller and the text is the same. Even though you will still need to tweak teh text (try 90% smaller to start) it will not shrink the same rate as the rest of the map.

Hope this helps.
WM

P.S. Since your borders are 1 pixel thick, you will need to redo them in teh small version since they will not scale properly.

Very helpful indeed. My bonus borders are 2 and terr 1. You're right I'm redoing the entire borders for the small map. Everything else seems okay. Rails will take some time but other than that....it's moving along. Thanks.

[iancanton]

moved into the main foundry. onward and upward!

ian.

[Tisha]

moved into the main foundry. onward and upward!

ian.

getting there

you caught up with me

better not pass me

[Scott-Land]

moved into the main foundry. onward and upward!

ian.

getting there

you caught up with me

better not pass me

What I may have to do to get my map quenched is to tuck it under yours and sneak it through the foundry.

[Gutshots]

Very cool

[MrBenn]

I've been paying a passing interest on the development of this map, but haven't found the time to come in and say what a good job you're doing

Graphically, there is very little to pick fault with; the primary task from here is to iron out the gameplay side of things... once you've got that done, then I can see things progressing fairly swiftly.

It's 1am for me now, so I'll refrain from having an in depth look until my brain is functioning a little more normally!

[Scott-Land]

I've been paying a passing interest on the development of this map, but haven't found the time to come in and say what a good job you're doing

Graphically, there is very little to pick fault with; the primary task from here is to iron out the gameplay side of things... once you've got that done, then I can see things progressing fairly swiftly.

It's 1am for me now, so I'll refrain from having an in depth look until my brain is functioning a little more normally!

Music to my ears-- I was preparing for the worse-- just assumed this would be a long and painful process. Thanx for the good news Benn.

---------
Update
Quite a few changes had to be made to convert it to the small version but nothing dramatic. It's all still pretty much there-- just a lot of tweaking.

Using a different font and I'm not 100% convinced although the legibility has improved quite a bit.

Click image to enlarge.

[lt_oddball]

I don't know Chicago, but you had me confused with "el train" being a hispenglish word; "el" "train". Some sort of joke towards the hispanic immigrant community in Chicago ?.
If EL is short for express line or something, please indicate so.
Or shorter "E.L.T." with the dots...

[barterer2002]

The El is the name of the Elevated train in Chicago. Its not racist at all its what its called and has always been called.

Scott, I'm ready to play on this one

[lt_oddball]

[quote="barterer2002"]The El is the name of the Elevated train in Chicago. Its not racist at all its what its called and has always been called.

/quote]

I know it wasn't meant demeaning ..but not every players knows the situation in Chicago and it just might pose a bit confusion/frowning.. which can be easily adjusted.

[Scott-Land]

I don't know Chicago, but you had me confused with "el train" being a hispenglish word; "el" "train". Some sort of joke towards the hispanic immigrant community in Chicago ?.
If EL is short for express line or something, please indicate so.
Or shorter "E.L.T." with the dots...

Odd. Very odd.

[Blitzaholic]

Wow Scotty, excellent work for a first version, ad the graphics are outstanding.

3 Questions though


1. where is wrigley park? or did you not want that with chicago map?

2. why red, blue and orange colors for train bonus? why not red, blue, green?

3. how many territories? 55 or so?

[Scott-Land]

Wow Scotty, excellent work for a first version, ad the graphics are outstanding.

3 Questions though


1. where is wrigley park? or did you not want that with chicago map?

2. why red, blue and orange colors for train bonus? why not red, blue, green?

3. how many territories? 55 or so?

Thx Blitzy...

1. Chicago has so many fields with the Bulls, Cubs, White Socks, and the Bears. I suppose Cubs is tradition. How were you thinking of incorporating the stadium into the map? To answer your question, it's in northern Chicago in Lakeview.

2. Those colors are the actual el rail lines-- 3 of 8 I think. The Green line doesn't cross the territories I wanted for game play.

3. It's 56 total territories. I did the numbers for 54,55, and 57 and asked George's advice and we thought 56 was the best option. The other amounts gave way to a ton of neutrals.

