[Abandoned] -The Chako/K'zari War

[JamesKer1]

That looks so much better. I know this isn't needed now since it is only working for draft stamp, but I think red bonus might be overstated? Blue is a whole lot harder to hold than red and it gets less? I understand the Ship affects it... Maybe make over the water beside red, and not count it as part of the bonus? Just my thoughts, might not agree with me. But definitely like the progress!

[DearCyrus]

Yeah, I was wondering what people would think about the bonus on red. The ship itself can be attacked from 9 different places so they may be about on par as to difficulty to hold, plus more people will likely try to take red for the auto-deploy the ship offers. My thought is that making the bonus higher will force action to funnel towards red. Story wise, who ever starts possessing the ship (which i think I should code player 1?) is representing the K'Zari forces and everyone else are the human tribes. The human players will likely gang up on this starting threat, so a the potential of a high bonus may balance things out. Personally I would like to see this in a beta situation the way it is and see how it plays out! lol
Is there anything else you would like to see changes on?

[koontz1973]

Cyrus, moved you to the drafting room for now. A bit of a way to go for the stamp though so will pop back in later today to give you some ideas on how to move this forward.

But one thing you can do though is to put the title onto the map itself.

[iAmCaffeine]

This looks really good actually. I don't have time to look in depth now, but two things that I noticed straight away:

1. The land looks a lot like a grid-type system with the mountains and whatnot, but underneath Reiden in Chako it looks better. Maybe make it more flexible and not so uniform?

2. Just a little thing.. Using the < > tags in the legend makes me think of html. Can it just be normal?

[DearCyrus]

I actually had it normal and changed it for 2 reasons. 1. It looked REALLY plain... Boring even. 2. The grid type display and text boxes are intended to give the impression of the alien ships console displaying a map of the planet. Having the text bracketed is a way several Comics I read show that what is being read /said is in another language, in this case K'Zari. But I can definitely throw up a version without it and see what everyone thinks.
Thanks for the input!

[iAmCaffeine]

I don't see a problem with the grid system, but currently I get the impression it's just bad graphics rather than a scan from a console. Light green lines or similar would make that more apparent. Have a plan around? Maybe even a surrounding border as if the planet is being looked at from some kind of spacecraft. I don't know, just brainstorming.

Ah, I haven't read a comic in a long time but that sounds familiar. You could just make it italic, mix colours up or something? Not a big deal in the end really.

[DearCyrus]

So a brighter green, then?

[DearCyrus]

Here is version 2.1

Changes: Added Map name(top box), brightened the grid lines, added more texture to grid (in ocean and on land), Changed the type of brackets used so as to look less html-y, and changed the blue island text (which I still don't like !)

Personally, I think the grid may need to find some happy medium between the two shades of green... Thoughts?

[DearCyrus]

Aaand, Version 2.2 featuring Hex Grid!

show

[iAmCaffeine]

Hex Grid is definitely better, plus I can still read the map.

[Butters1919]

if it's a one or the other, DEFINITELY hex. the square grid almost induced a seizure.

[DearCyrus]

Lol. How about between hex and version 1?

[iAmCaffeine]

Probably Hex.

[DearCyrus]

Version 3 is here featuring updated ship graphic and using the hex grid. I think I may want to tone the grid down slightly by decreasing opacity, but I am on the fence about it... I also added some little telepod graphics which I dont know if they add anything to the map, or just make it look cluttered. Thoughts?

[koontz1973]

Cyrus, here are some things to think about.

The grid.

Neither grid worked as they where. The hex grid is just not going to work for what you want so would be best to just discard this. If you keep the grid system, go back to the square one but change it to something that loks like in the spoiler below.


show


What you see it the lines of the terrain going round objects and getting closer or further away. This is why neither gird worked. But this is something that needs to be sorted. Personal opinion is that the grid could look fantastic if done right but really bad if done wrong.

Colours.
Land and sea colours are pretty much OK. It is the ones you have chosen for the hot air balloons, region names and roads. These need to be muted a lot. They are so bright, they give me a headache.
Balloons.
Whilst you have tried to go a different route with the army circles, I would consider removing them completely. They are an over complication that as of now detracts from the rest of the map. These can go back later for refinement.
Sur.
Remove this region as you cannot get the name next to the region.
Name.
Why this name? Why are they at war? All I can see is a crashed ship and it is not in a region of the war. Nothing about the map says war and further more, nothing says chako/karzi war.

That is 5 things. Not much and will pop back later to see the next update.

[DearCyrus]

Cyrus, here are some things to think about.

The grid.

Neither grid worked as they where. The hex grid is just not going to work for what you want so would be best to just discard this. If you keep the grid system, go back to the square one but change it to something that loks like in the spoiler below.


show


What you see it the lines of the terrain going round objects and getting closer or further away. This is why neither gird worked. But this is something that needs to be sorted. Personal opinion is that the grid could look fantastic if done right but really bad if done wrong.

