[Abandoned] - Morocco

[ironsij0287]

Map Name: Morocco
Mapmaker(s): ironsij0287
Number of Territories: 45
Special Features: Auto-Deploys, Victory Condition, Neutrals
What Makes This Map Worthy of Being Made: A map featuring Morocco has not been made, nor has there been many CC maps thus far that focus on this region in general.

Map Image: Version 1
[bigimg]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a193/ironsij0287/morocco/Morocco-1.png[/bigimg]

The Medinas would all start out as neutrals (3, maybe higher). Gibraltar would be a neutral 6 to start. The desert route would be a neutral 2 or 3 that resets after each turn.

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June 2, 2011
My latest idea for a map is Morocco. It seems like an interesting area to do. The Atlas Mountains can offer some impassable terrain, and the coastline along the Atlantic and Mediterranean offers sea routes.

Also several cities in Morocco have medina quarters which are centuries old walled off cities that are incredibly dense. The medinas purposely had very winding maze-like narrow streets that helped ward off invaders. I think including some medinas as possible autodeploy points would be cool. Make them a neutral 3 or higher to start the game. Then if a player holds a medina they can only bombard the territory they're in (warding off invasion).

I've got a real rough draft of a map put together and it seems doable. 33 territories and like 6 bonus regions.

Any thoughts?

[AndyDufresne]

I've always wanted to see more maps with Africa as a subject/theme---either in terms of region like Northwest Africa or in terms of countries. Morocco does have some notable cities as well, so the idea does have that going for it, and the layout looks conducive to a map.


--Andy

[Victor Sullivan]

I agree with Andy, Africa needs some love on this site. I wonder if maybe you could do something with the whole Morocco/Western Sahara split? Just thinking out loud. It'd be neat to see a draft!

-Sully

[ironsij0287]

I agree with Andy, Africa needs some love on this site. I wonder if maybe you could do something with the whole Morocco/Western Sahara split? Just thinking out loud. It'd be neat to see a draft!

-Sully

yeah I'm fiddling with a draft right now.

Western Sahara I haven't decided on yet. I may include part of it on the map but really there's not a whole lot in that region.

I'm also thinking about having territories for the Canary Islands and the two Spanish exclaves Ceuta and Melilla.

[lutzj]

It'd be cool to have routes through the Sahara with killer neutrals/ decay to open up the map a bit.

[ironsij0287]

It'd be cool to have routes through the Sahara with killer neutrals/ decay to open up the map a bit.

I hadn't thought about that but I may use it.

Now that Quad Cities XML is ready to roll I can work on this a bit more.

[ironsij0287]

OK so here's a really rough draft of the country.

[bigimg]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a193/ironsij0287/morocco/Morocco-1100.jpg[/bigimg]

All of this was done in ArcView so far. No Photoshop yet. Basically you've got the provinces split up into the various designated regions. The mountains I added to show potential impassables.

I guess just from this point, what do you think? The smaller territories around Casablanca may need to be consolidated a bit.

I still want to do medinas within various territories that will start as neutrals and then become +1 autodeploys when held. I also want to do sea routes along the coast and maybe a route through the Sahara connecting north and south with a decaying bonus in the middle.

[ironsij0287]

Also the amount of white space is quite large. I really hate angling maps unless absolutely necessary though.

[shakeycat]

That white space should be filled with a close-up of what's going on in that text block between El Jadida and Kenitra.

There also appear to be three bonus groups out of the seven which are composed of nine territories. The beige one at the bottom can be held with reinforcing just two territories.

If you can find a logical way to make these smaller, that might be good. Maybe split the beige one into 4 and 5 somewhere, and make the text block into its own one or two bonus groups.

What IS the division between these different bonus areas? Is it geographical, political, cultural?

[MrBenn]

The shape of the country isn't that great (due to the white space)... It's vaguely reminiscent of Indochina in that regard.... Is there anything you can do perspective-wise? Is there anything from the Battle of The Three Kings that would help thematically - there's the potential to do something of an inset in the white space if so...

[ironsij0287]

Had some time to play around with this more.

[bigimg]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a193/ironsij0287/Morocco.png[/bigimg]

Added medinas in each of the 7 main regions. The medinas will start out as neutrals (I don't have a set number in mind) and can be attacked from the terit they're located in. For victory, the player will need to control all medinas for one full turn.

I also added a route through the desert from up north to the southern part with a terit spot in the middle that will be a neutral that resets after a turn is made.