Starting terrs - deployment
2 players: 28 - 14
3 players: 18 - 6 + 2 Neutrals
4 players: 14 - 4
5 players : 11 - 3 + 1 Neutral
6 players: 9 - 3 + 2 Neutrals
7 players: 8 - 3
8 players: 7 - 3

Also Firstholliday brought up a point.... thinks there should be another small bonus somewhere. Perhaps what about adding Lakeview and Lincoln Park to The Loop bonus that'll I'll make 9 or so. Then I'd have 4 terrs + 1 rail station in North Side bonus @ 3. I've already decided to change West Loop @ 4. Maybe I'll make a quick visual and poll it.

[the.killing.44]

For 1v1 games, the territories are still split 3 ways, the 3rd being neutral. We tend to avoid having starting tert numbers that can be dropped Rd. 1 (like 6 here, easily dropped to 5 with 1 tert taken). Perhaps we can find something to code neutral; I'll come back for a better comment. Until then, keep up the stellar work

.44

[Scott-Land]

For 1v1 games, the territories are still split 3 ways, the 3rd being neutral. We tend to avoid having starting tert numbers that can be dropped Rd. 1 (like 6 here, easily dropped to 5 with 1 tert taken). Perhaps we can find something to code neutral; I'll come back for a better comment. Until then, keep up the stellar work

.44

Hehee- duh. That's right... neutrals. Works better of course.

[Blitzaholic]

Wow Scotty, excellent work for a first version, ad the graphics are outstanding.

3 Questions though


1. where is wrigley park? or did you not want that with chicago map?

2. why red, blue and orange colors for train bonus? why not red, blue, green?

3. how many territories? 55 or so?

Thx Blitzy...

1. Chicago has so many fields with the Bulls, Cubs, White Socks, and the Bears. I suppose Cubs is tradition. How were you thinking of incorporating the stadium into the map? To answer your question, it's in northern Chicago in Lakeview.

2. Those colors are the actual el rail lines-- 3 of 8 I think. The Green line doesn't cross the territories I wanted for game play.

3. It's 56 total territories. I did the numbers for 54,55, and 57 and asked George's advice and we thought 56 was the best option. The other amounts gave way to a ton of neutrals.

Starting terrs - deployment
2 players: 28 - 14
3 players: 18 - 6 + 2 Neutrals
4 players: 14 - 4
5 players : 11 - 3 + 1 Neutral
6 players: 9 - 3 + 2 Neutrals
7 players: 8 - 3
8 players: 7 - 3

Also Firstholliday brought up a point.... thinks there should be another small bonus somewhere. Perhaps what about adding Lakeview and Lincoln Park to The Loop bonus that'll I'll make 9 or so. Then I'd have 4 terrs + 1 rail station in North Side bonus @ 3. I've already decided to change West Loop @ 4. Maybe I'll make a quick visual and poll it.

oh yeah, good thinking, (another small bonus or 2 would be nice addition) and as far as the stadium of wrigley, I guess you dont need it

[Scott-Land]

*Graphical changes- used a different brush for Calumet River. Read somewhere that they said it wasn't clean. Made Chicago River a little smaller to see Loop boundaries a litte better.
*Game play changes

1- FirstHolliday suggested that we may need an additional small bonus. Couple of options, one, I took two territories from North Side and added them to The Loop bonus making North Side smaller. Also, I did a different one, taking Albany Park and added it O'hare bonus.

2. Neph suggested that I create an impass for Far South Side making it accessible to two territories as the bonus suggests. It also opened up Ashburn to be adjacent to three territories instead of just one. Killed two birds with that one as George didn't like Ashburn to be so isolated.

Neph also mentioned something about Loop territory-- if it was part of Orange Line bonus. I could see how that's confusing because that's where all the rails cross. It got me thinking if I should make that terr a Rail Station as well, considering in reality it is the heart of Chicago, and if so should it be part of which line or ALL? In the meanwhile, I moved the territory line over a bit to help clarify.

3. Readjusted bonus amounts of other bonuses as well.

4. Removed Roger's Park terr and added one to O'hare-- Edison Park.

Very nice suggestions fellas-- million thanks.

Poll added.

Original


Option 1: North Side / 4 Terr + Rail, +3 Bonus


Option 2: North Side / 3 Terr + Rail +2 Bonus

[murphy16]

Very nice map Scott, can't wait to play it.