Colours.
Land and sea colours are pretty much OK. It is the ones you have chosen for the hot air balloons, region names and roads. These need to be muted a lot. They are so bright, they give me a headache.
Balloons.
Whilst you have tried to go a different route with the army circles, I would consider removing them completely. They are an over complication that as of now detracts from the rest of the map. These can go back later for refinement.
Sur.
Remove this region as you cannot get the name next to the region.
Name.
Why this name? Why are they at war? All I can see is a crashed ship and it is not in a region of the war. Nothing about the map says war and further more, nothing says chako/karzi war.That is 5 things. Not much and will pop back later to see the next update.

I feel this updated map addresses all of the issues brought up. Grid is no longer an issue and nautical orientation grids can be muted if too distracting. Colors have been muted substantially, changed text to black. The "balloons" have been removed as they are not necessary in this map version. Sur; name fits, it stays.
And the big one.... If I hope to do anything with this map, it is to make something that hasn't existed before, and Man is naming a new thing hard. I have put a lot of thought into the names of my territs and Islands and even my alien race. The back story included in the top post is the birthplace of my map. Indeed, it started with the story. In the original map concept, I meant to show the map how it would appear on a K'Zari warship display, complete with topographic-grids, hologram pop-outs displaying troop info (balloons). All of those features were ultimately space wasting and did not allow for any story elements to be added. I planned use of a GIF to scroll some story in a frame in the corner, but was advised against for speed match's sake. Hopefully changing to the map view of the once peaceful islanders will help show what is going on a bit better.



Version 4
Changes:Major facelift to reflect the Chako view of the map, as posed to the K'Zari's.
added a sea route between Ashad and Solve. I got alot more of the story on to the map, but now need to get Auto deploy and other info back on .

[koontz1973]

Honestly, much much better. Still along way to go but a huge improvement over the old grid systems. This is a real improvement and could be the basis of a great map.

A few things then extra for now.
Names, give each name a glow of the bonus colour. This will make is easy to see which bonus goes for each region. Then you can lose the island glows. This will improve the borders between green and pink.
List the bonuses from top left to bottom right. Like this.

Arande
Gelde Ma
Bardle
Velamad
Amustrate
Chako

Name change might be in order. Something like Invasion Chako, or Operation Chako. But have a think about this before you do it as you will never get eveyone to agree. I spent a week trying to get agreement over the Rorke's Drift maps name.
Story can go small, bonuses can go larger.

[Bruceswar]

looks better... lighten those black lines!

[iAmCaffeine]

This looks a whole lot better.

[koontz1973]

lighten those black lines!

agreed, but turn the layer of completely for now. They need refining.

[DearCyrus]

Thanks guys!

[DearCyrus]

lighten those black lines!

agreed, but turn the layer of completely for now. They need refining.

Sure, not a problem. However if you can provide an idea of how You feel they should be refined, I can include that in my planned update tonight, rather than duplicating effort...
Thanks!

[koontz1973]

You have two choices. Look at Eurasia or Vertex/Austrum. On all three of these maps you will see the lines done slightly different. My two are polar views while natty did his from top to bottom. What all three have are thinner lines that have a far reduced opacity. The line should go over everything and not under land. So thinner lines, reduced opacity, top layer. The best way to do them is to use a 1/2 pixel thickness at max. Copy and paste the line at 90 degree. Then copy and paste the two lines at 45 degrees. Make sure the middle stays as small as possible. If ou feel the need to do more than one, make them at equal spacing around the board. Right now they are just thrown on.

[DearCyrus]

You have two choices. Look at Eurasia or Vertex/Austrum. On all three of these maps you will see the lines done slightly different. My two are polar views while natty did his from top to bottom. What all three have are thinner lines that have a far reduced opacity. The line should go over everything and not under land.

While I appreciate your thought Koontz, I disagree. All 3 of Your examples have one major difference from the map I am creating, and that is scale. Each example is on a global scale while mine is that of a single island chain. I chose to go with the flat plane model of charting used pre-Mercator.
Examples include this

and this


Often these maps do not have the lines going through the land as they are used for naval charts like what an Island dwelling people would use... Some do however, SO I will include 2 versions in my update for comparison. Use of a sea chart style map comparable to something made in the 1700's also highlights the gap between the Islanders and star-faring aliens.

If (Y)ou feel the need to do more than one, make them at equal spacing around the board. Right now they are just thrown on.

As far as positioning, I will alter positions to triangulate on each other while intersecting prominent land features.
Update soon.

[koontz1973]

While I appreciate your thought Koontz, I disagree. All 3 of Your examples have one major difference from the map I am creating, and that is scale. Each example is on a global scale while mine is that of a single island chain. I chose to go with the flat plane model of charting used pre-Mercator.

But nothing about your map suggests this? I thought it was a sci fi map about an lien invasion. The battles all take place on land, so why have you brought in a sea element to the image when

• it is not needed,
• does not fit the theme.

Neither example is out of scale, they are just a way to get the lines done properly. Your second example, they are at equal spacing which is how I said to make them look better. Also, depending on the size of islands, the amount you have is wrong. As fopr having them above or below the land, as above it does not fit the theme. You are not doing a sea based map. No where on the map do you have ships.