Then I added some sea routes connecting various regions as well as a pair of the Canary Islands which I thought could be a +1 if you also hold Gibraltar. Gibraltar would start neutral as well and be a +2 auto-deploy.

Obviously this is still very rough so don't mind the sad graphics

[natty dread]

Hm, why not. Looks like a playable concept. Stick some bonus values to it and call it a draft...

[ironsij0287]

With bonus numbers.

[bigimg]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a193/ironsij0287/morocco/Morocco-1.png[/bigimg]

[jcarter1]

the canary islands (in real) are 6 islands... obviously it doesnt have to be thaaat exact, but i would suggest to add at least one more island, make it so that gibraltar does not have to be held for the zone bonus and eventually up the bonus to +2 (but then i would move the connection lanzarote-tan-tan to lanzarote-tiznit/agadir and make another one from island 3 to tan-tan).

all in all this looks very good to me

[ironsij0287]

the canary islands (in real) are 6 islands... obviously it doesnt have to be thaaat exact, but i would suggest to add at least one more island, make it so that gibraltar does not have to be held for the zone bonus and eventually up the bonus to +2 (but then i would move the connection lanzarote-tan-tan to lanzarote-tiznit/agadir and make another one from island 3 to tan-tan).

all in all this looks very good to me

Yeah, I know there are more islands, they just don't show up in my current map extent. I wasn't sure if I would use them at all or not, but they were there so I figured what the heck? I could try to squeeze in another one possibly. The shape of the country leaves a lot of odd white space so there's a good chance I may rotate it counter-clockwise a bit to utilize space better. Doing that would likely pull another island or two into the map extent.

[isaiah40]

[MOVED]

This qualifies as a decent draft so it is moved into the Drafting Room.

[ironsij0287]

[MOVED]

This qualifies as a decent draft so it is moved into the Drafting Room.

Awesome. I'm all ears for feedback and suggestions.

[Victor Sullivan]

All your bonus values look good. I say that Nord Ouest could potentially be +4, but with Gibraltar and its +2 auto-deploy, I'm not convinced it has to be.

-Sully

[QoH]

What about making the grey space the next country (whatever it is, don't know African Geography too well) more textured and have a ghost of the Country's name there or something? Or even maybe moving "Morocco" over there would work. Anything to make they grey space a little more inconspicuous.

[ironsij0287]

What about making the grey space the next country (whatever it is, don't know African Geography too well) more textured and have a ghost of the Country's name there or something? Or even maybe moving "Morocco" over there would work. Anything to make they grey space a little more inconspicuous.

Oh yeah, definitely. The gray space won't remain gray. This has all been done in ArcMap thus far. Once I move into Photoshop I will begin with working on the graphical touch-ups.

the canary islands (in real) are 6 islands... obviously it doesnt have to be thaaat exact, but i would suggest to add at least one more island, make it so that gibraltar does not have to be held for the zone bonus and eventually up the bonus to +2 (but then i would move the connection lanzarote-tan-tan to lanzarote-tiznit/agadir and make another one from island 3 to tan-tan).

all in all this looks very good to me

Yeah, I know there are more islands, they just don't show up in my current map extent. I wasn't sure if I would use them at all or not, but they were there so I figured what the heck? I could try to squeeze in another one possibly. The shape of the country leaves a lot of odd white space so there's a good chance I may rotate it counter-clockwise a bit to utilize space better. Doing that would likely pull another island or two into the map extent.

Back to this. I tried rotating the map and it really did no good as far as making things fit better or including more islands. I'd have to fudge the geographical location of the islands to make it work. I'm wondering if it will be a lot more hassle than it's worth.

[hoschke118]

I tried rotating the map and it really did no good as far as making things fit better or including more islands. I'd have to fudge the geographical location of the islands to make it work. I'm wondering if it will be a lot more hassle than it's worth.

Am I the only one that really dislikes rotated maps? it makes everything so much less recognisable. I have no interest in playing portugal because of it. Anyway, why not just have an inset with the whole of the canaries? You've got the space for it

edit: Also, maybe give Rabat a similar bonus to Gibraltar? It seems strange that its not getting anything...

[zimmah]

desert passage neutrals are too high, 2/3 is fine if it only acts as a passage between non-important territories.

medinas maybe need a little more neutrals 4/5 is fine i guess.

[QoH]

What about incorporating things like mirages or oases in it. I don't know, just an idea.

[Leehar]

Why did the map surveyors pm say this was qoh's map?

[QoH]

Why did the map surveyors pm say this was qoh's map?

I have no idea...